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In retail, we are used to raffles, special sales and discounts. Many of us cannot imagine retail without special deals any more. In this blog article I want to tell you about my own experiences with raffles – from a business point of view. Example no. 1 - B2B In summer 2015, I celebrated five years of HCG corporate designs. For this nice occasion, I organised a raffle with great prizes (see more about it here ). You didn’t even have to answer a difficult question, you only had to share a link on Twitter (the raffle took place on Twitter only). The five prizes had a total value of 925 euro. However, at the end only prizes worth 125 euro were redeemed by the winners. The winner of the first prize worth 500 euro did not get back to me ever since. Prizes worth 925 euro minus 125 euro redemption equals 800 euro of prizes that were neither picked up nor redeemed. Example no. 2 - B2C It gets even more odd. The organic muesli manufacturer Verival did a raffle with Tirol Boxes. The raffle took place on Facebook and was among the top 3 of their most successful raffles ever, according to Verival’s PR department. This might also have to do with the fact that most other Verival raffles have about only 20 % of the value of the Tirol Box raffle, when you compare the value of the prizes you can win. Having more than 40,000 Facebook fans, Verival counted 900 raffle participants within only one week. There was also a huge hype among the participants. Ashley Wiggins, myself and Verival were overwhelmed by the numerous encomiums for Tirol Box. It was then very surprising that the winner almost had to be forced to answer Verival’s winner note. About a week and more than one email and Facebook notification later, the winner still had not given her address. Then, Verival said the winner had to email them her address by that night, otherwise another winner would be picked. Within minutes there was an answer. - Also a worldwide renowned glass/jewellery producer that I worked with in the course of Tirol Box, showed their doubts about the success of raffles in general. Incredible, no? As these examples show, raffles seem to attract people that just want to have anything, as long as it’s for free. An incentive to actually buy into a certain product or company? Probably not. But according to my experience there is something that comes into this even more: the thrill of if you win or not. 800 euro prize value (example 1) were not picked up and a free Tirol Box (example 2) needed several approaches to actually get to the winner. I don’t think that most people actually want to have the prize. I believe most people do it for the kick. In my opinion, people like the thrill, the tension, if they win or not. You can compare it to roulette when the ball rolls around. As soon as the ball stops, the game is less interesting. As soon as the thrill is over and the winner is announced, the prize is uninteresting for many people. Does this explain why lotteries cash so much money in? Even though people instinctively know that they will probably not win? The thrill and the hope remain and keep the interest in gambling high. That’s it. A thrill that doesn’t cost much. And: What you get for free, you don’t treasure because you didn’t have to work for it. Maybe this is also why prizes of raffles are often considered of "less value". #verival #muesli #tirolbox #tirolbox #raffle #marketing #retail

We all love chocolate, don’t we? Tirol Box chocolates are made by hand and only milk and cream from the Tyrol grey cattle is used for it. This is why it is a very special treat. What makes it even more special, is the packaging design series that I made for all the different flavours. #tirolbox #tirol #tirolbox #schokolade

Video strips on websites are a growing trend that is implemented by more and more companies. I’m sure we will see such video strips also beyond 2017 and many static picture strips will be replaced by them. At the start of 2015, I implemented a video strip on the starting page of my own website. The great thing about such video strips: They bring static pictures to life and catch the website visitor’s attention in an instant. This reduces the bounce rate and increases the time people stay on a website, what can have a positive influence on sales (i.e. in an online shop). Besides that, video strips can transport emotions better than static pictures. But of course not only I implemented it. Some other websites that want to impress their visitors successfully follow this trend too: New York Times: Top 52 Places to go in 2016 Berghof Hotel Lech (please click on the links below): http://www.derberghof.at/zimmer-suiten/ http://www.derberghof.at/genuss/ http://www.derberghof.at/berghof-vorzuege/ http://www.derberghof.at/erlebnisse/ http://www.derberghof.at/kontakt/ How do you do that? Required software: I A website that allows embedding video strips I A video cutter program that you can edit and cut your video with Required hardware: I A camera I A tripod (depending on what you want to film) It is important that the start and the end of the video snippet look exactly the same (really, 100%!). This is the only way a smooth loop is guaranteed. You can for example choose a static shot and suddenly walk into the picture, like in the Berghof Hotel example. But don’t forget to walk out of the picture again, remember: start and end of the video snippet must match! In addition to that, the video should not be too long, 5 to 10 seconds max. Too long videos take long to load which could cause people to leave the website and is definitely punished by Google (keyword: SEO!). Why not try it for yourself?! Such video strips really impress people a lot and they are quite easy to produce. I wish you a lot of fun and success with it! #webdesign #video #trend

After an intense development, start-up and launch phase, I pull out of the operational business and the management of Tirol Box per 1 March 2017. I fully focus on my core business HCG corporate designs again, however will still be available for Tirol Box in terms of design and consulting support. #tirolbox #tirolbox

