Here is their old site:

GAPA Website Before

And here is their new site:

GAPA Website After

As you can see, the color palette changed quite a bit. Over time we had started using this nice, soft blue and wanted to use that as a dominant color in the new site. It brings a clean, warm professional feel to every page. We also brought in 4 large buttons to help direct people to the 4 main areas of the site. We also noticed that over time a lot of information had been posted to the homepage which we hadn’t really planned on when we built the last site. To better handle this we created a news feed on the homepage that could showcase all the important news. Also, conferences are very important to GAPA and its members so we wanted to include sidebar items that could advertise the upcoming conference opportunities.  Also while redesigning the website we did a lot of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) work as well as integrate a lot of social media making it easy for visitors to share every page and all content with their friends online.

Visit the new GAPA website now!

Etwoah Landscape Homepage, Designed by O'Neill Communications

Above shows the home page of the new Etowah website. As you can see it focuses heavily on the beautiful, lush landscapes they’ve created and maintained for their clients. Luckily we had some stunning photographs to really bring the site to life!

We also added a link on every page to Etowah’s Kudzu and Yelp listings so that current customers can quickly go on and review Etowah’s services and prospecitve customer can click to see what others have said.

Etowah’s stellar service has also inspired people to write in with kind words and testimonials. To share some of these we created a page of testimonials as well as a widget in the sidebar of every page that rotates through some snippets of the customers’ quotes.

In addition, we also created and installed a customer feedback survey, seasonal calendars and a sign up form for the Etowah Landscape newsletter.

Visit the Etowah Landscape Group website now!

General Overview Brochure

The General Overview brochure is a 14″ x 8.5″ parallel folded, full color brochure. The focus of the piece to is showcase what the gardens are about and what visitors can expect to see and experience during their time in the gardens. The photography for the piece was provided by the gardens and were of such a high quality that they really helped make for a beautiful piece.

Download a PDF of the Smith-Gilbert Gardens
Overview Brochure

Garden Tour Brochure

The Garden Tour brochure is a 25.375″ x 11″ french folded, full color brochure. This piece contains the map of the gardens with detailed explanations of the different points of interest around the gardens as well as a listing of all 30 sculptures, their creators and date of creation.  Once again, all the photography came from the gardens and looks terrific.  Smith-Gilbert Gardens was so happy with the interior map that we were asked to blow it up to poster size so they could display it in their welcome center.

Download a PDF of the Smith-Gilbert Gardens
Garden Tour Brochure

1. Plan, plan plan!

By starting off with a clear and well thought out site map, you are circumventing 90% of problems that can typically arise. Build the site map with everyone’s input. Make sure all parties involved have their voices heard in how the site should be designed and organized and make sure nothing is overlooked. Taking extra time and care in this step will make all the next steps that much easier.  A very helpful and FREE service that allows many people to work on a site map for a website is WriteMaps (http://writemaps.com/)

2. Delegate

Once you’ve got the basic structure of the site laid out it’s time to divide up the work. Depending on the size of your team this could be quite complicated or relatively easy. The writers will need to start outlining the copy, the designers will need to work on some design comps, the UI folks (user interface) need to start thinking and planning how the site should look and function and ensure the ease of use, developers need to begin identifying all of the components they will need to develop, and start organizing databases and their structure. Everyone has their tasks to do and now’s the time to do them. Just make sure every one clearly understands what they are responsible for and that nothing is overlooked!

3. Check in

Whether you have a large team or you’re building the site by yourself, schedule checkins periodically throughout the process to check over all the work, ensure that it’s been completed, verify that it’s correct, and make sure nothing is being overlooked. Depending on the size of the site and the length of time you have to build it you might want to have checkins scheduled every day or every couple of days. Definitely once a week at a minimum.

4. Test

As you start nearing launch it’s time to get testing. If you only do two items on this list make it Plan and Test. Test early and often and really step it up before launch. Test on every browser on every operating system and on every device you can get your hands on. Ask friends or coworkers not related to the project to test it.  One great thing to do is to find someone who might not be as technically savvy as the rest of your team. Sit down with them and just watch how they interact with your site. Doing this you will find them acting in ways you never expected a user to act. This can give you great insight on how you might optimize your site for users of all experience levels. But the important thing is to test, test, test!

5. Plan for errors

So the project is ready for launch. You’ve planned a great site, delegated the work to the team, followed up with them in checkins and have tested the site. All should be good now, right? What could possibly go wrong? Of course the answer is anything and everything!  There’s no way to make sure you’ve eliminated all chances of errors so just plan accordingly. If you’re launching a redesign of an existing site maybe do the launch when traffic is usually low, if you’re launching a brand new site do a soft launch and make sure it’s working for a while before you tell everybody.

