Creating an online presence is one thing. Having an online presence that grabs and maintains attention is another.

August Ash exists to help local companies develop their identities on the Web in a way that communicates effectively, reflects professionally, as well as improves revenue and profitability. We’ve worked hard to establish a reputation for offering web design Minneapolis businesses and non-profits can use to their advantage.
(more…)

As mentioned in our recent post about Drupal website installations, we at August Ash like to have a solid battery of web development tools at our disposal. And because no single tool is a perfect solution for every application, we make sure that each client’s project gets an individual assessment.

For the same reason, we like tools that can be uniquely configured for a variety of different uses and clients. Magento is one such tool.
(more…)

Last month, the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal published its annual list of Top 25 Web Development and Design Firms in the Twin Cities. August Ash was included in the list, which ranked the highest-performing local companies by overall revenue.

August Ash (AAI) has grown to 21 full-time employees over the course of the firm’s 11 year history. Despite finding itself in the company of firms with as many as 140 employees, AAI has a proven track record of increased sales and revenue even in the midst of formidable outside economic conditions.
(more…)

Proximity Matters
We’ve recognized that a really good web design and/or SEO firm will be capable and authentic. Those are big criteria for a web developer, to be sure. What else is important, though?

Well, we think it makes a big difference when your web design firm can be local, and even better if your search engine marketer lives and works in your geographic area. When the people behind your website and online marketing share the same space as your customers, they can produce intuitively great results.
(more…)

In the first entry of this series we talked about a web design firm needing to be capable, and what that looks like in this field. Today, we’re building on that tenet a little further. On top of being capable, we’re convinced that your web designer should be real.
(more…)

One of our goals at August Ash, a Minneapolis web design firm, is to help educate companies in the Twin Cities and around the nation in regard to their online marketing campaigns. Starting with the earliest decisions, leading up to the site’s launch, and continuing long after with ongoing Internet marketing strategy, AAI desires to see businesses succeed on the Web.

With that in mind, we’re featuring a short blog series in which we’ll be spotlighting a few of the most important qualities to look for in a web design or Internet marketing firm.
(more…)

Finally resolving to turn your old website into an efficient, new marketing machine or taking your first steps into the World Wide Web is an exciting endeavor. You’ve got great ideas, and you’re ready to tell them to someone that can listen and make them a reality. You know what you want to see, but how do you get there?

While seeing a mock up of what your visitors will see when your new website is live is the real exciting part (a design concept, as we call it), there’s one very important – albeit boring – task that must come before that big reveal. It can be called information architecture, user experience, site architecture, or any other variety of terms, but what’s really involved – at least to some extent - in most of these activities is determining what pages will be in your site and where or how they will show up.

It’s sometimes hard to visualize how your site will actually work when you see the pages in an outline format or as a sitemap that looks like a flow chart. The following article from SEOMoz.org likens the process of laying out your site to filing documents in a file cabinet – making the whole idea of how your site will work at least a little easier to visualize:

The Filing Cabinet Theory of Site Architecture

It can be hard to think about the details of all the pages in your site – no matter how small – when all you really want to see is the design. But laying this foundation in the beginning goes a long way in ensuring a smooth and successful website project from start to finish. In the end, you’ll have a website that not only looks great but one that functions even better.

Recent research from the PEW Internet and American Life Project says that while more than half of Americans (66%) that are online have made a purchase online, three quarters of them (75%) either agree or strongly agree that they don’t like giving out their credit card and other personal information online. So, what does this mean for your retail business and taking it online? Does Internet users’ skepticism of the security of their online information prevent them from actually making purchases? And, more importantly, is there anything you can do to ease this concern?

(more…)

As our previous post mentioned, a lot goes into writing good copy for the web. While you may not be able to write perfect web copy with attention to every detail, here’s a list of some very general points you can use to get started.

(more…)

You have a great product or service (make that life-changing product, in your opinion anyway…), so, eventually, customers will come, right?

Unfortunately, research shows what you have to offer means less than how the website offering the product or service appears. So, contrary to the adages we’ve been taught for as long as we can remember - that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, that looks aren’t everything – don’t apply to the web, particularly to gaining enough trust to sell yourself to visitors.

(more…)