St Louis Web Design, St. Louis Web Development

07
Jan

Starbucks Gives Iconic Logo a Jolt

by: Lpesko

Less is More:Thinking Beyond Coffee

On Wednesday the Seattle-based Coffee Giant, Starbucks, unveiled a new, simplified logo design. This fourth version of the company’s logo is a part of Starbucks’ 40th year celebration. The logo now entirely features the sea nymph (a.k.a mermaid), and no longer includes the “Starbucks coffee” wording around the logo.

The buzz about the new web design has raised many questions throughout the Blogosphere. Wasn’t the logo different before? What’s the history of it? Is that a mermaid? Why did they do this? Well here is a bit of an explanation behind the one of a kind logo of the ubiquitous Starbucks’ brand.

The new logo, which is more expressive, modernized and energetic, still uses the same vibrant green circle that is so well recognized by customers around the world. This is the fourth version of Starbucks’ logo since the company’s beginnings as a small coffee, tea and spice shop in Seattle in 1971. The first update came in 1987, taking the original bare-breasted siren in brown to a more stylized, and modest, version in green as the company began to expand. The image was further refined in the 1990s as the company went public and its growth soared.

So what is with the mermaid? “Let’s go all the way back to 1971, to when Starbucks was first coming to be. In a search for a way to capture the seafaring history of coffee and Seattle’s strong seaport roots, there was a lot of poring over old marine books going on. Suddenly, there she was: a 16th century Norse woodcut of a twin-tailed mermaid, or Siren. There was something about her – a seductive mystery mixed with a nautical theme that was exactly what the founders were looking for. A logo was designed around her, and our long relationship with the Siren began.” (http://www.starbucks.com/blog/so-who-is-the-siren)

“She is a storyteller, carrying the lore of Starbucks ahead, and remembering our past. In a lot of ways, she’s a muse –always there, inspiring us and pushing us ahead.” – Steve M., senior writer

What can we learn from Starbucks’ logo change? In my opinion, the new logo works well for one important reason; the Starbucks’ brand is now Global, and one should not assume that the copy in a logo will be universally accepted in other countries. The logo now stands on its own, without the Starbucks’ name, resulting in a much more powerful presentation, and is a direct reflection of the brand’s international popularity. In addition, Starbucks looks very different than it did at its inception. The once strictly coffee shop, now offers breakfast, other beverages, pastries and other food, and merchandise. The new logo encompasses the evolution of Starbucks, everything it has to offer and most importantly, the Starbucks experience (which sets itself apart from its competitors). As Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks put it:

“What is really important here is an evolutionary refinement of the logo, which is a mirror image of the strategy. This is not just, let’s wake up one day and change our logo.”

What we can learn from the success of emotionally engaging brands like Starbucks (and also Apple, VW, Nike, Coca-Cola, etc.) is that keeping your brand simple is a formula for success. This is an approach that agencies and clients alike can benefit from. In conclusion: no matter what the logo on my Starbucks’ cup, I will stay take my morning Venti Skinny Caramel Macchiato regardless.

So is the new logo a redesign or a logo that was born to always change? What are your thoughts on the new logo?

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09
Nov

Tips to Enhance Your Ecommerce Website this Holiday Season

by: Lpesko

“Some 44% of shoppers planning to do some of their holiday gift buying on the Web this year.” (which is seven percentage points higher than said they’d be going online for goodies at this time last year) – According to a new survey from e MarketLive and The E-tailing Group.

With Stats like this – Online retailers who can get a strong promotional message to consumers via the web will have the advantage this holiday season.

Ecommerce Holiday Shopping

With Ecommerce holiday shopping time right around the corner, here a few tips to maximize your return on the spike of sales online!

1. Write blogs and articles with that contain “holiday” centric keywords – Writing content that includes your products and holiday terms will help your website rank better for niche, longer-tail keywords.

