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Archive for the ‘Web Development’ Category

What Business Owners Need to Know About California’s New Privacy Law

Posted December 31, 2019 by Mandy

Remember what a mad scramble it was with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018? Now, a new set of privacy regulations is going into effect on January 1, with major implications for U.S.-based businesses.

California’s new Privacy Protection Act imposes strong financial penalties for any company that doesn’t meet its requirements, whether or not the business operates in California. If any California resident comes to your website and you meet any one of these requirements, you need to be compliant:

1. Annual gross revenue is more than $25 million
2. Your organization receives, shares or sells the information of more than 50,000 individuals
3. Your company makes more than 50% of its revenue from selling personal information of California residents

For your website to be compliant, you will need to update your privacy policy to include details about the specific information you’ve collected, sold, or disclosed since January 1, 2019. Also, you will need to include your reasons for collecting the data and methods. If you don’t already have a privacy policy in place, there are a number of tools available to help quickly generate a policy with appropriate CCPA disclosures.

In addition to including a link to your privacy policy in the footer of your website, you must also include an opt-out-of-data-collection option on every page of your site. If your site is built in WordPress, there are plugins available that can automatically add these opt-out buttons to your site for you.

Finally, you must also provide a way for site visitors to request a copy of their information, and for them to request that it be deleted. While it is easy to add a contact form on your site, for most companies, this last step is the biggest challenge. Most big businesses don’t know the amount of data they have or all the locations they are stored since different departments typically don’t use the same data collecting systems. Updating your processes or adapting new data solutions can be time consuming and potentially expensive if you have to adopt new systems. But it will be far less expensive than the newly implemented fines of up to $7,500 per person you collect data on.

Types of information included under California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA):
Name, alias, email address, phone number, address, driver’s license number, social security number, passport number, unique online identifier, customer ID numbers, IP address, browsing history, search history, website navigation, sales history, geolocation data, consumer profiles, psychological profiles, behaviors, or any other data inferred from any combination of these items.

If you fall into these categories and run Google Ads, you need to make some changes to your settings to turn on Google’s restricted data processing setting. Google has already enabled this for all websites in Google Analytics to be compliant.

If you want to really err on the side of caution and reduce or minimize the amount of data Google Analytics collects, you can also make adjustments to your Google Analytics settings to disable data collection all together and anonymize IP addresses.

Not convinced that you need to bring your business into compliance? More than 20 other states are advancing similar privacy legislation, with many of them based around the CCPA.

Where should I host my small business WordPress website?

Posted July 11, 2018 by Lana Harris

We work with a lot of small and medium-sized businesses on their websites. The most common platform we develop in is WordPress, and we are regularly asked “Do you do hosting?” and “Where should I host the website?” Here are a few of the more common questions and answers around website hosting.

Do I need something special to host a WordPress website?
A basic WordPress website doesn’t require any fancy configurations on the hosting side. In fact, almost every hosting environment is already able to host a WordPress site. The one thing that might be “off” by default and need to be turned “on” is the SQL Server, but most hosts already have this option baked in to even the most simplistic of plans.

Who should you use for WordPress hosting? Can I stay with my current host?
There are WordPress-specific hosts. The top three WordPress-specific hosts that we have worked with are WP Engine, Pressable and Lightningbase. All three of these companies specialize in hosting for WordPress. Large hosting companies such as Godaddy, Hostgator and Rackspace have added WordPress offerings, but they do not have the same focus as companies who specialize in WordPress. It is also possible to host on internal servers and dedicated servers. We prefer the companies that specialize in WordPress hosting because you get the benefit of their expertise.

What makes WordPress-specific hosts different?
Speed – These hosting companies have servers which are optimized for WordPress. WordPress is a great platform, but there can be some performance issues with slow loading speeds, which can be critical when considering Google’s increasing emphasis on speed in ranking for SEO. WordPress-specific hosts have the servers configured to combat slow load times.

