So we made our way down to Austin, TX a couple of weeks ago for the annual geek-fest we all know and love, called South By Southwest. Yes I do know that SXSW is more well known for the film and music festivals, but we're not cool enough for those yet. "Interactive", as they call it is a fantastic time for bonding over brews, seeing some web design superstars and learning some stuff in the process.

Most of all, I've found SXSW to be an incredible source of inspiration. This was the 4th straight year I went to the festival, and we come home overflowing with ideas and motivation to take on the world wide web each time.

Many of the panels have now been posted on the SXSW website, and if you did not have the opportunity to be there, here are 5 recommendations (in no particular order) that are definitely worth checking out:

1. Opening Remarks: Tony Hsieh

If you know us, we're BIG fans of Zappos and all the great things they are doing in the business of customer service. We even made a trip to Vegas in January just to get a tour of their offices, and it was one of the more valuable business experiences of my life.

Tony (Zappos CEO) made a big splash at SXSW last year, and was brought in for one of the keynotes this year, so he could talk about culture, service and marketing.

Listen to the podcast

2. Even Faster Web Sites

Steve Souders (Google) is one smart dude, and he is one of the foremost experts when it comes to the need for SPEED on the web. He created a great Firebug extension called YSlow while at Yahoo!, and in this panel takes a deeper dive into advanced techniques that can make your website(s) faster.

I found the panel to be incredibly informative and useful. I learned more at this one than any others. Be on the lookout for the 2nd edition of his book, High Performance Web Sites (O'Reilly) this summer.

View the slides

Listen to the podcast

3. From Freelance to Agency: Start Small, Stay Small

This panel had some very different, yet well-respected folks on it that have companies providing web services. It was moderated by who many consider the godfather of web standards, Jeffrey Zeldman of Happy Cog. Members of the panel talk about making the switch to freelance, hiring, firing, benefits of staying small and more. This is a must-listen podcast if you are thinking about doing your own thing, or if you run a small agency like we do.

Listen to the podcast

4. Oooh, That's Clever! (Unnatural Experiments in Web Design)

Paul Annett is a designer (and hobbyist magician) for a shop based in the UK called Clearleft, who does absolutely brilliant work. His presentation was well researched, well delivered, entertaining and absolutely inspiring. Anyone interested in design for the web simply must watch this presentation, and it makes sense to see the slides he has also.

Watch the live video

Hear the audio and watch the presentation slides

5. Gary Vaynerchuk

I'm sure this panel had a name, but all you need to know is that the one and only Gary Vaynerchuk took the stage at SXSW for over an hour, and it was memorable to say the least. Gary works his butt off and KNOWS social media unlike anyone else.

He is one of the loudest, most fired up people you will ever meet, and it's all real. Best of all, he knows what he's talking about, and especially knows wine. Watch his keynote and you will definitely want to go conquer the world like he is doing right now. Be advised, the language is pretty heavy. He's from Jersey.

Watch it here.

It has been about a month since we launched the latest version of Project83.com, and I have been pleasantly surprised by all the great feedback we have been getting.

Version 3 of the website is certainly something we are proud of internally. I feel it is a great representation of who we are and what we value as a company. We have grown a lot in 3.5 years, and it is cool to look back on versions one and two of the site to see how far we have come.

I wanted to spend a little time walking you through the process that got us here, which runs over seven months. Hopefully it will encourage or challenge you in some way:

The New Logo

I never asked for or desired a new logo for Project83. However, I could not be happier with how it ended up. Lesson #1: only great things can result from giving your design team (in my case, Jared) complete creative freedom.

The typography got a well-deserved update. We moved to all caps ("J" sure is a weird letter), changed the font and gave the letters a little breathing room. The new mark is much more relevant, and the colors are much less distracting now. The website matured a great deal in version 3, and it all started with the logo.

Old Logo:

Doing Less

Leaders in our industry have mastered the "less is more" approach to web design. As our team continues to learn more each day, we get better at doing less and making the most of it. Each version of our site has been no exception; less design, less code, less content and fewer overall distractions.

Easier to Update

Thankfully, Project83.com finally runs 100% on our content management system called Springboard. Adding new portfolio items, writing blog posts and updating content has never been easier. Whew!

Especially when it's your own site, you have to do everything possible to make sure it is quick and easy to make updates. Otherwise, you simply will not get to them as often as you should. Find a content management platform you love (if you don't have one try ours!) and make sure to update content regularly.

Copy is Everything

The website copy probably went through at least 15 revisions. This is the first version of our site that I believe was truly built around the copy, which is the way it should be. The site has fewer words than previous versions, yet speaks to our target audience more clearly and persuasively than ever.

