eyesparks

This is a common question asked by website owners and I can answer that quite simply. Your website isn't good enough to be no1.

Search Engines such as Google don't owe anybody a position in their search rankings. Top positions can shift on a regular basis as websites update with fresh content which may be more or less relevant to your search query. Every position is up for grabs.

Many unethical SEO companies guarantee a #1 position which nobody can guarantee. They use aggressive techniques aimed at increasing your ranking but which Google disapprove of and therefore may compromise your inclusion in the search.

At Eyesparks we consider search engine optimisation (SEO) at every step of designing and creating a website. This is done by using proven, ethical techniques to push your webpage into the top rankings for your target keywords.  The simplest but most important techniques that we use are:

• writing appropriate website content without overusing keywords
• using simple navigation and features which search engines can follow
• ensure quality links point to your site which avoid fast link schemes

At eyesparks we create great websites. We create them as part of a team - us and the customer. The styling that surrounds the site is important as is the technology that powers it, but the most important aspect of the site is the content. My web career began properly in 1997 when I designed the first Riverdeep website. I was the design director for the company and had been involved in every aspect of product development, so I knew the content inside out. During the four years that I was responsible for the site (which had over 1 million registered users when I left) my main priority was not the look and feel of the interface but the content that it housed. Second on the list was making sure that our users could find the content they were looking for and that it was engaging and useful when they got there.

I was surprised when I returned to Belfast at the lack of interest many web agencies seemed to have in their clients' content.  It is still a problem that many 'web design' companies are more obsessed with the technological structure of the website than the message or information the client wants to deliver through the site. A mistake many make is to take a task-orientated view of the web design process - 'architecture', 'programming', 'graphics' (a particular pet hate of mine) and finally 'content'. Often they place greatest value in their 'Content Management System' which combines the first three aspects and leaves the most important area in the hands of the client.

At Eyesparks we take a much more holistic approach to web design. We understand that a website is about the people who use it (the target audience) and what they get from that experience. So we start the process by looking at how you are going to talk to your target audience through the website. What you will say and how you will say it. Then we look at how those people might expect to find that information and we design the user interface to ensure a simple, rewarding experience. We develop all aspects of the site together to ensure that visually, technically and editorially we deliver the best possible experience for your target audience. And this ensures you get the best reaction to your content and therefore a sale. 

Your brand is not You. It is what your customer perceives You to be. We help our clients see themselves through their customers eyes.

We distil the essence of your ideal customer perception and pour it into your visual identity. When I say 'visual identity' I don't just mean your logo, I mean every aspect of how you brand is represented visually to your audience.

I'll outline how we approach a branding project:

• Understand the product/service
• Understand the target market
• Build a profile for each identifiable group within the target market 
• Analyse the market to understand where this brand can fit in relation to competitors and the customers' perception of them
• Create brand statements for each identified group within the target market - ie "what this brand means to me"
• Create logo options that will satisfy all or some of the target audience
• Present logos in conjunction with visualisations of the brand statements
• Agree how the brand should move forward and what changes, if any, the client company needs to make to their culture in order to fit their new brand
• Apply the new brand across all visual media
• Produce guidelines to ensure brand consistency going forward

Almost every project we undertake in our Belfast design studio involves some aspect of branding. Are a few great examples of branding projects on our website but one that benefited from the above methodology is Outdoor Scene.

While working on the testimonials for this website I had a flick through our old sketch pads. Since forming Eyesparks I've insisted that our designers keep a sketch pad and archive it when complete. So we have most of our day-to-day sketches for every job since 2002. It was interesting reading these visual diaries. As I flicked through my own set I noticed how the ratio of meeting notes to sketches has increased over the years and I began to lament the fact that I don't get to do as much sketching as I used to. As I thought about this I realised that as a designer you go through spells of having to relearn the basics. This often occurs when you've had to learn a new skill or relearn an old skill (usually when Adobe decides to change everything in the latest version of their software).

So in our production meeting this morning I reminded everyone that the most powerful tool in our armoury is the pencil. Ideas are less precious and people are more open to criticism and collaboration if they're only looking at sketches. Let's hope software manufacturers never get into pencil production - I don't want to have to relearn how to operate Pencil 2.0!