No matter what business you're in these days, you need a website. Most people go directly to the Internet to find businesses, services, products, even contact information for people they already do business with. It's essential to have a web presence, but how do you make your website stand out? What do you need to know to get it done right?

For more information about Synergistic Media's Website Development, Ecommerce, Content Management Solutions "CMS", and Web

Design Services, please Contact Us for a free website design Quote today!

Services involved in the creation of a new website include: Please link these services to the respective pages below...

• Website Consultation & Strategic Development

• Information Architecture & Navigation

• Graphic Design

• Logo Design & Branding

• Data Management & Dynamic Websites

• Search Engine Optimization – SEO

• Content Development - Copywriting

• Website Maintenance

Web Consultation, Initial Planning & Analysis

Building a website is, like many things, mostly a function of preparation. The more pre-planning work you do, the easier, faster, and cheaper the actual process becomes. If you decide you’re just going to wing it, you’ll probably pay a lot more for something that looks like it was pasted together. Parts may be great, but the foundation will be weak.

There are clients who come to us having done considerable research. They have done plenty of internal reflection to the point that they fully understand why they want a website and what they want it to be like. These clients often provide a very detailed request for proposal. This RFP is taken almost directly over as the specification document.

These clients are uncommon though. Most know they want a website. Different departments may have different ideas about why. They don’t really know what the website can do for them and haven’t really researched the standards for design and functionality in their field.

Some web design firms only like the first type of client. It is easier to satisfy someone who clearly understands what he or she wants. However, Synergistic Media is excited when we get the opportunity to help a company discover what its internet strategy should be. We have a lot of experience in working with clients to understand just what their website needs are, who should be involved in the decision-making process, and how to develop the specific requirements. In fact, being involved in the pre-production/initial planning phase often allows us to find smoother, better-tailored solutions.

Information Architecture & Website Navigation

You might think of information architecture (IA) as the skeleton that holds a website together, but this isn’t quite accurate. IA is more like the DNA that tells the skeleton, along with everything else, how to grow and meld together. Good IA not only creates a user-friendly site, it creates a process of website development that is client- and developer-friendly. IA basically boils down to that old recipe for success: preparation.

Determining the purpose of your website is the first step in building successful IA. You should begin your web project by asking yourself:

• Why do I need a website?

• Who do I expect to visit my site?

• What is the purpose/mission of the website I want to develop?

• Who do I want to visit my site?

These are a few of the same questions that we ask our own clients. We want to know what everyone in the client's organization expects from their online presence. Our goal is always to identify all relevant audiences, the expectations of those audiences, and the goal of our client in addressing each audience.

The time we spend investigating and researching provides us with the building blocks we need to ensure that your site will flow smoothly and consistently. We understand that your site's users will browse your site longer and come back for more if their first experience is favorable.

Bad IA is all over the place. You may not think of it that way, but whenever you go to a site and can’t instantly see how to find what you want, you’re looking at bad IA. If you find your focus being drawn away by flashy graphics that have nothing to do with the content, you are face to face with bad IA. When you have clicked away from the home page and suddenly the navigation options are completely different, you are about to click yourself free of bad IA.

Our process is one of research, strategic thinking, and preparation. Before we build a site, we determine who will see it, what they want to see, why we are showing it to them, and where everything goes. The foundation gets laid first; then we construct the building. Doing a good job here makes every other phase—including graphic design, layout, functionality, and testing—much easier.

Contact us to learn more...and get started.

Custom Web Design. Look Your Best.

First impressions are as important online as they are offline. Visitors to your site will quickly determine whether there is any interest in clicking deeper into your site's pages, or away from it, based on its visual appeal.

Custom design means that the look and feel of the website is built from the ground up to project the image the client wants.

While it is possible to save money using pre-made templates, a serious business is almost always better off with a look that is both unique and tightly tailored to the requirements of the market. Custom web design sets your web presence apart from the crowd.

The design of your website is the first impression many will have of your

business or organization.

Web design can be simple or complex, but in either case it can be done well or very, very badly. Simple websites may look easy to do, but keeping something clean and professional requires a solid grounding in graphic design principles, as well as experience in creating websites. Once upon a time, the internet was a place anyone could splash up a bunch of text and a few photos and look like a serious player. Now, users are more sophisticated, expectations have risen, and professional website design has become the minimum standard.

Synergistic Media has substantial experience in website design. We have designed sites for clients in real estate, healthcare, food & beverage, entertainment, health & fitness, and beyond. We have created websites that appeal to high school and college students; we have designed websites that have reassured high-end financial backers. We have appealed to potential donors, customers, and clientele. Our design can make the little person look big, the strait-laced company seem fun, and the struggling group seem confident. More importantly, we have given a sense of place, an atmosphere to businesses that are seen mostly online.

Contact us to learn more...and get started.

Logo Design & Branding

A logo not only establishes your company's or organization's graphic identity, it also determines the color scheme and style elements used throughout your website. The logo ties the website to everything else your company does, through printed materials, signs, and other collateral material.

Quality logo design is deceptively simple. A good logo is easily recognizable, does not lose integrity when faxed or scanned, creates a positive resonance, and stands out from all the rest. It is consistent with your industry but still unique enough to separate you from the pack.

Most importantly, it has to be a design you can commit to. Memory is visual, and a logo is a hook on which everything about your company hangs. Reputation, memories of good service, and understanding of your products are all intermingled, in the client’s mind, around your name and logo. If the logo keeps changing, all of the recognition that you’ve taken time to cultivate gets flushed out and must be rebuilt.

