Many iconic companies are driven by innovation through art and design. One of my favorite examples – and personal sources of inspiration – is Walt Disney Animation Studios. They don’t just create films; they craft emotional journeys that etch themselves into your soul and exemplify how and why storytelling through design reigns supreme. 

While we don’t have the capabilities to sprinkle pixie dust to generate leads or drive sales, we’re fairly certain that a little imagination and creativity (and maybe a little faith and trust) can improve your marketing efforts and successfully win the hearts and minds of your target audience.

If you’ve ever wondered how graphic design and creative services can transform your business’s marketing efforts, we’re here to help! 

Grab your notebook as we prepare to explore the dynamic world of graphic design and how it can creatively impact your marketing campaigns. 

Why Settle for the Ordinary?

Picture this: you’re strolling down a crowded city street, and amidst a sea of bland, cookie-cutter displays, one stands out like a beacon of hope. 

It could be an advertisement on the side of a bus, a poster plastered to the storefront window, or maybe even a website you navigated to while adding that new pin to your digital inspiration board, but this is not just any design, it’s a work of art. 

With this, the graphic designer has successfully done their job. 

Their creation effectively grabs your attention, tugs at your emotions, and leaves an indelible mark in your memory. This is the power of graphic design. 

Why settle for dull and uninspiring when you can have eye-catching and unforgettable? Your business deserves to stand out, and graphic design is your secret weapon. Don’t settle for the ordinary and risk being left in the dust. 

First Impressions: The Make-or-Break Moment

Attention spans are shorter than ever. So short, that by the time you finish reading this sentence, you’ll have already decided whether to keep reading or move on to the next shiny thing that catches your eye. That’s the reality of the digital age we’re in.

This means that your business has nearly a fraction of a second to make a lasting impression. And where does this impression start? You guessed it: your visuals. 

Your logo, your website, and your marketing materials all play a pivotal role in that make-or-break moment.

Graphic design isn’t just about making things look pretty (though it certainly does that too). It’s about bringing your brand to life, resonating with your target audience, and communicating your unique value proposition through creative works of art. 

When potential customers land on your website, their first thought should be, “Wow, this looks amazing!” It may be subtle, but this subconscious thinking can, and will, directly impact click-through rates, engagement, lead generation, and even sales.

Storytelling with Design

Okay, so you’ve captured your audience’s attention. Now what? 

This is where the real magic of graphic design happens, as it tells your brand’s story. Think of it as a visual journey that your customers embark on when they interact with your marketing materials.

From the colors you choose to the fonts you use, every element in your design purposefully communicates something about your brand’s personality. 

Are you bold and adventurous? Choose vibrant colors and edgy fonts. Are you reliable and trustworthy? Opt for clean lines and classic typography. 

But make sure that everything on the design side is easily digestible. Your creative choices can just as easily be detrimental to your brand as they can be effective. When purposeful creative decisions are made and effectively communicate your messaging, the sky is the limit for your next creative piece. 

This is the “why” of graphic design that is so often overlooked and underappreciated. You can’t simply throw something together because it looks good. Shift your focus to the deeper-rooted elements that build on the storytelling aspects of your brand. 

But it’s not just about aesthetics; it’s about emotion. Graphic design has the power to evoke emotions, and emotions drive action. A well-crafted design can make your audience feel excited, inspired, or even nostalgic. 

When people feel that connection, they’re more likely to take the next step, whether by making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or sharing your content with their friends.

Standing Out in a Crowded World

Let’s face it, competition is fierce. No matter what industry you’re in, countless other businesses are vying for your customers’ attention. 

How do you stand out in this crowded world? The answer lies in the hands of your graphic designer.

Think about iconic brands like Apple, Nike, or Coca-Cola. What sets them apart? It’s not just their products; it’s their branding. It’s the unforgettable logos, the consistent color schemes, and the compelling visual stories they tell. When you see their designs, you instantly know who they are and what they stand for.

While your business may never have the same name recognition as these iconic brands, the possibility of achieving a similar level of differentiation through effective graphic design is in your realm of capabilities. 

Balancing Aesthetic with Functionality

Now, you might be thinking, “I get it, graphic design is important, but can’t I just slap together some visuals on my own?” 

Sure, you can. But remember, there’s more to graphic design than meets the eye, and your audience can just as easily decipher when and why something does or does not look good.

A skilled graphic designer isn’t just a pixel pusher; they’re a visual strategist. They know how to create designs that not only look good but also work effectively to achieve your marketing goals.

Graphic designers are like the architects of your brand’s visual identity. They plan, they design, and they execute with precision. They know how to balance aesthetics with functionality, ensuring that your design not only catches the eye but also delivers a seamless user experience.

Adapting to Change

In the fast-paced world of business, change is the only constant. 

Trends evolve, technology advances and consumer preferences shift. So, how do you keep your brand relevant and in tune with the times? 

You guessed it: graphic design.

Graphic designers are the trendsetters, the innovators, and the adaptors. They stay on the cutting edge of design trends and are always ready to pivot when necessary. Whether it’s incorporating the latest design techniques, optimizing for mobile devices, or crafting a killer social media graphic, they’ve got you covered.