The riding stable Maxnhager in idyllic Weerberg, Tyrol, provides high-quality horse stables. A generous outdoor area including savvy park, many possibilities to ride out in nature as well as several courses make horse owners’ hearts leap for joy. The facility has been owned by family Sponring for generations and they attach great importance to treat horses professionally and with a lot of love. I designed and implemented the new website (incl. mobile phone version) based on the provided logo, copy and photos. More details can be found in my portfolio. #mobilewebsite #webdesign

Basically, I never had much to do with product photography. "Why should I? There are professional product photographers out there.", I thought. When Ashley Wiggins and I started Tirol Box, this changed very quickly. The monthly surprise boxes have to be revealed on a regular basis, so that website visitors see what products are featured in the latest Tirol Box . As a film maker, co-founder Ashley Wiggins had his professional camera and lights equipment of course. So this was a good start already. Placing the products and looking for matching accessories, however, became my job. As I had never dealt with product photography or shopping window dressing before, I really found this difficult in the beginning. But you always grow with challenges, I thought. In the past, I often came out with very good results even though I had not much or no experience at all about certain things. So why should I mess up the photos for Tirol Box? Said and done. I arranged and placed the products and matching accessories. Here you can see the result for November 2016, December 2016 and January 2017. #tirolbox #tirol #tirolbox #photoshop #photography #productphotography #subscriptionbox

In addition to the press coverage in eco.nova, REISEaktuell and the Tyrolean government, the Wirecard magazine wrote about Tirol Box too. An interesting interview with co-founder Ashley Wiggins and me. (please click on the image to enlarge it) #tirolbox #tirol #tirolbox #interview #wirecard

#nye #resolutions

I already wrote about card designs in an older blog article . Most of us see card designs and micro content day in, day out. This is why many of us don’t experience them as something to really look at any more, because many card designs look too similar. But this does not have to be like that. Micro content can also be desigend in a more sophisticated way that makes you want to do something – like click on it. So: Please no more boring card designs! Here you see some refreshingly good examples of how card designs can look like: Orange Card design combined with micro infographics – my graphic designer heart is beating faster ☺ Very well executed and perfect for Orange. Nike Another example of cards without gaps in between is the website of Nike. Beautiful, bold and strong – that of course only works with excellent photo material. HCG corporate designs My website (here you see a screenshot of my portfolio page) shows informative card designs with rollover effects. The different colours on the left side of the cards stand for different service categories I offer: red for corporate designs, blue for editorial design (print), turquoise for app magazines and yellow for infographics. There are matching micro content cards for social media too. Alpbacherhof The Alpbacherhof also works with rollover effects on their card designs: classic, elegant, traditional, not chasing the latest trend – this definitely fits their target group. Pepsi Card design with social media buttons – there is a lot going on on this site, but it does not look overloaded. Twixl Belgium-based digital publishing solution provider Twixl uses nice, clean card designs with colour strips at the bottom and clear focus on the core message. The focus lies on the information transport. However, I still have not found out a colour code system, which is a bit unfortunate. Hillary Clinton Hillary Clinton’s website during the US presidential election campaign shows a card design that is clear, full of information but it still does not look overloaded. Very small gaps between the letters, the letters being round and wide as well as the big gaps between the cards play together very well here. Also the rollover effect is clean, bold and focused. Heineken What a wonderful design – focused on emotions and photos and in the Heineken green colour mode. Everything goes very well together. Names for Change What an eye-catcher – wonderful colour combination (vintage style), matching colour filters above the items inside the cards and small white font in the top left corner. Top! Helbak You cannot deny the nordic design influence here. Fresh, focused, reduced, featuring petrol colours. Stunning. Tirol Box Card design that stays in the air by alpine flower "pins" – free, light and beautiful to look at. As you see, card designs don’t always have to look boring! #carddesign #webdesign #mobilewebsite #tirolbox #tirolbox #infographic

This free app shows a high-quality, modern design for an annual report , fully interactive and full of great multimedia content. Clear structures and easy-to-understand buttons allow for an easy and intuitive user experience. Subtle animations and effects give the app a slight entertainment character without losing the focus on facts and numbers. This creates a dummy app with a perfect balance between information material and the personal favourite read of shareholders as well as Investor Relations Managers. #app #annualreport

This is how member of Tyrolean government Patrizia Zoller-Frischauf called Tirol Box in a recent press release of the state of Tyrol. Ashley Wiggins and I say "thank you". You can read the official press release here. #tirolbox #tirolbox #tirol #politik

