Tag Archives: ecommerce

Connected Ideas: This is How (and Why) Collaboration Will Make You Be More Creative and Successful

business tips

We all want to excel at almost everything in this world to make life easier for us. I mean, if we were good at everything, we could get the job we want easily, get salary raise fast and basically do anything we wanted because we just could. However, what we often forget is the fact that we are not perfect. There is always something lacking in us, but the best way to put it is; we can’t do everything… alone. For that reason, there comes the saying “everything will be fine when we are together.” Yes, humans are born social beings, which means we can’t do or live alone. I may work as a content writer, but to be honest, I do my work best when I collaborate with the web design team. When I think about this, I can’t help thinking about you as well. This time, I’m going to share my experience working together with the web design team in my office despite being in different teams to build high quality website together. Keep reading this article to learn more!

If you are a business owner looking to improve your business website, there are several aspects that you need to understand in order to achieve the high quality website that you desire, especially in the design and content area. These are what you need to do first:

  • Gather your employees from different teams together
  • Create a new project that connects your employees together
  • Make sure everyone has their own part but there is a part where everyone works together
  • Help them discuss and share ideas with each other
  • When everyone has done their part, start to collaborate
  • Don’t forget to celebrate your achievement and well-built friendship

Well, that’s when we are talking about collaborating with people within our company. We know that collaborating doesn’t always have to be with people inside the company, right? Yes, I’m also talking about collaborating with other companies. A while ago, I saw a skincare-focused company collaborating with a makeup-only company in an event. Let’s say the skincare company is called Ellie and the makeup company is called Lily (both are not real names, though). Both companies agreed to collaborate with each other and create a project together for an upcoming event called Beauty and the Feast where beauty products open their booths in that event alongside with food booths. They also named their project “Ellie x Lily in Beauty and the Feast”. The project went really smooth and it gained so much attention from Ellie and Lily royal customers. How did they achieve this? Almost using the same method as the points I have mentioned above, this is how you collaborate with other companies:

  • Gather your employees and ask for their opinions and suggestions for this kind of collaboration
  • Collect names of the companies and what industry they are from
  • Select one up to three companies that you think will be beneficial for the project
  • Learn more about the companies’ values and how they work
  • After reviewing thoroughly, choose only one of them that suits your company’s values
  • Contact them and meet them personally
  • Communicate ideas with them and see if they agree to collaborate with you
  • If they decline your invitation for collaboration, try the second or the third company you have chosen before, but always come with plan B
  • If they accept your invitation to collaborate, make sure to gather your employees and they also gather theirs
  • Interact, discuss, have meetings arranged and socialise if you want to
  • Make sure you and your employees use polite and friendly language and manners when communicating with the other company

So, why is collaboration advisable for us? These are why:

  • You and your company will get the opportunities to grow
  • You will learn more new stuff
  • You will value friendship more
  • You will strengthen your relationship with other companies without unhealthy competition
  • It will boost and improve your brand awareness
  • It will boost customers’ interest in your products

…and guess what? You don’t have to be a designer to make this happen. You can do this anytime as long as you have plans for the future. When you can incorporate insights from a wide range of individuals, including non-design team members and prospective customers, you will be better positioned to create a usable, innovative interface that helps your company stand out.

That’s Why It’s There: The Role of Web Development for Your Business

The importance of web development

Website is no longer an option when it comes to having business. It is a compulsory asset for a business. When you have a business, having a website is one of the best ways to boost your marketing efforts. Let me make it easier for you to understand. Supposing you were just starting out a small business providing light meals or snacks in your area and the only people who knew about your business were your family and close friends – they were your first buyers. At the first two months, your neighbours knew about your business and decided to give it a try. However, unless your neighbours, family and close friends (and each of them) told their acquaintances and friends about your products, you couldn’t expand your business and increase your brand awareness any more than that. For that reason, online marketing is needed. In this day and age, you don’t come to your target audience door-to-door anymore – you reach them through online marketing efforts. Yes, that’s where website comes in. A website is one of your business assets that can help you increase your brand awareness and improve your online visibility so that your target audience, a.k.a the people who need your products can find your business and buy from you. However, creating and building a website is not that simple. You need web development for that. Why is web development so important? What’s the role of web development for your business? Keep reading to find out!

Web development allows your business to be 24/7 at service

You may have your own marketing staff or marketing manager or others with their own roles in your company both online and offline, but at night time, it’s time to sleep, fellas, even you too. However, with your website and its good web development, it can act as your 24/7 marketing staff. People are absorbed in online activities that they will just surf the internet for more information or looking for answers or something they want. If you have a skincare business and you have an active blog on your website, you can still ‘persuade’ your potential buyers even without having to meet them in person. If they are curious with your products in the middle of the night where you and your employees are still sleeping, your website can do your work by providing information and details about your products and your business as a website can be accessed 24/7.

Worldwide marketing

Well, it is not just about being viewed by your local target audience – the world can know too if your website is doing well in other aspects like web design, web development and SEO. With an online website, you can link up to social forums and market your product/service to a massive audience all around the globe. You can regularly advertise and share your work on social forums to gain more than actually targeted audience.