Security – Because WordPress is the most widely used content management system, it is an easy target for attacks. Yes, your small business website could be the target of a hacking attempt. It happens all too often. These attacks are automated by robots which scan the internet looking for known vulnerabilities. You don’t have to make anyone mad for them to come after you. It’s completely impersonal and opportunistic. While they can’t always keep all the bad guys out, companies that specialize in WordPress hosting can help automatically apply WordPress updates and patches to ensure that you’re site is as safe as possible.

Tools – When you offer one product or service, it allows you to specialize. Many of the WordPress hosts offer a variety of useful tools. One example is a complimentary staging environment (which allows you to rapidly duplicate the website and work on a copy instead of the live site for large changes or updates). You can always set up a staging server and manually move a copy over, but the automation tools can be incredible time-savers.

Expertise – Many hosting companies attempt to differentiate on customer service, but that can be a challenge when every website is built with different technology. We have found that WordPress-specific hosts have the ability to help trouble shoot technical difficulties, even in the development of the site.

What if we have sophisticated hosting needs?
We have been impressed by the capabilities of the hosts we have worked with. Many have been able to accommodate unusual hosting needs and requests. Not all of the services will be listed on their marketing websites, so take advantage of their eager sales teams to ask questions and get help with their solutions and alternative suggestions.

We are here to help.
If you would like to discuss a new WordPress website or the redesign of an existing site, contact us today.

Four Tools to Help Flip the B2B Lead Generation Model

Posted June 4, 2018 by Lana Harris

In years past, the goal of the digital marketer was to drive web traffic. Prevailing wisdom taught us that an increase in traffic would lead to an increase in the number of contact form submissions. It was a passive strategy at its core: Build a campaign and wait for the leads to come rolling in. As Tom Petty aptly reminds us, however, the waiting is the hardest part.

But imagine if your web traffic visitors were real people walking into a retail store. Would you ignore them until they walked up to the counter? Of course not. You would approach them and offer your assistance. Today’s blog will look at four tools that give you the ability to approach your site visitors in the same way.

IP Tracking:

As the name implies, IP tracking tools examine the IP addresses of inbound web traffic to determine the owner of the visiting network. In other words, they tell you what companies are visiting your site. Sounds cool, right? We thought so too, and after we piloted IP tracking with one of our IT clients, we immediately saw its potential for lead generation across all B2B categories.

In addition to telling us which companies are visiting a site, IP tracking ties in with Google Analytics to identify the individual pages that a company viewed and how they got to those pages (ie. organic vs. specific paid campaigns). Armed with this information, our clients’ sales teams can now send personalized outreach emails to company decision makers about relevant products or services.

Ready to get started? We recommend an IP tracking solution called Leadfeeder. While there are a number of platforms on the market, we like Leadfeeder for its easy setup, useful integrations and straightforward reporting.

Marketing Automation

Marketing automation sounds complicated, but it’s actually quite simple. Essentially, it is a process of simplifying tasks like social posts, emails, etc. For B2B clients, marketing automation can leverage a customer’s CRM to streamline email outreach through the CRM or integrations with third-party tools like MailChimp.

Combined with IP tracking and a little bit of research, marketing automation can open up some amazing possibilities. For example, you might create a series of emails that go out to decision makers at companies visiting your website. These emails can be tailored to the product or service that a particular company was investigating. Within these emails you might include a link to register for an upcoming webinar, download a case study or white paper, or connect with the sales team to schedule a one-on-one demo or consultation.

Marketing automation can also help you understand why visitors aren’t filling out a contact form. If a lead downloaded a free tool but hasn’t taken further action, you can send a series of tips and reminders about the benefits of the tool. This can help remind a lead to take the next action or get in touch if they have questions about how to use the tool.

At the end of the day, the goal of marketing automation is to move leads and contacts down the sales funnel toward a buying decision without taxing sales reps to do more outreach on luke-warm leads.

Live Chat

Live chat has evolved to become an increasingly useful tool in the B2B marketer’s playbook. In addition to giving site visitors the opportunity to ask questions without ever leaving their browser, today’s live chat solutions can be combined with inbound call/text campaigns that give potential customers the ability to communicate with you how and when they are most comfortable. Going a step further, many tools allow you to proactively start a conversation with site visitors, allowing you to initiate calls or emails, schedule demos and capture leads even faster.

