Using audits to drive change, Mechanics Bank launched with a new CMS and an improved design that follows web best practices. Find out how.
Thoughts from Blend Interactive
One of Blend’s core values is a dedication to advocacy and progress — to expand upon and give back to the community that fuels us. This is where those thoughts live.
Search Results List
Understanding Site Search — Your Guide to Site Search Functionality
Site search requires big decisions — and solid expectations. We introduce a four-part series on planning for and making decisions around your site's internal search.
Content Strategy and Crisis Communications
Over the past several weeks, we’ve seen a spectrum of responses to the ongoing COVID–19 pandemic, including our own. Blend's Director of Strategy Corey Vilhauer writes on how we can straddle the line between hiatus and action, building upon a content strategy for crisis communications.
So ... What Is Discovery?
Building a website is like building a house — each decision is built upon the decisions that came before. Just as an architect doesn’t just throw a number at you and begin working on blueprints, we don’t begin working on a project until we fully understand the scope. We do that through our discovery process.
The Need for Content Operations
We implement content management as a practice, and we've seen two patterns over and over again: organizations are either not prepared to use, or not fully using, the CMS.
Chapter 10: Organize Your Content Off-site link
Your site won’t just magically arrange itself. Instead, you must provide organization in a way that speaks to those who visit your site. What labels do they expect? How do they get from one section to another? How do they hone in on an information scent?
Chapter 9: Develop a Strategy for Your Content Off-site link
Content drives business goals, which means content drives your site. For content that needs to be changed, content that does not yet exist, and even content that will stay the same, we need a strategic plan that provides both high-level direction and a more detailed review of messaging and function.
Chapter 8: Gather Insight From Your Metrics Off-site link
A website generates lots of numbers representing how visitors behave. What numbers are important, and what numbers can translate to some measure of “success?”
Chapter 6: Identify Outcomes and Expectations Off-site link
Your content and message – and your audiences – live on dozens of paths and hundreds of combinations. Understanding what they’re looking for when they access your project will have a large impact on the steps that follow.
Chapter 5: Identify Your Audiences Off-site link
We build websites to prompt an action or convey information to humans. Who are your humans? What are their motivations?
Chapter 4: Create a Project Plan Off-site link
Determine the true time scope of your project. When does it start (hint: right now, perhaps) and how will you choose someone to help through to the very end?
Beyond Blend.
Blend doesn’t just write here: we also write books, create videos, and dive deep into our individual disciplines. Check out some of our external sources of knowledge.
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The Web Project Guide
A phase-by-phase look at the web design and development process, providing context to each step.
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Coding with Bob
A YouTube series by our director of development, focusing on .NET coding and Optimizely development.
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Eating Elephant
A blog about content strategy, information architecture, and understanding user needs.