Building Trust and Credibility

Trust and credibility are the cornerstones of any successful business. When consumers trust a brand, they’re more likely to choose it over competitors. So, how does graphic design fit into this equation? It’s all about creating a professional and consistent image.

Think of your design elements as your brand’s attire. Would you trust a lawyer in a Hawaiian shirt or a surgeon in ripped jeans? Probably not. Just like these professionals, your brand needs to dress the part. Consistent and professional design elements across all your marketing materials signal trustworthiness and competence.

A World of Possibilities

Now that we’ve established the importance of graphic design, let’s dive into the endless possibilities it offers for your marketing efforts. Let’s explore some exciting ways to take your brand to new heights.

Website Design

Is your website stuck in the past, with clunky navigation and outdated visuals? Responsive design, intuitive navigation, and visually compelling layouts ensure that users stay engaged and navigate through the site effortlessly. Web design that aligns with your brand helps establish credibility, encouraging top-of-funnel visitors to become paying customers.

Digital Ads

Paid ads for Google and social media campaigns (Meta, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.) can effectively raise awareness and act as a first impression for your brand through keywords to specially targeted audiences, helping to drive more leads and sales.

Social Media Graphics

In the age of scrolling feeds and fleeting attention spans, your social media graphics need to stand out more than ever. Engaging visuals can help to successfully increase your click-through rates, boost engagement, and drive more traffic to your website.

Branding

If your brand identity feels stale or doesn’t align with your current business goals, it might be time for a rebrand. A comprehensive brand refresh (or overhaul) can breathe new life into your business. 

Infographics

Infographics are a powerful tool for aesthetically explaining processes, presenting data, or telling a story. Incorporating infographics into presentation decks, websites, and social media posts are just a few ways design can effectively transform data in a visually appealing way. 

Email Marketing

Creative email designs can grab your subscribers’ attention and encourage them to click through to your website.

Print Collateral

Although print design has become almost obsolete in the digital age, business cards, brochures, and flyers are still valuable marketing tools for your business, and the design can make a lasting impression on your audience.

Video & Motion Graphics

Video marketing is booming, and your video and motion graphics should be top-notch. From advertisements and social videos to intros and other brand animations, graphic design enhances the visual appeal of your video content.

Event Graphics

Attending a trade show or hosting an online event (webinars, conferences, etc.)? Eye-catching banners, signage, ads, landing pages, and promotional materials can draw attendees to your booth or drive more registrations.

The ROI of Graphic Design

All of this probably sounds fantastic, but is graphic design worth the investment? Absolutely! 

Consider this: a well-designed website can increase conversion rates, a compelling social media graphic can drive engagement, and a memorable logo can boost brand recognition. 

All of these factors contribute to your bottom line. So, yes, graphic design is not just a creative endeavor; it’s a strategic one that directly impacts your profitability.

The Collaborative Creative Process

Now that you’re convinced of the power of graphic design, you’re ready to take your marketing efforts to the next level. 

But how do you go about it? It all starts with a collaborative creative process.

• Discovery: The journey begins with a deep dive into your business. What are your goals, values, and target audience? A graphic designer needs to understand your brand inside and out before creating any deliverables.
• Ideation: This is where the creative juices start flowing. Brainstorming, sketching, and experimenting with different design concepts are all part of the process that leads to the design you’ll be presented.
• Design: Here’s where the magic happens. The chosen concept transforms into a visual masterpiece. The designer blends colors, fonts, imagery, and layout in an aesthetically appealing conceptual creation.
• Feedback and Revisions: Collaboration is key, and your input is invaluable. Provide feedback on the initial design, and the designer will make revisions until it’s perfect.
• Finalization: Once the design is polished to perfection, it’s time to put it to work. Whether it’s for your website, social media, or print materials, the final design is prepared for deployment.
• Measurement and Optimization: The journey doesn’t end with deployment. Regularly measure the performance of your designs and make adjustments as needed to optimize results, continuing to test new concepts and ideas.

The Future of Graphic Design

It’s abundantly clear that the world of graphic design will continue to evolve. Technology will always play an increasingly significant role, with new advancements presenting exciting opportunities that may not have been possible in the past. 

Additionally, the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) has already begun to transform the design processes and the digital marketing field. 

With this, ethical design practices will gain prominence as well. Consumers are increasingly conscious of the environmental and social impact of the brands they support, and designers will need to adapt by prioritizing ethical design choices.

Graphic design is more than just aesthetics; it’s the secret sauce that makes your brand unforgettable, your messaging irresistible, and your business thrive. 

So, get ready to embrace the power of graphic design, and watch your business take flight in the competitive skies of the digital world.

Get a free one-on-one creative consultation to learn more about how web design and development can help your business grow.

Let’s Build Something Great Together

Read more about how our website design and development services can help your business make impressions that matter.

• https://www.directom.com/10-website-examples-to-spark-inspiration-for-your-next-web-design-project/ 

• https://www.directom.com/how-are-digital-graphics-used-to-advertise/ 
• https://www.directom.com/how-ai-imagery-shaped-the-look-of-our-latest-webinar/ 
• https://www.directom.com/rebranding-guide/ 
• https://www.directom.com/ai-creative/ 

The post How Graphic Design Can Elevate Your Digital Marketing Efforts appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

From graphic design and web design to brand development and social media content creation, creative services have a profound impact on the success of brand awareness, digital marketing campaigns, and in many cases, sales.