Worried about after-hours staffing? Many live chat services allow you to turn your chat into a lead gen tool when your in-house team has logged out. There are outsourced service providers who offer an answering service to take messages, or the chat can be used to capture initial questions and prompt the site visitor to leave a message for future reply. Your inbound team will then be able to come in each morning and respond to leads that self-generated overnight.

Remarketing

In today’s over-saturated, multi-screen media environment, it’s difficult to break through to your target audience. But what if we focus on the ones that are already visiting your website? Remarketing allows you to tag site visitors, or visitors to a particular landing page, and then follow them around the web with digital display advertising.

If someone visits your website, looks at a few pages and then leaves without filling out a contact form, remarketing can help stick ads in front of them while they’re browsing other sites. Like the couch that follows you around the web after you looked at the IKEA site, you can remind these potential leads about your services, increasing the likelihood of return site traffic and contact form submission.

Focusing a portion of your advertising budget on potential customers that have previously visited your site results in higher conversion rates to lead capture, some studies showing a doubling effect.

There Is No Magic Bullet

It’s about building smart, layered, marketing campaigns to increase the delivery of relevant content to your target audience when they are in a buying mindset. Try a few of these ideas out and we promise, your sales team will thank you.

Want to learn more? Contact us today for a consultation on our outsourced marketing solutions for B2B businesses.

What It Really Means to Think “Mobile First”

Posted January 5, 2018 by Lana Harris

How many times have you looked at your phone today? Between quick glances, email, text messages, videos and checking in on social media, by the end of the day, you and every one of your customers spend nearly three and a half hours looking at your phones. [Inc]

We all know this shift to mobile is happening, and you’ve probably heard marketers use the phrase “mobile first” for a while now. But what does it ACTUALLY mean? Simply put, it means planning for mobile devices before desktops. But what is simple to say might require dramatic shifts in established marketing and design processes.

Here are some of the main changes your organization must make to remain relevant in the new “mobile first” world.

Speed is Everything

The first requirement in a mobile world is speed. Over the past several years, Google has been prioritizing mobile speed more and more when calculating search engine rankings. Analyzing mobile web traffic Google has found that 53% of mobile visitors will abandon a site if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load, yet the average mobile page load time for sites is an agonizing 22 seconds.

WordPress has come to dominate the Internet over the past few years, supporting more than 25% of the world’s websites. [Forbes] While WordPress is a great platform to build a website on, it can be slow out of the box. Luckily, there are plenty of things you can do to help increase your site’s page speed. An easy way to get started, regardless of your platform, is to test your site with Google’s Page Speed Test. It will tell you exactly where to focus to improve your site speed.

If you are starting a new website, you might even look beyond WordPress. There are a myriad of new mobile frameworks designed to improve mobile speed and user experience like FICTOAN, Beauter, Vanilla framework, Bulma and more.

Not Your Grandma’s Brand

If you manage to pass the speed test, your audience will find you, but what is their first impression of your brand online?

Social media and digital advertising are constantly changing. Over the past few years Facebook has made several changes to how profile photos appear on posts. Just this year, they changed the cropping that shows on your brand’s page from the square crop to a smaller circular crop. For some brands this meant their logos were awkwardly chopped off.

Moving forward, businesses are going to continue to face new challenges as their logo appears on new and changing platforms. While it’s very customary to have horizontal and stacked versions of your logo, the mobile first version of logo design will require brands to keep sizes in mind that maintain their readability on small mobile devices, and in a variety of different shapes, such as circles, squares and rectangles.

Just as websites are built for responsive designs where elements rearrange and disappear depending on the size, it’s also time to embrace responsive logos. On a responsive logo with an icon, text and tag line, each of the elements would be present at large sizes, and then the proportions might change with the text and tag line even dropping off as the logo gets used in smaller and smaller spaces. Brands that have a compact logo mark that they can use with or without the type treatment currently have a leg up in the social landscape.

If you really want to take it to the next level, you can even make it dance. Many digital platforms are starting to support animated logos. These present new options to explore and accentuate your brand’s identity in ways that catch mobile viewer’s attention as they scroll and swipe their way through content.

