Eric Sharp

We think so.

It’s pretty well known throughout our office and to our clients that we’re visual thinkers. We believe that clean (we’re talking spec-free clean, folks) whiteboards are an empty canvas with endless possibilities to:

• think clearly for our clients
• foster collaboration
• push great ideas forward

Whiteboards have a huge part of this philosophy, but so do the markers. Not just any marker, but Quartet Markers. Though their longevity may not compare to the typical whiteboard marker, we’re advocates of this specific marker because of it’s richness and easy writing style (“EnduraGlide” technology). It takes about a single wireframe and/or bulleted list to feel the difference and become a believer.

Last Friday we received a delivery of 100 markers, and it was like Christmas morning people.

So now our conference room is not only flanked with two 8′ whiteboards and 94″ projector screen, but a storage bin of 100 markers. To us, that’s a formula for the perfect collaborative environment and we get pretty darn excited about it.

So, what do you think? Do we have an obsession brewing around Caxiam Group, and is it healthy?

Come for a visit and lets whiteboard this conundrum out.

Since Caxiam Group provides a complete range of websites, web applications and ecommerce solutions, our engagements can range anywhere from 3 to 16 months. Quite the diversity, right?

Inmark Packaging located in Atlanta, Georgia is a perfect example of a longer engagement for our team. We began with a Discovery Phase in Jan 2010, and the project officially kicked off one year ago this month. The scope of work spans 9 websites across 4 different divisions of the company, focused on both Retail and B2B customers.

Long engagements take a tremendous amount of planning, strategy & heavy lifting. It also requires our team to be patient through the process, motivated and focused on the end goals. We like results, and seeing the fruits of our labor with engagements like Inmark’s is a true test of endurance and organization.

Here’s a peak into this holistic solution we’ve been building.

Identifying & Planning the Big Picture

Inmark is an established company of 35 years, with an existing customer base that extends Internationally. Yet, they also have untapped markets with tremendous opportunity. Through months of research, analysis and brainstorming, we finalized a plan to build 9 different websites (focusing on different markets) coupled with a CSR tool and custom Content Management System. All these solutions tie into their new Enterprise Resource Planning system, a multi-million dollar investment that will dramatically change their business’ operations.

Different Audiences + Different Needs = Different Websites

Corporate Re-Branding & Division Sub-Branding

Brand cohesiveness across all 4 divisions was imperative. There needed to be a common element, yet possess a uniqueness to differentiate them. We used color + iconography to embody Inmark’s International outreach and emerging markets.

Asset Creation & Art Direction

Our creative team works with a variety of photographers. Sometimes clients have their photographer of choice, and others lean on us to recommend and coordinate this effort. We had the great pleasure of collaborating with Don Matter in Atlanta. We were the bridge between client and photographer to assure style and composition aligned with the big picture.

Designing the User Experience

We’re heavy into the development phase for 4 of the 9 websites currently, looking to roll these out steadily this Fall. We targeted the B2B websites first to learn about their existing customers, and then apply this valuable knowledge to the new customers targeted within the Retail market.

We constantly remind ourselves that “we’re not the user” in our web persona development. By getting in the heads of Inmark’s existing customers, we began to understand the industry, needs & behaviors of these users. Even though the actions of the Retail audience will contrast those of B2B, we inhaled critical knowledge about the world of packaging and Inmark’s own products &  services along the way.

Rigid Container Packaging division’s homepage

Custom Content Management System + CSR tool (Customer Requests, Customer Mgt, Forums, Knowledge Base, Live Chat)

Complexity takes Time, Energy & Resources

Our long and complex engagement with Inmark exploits the very uniqueness of Caxiam Group. We helped define their problems, set a strategy, plan, organize and build 9 websites targeting very different audiences. We’ve become Inmark’s greatest ally in utilizing the web to solve business problems and amplify their brand. That takes a firm with a diverse palette of talent that can understand the challenges of mid-sized businesses and remain highly focused on the end results.