Let’s explore the importance of graphic design services for your company, its influence on the digital marketing world, and how companies like yours can benefit from investing in professional creative services.

Free Design Resources vs. Professional Graphic Design

With many companies looking to cut costs due to the current economic climate, you might think, “Can’t I use one of the free design resources instead of hiring creative professionals?”

Sure, but we definitely would not recommend it! 

Programs like Canva, Wix, or even AI image generators can make even the most uncreative individuals feel like the next Don Draper. 

Though to folks classically trained in the creative field, these generally boring and unrefined templates stick out more than a clown at a funeral and ultimately make professionally crafted, high-quality designs much more effective and engaging.

From conceptualization to execution, graphic designers can expertly craft captivating, custom designs for the digital world and beyond.

What Graphic Design Services Should You Look For?

The graphic design process can be complex, so it’s important to choose an agency that has a range of services and experience with different types of projects. Any agency you pick should also be able to provide a final product that is high quality and meets your specific business needs.

At DOM, for instance, we specialize in a wide variety of creative services, including:

• UI/UX Design
• Web Design & Development 
• Website Management
• Landing Page Design and Development
• Digital Ad Creation (Animated HTML5)
• Social Media Ad Creation
• Infographic Design
• eBooks
• Customized Presentation Decks
• Motion Graphic Design
• Social Media Content Creation (including video editing for TikTok, Instagram Reels, etc.)
• Company Swag Design (t-shirts & merchandise, tradeshow items, etc.)
• Corporate Branding & Logo Design
• Business Cards
• Brochures, Booklets, and Annual Reports

To paraphrase one of the most innovative creative minds the world has come to know: if you can dream it, [we] can do it! 

Let’s take a closer look at some of the most important services a creative team can provide.

Web Design: Your First Impression to Your Audience

A website not only acts as the digital storefront for your business but also presents a first impression of your brand to your audience. A professionally designed website captivates visitors and provides a seamless user experience to help drive clicks, conversions, or sales. 

A good creative services team will make sure it’s up to par with an engaging visual identity, laying out exactly what defines your company as a customer’s best choice in a visually appealing way.

Responsive design, intuitive navigation, and visually compelling layouts ensure that users stay engaged and navigate through the site effortlessly. Furthermore, web design that aligns with your brand helps establish credibility, encouraging top-of-funnel visitors to convert to paying customers.

Even inexperienced web users will notice when a website design is difficult to navigate or looks outdated. With so much content at the tip of the finger, it is vital to present a brand in the most polished and professional way to ensure you aren’t raising an immediate red flag for your products or services.

Graphic designers understand the importance of having a strong digital presence that’s engaging for visitors without bogging the site down through unnecessary extras. If an agency is lucky enough to have in-house web developers, designers can work with them to create the best digital experience possible for your audience, along with enticing visual elements to reel them in. 

How UI/UX and web design can help your business:

• An intuitive design builds trust, simplifies buying and data-gathering processes, and grows customer loyalty.
• UX ensures that all features of your website work in harmony, reinforcing your image to users and conveying authority in your industry.
• CRO reinforces your conversion rate, turning bounces into buyers.

Web design isn’t all about what you see, but if the visuals aren’t appealing, customers have no reason to delve further into learning about you. You only have one chance at a first impression–let a graphic designer make it count.

Digital Advertising: Impactful and Engaging Campaign

For digital advertising to break through the noise of constant content overload, it’s a graphic designer’s job to effectively capture the attention of potential customers with artwork.

Each campaign type has specific requirements that must be met with corresponding creative assets, which makes it all the more important to work with an agency that understands why and how certain ad types can be effective for your company. 
Whether you’re running animated HTML5 display ads, discovery campaigns, or social media ads, compelling visuals, persuasive copy, and enticing CTAs work together to drive click-through rates, conversions, and return on investment (ROI).

Keeping Up with Evolving Trends

Much like many industries, the graphic design landscape is in a constant state of flux, with new trends and technologies emerging regularly. We’ve quickly seen AI tools take the creative field by storm, and there is no shortage of new cutting-edge programs and generators to explore and enhance efficiencies.

Good designers take pride in staying on top of new trends, testing beta platforms, and exploring styles that will make a brand stand out. A good graphic team can help you stay on top of these advancements by incorporating the latest design trends and industry best practices into your marketing strategies.

Conversion Rate Optimization and the Data-Driven Approach

A graphic designer or creative services team should be dedicated to testing innovative data-driven design decisions with a focus on conversion rate optimization. For every new landing page design or digital ad set, they should analyze data to ensure that the most successful designs are representative of your target audience.

An in-depth UI/UX audit can reveal weaknesses and oversights in a website, including navigational errors, awkward menu structures, and more, all of which could drive users away.

Designers accomplish this by running A/B tests with multiple different design variations. They can use these tests to gather user feedback to fine-tune marketing materials continuously. 

By optimizing designs for maximum impact, creative (and subsequently digital marketers) can boost conversion rates, increase engagement, and maximize return on investment.

After analyzing the data, designers funnel out the lower-performing creative pieces based on audience tendencies.

If you choose to avoid testing different design options, you could be depriving your company of data that showcases your audience’s habits, and in turn, miss out on the opportunity to optimize both current and future campaigns.