The single color logo cut out of vinyl is a thing of the past. It’s time to rethink how your brand is making use of its real estate in the mobile and digital world.

Developing the Right Content

Speaking of tight real estate, emerging platforms continue to decrease character limits and add all types of new restrictions for brands operating on them. To stay relevant among these changing landscapes will require new approaches to creating your content and messaging.

Start by flipping the dynamic from designing for large format pieces first, to designing for smaller mobile areas. Historically, a company profile would be developed in a longer format (750 words or so) and then whittled down to (250 and 150 character versions). It’s a very different approach to intentionally try to limit content and then build it back up for different mediums.

When in doubt, keep things simple. Focus on the core of your message and then build on it as you expand into additional content areas. If you can communicate your core messaging it in less than 6 seconds, or within 40 characters you’ll know you’re on the right track.

Finally, to maximize your website’s search engine compatibility, you will also have to begin writing differently. The first step in writing for web is to do your keyword research and find out what your audience is searching for. Then you can make sure those keywords and phrases are imbedded into the language of your copy. You also need to make sure that text is “live” and not baked into images, and ensure that it’s written in a conversational tone to answer the types of questions your audience would ask a friend or colleague, such as: “Where’s the best place to get…?” or “How do I…?” Highlight the most meaningful information in your content (like products, prices and hours) for search engines and virtual assistants by using rich data markups, which are back end code to call out critical pieces of information to search engines.

Looking Forward

From a wider perspective, not much has actually changed about what information your audiences want and need, but the way that information is being delivered continues to change at ever an increasing pace.

Focusing on mobile first requires bite size content that most companies are not accustomed to, but it is easy to embrace by focusing on the core of your message and objectives.

Have questions about how to put mobile first in your marketing? Let us help>

Why We Love WordPress

Posted July 23, 2015 by robot

Choosing a content management system (CMS) to help manage, maintain and update a website is one of the most important decisions to make when building a new website. Content management systems exist to make managing a website easier than ever before. However, the wrong CMS can cause difficulties when editing content or updating plugins, be challenging and costly for non-developers to learn, become expensive over time and have limited functionality and community support.

Navigating through these many content management systems can be time consuming and confusing, so we’ve done the research for you. For us, the clear winner is WordPress, and here’s why we love it.

It’s Widely Used

WordPress is currently the most popular website platform in the world, comprising 49.6% of existing websites and 60% of all CMS’ as of January 2015. As the most popular content management system, support and resources are widely available and easy to find. You won’t get locked into a proprietary system or stuck with a website that only a small handful of developers know how to update as you move forward.

It’s User Friendly

Originally designed as a blogging software that even the most novice user could get set up and running easily on their own, WordPress makes managing a website easy for any non-developer with little or no training. WordPress websites provide clients with the ability to do everything from making simple content updates to building advanced page layouts, all in an easily digestible framework. Where some content management systems require either backend development experience or significant training, we find most users can be up and running on WordPress with under an hour of training.

It’s Flexible

Out of the box, WordPress allows us to develop powerful custom designs (WordPress call these “themes”) and advanced page layouts. It’s surprising to find that many content management systems are still limited in their layout possibilities. If there’s a need for additional functionality (galleries, forms, lead capture, custom menus, menus and more), an existing solution can typically be found. When a custom solution is called for, it can easily be worked into the WordPress framework.

It’s Cost Effective

WordPress is free! That’s right, there are no initial costs and no ongoing licensing costs for the platform itself. While we do find that using a specialized WordPress host can help with performance and maintenance of the site, a WordPress website can be hosted on most standard hosting platforms. The widespread usage of WordPress has led to lots of competition from vendors and supporting resources, making it very cost effective to maintain.

It’s Mobile and Google Friendly

While many proprietary systems are still struggling with updating their technology to work with the latest responsive frameworks, WordPress is already mobile-ready and search engine friendly. With Google recently updating their search algorithm to rank mobile-ready sites higher than other sites, having a mobile-ready website is of the utmost importance for any company.