Does your business have an overwhelming challenge that needs a web-based solution? Not sure where to even begin? Give us a ring at 407.838.3158 or Contact Us today. Lets see if we can help you out!

The 1 week EntreLeadership Master Series Conference has come and gone, but the impact of this time spent with Dave Ramsey is already having a positive effect on the future of Caxiam Group. WHAT A WEEK!

EntreLeadership is focused on small business entrepreneurs who are seeking to grow and lead with intentional leadership. Dave brings 20 years of practical business wisdom from the trenches, having built his business from a card table in his living room to a national brand. He’s a personal money-management expert, national radio personality, speaker, author and overall an amazing man. His mission to help people is intoxicating.

We all ended the week thinking the same thing – this is going to change our business forever.

Every day we soaked in about 6 hours of teachings focused on topics like goal setting, communication, personality styles, team unity, delegation, sales & marketing. We then had the remaining afternoon at the Swan & Dolphin resort to regurgitate what we had just learned. All three team members (myself, Ethan & Joel) also had the occasional one-on-one interaction with not only the leadership team, but Dave himself.

Here’s a peak into what we experienced at EntreLeadership here in Orlando:

Ethan, myself and the new guy Joel represented Caxiam Group

200 small business owners from various industries at EntreLeadership

Our first lesson on dreams, visions & goal setting

Graduation gifts from Dave’s team

Closing dinner at Epcot, Dave pulled out the “Never Give In” speech from Churchill

Sunset over the Swan & Dolphin resort – what a beautiful week here in Orlando

View more pictures over at our Flickr stream!

By nature of being a small business, we tend to think in ROI early & often. Working “on the business” for over a week and the small things we’re already implementing within our talented team (company mission statement & personality tests) has created momentum & energy. That alone can be considered a profitable decision and we’re just beginning to scratch the surface.

Thank you Dave Ramsey and team for inspiring, motivating & sharing your unmatched wisdom!

Photoshop World made its way to our neck of the woods a couple weeks ago. With such comprehensive knowledge and inspiration only being 30 minutes from Caxiam’s headquarters, it was a no-brainer to leave the team behind for a few days (sorry guys) and attend the Orlando conference at the Orange County Convention Center.

Though the conference certainly appeals to photographers, the workshops, classes and expo focused on a wide range of Photoshop fundamentals, resources, tricks and new features released in the latest version (Adobe CS5). Regardless of your craft (Graphic Designer, Web Designer, Print Designer, Retouching Artist, etc), there was opportunity to sharpen your Photoshop skillset and therefore become a more efficient creative resource for your clients.

Plus, it was just cool to be around thousands of other Photoshop geeks. Some of the best gurus in the world walked that convention center – a very humbling experience in itself.

Here are a handful of observations I took away from Photoshop World 2011 in Orlando!

#1 – Shortcuts, Shortcuts, Shortcuts

Shortcuts are a wonderful thing. Just as websites try to eliminate clicks with clear hierarchy and organization, shortcuts in the world of software also help eliminate clicks & increases user proficiency.

Julieanne Kost held a Creative Composition session and was rattling off shortcuts faster than I could write them down! Here are a couple new ones I learned (note > these reference a PC keyboard):

• X KEY = Toggles from Foreground to Background color
• ALT + RIGHT MOUSE drag Left/Right= Adjusts Brush Size
• ALT + RIGHT MOUSE drag Up/Down = Adjusts Brush Softness
• You can duplicate a mask in the Layers panel by simply dragging it onto another layer (holding ALT key)

#2 – Black and White Photography doesn’t stop at Desaturation

I feel slightly embarrassed admitting this, but I thought B&W photography was simply about going to the menu Adjustments > Desaturate and Voilà!

That’s it…right? Shame on you Eric.

Adding a Black & White Adjustment layer is just the beginning. Though your image looks b&w on screen, you still have the ability to tweak the color in the image. Darken the blacks, lighten the whites, tweak the reds, yellows, etc.