Easy and convenient for your target audience

A well-developed website can not only help you gain more prospects, but it can also help your target audience too. Having a physical location of your business is nice, but not all people can be willing to go there, let alone have time to go there, especially those living in other countries or cities. After all, who needs to go all the way down to an offline store when they can get it all online?

Seen as credible

Your website can also act as your ‘office’. This is where it can provide as much information as needed for your target audience. If your target audience is having a hard time finding your offline store, your website is your online store. Promoting your products or services by a few clicks can grab the attention of consumers from various parts of the world. The website of a company can prove remarkable to gain business not only in a shorter time but also with a much bigger audience. If your website is well-developed, then your website can be considered as a credible source that can be helpful for your target audience.

Yes, that’s why is there. Web development helps your website be accessible anytime and if you put the right content in it, your website can serve as your business ‘customer service’ and even your ‘marketing staff’ for 24/7. If you need more information about website development, feel free to contact us and let our team help you grow your business.

From A to B: 4 Tips in Designing Timelines for Your Website

web design tips

Perhaps because the people I’m close with are all equipped with an engineering degree but I just recently realized that the majority of my friends aren’t fond of history. To me history is fascinating in its capability to infuriate. Time and time again, I visited a museum, watched a historical film or read a historical novel only to be dismayed that the problems detailed in those things are still present in the time we currently live in. History was supposed to help us make sense of the present and avoid the mistakes of our past but it seems that human folly will always find a way.

History, at its most basic form, is a chronological process. To help make sense of the past, history is typically represented as a series of events that happens at particular moments in time showed in a linear fashion. This representation is typically referred to as a timeline and they can help us chart the chronological history of a particular subject. This can be very useful in the world of web design as you can use this particular style of design to help convey certain information that works best when presented in a chronological order, such as the history of your company.

The various uses of a timeline

Depending on what you choose to portray, timeline can be used in a variety of a different ways. In the subject of internet for example, the timeline can be used to detail the history of the internet itself, starting from the use of ARPANET in the United States and up until now with several important milestones included in the timeline. However, the timeline can also be used to portray the chronological transformation of the internet itself. How the internet was used and what kind of transformation it transports at the beginning is vastly different from how they’re used now, and the timeline can be used to show this gradual progress.

The timeline can also be used to detail the journey of a specific subject. For example, now that the issue of environment is at the forefront of society, I’ve seen timelines being used to portray how a product is made to ensure transparency. The timeline details the journey of the product from the sourcing of the material up until they arrive at the customer’s doorstep, ensuring that every step of the process is up to proper ethical standards. For a more practical use, the timeline could also be used as an itinerary when you’re holding an event.

The timeline is useful not just for simple eye-candy, they can simplify even the most complex of histories to digestible chunks and make them easier to follow and understand. However, this capability depends on the design of the timeline itself as you want the information displayed on the timeline to be understandable without overcrowding them. The timeline is like a summary and you have to be smart and selective about what you’re displaying on screen but luckily, the following 4 tips should be enough to get you started.

The labels and explanations must be clear and consistent

I’ve hinted at several uses for a timeline in the above section and in each of those respective uses, the timeline works best with certain types of labels and/or information. In a historical timeline for example, dates would work best as a label accompanied by information of what milestone occurred at that particular date. By contrast, when the timeline is used to detail a particular process, the label should be used to detail each step of the process, accompanied by information of what happens during that particular step.

When designing the timeline, it’s important to keep these labels and information consistent. If the first section of the timeline is signified by a particular year, every succeeding section must also be signified by a year and that you shouldn’t mix and match multiple types of labels in a single timeline. Keep the information short and to the point as well as you wouldn’t want to overwhelm the timeline with text. If you have more information available on hand, include a hyperlink in the timeline if you have to instead of adding more text.

Use color coding to signify different sections

If the timeline is divided into a dozen sections, that doesn’t mean you have to use a dozen colors. You can simply use 2 or 3 colors alternated with each other. The goal here is to increase the legibility of the timeline and to differentiate between one section and the other. This can be particularly useful when two milestones occur in the same year as you can still use different colors to signify that the two milestones are independent of each other.

Stick to simple shapes

The style is referred to as timeline for a reason, because line works best when trying to present information in chronological order. This isn’t to say that using a zig-zagging format is strictly forbidden, they actually make very effective use of space, but you should only use them when you know what you’re doing. Still, timeline is much easier to digest since it’s just a line so unless space is really an issue, stick to a simple horizontal or vertical line.

Use icons or helpful illustrations to help illustrate each section

As I’ve hinted repeatedly, you don’t want to inundate the timeline with text and as a possible solution; you can use small icons or illustrations to help explain what a particular section in the timeline is about. The image doesn’t have to be complex; in fact simplicity is actually preferred as the point is to inform the users, not to showcase your artistic capabilities. If the timeline is used to showcase the evolution of a product or a tool, using photos of the actual product could also work.