Not happy with how your online image reflects your business? No worries... Synergistic Media will work with you to develop a company image that reflects your mission and goals to effectively communicate with your audience through multiple channels of marketing.

Contact us to learn more...and get started.

Online Data Management & Dynamic Websites

Some websites are entirely static. They are the same every time you visit. You never give them information; there are no polls, bulletin boards, or referral forms. If you want to find something on the website, there is no search box, you just look around until you find it. But such sites are growing more rare as the internet becomes a greater part of people’s lives.

Modern sites are searchable. They offer new images on each visit. They allow the user to request more information or to post their own thoughts. Many can be updated directly from a simple panel or word-processing program. A lot of websites are data-driven, meaning that web pages are actually created on the fly, in response to the specific needs of the user. All of these functional elements are called backend elements. In some cases there are many different ways to do the same thing, so the line between elements is often blurry.

Each of our websites is built with interactivity in mind regardless of budget. We advocate the notion that a website should be much more than just a static billboard addressing how long you have been in business. Why not collect valuable information from your visitors while giving them a reason to come back for more? Why not bring your website to LIFE!

Contact us to learn more...and get started.

Search Engine Optimization - SEO

Deploying industry-standard Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies increase the overall traffic to your website. Our process involves the following crucial steps to help ensure that your website won’t be hidden in the cyber abyss:

• Keyword and key phrase research is performed to identify terms that have the most relevant traffic patterns based on the content of your web pages, target audiences and competitors.

• Creation of title, header tags, description and other meta data using selected keywords and phrases. Title tags, h1 tags (page headers), and optimized web-ready content are what the search engine spiders use to evaluate the relevancy of pages.

• Optimizing existing copy for key landing pages is vital. Adjustment to existing content and/or the creation of new content will be necessary to make your pages more attractive to search engines and your site visitors!

• Link solicitation from relevant websites, directories, and resource sections. Page rank algorithms often analyze inbound links to determine the importance of a particular web page.

Contact us to learn more...and get started.

Web Content Development - Copywriting

Writing content for your website may seem simple. Possibly you have copy already written for your brochures, you have a vision in mind, or maybe you have a department devoted to controlling your message. Synergistic Media can work with the copy you provide, either posting it straight up or reformatting it, even rewriting it when necessary. Our goal is to provide you with an effective website that not only looks great but focuses and delivers your message to the visitors we’ve worked so hard to bring you.

Writing great content for the web is a special skill. Web content is typically tighter, arranged in chunks of information, and highlighted for the quick scanning audience. Unlike text in a book or even a magazine, web content competes constantly with other open windows, links, or other listings on a search engine results page. There is no buy-in, no commitment on the part of the user to finish an article or plow through information.

The good news is that most users have already shown some interest, often by entering a query in a search engine similar to the content on your page. The bad news is they’ve also found hundreds of other pages on the same topic.

Synergistic Media exists, in part, because we’ve successfully used content to bring users through the door. We have successfully conveyed our message and purpose to audiences seeking services similar to what we offer. We have refined this technique on other Synergistic Media websites, as well as with those clients who have hired us to develop content along with design.

Content development is, for us, a very client-centered activity. We are well-schooled in the various theories and guidelines on writing for the web. However, our clients often have specific messages they want to convey. Sometimes they work in specialized fields where language needs to be precise and tone-controlled. Our process includes developing an understanding of the client, the client’s message, and the field in which the client works. We look at the client's target audiences before deciding how much information to offer, how to arrange it, what level to pitch it at, etc. Of course, we also work with the client to gain feedback and approval before any text goes live.

Synergistic Media creates websites with excellent design, appropriate technology, and the kind of content that serves the needs of the visitor while getting across the message, vision, or needs of the site owner.

Contact us to learn more...and get started.

Your Dedicated Website Maintenance Team

Ongoing maintenance and support is essential to the growth and long-term success of your cyber real estate. Like any well maintained property, a great website requires the same dedication and attention to detail.

Synergistic Media Website Service Agreements provide your organization with a dedicated team of responsive, customer-focused web professionals at rates that become increasingly more cost-effective with the term of service.

Standard web maintenance plans (below) are customized for each client based on service requirements.

Contact us online with your website support requirements to receive a customized service package that will provide the support you need.

Basic Maintenance Plan

• Keep your Web presence up-to-date on a budget

• Micro-businesses and non-profits that realize the importance of their Website investment, but who need guidance with strategic growth

• 1-4 hours per month

Business Maintenance Plan

• Online news and updates stay in synch w/ your growing organization

• Small businesses, non-profits, e-commerce vendors etc that have very fixed, but ongoing Web maintenance, Web design, and Web consultation needs

• 5-8 hrs per month

Premium Maintenance Plan

• Capture your visitor’s attention with Flash animation, and keep them coming back to fresh content

• Business and organizations that have notable Web traffic and need to keep their site visitors happy and/or those who would like to make notable changes to their existing presence

• 9-16 hrs per month

Platinum Maintenance Plan

• Manage 1 or more Web sites that require frequent updates, and successful online collaboration get 2 Express changes per month!

• Any organization that requires frequent interaction and/or collaboration with a internal or external group(s), mailing lists, etc and time-sensitive data; medium-sized online stores

• 40+ hrs per month