2. Develop Holiday Promotional Landing Pages – Highlight your popular products on landing pages with holiday flair, great offers and a strong call to action (such as to sign up for more exclusive offers).

3. Leverage Holiday email marketing to previous customers – Send an email reminding your existing customers that the holidays are quickly approaching and that you are offering them an exclusive, limited time offer.

4. Monitor and promote your products on social media networks.

Leveraging social media to monitor and promote your most popular products can give your Ecommerce store a boost above the competition this holiday season. Monitoring social media sites, like Twitter, will let you know who is discussing your brand and give your company the opportunity to engage in conversation with potential consumers.

From Payment Processing to Complete Integration, The Net Impact can help improve the ecommerce with your existing website or can work with you to create a brand new Ecommerce website design.

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08
Oct

The Net Impact Web Design Team Dominates Social Media Category at TAM Awards

by: Lpesko
Web Design Agency, The Net Impact®, was proud to be recognized by the Business Marketing Association (BMA) of St. Louis at the Targeted Advertising and Marketing (TAM) Awards Party on September 29th for their award-winning creative work.

At the 2010 TAM Awards Party (turned circus-extravaganza) at the Chase Park Plaza, The Net Impact took home six awards, including all three awards in the Social Media Marketing Initiative Category.
“As the Internet marketing space becomes more and more competitive, establishing a foothold through the use of customized social media is a top priority to help companies establish a base of targeted fans on Facebook. “It’s like having a targeted list of potential customers at your fingertips,” Said Randy Verbeck, Web Designer at The Net Impact.

The Targeted Advertising & Marketing (TAM) Awards showcase the best marketing campaigns in the St. Louis region and honor the agencies, companies, and individuals who create them. The TAM awards are sponsored by the St. Louis chapter of the Business Marketing Association.

The Net Impact took home for the following awards:
- Gold –Social Media Marketing Initiative – Go HomeBuyer! Custom Designed Facebook Page
- Silver –Social Media Marketing Initiative- The City of Wentzville Facebook Page
- Bronze –Website Development E-Commerce- Bausch & Lomb Storzeye
- Bronze –Electronic Direct- Sensient Email/Landing Page
- Bronze –Website Developement – Landing Page – Sensient
- Bronze –Social Media Marketing Initiative -Roho Custom Designed Facebook Page/Landing Page
“The TAM Awards are a great benchmark for defining excellence in advertising and marketing in the St. Louis area, and I am very proud of The Net Impact‘s accomplishments in this competitive market. These awards are a great reinforcement of our clients and our teams truly integrated, best-in-class work,” said Steve Thomas, President of The Net Impact.
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06
Aug

Spice Up Your Blog Design with Multimedia

by: Lpesko

Everyone knows that blog marketing a great way to build relationships with customers and associates, while establishing yourself or your company as a credible authority in your industry. But it is not enough to simply have compelling content. You need to have an eye-catching and visually appealing blog design, to stand out from the competition – and to keep your visitors coming.

These days, all manner of web pages from huge company sites to small business blogs are expected to add audio, photo, or video to their posts and homepages. Multimedia consists of pictures, videos or music. The real trick is adding multimedia that enriches your site, product, or brand without taking away from your company’s core message and aesthetic.. Every web design component of your blog should enhance your branding and remind your visitors of what your blog is all about.

For most blog hosting sites, the majority of multimedia is handled through embed codes. All embeds can be handled as simple copy-and-paste jobs using these resources. WordPress, Tumblr and any other half-decent blog host will have ways to add multimedia in their dashboard. Some of these are better than others. Tumblr tools are pretty intuitive whereas WordPress sometimes glitches when switching between HTML and visual formats.

Overall, a website without multimedia is like a cake without icing: pretty good… but not great. Multimedia provides the edge that most blogs need to keep visitors coming back!

Check out Mashable’s list of 26 places to find various pieces of free multimedia for your blog or website. Check it out here!