Refining UX and CRO leads to higher conversion rates, better customer satisfaction, and a more harmonious view of your company by making the user’s experience simple, intuitive, and streamlined by refining your site for user-friendliness.

Enhancing Corporate Branding through Graphic Design

In the crowded digital space, establishing a strong brand identity is indispensable.

Logos, infographics, banners, digital ads, and social media graphics are excellent creative tools to grab the attention of your target audiences. All of these assets help to leave a lasting impression. 

To be effective, these assets must be aesthetically appealing and visually consistent with your company’s brand guidelines to enhance brand recognition and build trust, leading to increased customer loyalty and engagement.

Brand Development: Storytelling with Design

Brand development is a strategic process that encompasses everything from logo design and brand guidelines to crafting a unique brand story. 

Professional creatives help shape a brand’s personality and differentiate it from competitors. Graphic designers aren’t the only creatives involved in this aspect, either. Brand development encourages collaboration with copywriters, web developers, social media managers, and digital marketers alike to establish a consistent voice, tone, and imagery across platforms.

By effectively communicating a brand’s mission, values, and story through compelling visuals and messaging, creative professionals can forge emotional connections with the target audience, fostering brand loyalty and advocacy.

Brand Consistency & Cohesion

Maintaining brand consistency across various marketing channels – various social media platforms, websites, etc – is crucial for establishing a strong and recognizable brand presence.

Working with a designer ensures that brand elements, such as logos, color palettes, typography, and imagery, are consistently applied across different platforms and touchpoints. 

This cohesive approach reinforces brand recognition, builds trust, and enhances the overall user experience, regardless of the channel through which the audience interacts with your brand while reinforcing who you are.

Are You Ready to Take Your Graphic Design Capabilities to the Next Level?

From creating captivating visuals to developing a strong brand identity, all of these services play a crucial role in capturing the attention of target audiences, fostering engagement, and driving conversions. 

Businesses that invest in professional creative services gain a competitive edge, delivering impactful and memorable brand experiences that resonate with customers. 

So, if you’re looking to take your digital marketing efforts to new heights, don’t overlook the power of investing in an agency that provides professional graphic design services.

The DOM Difference

No matter your goals, Direct Online Marketing has the experience to achieve the outcomes you want. We also have commitments to providing industry-leading reporting and a company-wide dedication to transparency. 

Our graphic designers are professionally trained and have over 30 years of combined experience with the Adobe Creative Suite. We frequently dive into InDesign, Photoshop, AfterEffects, and Premiere, but our favorite programs are XD (Top 15 % of LinkedIn Learners) and Illustrator (Top 8% of LinkedIn Learners). We also have experience with Figma, Unity, and 3D Studio.

When you request a free digital marketing consultation from us with an interest in our graphic design services, you can expect:

• Review any creative briefs you have created, so we can figure out what you’re looking for
• Analysis of your current traffic volume and what opportunities exist
• Actionable feedback on technical issues holding your campaigns back
• Competitor review to see how you stack up against them
• Identification of growth opportunities to improve in 5 key areas, so we can align on what works best for your project

Reach out today to set up a free one-on-one creative consultation. 

Read more about how our creative services can take your digital marketing to the next level.

• https://www.directom.com/how-are-digital-graphics-used-to-advertise/ 
• https://www.directom.com/how-ai-imagery-shaped-the-look-of-our-latest-webinar/ 
• https://www.directom.com/rebranding-guide/ 
• https://www.directom.com/ai-creative/ 

The post Why Digital Marketers Should Invest In Graphic Design Services appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

With a multitude of content readily available at our fingertips, it has become even more important for advertisements to stand out. A high-quality design is vital in order to draw more attention to your call to action.

I flip this adage on its head when strategizing for digital ads, particularly when branding any of our internal campaigns. 

Recently I was tasked with designing the creative attached to our webinar, The AI Advantage: Unleash Your Digital Marketing Creativity & Efficiency, and I wanted to take a much more explorative approach than anything we’ve previously produced.

Ready to save your seat? Register here.

We’ll explore the steps of my creative process, and dive into the way AI generation impacted my creative strategy and design choices for this particular campaign.

Developing The Creative Strategy

Whether you know it or not, design is ubiquitous, and creativity subconsciously drives everyday choices. 

Quick, think about all of the websites, apps, social media platforms, billboards, advertisements, products, and big brands that throw design into your – i.e. the consumer’s – face without even batting an eye. 

• Why did you choose that particular coffee mug this morning? 
• Why did you buy a particular six-pack of a craft brew you’ve never heard of? 
• Why did you click on the ad while mindlessly scrolling your favorite social media platform? 

Probabilities point to design ultimately impacting your answer to each of the aforementioned questions. But it’s the strategy and application behind the designs that tend to drive your actions.

Before I begin every project, I ask myself three simple questions: 

• WHY? – Why should people care? What’s our purpose?
• HOW? – How is this different (and better) than what we’ve done before?
• WHAT? – What are we promoting?

Simon Sinek refers to the harmony of these three questions as “The Golden Circle” in his book Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. Reading this book and asking these three simple questions has bolstered the way I examine every new project.

Understanding the Project

Every successful design begins with a thorough understanding of the project. It’s crucial to have a clear grasp of the project’s objectives, target audience, and scope. 