Choose Robot for your WordPress website

At Robot Creative, we understand that an established web presence is vital to the future of any business. Our team has extensive experience planning, designing and building WordPress (and non-WordPress!) websites that work with our clients’ goals and marketing initiatives.

We offer a wide range of responsive design options that will help your business stay ahead of changing technologies and ensure the longevity and scalability of your website into the future. If you’re interested in developing a new website with WordPress, or updating your current site to use WordPress, please contact us by sending a project request.

Does your website work on a phone? Your Google rankings may have just fallen.

Posted June 2, 2015 by robot

On April 21, 2015, Google announced that it would boost the ranking of mobile-friendly pages on search results. With this update, Google recognizes that a growing number of mobile users need web content that adapts to mobile devices. As a result, Google has begun to exclude non-mobile-friendly web pages from mobile search engine results.

What options do you have?

1. Do nothing: Make no adjustments to your current website
Taking no immediate action is an option, but it may be a risky long-term decision. Many companies have already upgraded to mobile-friendly websites, and others that continue to make adjustments will climb the ranks of Google’s mobile search results. If you do nothing to upgrade your website, keep a close eye on your site’s rankings and analytics to ensure you aren’t losing your edge in the marketplace.

2. Add some mobility: Create a separate mobile website for your mobile audience
Mobile websites offer an alternate version of your site that is tailored to the needs of your mobile audience. These websites are usually limited to a few important, minimally designed pages. Mobile websites typically exist independently of the full website, only loading when a user views the site from a mobile device. This option makes it possible to have a useful and reliable mobile-friendly presence, although it does have a downside: the maintenance of two separate websites can be daunting, especially when it comes to frequent content updates and additions.

3. Adapt to mobile and beyond: Update your existing website to a responsive design
As mobile usage continues to grow and exceed traditional PC usage, there are many benefits to owning a responsive website. Having a responsive site allows you to meet your audiences’ technological needs, while permitting users to experience your website content and features in an ideal format. With the creation of new mobile gadgets (smart watches, multi-use tablets, touch screen car computer displays), Google is expected to release further updates to their search-results algorithm. A responsive website will be able to easily adapt to these new devices as they gain popularity.

Does your website meet the requirements?
Click this link to check if your company website passes the Google Mobile-Friendly Test.

At Robot Creative, we understand that an established web presence is vital to the future of any business. Our team has extensive experience planning, designing and building mobile-friendly websites that work with our client’s goals and marketing initiatives. From custom designs to mobile sites, we offer a wide range of responsive design options that will help your business stay ahead of changing technologies and ensure the longevity and scalability of your website into the future.

Robot Interactive’s 10 Must-Reads – May 2015

Posted May 7, 2015 by robot

Your internet is getting an update. Faster page loads. Smaller footprint. More Secure.
Google Glass now has a competitor. If you don’t get a pair, we’ll still think you’re smart.
Bringing laughter to your day.
If you’re not prototyping, you’re doing it wrong.
10K video is just around the corner here.
Interesting read for future developers.
Here are some web design trends to look out for in 2015.
Where is the fold in terms of responsive design? Well, its complicated.
Here is a strategy for streamlining Web Font Loading.
Curious what grid Microsoft uses for their site? Look no further.

LegalPRO Software Branding, Collateral and Website Development

Posted July 29, 2014 by robot

LegalPRO develops, sells and supports legal software products. To support the growth of LegalPRO’s most popular product, BankruptcyPRO, and to assist cross-promotion efforts for other products, Robot developed a cohesive suite of brands, brochures, tradeshow materials and integrated websites for the parent company and its products.

Websites for BankruptcyPRO and I-Got-Notices, two software products, were part of an all-encompasing brand overhaul for LegalPRO in which the spirit, energy, and accessibility of a small team were captured through an updated website and accompanying collateral materials.

LegalPRO’s “big enough, but not too big” size and flexibility were the key messages communicated through team highlights, approachable language and selective use of hand-drawn graphics to emphasize the approachable nature of the LegalPRO team.

Robot also created a company overview brochure that carries across the same style of imagery and the message of individualized service. The LegalPRO team is a big focus in the brochure and is introduced with a fun, personable approach, representative of the company brand. Illustrated headshot photos with brief personal bios provide a snapshot of each individual’s personality.