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22
Jul

Designing an Effective Company Newsletter

by: Lpesko

There are only two kinds of company newsletters: those that get read and those that get deleted.

Communication is a key element of good management, and a company newsletter is a cost-effective, productive way to communicate. Surveys show that company newsletters are an ideal way to enhance your firm’s image with the public, your customers and your employees. They are also a great way to increase your business through email marketing.

If you create a newsletter with an attractive newsletter web design with great content, then your company will be able to enhance its sales as well. It all depends on how the words are coined up and the way it is presented before the public. If a business is able to create a good newsletter design to compliment great content, then the newsletter has the ability to attract new readers as customers.

A first rate Newsletter design makes it easy for your prospects to understand what you do and the quality and value of your business offers. There are countless ways to layout Newsletter design. One way to enhance your design is to add graphics. Graphics are important for two reasons. First of all, studies have shown that people are more likely to read an article if it contains a graphic design such as a photo. That’s because graphics, along with headlines, are the first things that readers’ eyes are drawn to when they turn to a new page.

Secondly, graphics within a story are important because they provide much-needed visual breaks from solid blocks of text. A page containing nothing but row after row of endless text does not look inviting to read. However, a story that contains strategically placed graphics that break up the text into smaller, less-imposing portions looks more visually pleasing and will attract more readers.

As a professional web design company, at The Net Impact we know all the components to create an effective newsletter design. Our team will work with yours to create a newsletter design that is attractive and eye catching, while fulfilling all of your requirements. The basic purpose of your newsletter design is to give all information about the upcoming and new progress in business to your community.

Sign up for The Net Impact’s newsletter to get the latest web design news and tips!

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13
Jul

Designing Websites for the iPad

by: Lpesko

The recent release of the highly anticipated iPad may just turn the web design world on its head. Whether you love the iPad, or hate it … the fact of the matter is that it has arrived and sooner or later we need to learn to design with it in mind.

So what should be taken into consideration when designing for the iPad?

*HTML 5- The iPad offers no support for browser plugins like Flash. If you are hoping to include video, animation or graphics on your site, it is imperative the site be designed using HTML5. HTML has long been the foundation for web development. Their latest version incorporates much of the elements previously only available via Adobe Flash. Luckily, websites designed with HTML5 are easily viewed on the iPad.

*Orientation: The iPad has no correct way of viewing websites. That means you can view it either in landscape or in the portrait mode. But for the designer that means two completely different layouts for which to design. It is for this specific reason that the iPad highlights the need for smart fluid width design. Using a smart combination of CSS and Javascript the User Experience can be made to improve drastically.

*Contrast: Because the iPad is a touch screen, it is important to build in a lot of white space and contrast to make the pad easy for visitors to use. After all, if they can’t click deeper into your site, you are never going to convert them.

*Test, test, test: while testing is an important component of any new web design, it has never been truer than when attempting an iPad friendly web design. There are already several sites out there that offer you the ability to take a ‘peek’ at how your new design will look on an iPad, a great tool is www.ipadpeek.com.

*Touch Screen: Primary method of user interaction with the iPad is and will be the fingers. The users will interact with our websites using fingers. So all those brilliant hover effects that were favorable for pointer-based devices, will be a hurdle in user experience on the iPad. Also the links can no longer be concealed in a text and left for the user to dexterously click upon it. We might want to resize the links so that the user experience does not suffer.

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01
Jul

Customize your Facebook Fan Page

by: Lpesko
Having a customized social media design will always make you stand out from the rest of the world, the same rule applies on Facebook. Now designers can add HTML code to enhance their Facebook fan page presence to promote and build their brand on the social network.

An application which should be implemented by most of the fan-page owners is Static FBML which allows you to add new “application tabs” to your tabs or box which can incorporate CSS, HTML, Facebook’s flavor of JavaScript, FBJS, and Facebook’s mark-up language FBML. FBML has greatly expanded what is possible on Facebook Pages and, if you’re sufficiently skilled with CSS/HTML and, optionally, FBML, you can make some really fine looking Pages. Many people may be unaware of the advanced functionality FBML gives a fan page, such as creating and naming your tabs of boxes freely.

