Advancement in design and programming technology makes for a perfect storm: Now is the best time to redo your website. Technology breakthroughs are constant…but design breakthroughs? What’s that all about? Comedian Louis CK does a bit about how your stomach takes 20 minutes to tell your head that it’s full. He says you can stub your toe and your head knows right away how much it hurts, why does it take 20 minutes for your stomach to communicate? Well, embracing and using new technology to its fullest is a bit like communicating with your stomach: it takes time. It’s been 23 years since Tim Berners-Lee launched the first website and we finally have the tools for designing a website that really focuses on the user. And yet it’s not only about the user, it’s also about the owner of the website and what the owner has to offer the user. It’s about a relationship between user and content holder. And like any relationship, it’s hard work.

5 technological breakthoughs that your website redesign must have.

1. Analytics.
Who is visiting your website? How long do they stay? And once they arrive, where do they go? The amount of information available through free services like Google Analytics is astounding. Web developer and online marketing expert Kurt Edelbrock says Google Analytics will help you, “understand your audience and your website in ways that your competitors on the web often won’t.” You can now track users, see what pages are popular and use this information to guide your website redesign.

2. Responsive Design.
Responsive web design offers you the best quality browsing experience with easy reading and navigation minimizing the need for resizing, panning, and scrolling. A website design with responsive architecture displays itself effectively on desktop browsers, tablets and mobile devices. “Given the rapid adoption of tablets and smartphones — and the fact that users currently seem to prefer reading their news on the mobile web rather than in apps — I think it’s inevitable that 2013 will be the year that responsive design takes off,” says Peter Cashmore CEO of Mashable.com.

3. Content Management Systems (CMS).
CMS offers you a way to organize your content and post new and updated content. With WordPress, and other open source CMS platforms, you can have sophisticated tools at your fingertips that are essential and affordable. When you manage your content better, you can repurpose it on multiple platforms.

4. Mobile.
Did you know that 85% of mobile users expect the mobile version of your website to be as good or better than the desktop view? “A mobile device is the internet for many people,” says Susannah Fox from the Pew Research Center. You can’t ignore the fastest growing audience online. Karen McGrane makes a great argument in Content Strategy for Mobile (A Book Apart), “mobile can be a catalyst to make your entire publishing process more efficient and more effective.” We should use mobile as the filter for rethinking all of our content. Mobile websites must be simpler, easier to click, better written and designed to work for the person on-the-go in a much smaller space. How about applying that to your desktop design as well?

5. Social Media.
People have a better understanding about what works on blogs, Facebook and Twitter, it’s not just about posting and reposting, but using content that effectively promotes your company, products or services. You can combine your business Facebook page with plug-ins that share content or simply add quick links and “Like” buttons to attract audiences back and forth between your website and your Facebook page.

For your audience to think of you as professional, your communications strategy must embrace multiple platforms and display messaging and visual marketing in a consistent manner. Today is a great time to rethink and repurpose your website so that it is on target with your business goals, meets your audience needs and utilizes the best that technology has to offer. Want to know more? Contact us for a free consultation on upgrading your website.

“Ultimately, diversity success comes down to strong leadership across all levels of an organization. Coda Leadership works with our clients and partners to help identify and share the best practices for integrating forward-thinking leadership and social impact in ways that improve the bottom-line.”
– Todd Sears, Founder and CEO, Coda Leadership

A Coda, not a Quota.
Two years ago Todd Sears started building Coda Leadership based on his experiences on Wall Street both as a banker and as a diversity leader. The initial website reflected a singular approach of the founder of Coda Leadership. As Coda Leadership expanded its vision and staff, the messaging and visual marketing of Coda needed to change. Todd wanted Coda Leadership to be much more than just his personal website. Instead of representing one consultant, the website needed to demonstrate the Coda “way of doing business.”

Coda Leadership is a strategic advising firm that helps companies move diversity and leadership beyond traditional programs and integrate it into business objectives. A diversity strategy is not about quotas and checklists. It’s about creating a workforce that respects all people and attracts the best talent. As Steve Salbu, dean of Georgia Tech’s Scheller College told The Wall Street Journal, “Talent is a scarce commodity and if you’re going to attract the best talent, you better be welcoming to people regardless of gender, regardless of ethnicity, regardless of sexual orientation.” Coda Leadership approaches diversity practices as long-term, measurable and sustainable business drivers.

Designing a Diverse Website That Means Business
How do you make a website that celebrates diversity but still offers a bottom-line perspective? First, the content was re-organized to highlight the Coda Leadership services in a manner that was more in keeping with what the client needs. Key messaging is shown in opening slides with links to more details encouraging the users to dig deeper as they become more engaged in the subject matter. Part of the challenge is identifying the key offerings and providing compelling content that won’t scare away busy clients or prospects.

Want to see the new Coda Leadership site? Click here.
Design Choices for Coda Leadership
We selected a bright color palette and placed it against a white, open background to create a distinctive look for Coda Leadership that is far from being stuffy or typical for a consultant. The imagery is multi-colored to reflect Coda’s multi-cultural and inclusive philosophy. We got rid of the photos and used illustrations and the simplicity of well-organized content to tell the Coda story. Todd challenged us to avoid using photos of people. “They never look like real people working together. It’s predictable. We want progressive.” Instead, we used abstract illustrations to convey the concept of diversity.

The Out on the Street Success
The Coda website needed to build upon the success of the Out on the Street while establishing a distinctive brand for Coda Leadership in its model of LGBT leadership summits, Out Leadership. Out on the Street is the inaugural Out Leadership program, with summits held annually on three continents. The program has garnered the attention of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton who said, “The inaugural Out on the Street summit . . . is an exciting opportunity to . . . advance the rights of LGBT individuals in the workplace and beyond, and to underscore why this issue matters for the industry.” Coda Leadership proudly runs the Out Leadership conferences but needed to establish a distinctive brand that emphasizes the strategic advising services being offered to business leaders beyond the scope of the conferences.

A Successful Launch
Initial reaction to the new Coda website has been powerful. Lia Parifax, COO at Coda Leadership said, “We are very pleased with the outcome, the design balances corporate professionalism with the progressive values inherent in the way Coda approaches business. We have received excellent feedback, as clients really like the tone, organization and content of the website. Our analytics are showing many repeat visitors who stay on the site for substantial periods of time, rather than quick or on-off visits.”

Want to see the new Coda Leadership site? Click here.