If I had a penny for every time I heard “adjustment layer” and/or “channels” throughout those 3 days, I’d have enough coin to buy Starbucks tomorrow morning. It’s obviously a very powerful aspect of Photoshop and the pros are evangelistic about it!

My dog Yogi helped me exaggerate the technique above. Isn’t he handsome?

#3 – Start shooting in RAW

I’ve a novice photographer, so again, I’m ignorant to these types of details. I’m not going to list out reasons WHY you should (I’ll let you Google that), but a common process I kept observing was the ability to take a RAW image and directly edit in Adobe Camera RAW. This was extremely beneficial while creating Smart Objects within Smart Objects.

Note to self: stop shooting in JPG format

#4 – Extracting hair is NOT a mystical technique

Extracting people’s hair from a background can be one of the most difficult, and infuriating, techniques to master.

Using REFINE EDGE is a great start, but the steps after refine edge are where the magic happens. Pretty much every website we’ve built, we’ve needed to extract hair from a stock photo for compositing into our designs. Next time I’ll certainly feel more confident that it can be done while retaining supreme detail in those curls, waves & little frizzies.

This session with Ben Willmore was packed! Understandably so.

#5 – 3D capabilities are extremely powerful

Wow. This is one area of Photoshop that I need to become more acquainted with. From logos to headline text, the tools go fairly deep in allowing you to stylize and customize your design.

The Expo’s floor had ongoing sessions – non-stop information!

#5 1/2 – Protect your laptop’s Power Adapter pre-conference

Thanks to my other dog Klondike, I was 100% reliant on my battery life for Day 1. Have a backup!

(if you have a teenage dog with an appetite for wires)

My MacBook’s Power Adapter – KLONDIKED!

For the last 10 weeks, Caxiam Group has been working diligently with Brevard Community College on completely rebuilding their online presence at BrevardCC.edu.

Established in 1960, Brevard Community College has 4 campuses spread across the heart of Florida’s space coast and is home to nearly 28,000 students. The last full revamp the institution had was over 12 years ago! Yes, that’s ONE-TWO, 12.

With over 30,000 pages and 100+ contributors to its content, BCC was in dire need of not only re-building their website, but rethinking their online marketing approach and restructuring their technology for maintaining & growing this new website.

We’re ecstatic to be working with an organization with great vision & a tireless pursuit of quality. Our team has enjoyed their professionalism and dedication to launching a brand new website. They’ve also been a blast to collaborate with thus far! That’s been a big plus for our strategy & planning team as they’ve invested over 50 hours with BCC in the same conference room since January.

In a nutshell, Caxiam Group has been tasked with helping their Marketing & Media Relations department with the following:

1. Develop a survey for existing students, faculty/staff for current website evaluation
2. Analyze traffic metrics to determine user patterns
3. Competitive analysis on other college & university websites
4. Recommend an enterprise level Content Management System (Hannon Hill & OmniUpdate are the current front-runners)
5. Rebuild architecture of existing website (30,000 pages mind you) into a structure understood by students/faculty/parents/alumni for browsing & searching content
6. Redesign the site adhering to BCC’s branding guidelines to embody the college’s vision & offerings
7. Help guide overall content strategy and develop engaging features to recruit potential students & retain current students
8. Develop multiple design templates for CMS integration & oversee implementation

Caxiam Group and the BCC team are looking to roll this brand new website out in late September, early October. Until then, our sleeves are rolled up and we’re dedicated to bringing success to such a great organization!

Creating unique and original content for a website on a periodic basis is tough. Lets face it, sometimes it’s flat out impossible to stick to and maintain an editorial schedule.

If you’re spending hours crafting and editing that website content, I encourage you to take a step back and ask yourself these questions:

• Am I blogging about the right topics?
• Will Google find this unique content? What about Bing/Yahoo?
• Am I optimizing appropriately AND accurately?
• Is my Content Management System outputting SEO (search engine optimization) friendly code?
• Will all this writing lead to a customer engagement?

Generating unique content for your website is a demanding task in itself ! Make sure you have a strategy to obtain SEO importance so it’s connecting with your prospects. Otherwise, it’s like exercising without knowing if you’re burning calories & getting healthier. Understand your labor to obtain the fruit!