With these tips, you should be able to launch a website without any major hiccups and hopefully keep the entire process relatively stress free! Do you have any good tips you can share? Or better yet, any horror stories about disastrous launches?

Take a look at the before and after and then read my notes on what changed, what didn’t, and why.

Previous GAPA Site, 2007

The New GAPA Site

1. Consistency
When doing a major website update, it can be tempting to scrap everything you’ve done before and start from scratch. However, unless the branding, messaging or identity for the company has changed dramatically, this is usually not a good idea. Remember that many users come to your website and have become accustomed to where certain buttons are and how the site is organized. They usually know, or have a rough idea, where the information that they want is located and you don’t want to needlessly confuse them or make things difficult.  To keep consistency, we kept the same basic structure of the organization of the site and kept the menu system exactly the same and close to the same placement. We made the buttons larger and easier to see, but people who are looking for them in a certain location will easily find them.

2. Update Colors & Graphics
Updating a website is the perfect time for new colors and graphics for the site. If you have a budget for new photography or stock photos – terrific! If not, maybe figure out new ways of using the photos you’ve used before. One of the main focuses of this redesign was the color scheme. We wanted a much lighter, warmer feeling on the site so we revamped nearly all the colors. The logo stayed the same, and we used the red from the logo to indicate links.  We kept the cream color very close to the same and replaced the olive green with a nice soft blue.  It still looks brand consistent though as we made sure that the new blue “matched” or fit in the same color family as the original green. It makes it look less like a dramatic change and instead like a natural progression.

3. Make What’s Popular Convenient
I can’t overstate the importance of website analytics and if you have them running on your site, a website redesign is a great time to really get the most out of them. We found that some very popular content was buried a few levels deep within the site causing people to have to click multiple times from the homepage to get to what they wanted.  Since we didn’t want to restructure the organization of the entire site, we decided to design four large blue buttons on the homepage as quick jumps to those sections of the website.

4. Promote
While assessing the redesign we also realized the importance of promoting some of the events for the client so we built a section into the sidebar that will always showcase the upcoming events with links to register for the events and sign up for more information.

5. Update Framework
Since we were going in for a major redesign anyway, we decided to update the framework on the back end as well. The site had relied heavily on HTML and that was about it. During the redesign we updated all the HTML to be W3C compliant as well as utilized PHP and CSS to their fullest so that future updates and changes will be very efficient and ensure that the site appears properly on all modern browsers.

6. Clean Up
After years of having the same design, it’s easy to just keep adding things to the homepage or elsewhere until things begin to look a little cluttered and disorganized. We found that in the redesign, we were able to create a “News” section where we could post lots of updates and promote new items.  We also took the intro copy that had grown quite lengthy and edited that down quite a bit.

7. New Features
It’s always great to add some bells and whistles during a major redesign as well to really make people excited about it. These can be small things, like adding a “Back to Top” button to the bottom of long pages. Or something more noticeable like our big rotating promotional graphic that we added to the homepage. This adds some movement and interest for the visitor as well as a promotional venue for our client to promote their agendas.

8. Integrate Social Media
Since the previous website was created before the Social Media craze, it was time to get it integrated into the new site.  To keep people connected to the client we added links to their Facebook, Twitter and Email Newsletter to the sidebar of every page.  Also, to encourage social sharing of the website’s content, we also added an “Add This” widget to every page so that visitors could easily share what they find.

9. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
While upgrading the rest of the site, we had to take a look at the SEO work that had been done up to that point. Of course, SEO should be an ongoing commitment, but a big redesign is the prefect time to make some big changes.

10. Revive Forgotten Features
A redesign also is a perfect opportunity to turn your focus on some forgotten or hidden features of your site. Maybe you have an events calendar that no one visits or a forum that no one uses.  During the redesign, be sure to identify those items and promote them strongly to create interest and activity. Maybe people weren’t going to some pages because they couldn’t find them!

These are just some of the many benefits you can receive from performing timely and thoughtful website redesigns. Take a look at our final project and let us know what you think in the comments!

Visit www.gapa.net now!

1. Mashable “The Social Media Guide”

Mashable’s website is a great source to keep up with the latest news and developments in social media: http://mashable.com/ However, I very seldom visit it, I prefer several of their other ways of communicating which are through their RSS feed (http://feeds.mashable.com/Mashable), Twitter (http://twitter.com/mashable), Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/mashable), Buzz (http://google.com/profiles/mashable), or the good ‘ole email updates (http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=Mashable&loc=en_US).

2. The Next Web “Best of the Web’s News, Views, Startups and Culture”

The Next Web is another great source for updates on social media and the internet in general. The community around it doesn’t seem to be as robust, but they usually have an interesting take on what’s going on. You can follow them at their website (http://www.thenextweb.com/) or through their RSS Feed (http://feeds2.feedburner.com/TheNextWeb), FriendFeed (http://www.friendfeed.com/the-next-web), Twitter (http://twitter.com/TheNextWeb), Facebook(http://www.facebook.com/thenextweb), or email (http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/emailverifySubmit?feedId=295309&loc=en_US) as well.