This phase involves studying brand guidelines, competitive landscapes, and any existing design assets, ensuring you have a solid foundation to build upon.

I’ve had a hand in developing the branding for all our webinars and internal campaigns for much of the past 2 years, so this particular project comes a bit easier in that regard.

However, presenting this webinar in tandem with Semrush required a bit more diligent research. It was important that the creative assets would blend well with their voice on social media as well.

Semrush isn’t afraid to get a little cheeky on social media, so I loved the idea of incorporating some kind of off-the-wall concept that shouldn’t be taken too seriously.

With the prevalent themes of AI generation and creativity, I thought to myself “How can I play off of this to make something that elicits a somewhat creepy, yet sarcastic feeling while remaining relevant and professional?” 

Research and Inspiration

Now that you have a comprehensive understanding of the project, it’s time to dive into research and seek inspiration. Explore various sources to broaden your perspective. 

Gather visual references, analyze successful design executions, and identify emerging styles or techniques that align with the project’s goals.

Remember, inspiration can come from anywhere, so keep an open mind and let your creativity flourish. Sometimes, however, you don’t have to diligently search, and inspiration is right at your fingertips.

Recently I’ve seen a comical (and sometimes relevant) meme floating around social media that simply states: 

“To replace creatives with AI, clients will need to accurately describe what they are looking for. We’re safe.” 

Design is more than just arranging pixels and crafting aesthetically pleasing visuals. It’s a journey of creativity, strategy, and problem-solving. While it may come as a shock, graphic design is not, in fact, magic. 

But every time I see this, I smirk just a little bit. It’s a humorous take on the harsh reality of the misconception that creatives often deal with.

That’s when I decided to get some help from a few AI image generators, inputting different phrases and testing across multiple platforms before coming to the decision that DALL•E, OpenAI’s image generation platform, was spitting out the most resourceful assets.

Concept Development

With a wealth of information and inspiration at your fingertips, it’s time to embark on the concept development stage. Start by brainstorming ideas and sketching rough concepts on paper or using digital tools. 

I began testing prompts within the AI generator, but there always seemed to be some kind of imperfections or shortcomings with the images, so I kept refining and finally got something from: “portrait of a man and robot split perfectly half screen”

The results clearly are nowhere near spectacular, but I knew I had something that I could work with. 

If you’re hoping AI is going to spit out perfect conceptual graphics, think again! Human manipulation is more important than ever. Super creepy though, right? 

Idea Refinement & Iteration

Once you’ve generated a collection of design concepts, it’s time to refine and iterate. Review your concepts critically, seeking feedback from peers or stakeholders if possible.

I took my favorite of the generated faces, put my head down, and meticulously edited the photos; adjusting proportions and shadows, and stitching the pieces together to formulate a cohesive image. 

Moments later, our AI Frankenstein was ready.

I knew my half-man-half-robot concept may not work for all audiences and internal stakeholders, so I made sure to pull a few more images that I felt may still hit with the same impact, each one getting a little crazier than the next. 

With a Lonely Island-esque “Incredible Thoughts” montage running through my mind, I asked myself:

• What if the king of the jungle was actually king?
• What if someone took a photo of the photographer shooting the moon landing?
• What if my dog is actually smarter than me?
• What if energy-efficient lightbulbs literally impacted our environment?

While we may not be able to accurately answer these questions directly, with AI, your wildest thoughts can become a distorted sense of reality, and that was just the case when I began experimenting more thoroughly.

Consider your project’s objectives, brand identity, and target audience while assessing each concept’s strengths and weaknesses. Combine the most promising elements from different ideas, gradually narrowing down your options. 

It’s essential to allow yourself to explore different directions, experimenting with typography, color palettes, imagery, and layout options. This phase encourages out-of-the-box thinking and enables you to generate a range of design concepts that capture the essence of the project.

Content Integration

While words crafted beautifully can elicit many emotions; when paired with graphics and artwork, they can work together to become a unified sensory experience that subconsciously impacts user decision-making.

The use of color isn’t just meant to make things look pretty, either. When you dive deeper into the theory of color it becomes apparent that it is a psychological technique that makes viewers feel certain emotions subconsciously. 

The deep teal hues used throughout these concepts fall in line with our branding, but heavy shadows within the imagery give off a more mysterious, menacing feel.

Strategy, brainstorming, testing, and even failure are natural cycles that are often overlooked in the creative process but are essential to any campaign’s overall success. 

Translating these concepts into your digital marketing campaigns is a subtle tactic that could help your ads drive more conversions, but ensure you’re not straying too far from your typical brand palette! 

Execution

With a refined concept in hand, it was time to bring everything to life and execute the design with precision.

I took the images and copy and began laying it out in the most compelling way possible, focusing on legibility, but also making sure the imagery was prominent and engaging.

Whether you’re working with software like Adobe Creative Suite or other industry-standard tools, pay attention to details, maintain consistency, and ensure the design is optimized for its intended medium. 

Fine-tuning typography, layout, color schemes, and other design elements until you reach a compelling and cohesive design that you’re proud to share with your team.

Ready to save your seat? Register here.

Collaboration, Feedback, & Testing

Design is a collaborative process, and seeking feedback is vital for refining and improving your work. Share your designs with team members or stakeholders and encourage constructive criticism. 