Assuring this original content is indexable and speaks to your company’s value will enable that content to grow legs and eventually find your customer! Lets talk more about this.

Work smarter, not harder…

I love this age-old adage. If you’re blogging consistently, without a strategy in place, you might be in jeopardy of just working…harder. The illusion might be that you’re doing exactly what search engines ask. Build it (unique content) and they will come, right? Wrong. Unless that unique content has significant social signals, viral capabilities or major offline promotion, you could be in danger of writing for everybody BUT your customer. That’s a scary place to be…but you can fix it!

“If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time” – Zig Ziglar

What are you trying to accomplish and who are you trying to please with this unique content? Are you trying to meet your “quota” for the week and/or give the higher-ups a warm fuzzy with all this great “unique content”? Are you simply bragging about the greatness of your company? Are you more worried about what your family/friends think than your customer?

Unique content becomes extremely valuable on a human level when you start thinking about who’s reading it. Hopefully, it’s your prospects, right? Target those prospects & speak to their problems. Only then does it become valuable on a robot level (search engines) because you’re simply pointing to the door & opening it for them. SEO acts as tunnel and the content inside should already be scripted as if you were sitting face-to-face with them.

Don’t simply make an online…

The really smart guys up at NewFangled.com have a great way of describing websites that have no content strategy. They simply call it a…brochure.

Think about that. A brochure.

When I think of brochures, I think of characteristics like “static” and “limited”. “Outdated” comes to mind because I’ve seen in my 12 years of marketing how quick this collateral becomes obsolete. But, “limited” is the key here. A potential customer could never get their hands on your company’s brochure (where they can learn about all the wonderful things you can provide them) without some effort on your part. Slow moving tradeshows, direct mailing & business development teams demand time, money, effort…

Imagine if those same potential customers that you targeted…came to you automatically. They walked into your office, knocked on your door, and asked directly “how can you help me solve my problem?”

This is what original content can do for you for when it’s aligned with a well constructed content & search engine optimization strategy. Your website becomes much more than a limited & static brochure. It becomes your most important communication tool. Your customers come to you, instead of you going to them. Don’t treat your website like a brochure, create something more!

Getting your unique content in front of those prospective customers

Start with finding the right keywords

After establishing your customer profile and determining the type of content you’ll be creating (blogs, newsletters, webinars, whitepapers, etc.) it’s onward to optimizing that content.

The biggest mistake I’ve seen customers make without SEO expertise is the blind attempt to optimize around phrases that don’t generate searches. How findable are the content’s of your website if no one is searching for it? Put yourself in the shoes of your prospect. If your cursor was blinking in Google’s search, what would you type? The answer is easier than you think.

Lets say you’re in the business of selling organic dog snacks. Sure, you maybe rank #1 in all three search engines for “organic dog snacks”. You spent hours writing unique content around the health advantages of organic dog snacks and how to purchase these organic dog snacks in the SHOP section of your site…

Guess what? Less than a dozen people in the US search for “organic dog snacks” every month. This search volume will drive little traffic, and even less sales.

Instead, wouldn’t you rather build & optimize some content around a keyword like “organic dog BISCUITS” that generates 2,400 searches/monthly? That’s 200 times more! It may make sense to also generate unique content around recipes and food (e.g. “Why our company sells the best organic dog food”)

Now we’re getting somewhere!

Google’s Free Keyword Tool is a great start to your research

Information Architecture can make or…

BREAK your unique content. After finding the right keywords, it’s imperative that your website places these keywords on the pages that make sense to search engines. The long-term goal is to establish rankings on more than JUST your homepage. Without proper architecture, you’ll pigeonhole your content faster than you can write it.

Above: Caxiam Group’s blog articles are indexed & targeted!

Backlinks are about quantity and…

QUALITY. Keep this in mind when developing your off-page optimization strategy. You’ll get fewer links from quality backlinks, and that’s just fine. Contrarily, you’ll get MORE backlinks with lower authority websites, but don’t get too hyped up on the numbers game.