(This blog article was updated on 2 January 2018.) Most entrepreneurs (sometimes also private people) come across one specific question at some point: How do I get my own website? In this blog article, I’ll share my personal experiences about Wordpress and Wix with you. As regards IT, my focus lies on implementing and designing apps for mobile devices such as tablets and smart phones for iOS and Android. But when it comes to programming websites, I don’t belong to the „IT species“. Hence: Every time I needed a website for me or my clients, I had to hire IT experts from outside or create the website myself without any hard-coding knowledge. A major factor here is the CMS for the website. My experiences cover the following website systems: Typo3 Wordpress Wix Typo 3 Wordpress ( www.tirol-box.com ) → Design by me, implementation by several external programmers Wix ( www.hcg-corporate-designs.com , www.jrdressmaker.co.uk , blickpunkt-lkw-bus.com , urlaub-maxnhager.at and maxnhager.at ) → Design and implementation by me (As the Typo3 website was implemented several years ago, my experiences would not be very up-to-date, so I focus on Wordpress and Wix here.) In the beginning I always had to raise the question what the website has to do, how complex does the backend have to be and how would the design look like. A pure info page or a web "business card" don’t need to be as complex as an online shop where you have to consider data security, payment methods and stock numbers. A very complex website, like Tirol Box , required hiring several programmers that were Wordpress-savvy. Even the programmer of our bank was involved as the payment system had to be programmed specifically for our needs. After switching the website live, you have to care about the ongoing administration of it. I personally always want to administrate websites myself. I also recommend that to my clients. Unfortunately, I often hear that companies are very unhappy with their website programmers – also I had to go through this negative experience several times in the past. Wordpress and Wix – what they have in common Wordpress and Wix offer ready-to-go templates. Result: The website is finished quickly, the backend is not complicated, quite okay. The big disadvantage: The website might look like most other websites out there. It lacks individuality, the company’s character doesn’t show through and you are replaceble very easily – at least look-wise. As a designer I of course know how important first-class and tailored design is because you only have a few seconds for the first impression – which is mostly the deciding one. In the world wide web you often only have less than a second. If the first impression is not good, you already lost customers. I believe that a website has to wow people and must be based on a good corporate design concept – not upside down! This is why a ready-to-go template is never an option for me. Wordpress and Wix – the differences In Wordpress you have access to the code. I made sketches of the design in Photoshop and the programmers had to translate this into their coding language (keyword: CSS). (In this example I’m talking about the Tirol Box website, by the way.) As I could not create the site myself, I simply lack CSS knowledge, I was dependant on the programmers having at least some sort of feeling for web DESIGN in order to correctly translate my design sketches. So, the communication between the designer and the programmer has to be very good. As Wordpress allows you to access the source code, I was dependant on the programmers’ expertise. Meaning: You can do so much with Wordpress, but only if you know how to. This means: In the worst case, the code of the website is so bad that the website has problems in the long run, which you then have to solve with a lot of money and nervs (spaghetti code). Wix, on the other hand, does not give you any access to the source code - or didn't allow you to access any code until the beginning of 2018 when they launched a developer tool called Wix Code . With Wix Code you can create your own databases, dynamic pages and embed JavaScript into the website CMS. Generally speaking, Wix is a so-called WYSIWYG system ("what you see is what you get") which is based on HTML5. As the name suggests, you have a big canvas in front of you on which you can place all your website elements on. The end result looks exactly how you created it on that canvas in the editor. (Wordpress is very different to this!) Working with Wix is quite intuitive, you cannot destroy any code – perfect for people who lack IT knowledge. However, you do need to have a feeling for design to a certain extent – otherwise your Wix website can quickly look cluttered. Usability Wix wins this category, because: What you see is what you get – I don’t have to say more. Wordpress turned out to be much more complicated than Wix. Individual designs Wordpress wins this category, because: everything is possible! But only if you are CSS-savvy or have a CSS expert by your side that understands design sketches and can execute them accordingly. In Wix you are a bit limited, even though you can of course create beautiful websites with Wix too. Since the launch of Wix Code in early 2018, though, you have much more power and flexibility with your HTML5 CMS. A big dilemma in Wix used to be the very limited usage of typography – until mid 2016. When creating websites, I always used to have to think of a typography scheme that works with those very few that Wix offered. Wix only offered a few standard fonts, mostly in one weight; the other fonts were often completely unusable. When Wix finally introduced the upload of font files after many years of waiting and many negative comments, many people in the Wix universe were sooo happy – me included. SEO I often hear that Wordpress is more SEO-friendly than Wix. As SEO is a very complex topic, I don’t want to go into much depth here – and of course the content of a website