3. Read, Write, Web

This one’s a distance third on the list, but they still occasionally have some unique content or insightful commentary. Visit their website (http://www.readwriteweb.com/) for the latest, or follow them through their RSS Feed (http://www.readwriteweb.com/rss.xml), Twitter (http://twitter.com/rww), Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/ReadWriteWeb), or email(http://www.readwriteweb.com/newsletters/index.php).

Those are definitely the top three that I would suggest but I would also like to mention two more:

Gizmodo (http://gizmodo.com/) While Gizmodo is mainly a blog about technology on the hardware side of things, there’s a lot of content about social media and online culture. Also a lot of hardware now is driving social media, especially if you look at how GPS systems in smartphones enable the onslaught of location based services.

Your Friends: Once you make the plunge and get social media working for yourself and/or your brand, you’ll find that many contacts in your new digital social circle will be more than willing to share the latest news and give their opinions on the direction the technology is headed. And if you’ve got questions, they’re the people you want to ask. It’s a great reason to get a conversation started.

By simply staying up to date with these resources you’ll be doing a lot for your social media know-how. You’ll probably even to start feel like an early adopter! And for those of you who are already in the early adopter category, how do stay on top of it? What resources am I forgetting?

1. Publishing Media
These are websites (or platforms) that allow for the easy publishing of articles and information, usually in a longer, slightly less casual manner. Good examples of publishing media are blogs and wikis. The main ones are:

• WordPress
• Blogger
• Wikipedia
• Wikia

2. Content Sharing
These are sites and services that allow you to share content with your social network. What you share can be anything from music to photos to movies or links you found online. Most allow for some amount of commenting and discussion as well.

• YouTube
• Flickr
• Digg
• Last.fm
• Del.icio.us

3. Discussion
Many services have been developed for the simple task of quick communication through chatting or video conferencing. Some of the most commonly used are:

• Yahoo Messenger
• MSN Messenger
• Google Talk
• Skype

4. Social Networks
This is what most of us commonly think of when we think of Social Media. These networks can vary greatly in how difficult they are to become apart of as well as how specific their area of interest is. For example Facebook is a social network with a very general area of interest and is open to most of the public, Behance is a social network only for people interested in art and design and you must go through a review process to be accepted into the network. Here’s a list of some of the more popular social networking resources:

• Facebook
• MySpace
• LinkedIn
• Ning

5. MicoBlogging
Microblogging is very similar to regular blogging and the publishing media except that’s its done in much smaller chunks. Twitter only allows 140 characters for example.  Many of these services are very easy to set up and are built for the users to share information frequently and freely.

• Twitter
• Posterous
• Plurk
• Tumblr

6. Livestreaming
These are mainly applications that allow the users to create a one-stop-shop for all the feeds that they are generating through other social media. It aggregates a users activity around the web and presents it all in one location.

• FriendFeed
• Lifestream

7. Livecasting
While broadcasting your entire life may not be for you, it has become an internet sensation with a lot of users. Below are some examples of sites that allow you to broadcast your life or sit back and watch others.

• Livestream
• Justin.tv

8. Virtual Worlds
Virtual Worlds are entire online environments, usually in a digital three dimensional  environment where users can create personalities and avatars and interact with other users with a more graphic representation of a physical space. These are only a few of the main ones:

• Second Life
• There
• imvu

9. Social Games
As we all know, games are extremely popular online and maybe none more so than the ones that include your friends in the game play. Some of these can be stand alone websites or they can also be  applications that are used within existing social networks.

• Farmville
• Doof
• Pogo

10. MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) Games
These are very similar to a combination of #8 and #9. They usually take place in a digital 3D environment, but unlike a virtual world, there is usually a common goal or task to accomplish that you share with your friends. Here’s some of the most well known:

• Word of Warcraft
• Webkinz
• Club Penguin

11. Location
Probably the newest genre in the mix, location based networks are of course based around your location. Sometimes there are games involved or competition. Sometimes they are just used for reviewing businesses. The three standouts in the field so far are:

