When we travel somewhere, whether it be for an extended weekend or longer, for work or for play, there are things we obviously want to know in order to make the experience memorable. What are the best places to eat? Where will we be staying? Is there anywhere to shop? What do we have to see and experience before leaving?

For Brown County Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB), they knew a more user-friendly website that answered all of those questions and more for visitors would be key to their future growth.

The Challenge

For years, CVB knew their website provided valuable information to visitors, but content was hard to find unless visitors knew exactly what they were searching for. Navigation was unorganized and hard to manage. CVB wanted their visitors to find lodging solutions much more easily and quickly.

CVB needed a custom web solution that was clean and user-friendly – allowing customers to easily find lodging locations throughout Brown County. They also needed a solution that was easy to manage, provided valuable information to their customers and offered a fun experience. They wanted their customers to be able to search for and find valuable information easily.

Brown County CVB has partnerships with local businesses as well. Restaurants, lodging, shops and other multi-faceted organizations have pages and information on CVB’s website for people visiting the area. For years, CVB was spending countless hours inputting information from their valuable partners who operate businesses throughout Brown County. Anytime a partner needed an update to information, CVB was responsible for updating that on the site.

They needed a custom solution that allowed all of their partners to login and update their pages and information that was important to them and potential customers.

The Solution

After two years of deliberating on building a new web presence, Brown County CVB partnered with Smallbox. Brown County CVB knew they wanted an Indiana company to build their new website and after they learned about Smallbox’s success with the 24-Hour Web Project and involvement in the community, they felt that the partnership was a good fit.

Smallbox built an incredibly robust content management system that would provide logins and editing capabilities to CVB’s unique partnerships. Not only did Smallbox address Brown County CVB’s lodging concerns and make it easier for visitors to locate local lodging establishments, we applied the same technology and functionality to restaurants, shops and other organizations in the community as well.

Smallbox implemented multiple calls-to-action on Brown County CVB’s new website that drive traffic to upcoming events and an interactive map where visitors can browse all of the businesses and establishments by location.

The Results

In browncounty.com, Brown County Convention & Visitors Bureau now has a robust custom web solution that is extremely easy to navigate for visitors.

Whether you’re looking for a place to stay, shop, eat or see, or if you’re looking for things to do, it’s easy to find simply by browsing and making your way through the website. You can search by things to do, see, eat, etc or by location through an interactive map. No longer does a person have to know specifically what they’re searching for in order to find it.

Clear and easy-to-find calls to action blocks throughout the site help drive visitors to finding information and content they’re looking for.

Brown County is beautiful. CVB’s new website and CMS provide the tools they need to sufficiently show off Brown County. The Smallbox CMS is easy to update content with new photos, video or other media like a live “Leaf Cam” where visitors can monitor color changes in the trees and make trip decisions based around “peak times” throughout the year.

With the addition of partner logins, Brown County CVB team members save substantial amounts of time and resources from fielding requests to edit, exchange and create new content for each individual business on the site. Now, individual businesses and partners can manage their own content anytime they want.

Feedback from users has been incredibly well received. Brown County CVB partners predominately love the flexibility the site and CMS have to offer.

Check out Brown County’s new site here.

We’ve had some time to rest up and recover from the all-night frenzy of planning, designing and coding known as the 24 Hour Web Project. In its third year, SmallBox designs and develops a site literally overnight for one Indianapolis nonprofit, all for free.

This year, we doubled the challenge and took on two websites — one for Earth House and one for INDYCOG. Keep in mind, we don’t do templated sites. Each nonprofit received custom web solutions, built from scratch just for them. Yes, we lost a little sleep, but we had a blast and we certainly learned a thing or two along the way.

Stronger Collaboration
Working at the rapid-fire pace and in such proximity, all in the Earth House Café, the team gained a better understanding of each person’s role. We had more face-to-face interaction, less emailing and IMing to solve problems. Post-project, I hope we continue to get up from our desks more often to talk through our work together.