LegalPRO’s company culture and attentive customer service set them apart from the industry. The new branding and sales tools highlight these key differentiators and provide end users with a company overview that is in-line with its approachable attitude and personalized service.

Travis Commercial Real Estate Brand and Website Update

Posted July 15, 2014 by robot

Travis Commercial Real Estate Services, a leading commercial real estate company in San Antonio, wanted to refresh their overall brand and website.

The goal of the rebrand was to slowly transition, rather than radically reinvent the logo, mindful of the investment required to apply the brand across signage throughout the city.

Logo and Stationery
While maintaining the original mark and overall type arrangement, Robot updated the typography of the logo and replaced a drab khaki with a brighter, fresher shade of green. A bold pattern was added to a new stationery package, and a secondary color palette was developed.

Website Updates
The updated logo and color palette are pulled into the design of the new website, along with refreshed content and new photography. Technical upgrades to the website included:

Integration with third-party property search tools, allowing for automated refreshing of current property listings
Responsive design, allowing users to access the site using mobile devices and tablets
An easy-to-use content management system, making it possible for Travis Commercial to update copy and photos throughout the site

A Brand-Driven Approach – Sierra Motors

Posted July 8, 2014 by robot

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Sierra Motors first contacted Robot to develop a logo and identity package. But after the logo, stationery and messaging were complete, we didn’t stop; in fact, you might say we punched the accelerator.

Environmental Branding
It was important to Sierra Motors that customers immediately pick up on the brand message when they walk onto the lot or into the sales office. To communicate this message, we developed custom vehicle magnets with main messaging points, testimonial posters highlighting customer feedback, license plates with custom frames and rearview mirror hangers. We also provided signage recommendations for each lot.

Refreshed Website
Screen Shot 2012-06-29 at 4.23.23 PM
To tie the brand into Sierra Motors’ online presence, we designed and produced content for sierra-motors.com. Functions of the website include a simple lead capture form, a refer-a-friend feature and access to an online payment portal for customers.

Collateral Materials
To round out Sierra Motors’ identity, Robot Creative developed additional printed pieces, including a tri-fold with vehicle maintenance guidelines and a handout card with information on Sierra Motors’ referral program.

Music Festival Promotion Design: Die Nacht Der Clubs

Posted March 31, 2014 by robot

Robot recently designed the promotional materials for Die Nacht Der Clubs (Night of the Clubs), a music festival in Hamburg, Germany, for which participants buy bus tickets that take them to up to 25 local music clubs. We designed the logo, posters, flyers, stickers, admission tickets, web banners and landing page.

This festival is unique in that there isn’t just one genre of music or club included in the lineup. Clubs and music styles at the 25 venues include punk, techno, house, metal and even jazz. It’s a full sampling of the great variety of bands that these clubs showcase, and Die Nacht Der Clubs is a single event that brings them all together. The client was looking for an overall clean look that didn’t lean towards any one of the music styles.

So if you happen to be in Hamburg on May 9th, buy a ticket, hop on a bus and enjoy some great music and a variety of local clubs. Tell them Robot sent you!

Don’t Be A 5-Second Site: How To Write For The Web

Posted January 27, 2014 by robot

Upcoming Marketing Mastery Series Presentation for the American Marketing Association (AMA) San Antonio Chapter
Presented by Brittany Tradup
Marketing Director, Robot Creative

How much time do you really spend reading a single web page? Odds are, you haven’t read one in years. If you are like most users, you probably scan a web page in 30 seconds or less with a purpose, looking for specific content. If you don’t find it quickly, you move on. Reading on a screen or monitor is very different from reading a printed piece, so web writing needs to be approached differently.

Write real website content that will engage users and get them to take action
Review best practices for search-engine friendly content to get users to your site
Understand what customers want from your site and make it easy for them to find what they need

DATE: Thursday, February 6th, 2014
TIME: 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
LOCATION:
TriPoint – Meeting Room 1
3233 N St Mary’s St
San Antonio, TX 78212
Register Now

COST*
AMA Members – $15 (with member-only promo code)
AMA Nonmembers/Guests – $20
AMA Student Members – $15 (with member-only promo code)

Walk-ins accepted on a first-come/first serve basis. Additional $5 at the door. VISA, MasterCard and American Express accepted.