• Foursquare
• Gowalla
• Yelp

1. It’s free
   This is mostly for the people who haven’t even started yet, and if that’s you… what are you waiting for? You can sign up today, for free and the whole process takes less than 15 minutes.
2. People prefer it
   In recent polls, people have indicated that they prefer to be contacted by the brands they love via social media more than any other form of communication such as direct mail, email or advertising.
3. Be aware of the conversation
   There’s already a conversation happening online about your company and/or your industry. It’s best to be aware of that conversation and even better to be a part of it. (It’s of course the best to be leading that conversation – but not controlling it)
4. Get feedback from your clients/customers
   Facebook offers a great way for customers to leave feedback and give you their thoughts. Many people worry about negative comments left on their pages, and that’s a valid concern. However, it’s also an opportunity to receive some constructive criticism by finding out the true concerns of your clients. It’s also a great opportunity to offer your point of view as well as illustrate how you quickly and thoughtfully react to customer complaints.
5. Broadcast your message to people who are interested
   A strong fan base automatically creates an interested audience for any information you need to broadcast. Got a one-day only special – let everyone of your fans know about it in 30 seconds or less.
6. Targeted, cost-effective advertising
   With a small amount of money you can get a lot of exposure and grow awareness with highly targeted, cost-effective ads. Since Facebook “knows” a lot about its members, it can pretty easily find the ones that are going to be interested in your message.
7. Makes you easily sharable
   Just by the nature of social media and Facebook, all of your actions and the interactions between you and your fans can easily be shared with all of their fans, and their fans, and so on. This make it very easy for your voice to be multiplied.
8. Enforce brand awareness
   To create top-of-mind, brand awareness, advertisers would have to spend extremely large budgets and advertise to huge audiences over a long period of time to see any results. However, with Facebook, a commitment to Frequent interactions with your fan base can create the same affect.
9. Simple Loyalty program
   Offering specials to Facebook fans or announcing secret deals through Facebook messages can create an easy to set up, no hassle and FREE loyalty program to keep your customers coming back!
10. Easy to create and promote events
    Facebook can help you easily create events for your business that you can then invite your fans to as well as advertise to the Facebook population in general.

These ten items are by no means a complete list. There are many, many, many more benefits from getting your company on Facebook. Hopefully, though, this will give you another nudge in the right direction if you’ve been thinking about or tried it once but forgot about it. If you’ve already got your company on Facebook, what do you think are the best benefits?

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BLOGS
Blogging before the event can be a great way to get attendees excited and also spread information important to the event. If you already have a blog, add a new category committed specifically to the upcoming event so your users can easily follow. If you don’t have a blog, or the event is of a substantial size, build a stand-alone blog strictly dedicated to the event. We recently did this for FENCETECH (one of the fastest growing tradeshows in America; you can view the blog at fencetechblog.com) We used it to promote the event and its sponsors, as well as keep attendees informed of things to do around the destination city, information about seminars and exhibits, and a whole lot more. We also did some live blogging from the show floor and some of the major events occurring during the show.

EMAILS
Email is another great way to keep in contact with your attendees. We usually keep the emails to a minimum farther out from the show and increase them as the big day gets closer. Of course, the main purpose of the emails is to increase attendance, so that is a focus of each email. However, we’ve found great responses and more interest in the emails we send when they include more information that is useful or interesting to the recipients, such as information on key networking events or fun things to do around the city the event is taking place. It should all be focused around the event, of course. Emails are also a great way to promote all of your other social media.

FACEBOOK
Creating an event on Facebook is relatively easy and it’s a great start! Promoting that event through Facebook ads and interactions can help grow a lot of interest. Facebook allows you to get extremely precise when narrowing in on your target market which can limit wasted advertising dollars and make paid advertisements extremely cost effective. Leading up to the event, it’s good to remind your fans and keep promoting the event in some of your interactions with them.  During and after the event, Facebook is a great way to keep your fans abreast of what’s going on as well as allowing them to have a forum where they can share pictures and thoughts or questions about what they’re experiencing.

TWITTER
There is no better way for massive, instant communication than Twitter. Before the show, grow your Twitter audience (followers) with informative, relevant tweets or promotional tweets to get them excited for the event. Once the event starts you can also use it to communicate last minute changes in schedules, special events or offers, or keep the people who couldn’t attend in the loop about what’s going on. Since Twitter is such a great tool for back-and-forth communication as well, you can really get a pulse of what everyone at the event is thinking and feeling and respond to any questions or concerns as well as engage everyone in attendance in a new way.

YOUTUBE
Not every event is appropriate to be broadcast on YouTube as many in the business world contain sensitive information, but if the content being discussed can be shared publicly, YouTube is perfect! Since videos usually only go up during the event or after, it is mostly a value added service to attendees but can also be a great way to generate interest in your next event from other YouTube users. A great way to do this is through attendee testimonials.

There are many conventions and trade shows that are going the “social media” route – along with FENCETECH/DECKTECH’10, we’ve also noticed conferences such as the Big (D)esign Conference, the HOW Design Conference, and Food Fete using sites such as Facebook and Twitter as alternative ways to connect with attendees. Building a solid foundation with high expectations for the usage of social media now will ensure that your next big event will be the talk of the town.