Why is it that the end/bottom of the page gets so little attention?  The footer in your web design, in our opinion, is a very important web design element and often goes underutilized.

You are engaged in the page content, you read it line by line, scroll down, and then you hit a dead end …. nothing.

So many times the footer of the website is merely the spot to tuck the standard copyright line of text and maybe a disclaimer. Let’s put an end to that, OK?

Web Design Footers For Great Usability
This recent post from Web Designer Wall looks at sitemaps being used in footers. A fabulous idea for usability.  Give your users access to whatever they want next, don’t force them to scroll back up.  Smashing Magazine also offered a post a while back that highlight some creative footer examples as well. Hey, footers can be fun too!

At Five we never ignore the website footer, but that post did get me thinking on how we can utilize the footer even more to aid a website user.

We currently make sure our web design footers contain:

• Repeat of main navigation
• Explanation of the site (main purpose, main service, main area, etc.)
• Contact info (address, phone number [LARGE], contact/email link)
• Logo (often displayed transparent or reversed out, just a subtle branding)
• Copyright, disclaimer, privacy or any other site wide link need

The web design footer ideas below contain some things we have done and some we will look to add to our future mix:

• Blog headlines or other constantly fresh content
• Icons/links to social profiles (Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube)
• Full sitemap (easy one click access to the entire site)
• Map (great way to further the address of a retail/office location)
• Integrated reviews from other sources of your business

Those are just a few and there are many more, do you have one or a care to share a great link with us?  Please do and please start giving the footer some respect, it matters.

The web design project process is always a challenging one.  A lot of work is put into setting correct expectations, proper scope, inclusions and features.  Work to create the right plan, then work the plan right.

No matter how defined things are, there always seems to be a wild card.  That said, good communication, some creative thinking and hard work can overcome any of these in the long run.  Below are a couple of comments we’ve received from clients recently on their web design projects.

Since our passion for our work is so high, it’s nice to have a  compliment or two.

Energy Cost Cutters
“Thank you, Five Technology, for providing more service and better web solutions than expected! We especially appreciated the personal training (thanks Travis!) on the content management system.”
– Diane Windingland, owner

HDBOB Law Firm
“Our new site not only has a great, sleek, new look, it’s given potential clients a real feel for who are firm is and what our firm can do for them.  The site also offers current clients the tools they need to get answers to their questions, accurately and efficiently.  Five Technology made a daunting task of redesigning an entire website painless and stress free, thanks.”
– Attorney & General Partner Karen Hatfield

We’ll get back to work now, but keep this in our back pocket for when needed.  Great clients, great projects, great results … sounds like a formula to me.

Five launched a new web design project this past week for the Minnesota and Wisconsin law firm Hansen, Dordell, Bradt, Odlaug & Bradt, PLLP.

HDBOB.com now has a new interface design, content management platform, enhanced attorney profiles and a search engine friendly website.

HDBOB’s past website was focused on the firm’s strong history, but didn’t offer a clear view to their current capabilities and offering. The old site also had some technical obstacles for search engines like Google and Yahoo to correctly index and understand their content.

Web Design Project Features:

• Custom, progressive web design
• Content areas to push more firm services & news
• Clear & clean navigation/sub-navigation
• Easy to update content with our SMC solution
• Enhanced attorney profiles with pictures, contact info, bios and links (Example below)
• On-page search engine optimization & analytics
  

The final website project result is something both Five and HDBOB is proud of. If we’re charged with “reckless creativity”, so be it. We figure the HDBOB law practice areas can cover getting us out of trouble.

Check out another great site from Five! http://www.hdbob.com

Our latest website redesign brought a new design, stronger platform and business blogging to Iron River Construction out of Waconia, Minnesota.  Iron River is an exterior, remodeling and storm repair contractor servicing the Twin Cites, MN and greater area.

Iron River realized their past web design wasn’t cutting it.  It lacked in many areas so Five outlined a web redesign project to give them easy navigation, a clean design, enhanced content, an online quote request form and more.  The new site is well organized, search engine friendly and built on the SMC for easy management and content updates.

Iron River also realizes the benefits of business blogging and will be putting out great blog posts on their company, industry information, products, construction materials and more.  What a great way to build trust and interact with potential and current customers of your construction services. Make sure you check out the Iron River Construction blog.

Five had a great time remodeling this website and the owners and staff at Iron River were great to work with. Check out the new website and keep them in mind for your siding, roofing, window or construction needs!

On visiting ESPN.com the other night the main homepage ad caught my eye more than normal. How couldn’t it? The rich media ad for the iPod Touch made the ESPN website explode.

As a recent Washington Post article pointed out, online advertisers are hoping that bigger and bolder ads can save display and banner advertising. There was no doubt I couldn’t miss the Apple ad as the iPod Touch device jumped out of the ad frame and exploded the ESPN main navigation bar into pieces. In fact I refreshed it twice just to see it again. Mission accomplished for Apple this time.

Brands are working hard these days to get noticed online and also putting some new twists out there as well. Obviously the Skittles social media twist gained big attention and buzz over the past few weeks. It will also be interesting to see how far new, edgy and different can go before pushing users away too.

Let me know if you have seen an ad or concept online lately that jumps from the norm, looking to grab more attention.