How to add static FBML to your Business Page:
1. Click “Edit Page” under the Page’s large avatar image;
2. Under “Applications,” under “More Applications” click the pencil/edit icon and select “Browse more”;
3. Under “All Applications” in the left column, enter “static fbml” (without quotes) into the search field and hit your enter/return key;
4. Go to the Static FBML application from the search results page (it should be the only result);
5. Click “Add to my Page” in the left column;
6. You have successfully added Static FBML to your Page.
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17
Jun

Web Design and Print AD Firm Combine Forces to Create Branded Website

by: Lauren

St. Louis based companies, The Net Impact, a full-service Internet marketing and web design firm, and XG-ad, a full service advertising agency specializing in print advertising, combined services to create the website design for AIRHAWK, a comfort seating system for motorcycles manufactured by ROHO Group Inc. The website,www.airhawk.net, is powered by The Net Impact’s partner product, Auctori, a web content management system (WCMS) built for search engine optimization.

The Net Impact worked with XG-ad’s Photoshop design files, making them web ready before placing them into the Auctori web content management system. The Net Impact then developed master pages for the Auctori web content management solution which makes AIRHAWK’s site enhancements quick and easy. The Net Impact created a form for AIRHAWK customers to submit their testimonials entitled ‘AIRHAWK Saved My Ass’, as well as different pages for product descriptions, retailer information, multimedia, events, press, and a ‘contact us’ form. To compliment AIRHAWK’s cutting-edge, yet professionally designed website, The Net Impact team also created a custom blog design for the company.

XG-ads’s print design and advertising experience combined with The Net Impact’s web design expertise created the perfect blend for this new, exciting and effective AIRHAWK website.

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11
Jun

Google Works to Improve Web Typography

by: Lpesko

Typography is the most valuable asset of your blog. It doesn’t matter if you have a colorful blog design, an awesome online publication or a plain simple blog. The main focus always stays on the content and the readability of your text. That is where the importance of good typography comes.

Google Font API is a new and innovative concept from Google that aims at providing a helping hand to all web design and development pros. Google Font API helps you add web fonts to any web page.

If you use Google’s Open Font’s API, you have many advantages like:

1. Huge collection of Font Typefaces to choose from Google’s Fonts library.

2. All the bandwidth load is on Google as you are only using their resources in the API.

3. The speed is blazing fast as Google’s CDNs are faster than your site.

4. You can hotlink the font file so that there is a less file and bandwidth request.

The world of web typography is quickly evolving but this evolution means that your web developement team and end users now have more choices than ever before.

Do you use any web font services in your websites?

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01
Jun

Adobe Uses CS5 for iPad Centric Magazine Publishing Tool

by: Lpesko

Adobe has announced its new iPad-focused Digital Publishing Platform, which was used to create the recently released Wired App for the iPad. The idea is to offer an easy way for traditional media publishers to port their content to Apple’s tablet while abiding the company’s strict developer agreement. Although the iPad spurred the creation of the Digital Publishing Platform, it can be used to create content for other tablets and smartphones as well. With the ability to embed video, interactive images, slideshows and more, Adobe’s new solution seems like an attractive option for magazine publishers.

The platform combines InDesign CS5 with “additional Adobe publishing technologies” in order to produce what Adobe describes as a web design that is visually attractive, magazine-like experience for the iPad. This means that traditional publishers, accustomed to creating layouts in InDesign already, won’t have to move to an entirely different tool to create digital content. The strategy seems to have worked—Apple approved the app last week— it has largely been getting good reviews despite the large file size. Adobe will be releasing the publishing tech to Adobe Labs later this year, but you’ll have to have Adobe InDesign CS5 to take advantage of it.

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