Exciting Websites

A whole new way to assist your clients.

When we decided to share fiddlefly with the public, our target market was other creatives and web professionals like ourselves. Our clients have created some amazing things with our custom mobile web builder and we know they will continue to dazzle their own clients with incredible sites. Unfortunately, as the mobile web bar continues to be raised, many of our clients are seeing more and more demand for top-notch mobile sites, and are finding it difficult to keep up. That’s why we decided it would be a good idea to go ahead and lend a hand, so today we announce our newest client service offering, FiddleFly Assist.

The Assist program is designed for FiddleFly licensees who see the need for mobile but are having difficulty finding the time or resources to put together professional-grade sites. Now by simply providing FiddleFly with your customer’s current website URL and some quick information, we will actually design and build your customer’s site for you.

One thing we have found while showing our product to clients is how amazed many tend to be when they see the massive upgrade a mobile optimized site is from a desktop site viewed on a mobile device. We want you to have that same weapon when trying to sell your customers on mobile, which is why once you provide FiddleFly with your customer’s URL, we will design a draft homepage and site layout for you to present them, along with a before and after of their site on a smartphone.

After they see what they have been missing and give their approval for a full site build, you just let us know and we’ll finish the job. You can then sell the site to your client completely white labeled and keep the profits. You can learn more about pricing and options by reading this simple PDF.

Our mission here at FiddleFly is to help you make the mobile web awesome. Eventually, the term “mobile web” will disappear as the web experience becomes unified, and we want to do whatever we can to help that process along. If you are a FiddleFly licensee and you have been turning out engaging and exciting sites, keep doing what you’re doing. For those of you who would rather focus your efforts elsewhere but still want great sites to present, well, now we’ve got your back.

Tell us what you think about FiddleFly Assist and of course there is plenty more news and developments coming your way so be sure to get in touch with us on Twitter @fiddlefly ,Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

Responsive web design: not a simple as it seems.

Sometimes, a good idea on paper can blossom into a great idea in practice. Other times however, a seemingly great idea on paper can quickly turn into a waste basket full of unexpected and unnecessary frustration. Such can be the case for those who decide to build a responsive website for their business.

If you’re not familiar with responsive web design, it is at its most basic a website that is coded to reformat to fit whatever device screen it is being viewed on. While this may seem like a no-brainer solution, responsive design poses quite a few more hassles than it may at first seem.

Before we dig into the little (and a few rather large) things that have people pulling their hair out over their responsive sites, let’s take a second to acknowledge some real benefits. Of course the most obvious upside would be the necessity to build only one site versus building a site for desktop and a site for mobile. On top of this, responsive design only calls for one set of code, so redirects and links are much easier to organize and sync. With many users accessing a site from different devices, having a single site that is consistent can help streamline branding as well.

While all of this may seem like web design Nirvana, it’s time for the bad news. While we at FiddleFly (and mobile web optimists worldwide) truly believe the mobile platform is capable of doing all the things desktop sites can do, we also know that mobile and desktop are different mediums. Simply put, different features are more appropriate for different devices.

Responsive sites can be formatted to include or exclude certain content based on what device they are being viewed on, however the actual content itself remains the same. This means to build an ideal responsive site, designers need to build with mobile in mind first and then work around it. This mindset makes for great mobile versions of responsive sites, but can restrict the creative license designers allow themselves for desktop versions.

Another major issue with responsive design is that mobile users and desktop users have very different needs to consider. While desktop users may be researching your business and comparing prices or features, mobile users are more likely to be looking for things like directions or quick product information. As we mentioned, sites can be designed to show certain features depending on device. Designing specific sites for each platform however, allows for much more efficient and user-friendly versions of each versus a responsive site where small sacrifices must be made in both directions.

If you are just starting a new business and intend to build a very simple site with little content, responsive may be the way to go. However for those businesses that already have a desktop site, redesigning it to be responsive can be very expensive and difficult. Beyond the restructuring that must be done to build a new site with mobile in mind, re-coding the entire thing brings a whole new set of complications.

Responsive sites not only suffer from stunted design creativity, They can also negatively impact your site’s SEO status. Building a separate site for mobile allows you to incorporate a whole new set of information, which in turn gives search engines more material to work with. When building responsive sites, the more content you include the more you risk slowing down or cluttering the mobile version of your site, whereas building two separate sites gives you the ability to incorporate more diverse material without losing any features on either version.

Now, I know some of you may be thinking we’re a bit biased on this whole responsive vs. mobile debate, and the truth is we are–but for a good reason. While we love the idea of responsive design, we see that there are far too many holes in it to be considered the be-all-end-all solution many people think it is. The much more practical implementation of responsive design is to use it in concert with mobile design. Businesses that are not looking to include dynamic media content, or simply need an informational site for reference purposes, can see great benefits in responsive design, while businesses that rely on more intricate or interactive web designs will see far better results by developing for mobile.

So, whether you love or hate responsive design (or if like us you’re somewhere in between) we would love to hear what you think. Get in touch and make sure to follow us on Twitter @fiddlefly for more updates as well as checking us out on facebook, Google+, and Pinterest.

Don’t build a website, build a web experience.

One thing we at FiddleFly always have on our minds is finding ways to do things differently. From simple things like letting an adorable little dog roam around our offices to the important stuff like providing game-changing mobile web development software, we know how important it is to separate yourself from the crowd. What we also know, is that when it comes to building a website, there’s no need to keep that creativity at bay. That’s why today we thought it might be fun to explore a few ideas to help you create websites that won’t get lost in the mix.

Share Yourself Along With Your Product

Bringing a personality to your site can make all the difference in the world. It’s easy to forget that just because your customers are shoppers, that doesn’t mean they aren’t still people. Showing customers that the companies they are dealing with are made up of real people too will not only help keep them on your page, but in turn will help push your product. Companies like Fixel, are finding new and inventive ways to present themselves to customers. Fixel employs a sort of “employee slot machine” type reel to display photos of their team. Another great example is the UK based web design firm Digital Marmalade which presents its staff using personalized trading cards.

Engage Customers on Multiple Levels

Giving information is great, but getting your visitors to interact is always a more exciting prospect. Including elements like flash games or animated gifs gives customers a reason to stick with your page, and the longer they do the more information they will take in from your page. Recently the web startup Wander was able to rack up over 10,000 users before even announcing a product, all by simply launching a game where users click on an animated cow. Of course if you don’t feel like designing a cartoon cow to click on, there are plenty of simple things you can do to engage your customers. Inviting users to participate in a caption contest, using flash to allow them to navigate interactively, or even simply inviting them to submit photos, videos, or ideas, can build a loyal audience for your product.

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

Something we can’t stress enough is how important communication has been for our company, and how tremendously it can affect yours. Showing your personality and building a customer base will only go so far if you don’t make sure that when those customers have questions, you have answers. Simple things like integrating a twitter feed so that you customers can always get updates and ideas from you, incorporating an interactive FAQ section, and addressing customer concerns directly and publicly will make your site not only comfortable for users, but also help drive returning browsers back to the site after they have gone elsewhere and seen the lack of support available.

Of course these are just a few ideas that have helped us and some companies we admire. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box and find new angles of your own. Typography, media, animation, wherever your imagination takes you, just whatever you do, don’t follow the crowd.

Tell us what you think and share some of your ideas below. As always we’ll be on the lookout for exciting new developments, so make sure to follow us on Twitter @fiddlefly as well as checking out our Facebook page.

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