Content Doesn’t Have to Be So Painful
Managing the content population process for a new website can be a bit of a pain point. Taking on two websites meant there was really no room for error. During the project, we tested out a new product built by our own Joe Downey — a content population tool — and we all felt this tool was key to our success. There were no surprises about unfinished content. The team could see where we stood at a glance at all times. We can’t wait to use it on regular client projects.

And a reaffirmation…

We Heart Indy
We also confirmed something we already knew. Indianapolis is a great place to do business. Earth House and INDYCOG are both amazing organizations, adding cool events and promoting healthy living in our city. Many of our friends and partners stopped by the Earth House to cheer us on. And some awesome folks supported a side aspect of the project — a mini-donation drive for the recipients.

Our Broad Ripple neighbor, Just Pop In matched the first $500 in donations — a goal which was met, then exceeded. We were thrilled so many people stepped up to support Earth House and INDYCOG. We’re not sure if it was our sweet moves (see our dancing and acrobatics in our donor recognition videos throughout the blog) or the fact that these two nonprofits are adding so much vibrancy to our city, but at the end of the day, each walked away with more than 500 bucks in addition to their new websites. We can’t thank Just Pop In and all of the amazing donors enough!

Have an idea for us?
Though it seems this year will be tough to top, we’re plotting ways to make the 24 Hour Web Project even bigger and better in the future. Please let us know if you have any ideas to share in the comments!

p.s. Want to see the Before and After?
Go here for Earth House
and here for INDYCOG.

Last Friday I attended re:build 2011, which took place in Indianapolis. The stage was aptly located right below a basketball goal (Hoosiers, anyone?). I wasn’t too sure what to expect but I was blown away by every speaker and the attendees. The speakers were intelligent and captivating and I walked away super inspired with ideas to bring back to SmallBox.

Here were 5 of my takeaways

1. We shape the future of the web.
Faruk Ates brought up the topic of how designers are the sole architects of how the web will be in future. It is up to those of us using the web to continually push boundaries and evolve the web by experimenting with new technologies and devices. Technology is a field of lifelong learning, and you can easily fall behind. But the rewards for keeping up to date are priceless, as we are shaping the future interactions of our children and our children’s children. It’s a truly marvelous privilege when you shift your perspective this way.

2. Content has experience.
Every day since working at SmallBox the big buzzword seems to be content and its importance to the web. Rightfully so, because content is what drives user experience and is at the core of what people use the internet for. Users will gravitate toward content that is rich and intuitive to use, and over time websites with poor content will be weeded out. Keeping content as a priority in the web development process can have amazing results if done correctly.

4. Limitations breed creativity.
SmallBox CEO Jeb has talked about this before with our team and I keep it in mind often throughout the work week. It was not too surprising that these bright and intelligent speakers also talked about putting limitations on ourselves to foster and grow creativity inside a project. Putting restrictions on our work gives it scope and usually leads to more interesting and introspective work. A painter has the limitation of his canvas, a musician has the number of tracks/instruments he can put on one song, and a web designer has only so many pixels to manipulate in a browser window/device. By setting limitations, we force ourselves to be resourceful and creative.

Re:build was an amazing event that I was happy to attend. I recommend it to everyone interested in web philosophy and emerging trends on the web. It was a delightful experience and I cannot wait to go next year. Many thanks to the events organizers for a fantastic job with a Hoosier touch.

In the past two years Apps have infiltrated our lives. Every smart phone device/OS (iPhone, Android, Blackberry) has an App store. It has become a huge cash cow for all involved from the makers of hit Apps (hello Angry Birds!) to the device makers (Apple’s App Store). It’s no surprise the carriers are trying to get into the game as well.

So when a Austin web shop, Clarus, declared its intentions to switch to an app only business model (they are still looking to do Web apps) I began to wonder whether we were missing the App boat here at SmallBox. Are Apps the future or are they an “inbetweener” product like VHS?

Let’s break it down.

App Advantages:

Experience. Apps have a much richer, and often much faster, user experience since they are running software on a local OS (Operating System).