I can't overstate the value of spending time on your website copy — and the value of having a little fun with it! It's something I preach every day, but it really hit home in working on this new design. Without quality content, the best designs in the world don't work.

Keep in mind that good content takes time. You won't get it right the first or second or fifth time. Keep at it, and I believe it will prove to be absolutely worthwhile in the end.

I hope you like the new design ... we appreciate your feedback!

Everyone wants their site to rank well in search engines, and for obvious reasons (more site traffic!). SEO (search engine optimization) is a big part of building a successful site, but it should not be your #1 priority. Making decisions on your site solely for SEO benefit has some serious downsides.

For most websites, incoming traffic is simply not enough to achieve success. You need a conversion of some sort. People need to make a purchase, fill out the contact form, sign up to a mailing list, or take some sort of action that helps build your business. Without a conversion, traffic is useless.

While SEO might get the visitor to your site, it won't generate the conversion for you. What decisions have you made to generate a better ranking that now work against you in creating a conversion? Here are some things to keep an eye out for:

Ridiculous Amounts of Content

Why write 8 paragraphs of content when 4 is more than enough to make the sale? Effective web copy is all about cutting the crap, and giving the customer all the information they need in the fewest amount of words possible.

The longer it takes people to find what they need to know about your product or service, the less likely it is that they do business with you. So all the redundant, lengthy copy that earned your site a visitor ends up costing you a sale because it wasted their time.

Content Written for Computers instead of People

Content is what generates conversions more than any other factor. I would like to say it is our fabulous design, but in most cases that is simply not true. Saying "high-definition plasma television" 52 times on a page most likely won't help you sell any more plasmas.

When writing copy for your site, write with the customer in mind FIRST, then sprinkle in keywords when it makes sense. Writing primarily for search engines makes for ineffective copy, and sticks out like a sore thumb.

Cluttered Design

From a design standpoint, we often see the same trends as with copy. Sites are designed to rank well in search engines, but end up cluttered and extremely difficult for people to use. Just like with copy, sites work best when you design for your ideal customer FIRST, then do everything possible to rank well.

In most cases you can create a user-friendly, quality design while also writing code that works great for SEO. But there are bound to be conflicts as well, and you have to be certain about what is more important: the traffic or the conversion.

Doing the Math

As a design shop that is solely focused on clean, user-friendly design, you can tell what side of the fence we are on. But some simple math backs up my point.

Let's say you generate 2,000 visits as a result of being #1 on google, but due to some of the sacrifices you had to make in order to earn the ranking, your conversion rate is 2%. That is a total of 40 sales.

On the other hand, let's say the customer is your #1 priority. As a result you may choose to do a few things that boost conversion, but maximize your ranking. Maybe your site is #6 and generates half the traffic (1,000 visits), but has a nice conversion rate of 5%. Even with half the traffic, the end result is 50 sales because your site converts better.

I know this is a hypothetical situation, but higher conversion often ends up being a more powerful factor than generating more traffic. Plus, it's usually cheaper to improve conversion than it is to generate more traffic.

The answer? Learn to Make Compromises

SEO is still a great thing, and should be among your top priorities in managing a site that depends on conversions. Our company spends a lot of time and effort creating very SEO-friendly sites, but it always takes a back seat to user-friendly design that generates conversions.

Compromises must be made to maintain the integrity of your site's design and copy while also taking steps to maximize your search engine ranking. Understanding both sides of the coin, and working with an SEO company that understands them too, will ensure in the highest rate of success for your site.

We do a great deal of eCommerce research, design and development for clients, and one design element I am always fascinated by are progress bars. A progress bar is one of those "best practices" for a checkout process, which shows the user how many steps are in the checkout process, and what step they are currently on.

I always find myself searching for good examples of progress bars, and decided to devote significant time to seeing what was out there. It was interesting to see the ones that got creative, the ones that were downright boring and even the merchants that lacked a progress bar at all. Here is a gallery of what I found, in alphabetical order by merchant. Just click on the thumbnail to see the full-size version.

1-800-Flowers

Abercrombie

Amazon

Apple

Armani Exchange

Bare Necessities

Best Buy

Blue Nile

Buy.com

Cafe Press

Coach

Crate & Barrel

Crutchfield

Disney

Drugstore.com

eCampus

Endless

Evogear

Fossil

Free People

Fresh Direct

Godiva

Home Depot

Ikea

J. Crew

Jet Blue

Lego

LL Bean

Macy's

Oneida

QVC

Sears

Threadless

Victoria's Secret

Wal-Mart

Williams Sonoma

Yankee Candle Company