Tonka Park redesigned

Matt — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 05:19:20 +0000

If you are reading this post the entire tonkapark.com domain has undergone a redesign. The site had only been in existence for a short time as we have just started out here at Tonka Park. After browsing 100′s of other sites over the last few months, seeing how other development teams and designers put together a website I knew something needed to change. Additionally, the lack of dynamic method to maintain the portfolio was going to be problematic as we begin to attract more clients.

So I took a few days of identifying the key traits of websites that I liked and just started tinkering with ideas. Let me discuss the individual pages and then the technology involved

The Home Page

The front page is where the greatest difference will be seen by those of you who have previously made a visit. I have moved from a single page for the company minus the blog, to a multi-page format. I still like the idea of a single page format that uses the vertical scrolling and divides content in sections. One current example of this done well is over at the website for the new Shaun Inman project Fever. At this time I chose to go another direction to work on featuring the portfolio work and also the blog posts.

The front index page is fully driven by wordpress using the tips on the wordpress site. This allows me to include my blog posts and portfolio and also use widgets for the additional content if I so choose.

In regards to the actual css and design. I toyed with lots of color, thinking I needed to brighten up the website to maybe capture potential client’s attention. However, after 3 different color pallettes, picked out over at COLOURlovers.com I ended up back with the blacks, greys and the touch of green pulled from the tree in the Tonka Park logo. The bold black bar across the front was the statement that I think needed to be made. It highlights the portfolio selection and the key welcome phrase that I have included.

Overall I think the home page has a better presence than before.

The Portfolio

The previous tonkapark.com only displayed the small block images with the name of the client and then underneath some text and a small link to either jump to the site or to pop a lightbox image link. This new incarnation brings the portfolio to life; Color screenshots, multiple images and individual pages for each project. Right from the front page the portfolio is displaying the most recent 4 projects. This should help grab potential clients attention if they want to view work rather than read text about services.

I am sure to see some more customization on the individual portfolio pages but I am happy with how it works for now.

The Blog

The blog probably saw some of the least amount of redesign. In general the layout is the same. The biggest differences are that the blog index now only shows excerpts of the 10 most recent posts rather than the full posts. This allows new visitors to get a good idea of the content without too much scrolling. An idea supported by popular rails blogger John Nunemaker on his blawgtips site.

The other major change is the sidebar. I simplified it a bit having a single column and loosing the pages and categories links. I think it flows well and brings more clarity to the page.

Within the individual posts I have added a new link for a shorter url hyperlink. I will write about this in a separate post on how I used simple solution to get short urls in wordpress rather than a robust service or plugin. Keep an eye out for that post tomorrow.

The Copywriting

Writing and putting words together is not something I see myself being terribly adept at most days. I went through several revisions, and probably should have gone through several more. But the words can always change as we move forward. Picking out the right words to sell my company on the home page, portfolio and services pages was difficult for me. I am still struggling to define myself and my company.

Normally I would want to leave copywriting to someone more creative with words than myself, but at this point in the lifecycle of creating a new one man company I am not yet able to spend money on a creative talent such as Tiffani Jones over at Second & Park. I came across her new venture with her fiancé Matt Brown. I think I will keep her info though as she might be a valuable resource when it comes time to truly invest into a project that requires great copy. (For the record Matt Brown designs great looking websites.)

The Technology

To the nuts and bolts of the redesign. One of the main goals was to move the company portion of the website over to wordpress to allow for some more robust management of files and content throughout the site. This was fairly simple and nothing ground breaking. WordPress has built in features that handle this rather easily. I will save this for a follow-up post on WordPress setup.

Conclusion

The redesign wasn’t groundbreaking and only took a few days of time. Being as a design/developer is always there own most difficult client I tried to let the small things go so that I could finish the design. I will always be unhappy with certain aspects, that is the perfectionist in me. For instance I think the comments styling needs some work but I will get there when I start receiving comments. Ultimately, I hurried to make sure I get the portfolio out there as I have recently made some contacts that I want to be able to see more details than I previously had available. Also I should be releasing a private application to a small group of users that will ultimately see my website.

I hope you enjoy the new look and that everything works out for you.

Will a website really help my business?

Matt — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 06:20:10 +0000

My website is now up and running for a few days. The front page portfolio/business card is alive and kicking and will hopefully help get me some freelance work here in town. I have started posting content to this blog, all of which no one has surely read as I begin to type this post. The biggest reason I likely have no readers is I have told all of one person in the area about my website, my Realtor turned mortgage specialist. I have not had an opportunity to really talk to anyone yet and I also wanted to get some content up on the site before the first visitors roll in. It is part of the hard work involved in starting a blog, people won’t come until you have good content posted on a consistent basis. I will continue to work on both.

As I have been writing these first few posts and keeping an eye out for local websites I have noticed several things. First is the lack of companies to have even a simple website with basic information like contact numbers, address, directions, hours of operation and some pictures of their product or at least some type of marketing item. Then the websites I have seen advertised or found through searching are typically average or below average in design, layout and usability. Even the sites that appear to be updated frequently and would be of important use to customers have outdated and unprofessional branding. I believe the services I am offering would quickly address both groups.

To me a website is so much more than just another expense for a business. A website is a tool to attract and retain customers. Whether you are a restaurant or a distributor of widgets people more and more prefer to find information over the internet. For the seasonal businesses in the lake area a website would seem to be critical in informing visitors of your business prior to their arrival in the area. People are using websites, blogs, Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, iPhone Apps and other internet tools to find information at all times of the day without having to call your offices.

For many businesses in the Camdenton, Osage Beach and lake area an advanced solution wouldn’t make sense. I am not trying to say they would, but intentionally focusing some of your advertising efforts towards the internet should be a requirement. To provide an always-on business presence will put you ahead of your competitor who hasn’t yet moved to the internet. Scott Clark addresses the need for a company website plainly:

First of all, let’s get this out of the way… you need a website. Period.

And not just any ol’ website, but a great website with clear, crisp professional, easy to navigate design with superb user ability and functionality. Furthermore, you need a website that is just as easy for you to use administratively, as it is for your site visitors to use.

It doesn’t matter if you are a national corporate brand, a smaller brick and mortar with ‘plenty of business’, a brick and mortar with only local business, or an ice cream shop that only sells to people between 5’10 and 5’11 wearing baseball hats before 3 pm only… you still need a website! Your business can be broad or niche, it can be large or small, and despite what you may believe… you need a website!

Don’t let the potential costs of a website turn you away. There are many levels of service and different options thatcan be customized to meet your specific needs. If you invest some money into an e-commerce site, a product gallery or an online newsletter you are likely to make your money back in new sales due to the work of a experienced designer and developer.

If you want to venture into creating your first business website, updating your current site to be more professional and useful to your customers, build an e-commerce storefront, set up your office with the latest tools for productivity, or have a custom designed application and database to run your business, please consider hiring me. Contact me for a free quote on your next project. — tonkapark@gmail.com

Tonka Park » design

Tonka Park redesigned

Will a website really help my business?