Connectivity. Apps work when you are offline, for the most part, so you don’t have to rely solely on your spotty reception (thanks AT&T!).

Mobile Browsers Suck. Modern browsers are relatively primitive compared to mobile Operating Systems. Since Apple and others don’t support Flash this is especially the case with current mobile browsers. Gaming apps in particular have no chance going the browser route without Flash. Apple and others claim that Flash is a memory/battery hog, sure, but I think the real reason is…

Money. There is a lot of money in the App game. Apple is making a killing. Also, the incentive of a big payday draws a lot of quality App developers into the market. So Apple and App developers don’t really want to have the apps running for free in a Web browser. The App Stores make a lot of people a lot of money.

App Disadvantages:

Cost: users don’t like paying for things. I understand the argument that money makes better apps but looking at what has happened to the music industry I wouldn’t place my bet on the paid medium (ie CDs, another soon to be “inbetweener” product). If the same App experience was available via a mobile browser I would expect to see users start moving to free option.

Hassle. It takes time to find and download apps, it’s a pain. If I’m in a new city and want to find out about the local music scene I don’t want to mess around with downloading an App created by a local music zine. I want to have that experience via a Google search then landing on a mobile optimized site.

Operating Systems. There are currently three main mobile Operating Systems- Apple (iPhone/iPod and iPad), Blackberry and Android (Google). There may be more. Web browsers have some variation between them but not as much as different OSs.

Conclusion:

Apps are “inbetweeners”. As mobile browsers improve, increases in coverage & speed from carriers as well as more Web developers working with HTML 5 we will begin seeing increasingly rich mobile Web Apps. I think you can see a model for this with 37 Signals recent move to go the Web App route over building Apps for each mobile device Operating System. I won’t be surprised if mobile Apps even end up having a store or being included in existing App stores. Regardless, I see the future of Apps in better browsers not more mobile OSs. So investing in learning those platforms doesn’t look like a good long term strategy for us.

Note: this blog inspired by a great LinkedIn Group conversation initiated by Mike Seidel. Thanks Mike!

When we did the first 24 Hour Web Project in July 2009 with Second Helpings, it was a bit of a leap of faith. Yes, we did some planning (Does the server work? Will we be able to connect to the internet during the project? Will we have all the content from the client? and so forth), but it was the first time we’d ever designed, developed and launched a website in 24 contiguous hours. Even more so, it was a website for someone else, so we had to collaborate with a new team we hadn’t worked with yet. We were counting on seamless communication and collaboration between teams, for decisions to be made quickly and definitively, for our team to work fast enough to design and build the site in the time allotted, and for everything to work out enough that we’d be able to let go and have a bit of fun together during that 24 hours. I have to say, I think we did quite well for ourselves and I’m very proud of both teams.

Fast forward to September 29-30 when we did the same thing for the Madame Walker Theatre. Again, similar leap of faith and similar success.

After both Projects, we’ve received questions like, ‘Why can’t you build EVERY site in 24 hours?’ or more accurately, ‘Why can’t you build MY site in 24 hours?’ This is a good question, so let’s talk about why the 24 Hour Web Project works.

We only have 24 hours.
This is probably the biggest factor. Since we have just 24 hours to complete a site, we have to be swift in our assessment of the client’s needs, brainstorm and sketch our ideas quickly, and make decisions efficiently. There’s little room for waffling back and forth on an idea. So the time constraint really helps to keep the project moving along.

Preliminary planning.
In order to ensure a successful 24 hours, we take time to plan a few things in the weeks prior. This includes working through technical issues such as where the site will be hosted, where the domain is registered, what payment gateways we need (if any), as well as working with the client to come to a somewhat final site map and making sure the client comes to the start of the Project with at least 90% of the content for the site. This way, we spend the 24 hours focused on creating a message and website design for the client’s target audience, and coding and developing that design and tweaking the content to align with that message (as well as for SEO!).