On-page optimization is keyword rich but not…

SPAMMY. Remember who you’re writing to. People, not robots. Meta data such as Page Titles & Descriptions need to adhere to your SEO strategy. URL structure and keyword density are other factors to be cognizant about.

Internal linking is one of the…

EASIEST ways to make search engines aware of your new & original content. When publishing a new blog post, link to it from your homepage. New Press Release? Find a spot for it in the About Us section. New Whitepaper? Drop it in the “Downloads” or “Free Resources” section and announce it through a blog post or press release.

Summarizing

It’s time to start working smarter people. Shift your paradigm from “brochure” to “most important communication tool” – your content is worth it!

• Target the right customer
• Understand the problems they’re having & address it
• Have a plan
• Optimize

That’s all there is to it, seriously! If you’re interested in hearing more about our Search Engine Optimization services, please take 20 seconds to contact us. We love this stuff…and would love to help your business today!

Great quote from Charles Eames.

When executed in a consistent manner, those eloquent details in a design can become a voice to your users. ”Hey, we’re glad you found us. Your user experience is important and we’ve gone the extra mile for you”. Those details can:

• Enrich the overall presentation of information
• Facilitate further understanding of hierarchy & functionality
• Entice a user to explore content
• Keep users (customers) coming back to your website with a deeper appreciation of your product or service

Here are a handful of some delicious design details I’ve stumbled upon lately.

Google Search Results Paging

The “o” above the current page changes from Yellow to Red. Could they have simply left “22″ black and bolded for page indication? Of course. But, they didn’t.

Tinder Navigation

Madebytinder.com‘s very top navigation (the color swatches below) swaps the background color of the page. This isn’t earth-shattering functionality by any means, but the detail comes on the mouse hover state. The color swatch has a nice rollover movement, and the increased opacity of the underlying shadow gives it life and depth.

CNN Pull Quote

Extremely simple, yet effective. Love the styling of the graphical quote aligned bottom right providing the text with the perfect padding.

Facebook Loading Sequence

I’ve seen some agonizing and bloated pre-loading sequences during my days as a designer and developer. So, when I come across stripped down versions that are effective, I take notice.

Facebook has a nice touch to theirs. It uses basic rectangles, and displays them directly to the right of the option a user chooses.

The details of the sequence are compact, clean & light.

San Diego Zoo, Polar Bear Plunge

A complete 180 when it comes to pre-loading sequences in comparison to Facebooks. San Diego Zoo’s Polar Bear Exhibit is a rich experience of educational material & games.

When navigating from section to section, this preloader comes and goes so quickly that some awesome detail is probably missed (consciously). Look closely at the yellow/golden bar and how it moves left to right BEHIND the frozen snow directly above. What a subtle touch, providing great 3d perspective. I also love the shadow the overall bubble makes on the snow covered ground below and the font choice.

Kontain’s Sign Up Screen

The colored bands in the bottom left and top right align in proximity with the colors of the forms (orange = username, green = password) on Kontain.

These background images provide a fluid flow of color (from left to right) as a user submits information (from left to right). Slick.

BNET Header & UI Elements

I admire BNET.com‘s overall look and feel. Maybe it’s because I love green, or maybe it’s because of the site-wide consistency of little abstract elements sprinkled around the interface.

Check out the very top of their website where they feature articles. The details popping out at me are the exceptional usage of gradients, and slight embossing that helps separate each article. The little plus sign indicates open/close functionality and the type has great contrast from the background.

That plus sign then changes appearance once the article preview is opened (below). And the article name (“The 7 Interview Questions You Must Ask”) is reiterated, larger and in a different font. There’s also a subtle border to the entire box differentiating itself from the elements underneath.

They also use this little arrow-cutout (for lack of a better term) throughout the body of the pages. It’s a prevelant feature to their overall look and feel – and they’re consistent about the treatment for the most part (the angle of the shadows changes occasionally).