* Attendees registering as members are subject to verification. All memberships must be current and in good standing, or will be subject to the non-member fee. Late Cancellation and No-Show Policy in effect.

RSVP by Monday, February 3rd, 5 p.m.

Project Highlight: Texas Cavaliers River Parade Website

Posted January 16, 2013 by robot

Every year in downtown San Antonio, the iconic San Antonio Riverwalk transforms into the stage for one of the most anticipated, family-friendly events of Fiesta, the Texas Cavaliers River Parade. Produced by the Texas Cavaliers, a local non-profit consisting of over 500 business, civic and community leaders, the parade benefits San Antonio children’s organizations through the Texas Cavaliers Charitable Foundation.

The Texas Cavaliers commissioned Robot Creative to design a new website that would highlight the River Parade, support the organization’s mission to improve the lives of San Antonio children and tell the story of the Texas Cavaliers.

Improved Site Structure and Organization

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The structure and navigation of this site were particularly challenging due to the three-pronged nature of the organization: the River Parade, the Charitable Foundation and the Texas Cavaliers as an organization.

After defining the goals for the site, ROBOT analyzed the various user groups and researched other parade and member-based websites to recommend a primary focus on the River Parade with secondary attention given to the Texas Cavaliers and the Charitable Foundation. ROBOT developed a site structure that allows users to find the information they want quickly, whether the user is:

a parade patron looking to purchase tickets,
a company interested in sponsorship opportunities,
an individual looking to donate,
a member of the Texas Cavaliers looking for member-only event information or
a children’s charity applying for a grant.

Functional Requirements
The Texas Cavaliers requested a variety of functional requirements for the site, including:

a content management system that would allow the administrative team to make content changes easily,
a donation form that integrates with existing donation software and accepts credit card payments,
a portal to allow members to access a contact database and a member-only event calendar and
e-commerce functionality for ticket and product sales.

Recognizing the need of any non-profit to focus expenses on the charitable cause rather than on expensive website development, ROBOT provided recommendations to help closely manage expenses on the initial development and maintenance of the site. These recommendations included developing the site using a simple WordPress platform for easy content management, identifying cost-saving third-party applications that integrate with the site and recommending a course of action that addresses each requirement over a series of development phases.

Messaging Development
With the expansion of the site to include a rich history of the Texas Cavaliers and its various programs, ROBOT conducted a series of interviews and information-gathering sessions to develop content that paints a vivid picture of the organization. In addition to this, ROBOT focused attention on developing powerful calls to action that encourage visitors to donate, purchase tickets and generally move through the site.

Design
Because the Texas Cavaliers River Parade did not have an existing, cohesive brand at the beginning of this project, ROBOT referenced the logo, event photos and past programs for inspiration to create the new, overall design concept. The design of the site captures the spirit of the Texas Cavaliers River Parade with a focus on large, vibrant event photos as the backdrop for each main section of the site. The iconic images selected capture traditions that are repeated year after year at the parade and other events. ROBOT also developed a series of icons that are repeated throughout the site to lead site visitors to main action pages, including ticket sales and the donation page.

Visit the website at www.texascavaliers.org.

Update 11/3/13: Robot wins International Marketing Effectiveness Award for Texas Cavaliers website project! Learn more

Case Study: Discover UFC® Website Design

Posted July 21, 2011 by robot

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Mixed martial arts (MMA) is recognized as the fastest growing sport in the world, and the Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) is the world’s leading MMA promoter. As much as MMA and the UFC® are growing in popularity, the sport was generally not well understood by fans and potential fans, and the industry lacked a reliable, central source of information.

As the leading promoters of MMA, UFC®’s goal is to become the authority on everything MMA. UFC commissioned ROBOT to develop a website, known as Discover UFC®, that would be an extension of the main UFC® website explaining the background of MMA, the UFC®, the fighters, the rules and more.