has a massive impact, not only the technical side of it. Generally speaking, I used to have the feeling that SEO would indeed work better with Wordpress than Wix. However, Wix caught up in 2016. The SEO plugin offered by Wix (also known as the SEO Wizard) was until approx. mid 2016 not very sufficient to rank your website higher in search engines, in my opinion. I had the feeling that Wix’s SEO widget was something they just put on top of the package, just to say "hey, we help you with SEO", because SEO is such a trendy topic. But Wix continued to improve their SEO Wizard and now it's really a very useful tool that pays off. The SEO plugin in Wordpress (I call it the "traffic light system") on the other hand, is very precise and really works very well – even though you can tell that Wordpress originated from blogs. A quite neutral and very interesting SEO analysis for Wordpress compared to Wix can be found on WebsiteToolTester . This blog actually reflects all my personal experiences with regards to SEO, so it's definitely worth reading. Loading time The loading time of a website is becoming more and more important for the Google ranking (keyword: SEO). The loading time depends of course on your content a lot (especially picture sizes). I compared a few websites made with Wordpress and Wix in terms of loading time – I used pagespeed.de . My conclusion: Sites generated in Wordpress mostly load much slower than sites generated in Wix (even though most online marketers would say something different, but I can only speak from my personal experiences here). Does that have to do with plugins (see my next section for more details)? I don’t know. But take a look at the pagespeed.de test results (from 28 November 2016) yourself: Created with Wix: 0.527 seconds / www.hcg-corporate-designs.com 0.455 seconds / http://www.tobiasbecs.com/ 0.391 seconds / http://www.beachaswimwear.com/ 0.362 seconds / http://www.blushbeautiful.com/ Average loading time of my selection for this speed test: 0.4212 seconds Created with Wordpress: 0.958 seconds / www.tirol-box.com 1.264 seconds / blog.innsbruck.info 1.628 seconds / http://dolegetupandgrow.com/ 0.458 seconds / http://www.deliciousdays.com/ (yipiee, a fast site finally!) 1.678 seconds / https://finland.fi/ Average loading time of my selection for this speed test: 1.1972 seconds Plugins There are many more plugin possibilities in Wordpress than there are in Wix. Both platforms offer free and payable plugins, whereas Wix turned out to be cheaper. In Wix you can do a lot also without plugins. In Wordpress you need a plugin for almost everything – this is my personal experience. And for every "fart" (sorry my language) you need to pay extra. You always hear of outdated Wordpress plugins that impair a website – you won’t experience that with Wix so easily. When using plugins in Wordpress, you have to be constantly watching them so they are up-to-date and working smoothly. With Wix you won’t have to do that. Besides that, plugins slow down the performance of the website – as I need way more plugins in Wordpress than in Wix, that means that Wordpress loads slower than Wix in many cases. Location of the server This point definitely goes to Wordpress. You can host Wordpress pages wherever you want. Especially for companies in the EU area, it is important to host a website in the EU area in order to comply with data protection laws. A very delicate topic, especially for online shops! Wix is an Israeli company and works with servers that are spread across the globe. Asking Wix where the server for my website is located, I was given the answer that it’s probably located near me. But Wix could not give me a 100 % precise answer. This was the defining moment for the Tirol Box website where we decided to go with Wordpress, so we could definitely host in Germany and comply with EU law. More details about this topic can be found in the Wix.com Privacy Policy . Mobile website Wix is my personal hero here. Very complicated with Wordpress according to my experience. In one of my past blog posts you can read why I recommend using the HTML5 system Wix for mobile websites . I definitely recommend creating a mobile website too – in particular, when you work in the B2C segment. This is also demonstrated by the following statistics dated 28.9.-27.10.2016 on a B2B and a B2C website: www.hcg-corporate-designs.com (B2B): 85.11% desktop, 8.09% tablet, 6.81% smart phone www.tirol-box.com (B2C): 46.6% desktop, 8.8% tablet, 39.9% smart phone The year 2018 brings some important changes, for example Google's mobile first policy, as described in Brian Dean's blog (scroll down to chapter 4): Google now crawls websites based on their mobile website - even though you're not on your phone but searching something from your desktop computer! Yes, you read right. Your mobile website will determine your Google ranking in future, not your "normal" homepage. So if you don't have a mobile website yet, it's now definitely time to get one. Factor time Wix is the winner here. You get lost very quickly in the Wordpress backend. Always checking if your site really looks like how you plan it, takes up a lot of time. The WYSIWYG system of Wix is intuitive and – apart from the built in blog app – you don’t have to double-check if your site really looks like the way you planned it. My conclusion If functionality is the most important thing for you and the website demands a complex backend (i.e. online shop), then Wordpress is for you. However, you need some IT knowledge or extra budget. If the look and easy handling are very important to you, then Wix is my favourite here – especially in consideration of the ongoing administration that is super-easy with Wix but can give you some headache with Wordpress. Since the launch of Wix Code in early 2018, you can also create dynamic pages, database and content based on it, you can embed JavaScript elements and do much more. #wordpress #typo3 #wix #mobilewebsite #webdesign