Listen attentively to their input, understand their expectations, and incorporate their suggestions where appropriate. Effective communication and collaboration foster a deeper understanding of the project’s goals and ensure that the final design meets or exceeds expectations.

Designers, I know it’s difficult for your egos, but make sure you’re not putting all your eggs in one basket, either. 

While personal preference will certainly come into play, trust the data to ensure you are pushing the creative that is driving the most conversions. The more you can test your designs against other variations, the better. 

Finalization and Delivery

The last step of my creative process involves finalizing the design and preparing it for delivery.

Polish the details, double-check for any errors or inconsistencies, and ensure the design is optimized for different platforms or mediums. 

The suite of deliverables for our webinars typically ranges anywhere from digital ads to social assets, email marketing materials, and even the deck for the presentation. 

Create the necessary files, maintain an organized file structure, and keep backups to facilitate future revisions or updates.

I can’t stress enough how incredibly important it is that the creative translate cohesively across all deliverables to heighten brand awareness for these events. 

When your creative pieces look good, it’s a bonafide first impression that helps to drive all of the other KPIs for a given campaign.

The creative process is a fascinating journey that combines strategy, creativity, and technical skills. By following the steps outlined above, you can approach your projects with the same clarity and confidence, delivering exceptional designs that captivate and communicate effectively. 

Remember, the process is fluid, and each project may have its unique requirements. Embrace the iterative nature of design, stay open to collaboration, and continue to evolve and grow, embracing new technology and harnessing it to your advantage.

As the marketing world and generative AI continue to change daily, it’s important to remember that design quality will still reign supreme, but adapting to industry trends will only make your campaigns stronger. 

Read more about how design and creative services can revitalize your digital marketing efforts.

• https://www.directom.com/ai-creative/ 
• https://www.directom.com/how-are-digital-graphics-used-to-advertise/ 
• https://www.directom.com/the-year-for-social-media-marketing/ 

The post How AI Imagery Shaped The Look Of Our Latest Webinar appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

For instance, we had to go all the way to page 5 of the Google search results for the keyword “fairies” to even find out that these mythical creatures are actually 100% totally real. It’s not just that the site is badly designed. It’s almost even pleasant to navigate, and the blog content is generally pretty up to date and prolific. The real culprit here is that the site wasn’t designed for SEO. 

When we talk about SEO, the conversation is often focused on targeting keywords and optimizing content to strengthen the presence of those keywords. You want Google to place your site on that coveted page 1 of search results, so you write targeted blogs that contain great informational content and optimize your on-page copy. 

What many people don’t realize is that SEO goes much deeper than keyword optimization, and should in fact be baked into the website’s design. 

Let’s look at some of the ways in which web design affects SEO so you can avoid living on page 5 with the fairy folk. 

Appease the Crawlers

The Prequel Trilogy introduced to Star Wars fans the concept of Midichlorians. Midichlorians are intelligent microscopic symbiotes that live inside of all living things. When a person has a strong enough connection with their Midichlorians, they can sense a pervasive energy called The Force and make use of it for their own purposes. 

Star Wars fans ate this new bit of lore up with unanimous joy and celebration, naturally. 

Well, the internet has its own sort of Midichlorians, in a sense. These tiny, artificially intelligent creatures, called search engine crawlers, crawl through websites and pull data and links to determine, ultimately, where the website falls in terms of keyword searches. 

For example, you don’t have to tell Google that your website is about trampolines. Google’s search engine crawlers will skitter their way through your site and determine on their own that it is about trampolines. When somebody searches for “trampolines,” the results of the crawl will place you in the results based on how “trampolinish” your site is, and how likely it is to align with what Google thinks the searcher is looking for. 

That means that from the first step of designing a website, you need to be aware of both your human audience and your search engine crawler audience, and they’re not always looking for the same things. Here are some ways to make your site more appealing to people and crawlers alike: 

• Keep it simple. Nobody wants a website that’s difficult to navigate. By cutting down on the number of URLs, the length of URLs, and sub-categories within URLs, you make your website easier to quickly navigate. 

Simpler sites with easier navigation mean both a better user experience and an easier indexing process for search engine crawlers. 

• Use responsive design! People are looking at your website at home on their laptops, on their phones during lunch breaks, on their ultrawide monitors, on a train, in a tree, in a car, Sam, let me be! The point is that there are so many differently sized screens out there these days, and a well-designed website will be responsive in a way that accommodates all of them. 

It’s not just for user experience, either. Google checks the responsiveness of your design and ranks your site accordingly. Use this tool to test if your site is up to snuff. 

• Show and tell. Images are nice and can enhance the user experience. However, website designers often like to place important relevant text inside of an image instead of in the copy. This is an SEO no-no. 

Search engine crawlers don’t read images, they just see the image and say “Oh, hey there’s a picture,” and move on. That means any text inside your images isn’t being considered for search engine rankings and you’re losing viability for a place on page one.

If you just have to put your words in pictures, make sure those words are in the copy too!

• Image size matters. While it can be tempting to plaster large beautiful imagery all over your landing page, that can lead to longer loading times and longer search engine crawl times. Both of these things are bad. 