The client knows how to engage, when to trust us, and when to provide input.
In both Projects we had two members from the client’s team who provided approval and signoff at the necessary points during the Project. Both teams got involved in the process when needed and trusted us to do our jobs well when the time came (and often provided musical entertainment during those times). In addition, this allowed us to be more agile through the project and helped us avoid potential design by committee mishaps.

Both teams are in the same room with each other the whole time.
This means instant communication. If we need feedback on designs or questions answered on content details, we can go straight to the client who is sitting two seats away and get direct feedback/answers.

We only do it once a year.
If we created sites in 24 hours every week (while trying to do everything else we do), we’d be burnt out in no time. It certainly takes a lot of energy to pull it off, not only from the team involved in the Project, but from the rest of our team holding up the fort and maintaining our other projects back in the office. Without the support of everyone on our team, we wouldn’t be able to even have a 24 Hour Web Project. So a big thank you to everyone directly and indirectly involved.

And thank you to the folks who watched our live blog, live video feed, live tweets and supported us from the great Internet space (and to those who donated to the Walker Theatre during the project!). We can’t wait for the next project. Hopefully it will be bigger and better than ever, and hopefully we can get you more involved.

See you next year!

The following is a press release for our new partnership with WDD Inc. Our two companies are not merging but looking to join forces to pursue larger, mutual opportunities.

Small Box, WDDinc Form Partnership to Offer

Fully Integrated, Complex Web Solutions

Indianapolis, IN (May 10, 2010) — Indianapolis-based Small Box Web Design and WDD, Inc. announce their partnership to pursue larger engagements, offering clients more advanced Web based solutions.

Both Small Box and WDDinc are highly successful Web businesses specializing in their respective areas of expertise; Small Box in Web site design, Internet marketing and the user experience, and WDDinc in complex programming, Web development and systems integration. The businesses will now partner and offer their top core competencies to larger clients as one team.

Jeb Banner, Small Box CEO explains, “Because our businesses are highly focused on separate aspects of the Web, our services perfectly compliment one another. By joining forces on larger projects, we’ll be able to offer better-integrated solutions for clients. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.”

The partnership between Small Box and WDDinc will allow the companies to provide full-service, more elaborate Web capabilities.

“We’re very excited about our partnership with Small Box. By adding the best of breed interactive media offerings from Small Box to our best of breed back-end software development and testing capabilities, we become a much more robust company with an offering unsurpassed in the Midwest,” states Alan Wlasuk, a Principal at WDDinc.

About WWD, Inc.

Founded in 1993, WDDinc., is an Indianapolis-based custom software development, testing and engineering company providing software expertise to a large variety of clients. WDDinc focuses on high-quality software for clients with unique needs ranging from data center infrastructures to multi-national call centers. WDDinc client base spans the United States and their software is used throughout the globe. www.WDDinc.com

About Small Box Web

Small Box is an Indianapolis, Indiana based Web design and Web development company that provides professionally designed Web sites as well as Internet marketing, social media marketing, search engine optimization (SEO) and new media consulting services for organizations and agencies throughout Indiana and the Midwest. www.SmallBoxWeb.com

Small Box is pleased to announce that our new office in Austin Texas is now open for business. Since 2006 Small Box has been providing custom web solutions for businesses and non profit organizations in Indianapolis.

Now Small Box is taking the same great design and technology to a new level. Austin Texas is different from anywhere else. There is a big focus on Social Networking. There are many entrepreneurs and business startups looking for venture capital.

Our goal is to be a one stop shop for anyone looking to have a great looking site on the first page of the search engines. Call PJ Christie at 512-850-4819.

Follow our special Twitter feed @smallboxaustin for local insights including SXSW.

Music is a common bond for most Small Box employees. Most of us play at least one instrument and if not have strong opinions about those who do. We have an internal project, MusicalFamilyTree.com, that keeps us connected to our music roots. At one point or another some of us thought, foolishly!, that we might go pro with music. Instead we have funneled that energy into designing, building and marketing websites. I’ve found there are a number of crossover lessons with these two seemingly disparate disciplines.

