About style&mode
Someone once asked me to “just knock something up quickly so we’ve got something online”. He then went on to explain, “the design isn’t too important anyway, as long as there’s something there; the marketing is what’s important”.
This person didn’t realize that the design is critical.
It’s unfortunate that many internet marketers do not realize or understand the importance of design. Design speaks your brand and your ethos without words. The design can be the difference between trust and mistrust. Variations in design can be the difference between 1% conversion and 10% conversion.
I’ve worked as both an internet marketer and a web designer. I started as a marketer (primarily as a search engine optimisation (SEO) marketer), back when SEO was first being born into the web.
As I started working in a more project based way (as opposed to haphazardly) I began to realize the incredible significance branding and design have on the overall marketing campaign. Thinking about it now, it seems weird to me that there was ever a time that I didn’t realize this, and it still surprises me when I speak to someone who is still in the dark.
Web design is internet marketing. They’re not separate things. They are integral to one another.
That’s really what style&mode is about.
style&mode is the web design blog for internet marketers.
What will you find on style&mode?
I gather information, learn new tricks and experiment with CSS based web design and the multifarious aspects of internet marketing I’m constantly exploring. I note down anything I feel will be useful to refer to in the future. For example my WordPress Post Installation Check List is a post I refer to every time I build a website based on WordPress, to make sure I don’t miss anything out. So style&mode is kind of my internet marketing journal.
Where does style&mode fit in your feed reader?
I subscribe to several blogs that focus on skill areas that I feel I need to develop in order to become a more proficient and well rounded internet marketer. For example, I’m very keen to develop my copy writing skills (as I appreciate the importance of well written copy in the same way as I appreciate the importance of well thought out design), so I subscribe to a few blogs that focus on the copy writing aspect of internet marketing.
I am a web designer, but I use web design as an internet marketer. So really I’m an internet marketer with web design skills. I suppose the kind of person that would subscribe to style&mode would be someone who already realizes the importance of design as part of any internet marketing strategy, or someone who needs to develop and understand this truth, in order that they can:
- communicate more effectively with their web designer(s) and thus use web design more effectively as part of their overall marketing strategy;
- develop their own web design skills and knowledge in order to to become a more well rounded internet marketer with a broader skill set; and
- learn some tips and tricks relating to both web design and internet marketing that can be used to improve their websites’ usability, conversion rate and increase its’ traffic.