Even the tiniest delay in a site’s loading time can bounce users away. Even just a second of extra loading can be like agony to somebody who’s in a hurry. And let’s be honest, these days it feels like we’re always in a hurry. 

Likewise, search engine crawlers will see the delay as a negative and head  back to the Google mothership with a bad report about your site’s optimization. 

Best bet? Keep your images small enough to get the idea across without clogging up the loading pipeline.

And auto-play videos? Fuhgeddaboutit. 

Other Considerations 

Beyond appeasing the search engine crawlers and becoming one with The Force, there are plenty of other things to consider when designing a website. 

In general, avoid gigantic blocks of text. Short, but informative is generally the way to go in terms of readability. 

Keep an eye out for harsh color schemes, both in your font and in your backgrounds. 

Make navigation as easy as possible, and for the love of Obi-Wan, stay away from Flash and JavaScript elements as much as possible. 

If you’re designing a site of your own, and you’re wondering about the myriad factors that can help with optimization, feel free to reach out to our Pittsburgh marketing firm for a chat.

The post How Can Website Design Affect SEO? appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

Since accepting the offer, you and your team have put in months of hard work to get it done. Launch day came and went; all of your hard work was finally about to pay off!

But as the weeks following the site redesign go by, the exact opposite of what you expected to happen, happens.

Sales dwindled. Phones that constantly rang eventually came in drips. Qualified leads became mostly spammy submissions.

The C-suite is naturally going to ask questions, so like any good marketing professional, you turn to your data for the answers.

Instead of that reassuring feeling you’ve come to expect from your analytics, the answers you find in the data shock you.

Users? Down. Sessions? Down.

In short, your traffic fell off of a cliff. It tanked hard.

Failing to consider website redesign SEO is a very real possibility that marketers and site owners face whenever they consider redesigning their site. Without bearing in mind the impacts a redesign can have, you can seriously hurt your organic search traffic.

If you’ve experienced a significant traffic loss post-redesign of your site, this post is for you.

We break down why that may have happened. On top of that, we cover a few options you have for getting that traffic back.

First Things First – Did Your Traffic Really Tank?

This might sound like a redundant question. After all, you can take a look in your Google Analytics account and clearly see that traffic is down.

Traffic can decrease for lots of reasons, but here are some ways you can evaluate your site to see if your site traffic actually tanked due to not properly planning for a site migration from an SEO perspective.

Check Your Site Code for Missing Analytics Tags

No matter what analytics platform you use—Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Piwik, Clicky, and so on—there is some kind of site-wide code these platforms use to track how users interact with your site. Without it, analytics tools have no way of recording traffic data.

Ask yourself; is this code installed on every page of your site?

If you’re unsure, crawl your site with a tool like Screaming Frog to see if your code is missing from any pages.

Did you install Google Tag Manager (GTM)? According to BuiltWith, at least 7.8 million live websites use GTM. If you did install it and add your analytics tool to one of its containers, you might need to do some troubleshooting.

In case you didn’t know, the easiest way to figure out if your site uses GTM is with Tag Assistant, Google’s free Chrome browser extension.

If after the above you’ve concluded that your analytics configuration is correct and tracking works as expected, proceed to the next step.

If analytics tracking is not collecting data as intended, try fixing it first, and then wait for more data to see if your site’s performance continues to suffer.

Did You Contract Your Site in Any Fashion?

We have consulted with many companies who redesign their sites and then become concerned when their traffic takes a hit. As we begin to dive in, our analysis typically uncovers several reasons why their traffic tanked.

• A support forum or knowledge base that was once public facing on their own domain is now discontinued or hosted by a third-party provider like Desk.com, Freshdesk or Zendesk.
• Content now deemed outdated or irrelevant to the site has been unpublished, such as old blog posts or company listings in a directory.
• Business model or service offerings have changed, resulting in fewer pages on the site to be indexed to generate search traffic.

Businesses evolve, so we all understand that changes like this happen.

However, we tend to overestimate the extent by which 301 redirects will save your traffic.

It is true that 301 redirects will send your visitors from a former URL to a new destination in an SEO-friendly way.

However, if an older webpage had keywords mapped to it via Google’s index, it could take a long time for Google to figure out where to find the new page and whether it is worthy of prior rankings.

Let’s say that you decide to sunset old, irrelevant blog posts and 301 redirect those URLs to your main blog page, here’s what is most likely to happen:

• Search engines will follow that redirect over the course of 90 days, sending traffic intended for your old pages to your blog main page.
• Over time, Google will learn that you eliminated those posts and that your blog main page is not a relevant match for your old pages.
• Google will stop ranking your old pages for the search queries they used to occupy.
• Over time, your traffic from search engines will drop significantly.

Now, this doesn’t mean that 301 redirects are bad. If you legitimately migrate content from one URL to another, then you should always use a 301 redirect.

If you have backlinks that send referral traffic that you don’t want to lose, refer those visitors to a new destination with a 301 redirect. Or, better yet, see if you can get the referring site to update the link to your new page.

When you do that, however, you are still signaling to the search engines that the page you are redirecting no longer exists. Because of that, the search engines will remove that page from the index over time, and your rankings will go along with them.

If you did decide to reduce the size of your site and your search traffic tanked, that likely should have been expected. It is possible to bounce back and regain that lost traffic, but not without a serious effort to improve SEO across the board.

