Don't Just Build Websites, Build Smart Sites

A website is more than a place to find a phone number or email. It's more than product and service details. It's more than a place to boast about your company employees, history, and experience. It's more than an extra for your business or marketing, it's a necessity. Websites are not what they used to be, they have to be both a foundation and driver of your web presence & growth.

That's why Virteom creates Smart Sites.

With technology advancing at warp speeds, traditional websites are quickly losing ground. Mobile devices and their streamlined, quick responding, draw-us-back app technology call for websites to join the cutting edge, modern front runners or dwindle into antiquity. Are websites fighting a losing battle?

We believe not. SEO, bandwidth, browser technology, screen sizes and user expectations continually change around us and lead into a better future. It is time to recharge our creative thinking caps and utilize the technologies at hand.

Traditionally, websites retrofitting content to mobile devices proved bulky and cumbersome. Mobile apps birthed effective, user-engaging characteristics not found on the web. Clearly, in a fast-paced, on-the-go culture, mobile wins out.

Are we resigned to accept this disjointed web experience?

Drawing on the strengths of the mobile fleet and recognizing new technologies, a mergence of these formats proves not only possible but beneficial to users and web owners. Recognizing the hope and promise of transitioning to smart sites remains the vital first step.

But, the second step requires action. To realize this goal, web developers must refrain from website building in favor of creating smart websites. And, business and web owners need to expect developers to deliver these designs and all their benefits. We have the technology.

Not all websites are not created equal. Smart websites bring the intuition and fluidity of mobile apps to the Internet. Using modern technologies in witty ways, these sites boost engagement, breed affinity, prompt users to return, drive conversion, and encourage social sharing.

Through pageless designs, smart websites offer story-driven designs which intuitively and naturally lead users to an action. The ease of flow and less disruption in getting to the objective of these sites improves the user experience and, therefore, the bottom line. Plus, the cost and hassle for web owners remains low even for all the apparent bells and whistles.

To successfully achieve this smart-titude, websites need to: 

Weave Stories

As human beings, we are drawn to the concept of story. Think for a moment of the funny man regaling his weekend exploits around the water cooler or the gregarious tale weaver at the cocktail party. It seems even the passerby cannot resist the magnetism.

The response is nearly automatic. We cannot get enough of a good story. This feeds into the "Content is King" staple that exists in the online marketing world. Valuable content will get you seen, heard, and people will buy in. 

At the core, the role of websites is to communicate; whether you're trying to make a sale or With stories as a powerful and effective means of doing so, smart sites employ this tool at their foundation. 

These sites work to:

• Create interactive narratives.
• Lead users to both rational and emotionally driven experiences.
• Weave seamless tales on a single page.
• Prompt emotional responses from users that lead to transactional ones.
• Engage users with interactions and clicks.
• Develop intuitive experiences through exploration within the story context.

Building relationships with current customers and potential customers online will bring more long-term value. A smart site is a tool that allows you to nuture, inform, and lead your customers in a way that not only helps your business profits, but helps you better understand your buyers and strategy. 

Contain Forms and Landing Pages

Smart websites offer an attractive mix of brand and performance. Combining the transactional and traditional aspects of web design creates forms and landing pages which work for both Internet users and web owners. And, integrating these traditional components into the story provides a fluid, engaging and interactive user experience.

Landing pages and forms on smart websites:

• Are instinctive.
• Connect with users on intellectual and gut levels.
• Express interest in the user beyond a transaction.
• Intrigue users to interact with the page through discovery-driven elements.
• Create easy flow to the user’s (and owner’s) objective.

Be Responsive on All Devices

Traditionally, websites retrofit content onto mobile devices. Unfortunately, the user experience created offers disjointed operation and frustration. And, these conditions lay in exact opposition to the mobile attraction. With mobile culture gaining steam, this shortcoming fails to promote website viability and value, and move websites into popularity.

Smart websites address these issues at their core. Rather than simply fitting a webpage to mobile devices, smart sites tailor content to meet the characteristics of each device. In other words, the site adapts information to accommodate device traits. For instance, the ways in which a user interacts on a device is mimicked on the website’s mobile extension.

Maintain Full Customization

With smart sites, templates and poorly designed sites are banished. Plus, the user experience tailor fits the habits and interests of those interacting with the site. 

Also, flexible, open source libraries allow for easy site improvements. Advanced analytics identify the activity happening on the site and reveal ways to improve outcomes. Plus, updates and web management prove easy for any web developer to handle.

And, crazy at it sounds, all of this customization and integrated technology remains affordable.

While guarding against overhead and hassles for web owners, smart websites optimize the user experience in ways unknown previously. Drawing on the natural inclinations of users, smart site developers access modern technologies to bring fluidity and intuition to websites. To retain viability, websites need to rewrite their stories, smartly.

For more information on what to expect from a smart website, contact us today.