While there are a handful of smaller MMA promoters and a variety of websites and blogs discussing MMA news, Discover UFC® is the first attempt to broadly educate the masses on all aspects of MMA. It is the first centralized source of background information on the sport, complete with a searchable glossary, descriptions of skills and fighting styles and introductions to key individuals.

Project Description
Discover UFC® is a sub-section of www.ufc.com that is meant to be an educational resource for new UFC® fans or people that are new to the MMA sport. The site is divided into five main sections – the Fighter, the Sport, the UFC, the Fan and a glossary of terms. The content of these sections introduces the most fundamental information a person new to the sport needs to quickly become familiar with MMA and the UFC®.

The Fighter section of the site uses videos, examples and history to explain the skills and techniques fighters must perfect and describes the multiple martial arts styles for which the fighters train. It also describes the discipline, endurance, intense training and nutrition required to be a UFC® fighter, with example biographies of real fighters.
The Sport section covers the different ways a fighter can win, how the weight classes are divided, information about the fighting cage known as The Octagon™, rules and regulations of the sport and a collection of links to the UFC®’s favorite fights. The Weight Classes page contains a full history of title holders for each weight class, presented through an interactive, expandable table.
The UFC® section provides a history of the organization and introduces key figures, including the executives, commentators and announcers.
The Fan section encourages further fan engagement by providing links to resources such as pre-event shows, Fan Expos and video games.
Finally, the glossary defines the moves, phrases and key events to help fans new to the sport get quickly versed in the terminology. In addition to the major sections of the site, a search feature allows visitors to quickly find content anywhere on Discover UFC®.

Visit the website at www.ufc.com/discover.

Results
Success of Discover UFC® as a resource for site visitors can be shown in the statistics since it went live. A total of 42,829 people have visited the Discover UFC® section of the UFC® website since the section went live in May of 2011. Compared to www.ufc.com visitors who did not visit Discover UFC, visitors who did visit Discover UFC stayed on www.ufc.com over 4-and-a-half minutes longer (7:57 compared to 3:17) and visited 3.48 more pages (6.42 pages compared to 2.94) on average. The bounce rate for visitors who viewed Discover UFC was also 59% lower than the bounce rate for visitors who did not (21.02% compared to 51.04%).

Securing a Web Presence

Posted August 10, 2010 by robot

Background
ThreadStrong is a self-paced, e-Learning solution, designed by Denim Group experts, to help developers understand and apply the principles of secure application development. ROBOT built the ThreadStrong website as a multi-purpose site: 1) as a sales tool/online brochure to which Denim Group could direct leads to more information about the product, and 2) as a front-door for prospects looking for application security training. ROBOT built the site to be search engine-friendly from the start, so we employed much of the SEO strategy during the site development.

Challenges

Search Terms – Both “e-Learning” and “application security” go by many different names (i.e. virtual training, computer-based training, software security, etc).
Competition – ThreadStrong has several direct and indirect competitors on a national and international level.

Strategy

Keyword Development – Keyword research determined which phrases and keyword variations were used most often in searches. Because broader terms, such as “application security training”, were the most popular, and very few people actually search for “e-Learning”, we decided to focus our efforts on addressing the broader need of application security training.
Content Development – Keyword research also helped shape the site structure during development. Messaging focuses on why e-Learning was an important component of an overall training program. Goal keywords were also incorporated into the site content, including page headers and image tags.
Link Strategy – ROBOT developed and implemented a link strategy, which included an industry-targeted social media approach specific to ThreadStrong. Denim Group principals are heavily involved in the application security industry and are active social media participants. Denim Group experts reached out to other industry experts through blogs and other social media to get links back to the ThreadStrong website.
Google AdWords Setup – ROBOT set up a campaign within Denim Group’s AdWords account to drive immediate traffic while waiting for search engines to organically index the site (which can usually take up to 90 days).

Results
Threadstrong is being found for over 200 search phrases including “application security training”, “secure coding in .net” and “secure software training courses”. Search engine traffic in the past 3 months increased by 55% from the same 3 months last year, with visitors from 22 countries around the world.