I grew up recording on cassette 4 Tracks with very limited equipment. A 4 track was just that- 4 audio tracks to fit all of your guitars, bass, drums, vocals, keyboards etc on to. But I learned how to maximize that constraint, make the best of it. I would record to three tracks, bounce down to one, record to two, bounce to one, etc until I had a wonderful wall of lo-fi sound that came pretty close to the thing I heard in my head.

As I got older I had access to real studios and better gear including 8, 16 and even 24 track machines. These things are as big as washing machines. But you were still limited to how many tracks you had and tape was expensive ($100-200 for 30 minutes). You also had to be careful about wearing out the tape during recording and mixing. Each take and mix mattered. This forces you to focus and make choices.

When computer recording came along it offered a world with few constraints- no real limit of tracks, no tape to wear out, etc. But that doesn’t mean the albums are actually better. It used to be a band would record an album, mix, master and press it all within 30-60 days. Now it is usually 1-2 years. This while we live in a world where you can record a song in the morning and have it posted in MP3 format to a website for anyone to hear by the evening. Think of all the albums that were never recorded since the band was spending years tweaking something that was already finished- hello Axl Rose and “Chinese Democracy”.

The limitlessness realm we are approaching with technology is fun and exciting but let’s remember the technology itself is not an end, it’s a tool. As we adopt new devices, interfaces and functionality we have to ask- Does this actually improve the experience? Is it adding or removing value?

To the Web.

Since the Web has so few limits it’s difficult to artificially impose constraints but I am beginning to see that we have no choice. In order to deliver a website/app for a client on time/budget requires discipline from both parties. This is especially challenging when your medium is perhaps the least disciplined in the history of mediums! Anything goes with the Web, for better or worse.

The easiest/laziest thing to do when faced with multiple choices is to not make a choice, leave every door open as long as possible letting in all kinds of distracting ideas. The Web is a world of a million ideas and making decisions hurt, at first you feel like you are stepping on ants for no good reason. It’s easy to start second guessing- “maybe the original logo was better”, “maybe we should have added a blog”, “maybe we should have gone with green?”, “maybe we need to add ‘FAQ’ to the main navigation”, etc. These kinds of decisions, often ones that can be changed later if really needed, can drag a project down. They hurt morale and momentum. They stop the next album from ever getting into production.

So the web is limitless but time and money is not. This is a good thing! Endless resources are the root of all waste. Limited resources create discipline. For a project to be successful all stakeholders must agree on and embrace the existing constraints. This doesn’t have to mean a defined scope of work as much as an understanding of budget, timeline and goals. Scope will change. It’s just a guess anyway until you dig into the project. But just like recording you only have so much tape, so much time and lots of tracks to lay down. So let’s embrace constraints, see them as needed chalk lines and get the job done on time and on budget!

Related reading: “Rework” by 37 Signals (this book and my time in Austin for SXSWi greatly influenced this post).

Seth Godin writes

It’s a good question, here’s how I would answer:

The web seems really complicated but not to me. I just see it as a series of decisions that require particular expertise to do correctly. The best decision is the one that makes the next one seem more apparent. There is never going to be one person who is right about everything all the time. What’s important in doing a web site, or marketing strategy, or making any series of decisions is to make each one as close to right as you can so the next one is clearer.

We do that by first and foremost attracting the top talent in the region. Then we challenge them to do more, to understand the implications of these important decisions. Then we provide what we hope to be the top level of customer service for our clients.

The results are clear to me, some are big and some are small. I take a small amount of pride in knowing that we are growing while other web companies are going out of business or shrinking. But what I take the most pride above all is the relationships that I have built with those in the box with me, and the way we extend it to our clients. Of the huge number of sites we have helped produce, 99% of them are still online exactly as we launched them.

Key to our growth is the way we have extended our services beyond designing and programming websites. It is a complete array of services our clients need, and some they don’t. That’s the real Small Box difference right there, whatever people think they know about us, there is more.