Your Traffic Really Did Tank. Now What?

If you’ve come this far, you have probably confirmed that your site:

• Has fully functioning analytics code.
• Has not been contracted in any way.
• Has still lost a significant amount of traffic.

You’re probably ready to hear all about what options you have to course correct.

To get started, let’s go through the three most common reasons why your site traffic from search has likely tanked.

1. Old 301 redirects weren’t updated.

As previously mentioned, you should use 301 redirects if you migrated pages to new locations on your site. Many companies are successful at mapping redirects from their previous site to a new one.

Depending on how many versions of your site have existed, these may be the only redirects you need to manage.

Lucky you!

But, if your site has been on the web a long time and undergone multiple changes, then setting up redirects from the most recent version of your site to the new version is just the tip of the redirect iceberg.

Much like how Google has a record of every single thought you have ever searched, they also have a history of every single webpage your domain has ever hosted.

And here’s a little tip—the search engines want to know the new destinations for those old web pages.

If old redirects are causing your traffic to tank, here’s how you can fix it:

• Map those old redirects to their new destination, placing a priority on the ones with backlinks pointing to them.
• Upload those redirects wherever they need to be placed.

While this is a very tedious and time-consuming fix, you should start seeing search traffic return quickly once you begin placing these redirects on your site.

2. SEO data wasn’t migrated from your old site to your new one.

You spent years cultivating the perfect title tags, meta descriptions, subheadings and schema on your site.

But when you launched your new site, you may have rewritten all of your content, and forgot to copy over all of that SEO friendly information.

When the search engines crawled your new site and realized you didn’t have any of that beautiful SEO data they have come to expect, they dropped your site in the rankings, favoring newer content they deem more relevant to searchers.

If this is the cause of your traffic tanking, here’s how you can fix it:

• Review your old site files (hopefully, you have them backed up somewhere).
• Transplant as many of the previous title tags, meta descriptions, headings and schema markup settings you can on your new site.

Similar to redirecting old web pages, adding old data is also a very tedious fix, but very necessary.

While not as time-consuming as mapping redirects, recovering traffic this way might take a little bit longer because the search engines will only update your content when Google recognizes and accepts the changes made to your site.

3. Your developers forgot to remove the noindex/nofollow tag from your header.

We see this happen to redesigned sites a lot, and it still amazes us every time because it requires such a simple fix.

Commonly referred to as the robots meta tag, you can use this tag in your site header to tell search engine spiders not to index a page or follow its links. Check out this great resource if you want to know everything there is to know about this tag.

Developers sometimes forget to remove this tag from header files when they migrate from dev environments to production. Removing the tag is so simple to do, but it happens more often than you’d think.

When developers forget to take this tag out of your header, search engine spiders stop crawling your site. Meaning that your pages get removed from the search engine index.

No one can find your site in searches anymore.

Your rankings decline.

Your traffic tanks.

To determine whether or not you have a noindex, nofollow tag in your header, pull up any page on your site and hit CTRL + U to look the page’s source code in your browser.

Once the source is opened in a new tab or window, hit CTRL + F to search for either “NOINDEX” or  “NOFOLLOW.”

Do you see the following line of code in your source file?

If yes, then this is likely the cause of your traffic drops. Here’s how you can fix it:

• Login to your content management system
• Navigate to your Settings or admin area
• Adjust your settings to enable or encourage search engine visibility (completing this varies wildly based on your platform).
  • In WordPress, you can navigate to adjust this setting under Settings > Reading.

Website Redesign SEO & Your Next Steps

It’s a commonly quoted statistic in the web design community that a site should be redesigned every three years or so.

Depending on your industry, you might be doing redesigns more frequently. Either way, a general rule of thumb for companies that rely on website traffic to generate business opportunities is to redesign their site every few years.

So, if you haven’t already done so in recent memory, you should likely plan on tackling a website redesign sometime in the next nine to 12 months.

If you have recently redesigned and your traffic tanked, here are a few things to remember before you freak out:

• Your tanked traffic doesn’t mean you have tanked rankings.
  • Make sure you have your tracking code placed throughout the site.
  • If you reduced the overall size of your site, your traffic is likely to go down, also.
• Just because traffic is gone now doesn’t mean it will be gone forever.
  • Was every page on your site properly redirected?
  • Was your important SEO content transferred to your new site before launch?
  • Was the noindex, nofollow tag removed from your header?
• Time is of the essence. The longer these issues go unaddressed, the longer the recovery time.

Now that you are up to speed on the most common reasons why your traffic may have tanked, we hope you can take the necessary steps to get it back.

This is one of many helpful guides and resources we have on our site related to SEO migration services. Click one of the links below if you need a boost to your confidence in the growth of your digital marketing campaigns.

• 7 Proactive Steps For SEO Site Migration Success (Checklist)
• The Complete Beginner’s Guide To SEO Website Migrations
• Craft CMS vs. WordPress: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide
• Sr. Strategist Bentz Talks SEO Site Migrations On BluHorn TV
• How To Prioritize Link Building Tactics During A Site Migration

To get more information on this topic, contact us today for a free consultation or learn more about our status as Google Partners before you reach out.

The post Website Redesign SEO: What to Do When Your Traffic Takes a Nosedive appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.