Porsche Panamera

I wanted to save this website till last, as it’s the zenith of my examples of exceptional design detail. I could highlight over 100 features from this site because it’s truly remarkable. It was almost sensory overload from a designer’s perspective to see how eloquently everything came together.

So, if I had to choose just ONE detail from Porsche’s site, I would go with this rollover treatment for it’s “Next” button.

The OFF state…

…and the ON state (below) has a beautiful treatment and provides the user with “what’s next?” through some intro verbiage. The smoothness of the animation really makes the detail when navigating “Back” and “Next”. You must see it in action.

Could a basic rollover treatment worked in this area of the site? Of course. But would it be as engaging? Would it motivate users to keep clicking and inhaling the Porsche brand? A small detail that could have a serious impact.

At Caxiam Group, we’re consistently striving to go the extra mile for our customers. When we say “we’re all about the details“, we truly take that to heart. Enrich the user experience, provide quicker understanding of hierarchy & functionality, entice users to click and keep them coming back!

Well executed design details can make a good product great, and that effort up-front can have a major impact for your audience in the short and long term.

Learn more about our Branding & Design Services and thanks for reading! May the details be with you.

I’ve always enjoyed the art of infographics – especially ones that are well done. It’s not a cakewalk to take complex data & information and design a graphic that is not only easily digestible, but engaging & aesthetically pleasing.

GOOD.is may be one of the best organizations when it comes to infographic design. There’s some top notch stuff there, and I could spend hours browsing through their archive.

Recently, I found some fantastic SEO infographics on Elliance’s website. Whether you’re an SEO expert, an ameatur looking to boost your knowledge, or know nothing about how Search Engine Optimization works – I think you’ll find the below infographics helpful and/or interesting.

Also, check out this blog post on SEOmoz. This “4 Essential SEO Infographics” is a good read.

SEO Factors contributing to optimal rankings

Long Tail SEO

(Long Tail – what’s that?)

The Algorithm

Organic vs. Paid

Ecommerce SEO tips

Search Engine Click-Thru Behavior

Our Internet Marketing team would love to educate you further on SEO importance and how it can benefit your business. Learn about Caxiam’s Search Engine Optimization services.

Thanks Elliance – very inspirational stuff guys! View more infographics from Elliance

In a previous post I shared that Caxiam had won an Addy award for our website work on Health First Pro-Health.

Though we sincerely appreciate recognition from such organizations, one of the true motivators for our team is really the recognition that comes directly from our clients. When our customer’s expectations have been exceeded and they are demonstrative about it, a warm smile is put on our face that a small trophy cannot replicate (though we do like shiny things to place in our new office).

Today the Caxiam team received this handwritten Thank You note from one of our Wholesale Distributor clients located in Indiana. Joe & Will helped shape this custom ecommerce website from the ground up, and provided exceptional customer care throughout the length of development.

Along with the above letter from the Classic President & team, Will was gifted a box of chocolates (that unfortunately for him, I got my hands on) and a board game for Joe. Awesome!

So what evoked such gracious gifts? Glad you asked.

We provided Classic Products with our custom ecommerce development services to build a retail shopping solution that interfaces with their existing wholesaler order and inventory management system (PRISM). The scalable solution gives Classic’s Custom Imprint division the ability to offer a retail shopping experience for their partners. Those partners can then provide their own employees with custom imprint clothing/accessory online ordering.

www.usicstore.com

Our ecommerce solutions are never boxed or off the shelf. We don’t implement a cookie-cutter solution nor do we believe that this type of web technology works for customers with unique needs. Custom Ecommerce Design and Development is about understanding the inherent needs of a business, and then customizing features and tools to meet those online needs. In Classic’s case, they needed a partner that understood their Embroidery Division intimately and then could build a solution to maximize their value to Classic’s partners.

We know how to make our customers happy, and apparently they’ve discovered that handwritten Thank You notes, board games and chocolates keep us producing solid work.

Learn more about Caxiam’s Ecommerce Solutions or Contact Caxiam Group today to learn more