With our help, the American Council on Education’s College Credit Recommendation Service launched its refreshed National Guide website.

We provided them UX and information architecture planning, visual design, and copywriting services that, together, created a more intuitive experience for their unique users.

Of course, it’s always flattering to hear that the client found all the hard work to be an enjoyable experience, as CREDIT’s Director, Deborah Warin, said:

“It was indeed a pleasure to work with Tellenger on this project. Your team was efficient, professional, creative, consistently patient, and congenial – and that was just the process. We are delighted with the product as demonstrated by our engagement with you on the next project.”

But stay tuned, because more work already is underway to introduce additional creative features to the site!

After more than two years working to help clients leverage web technologies, we finally obligated time to rebuild our website. On the front-end there is a new visual design providing a fresher look that aligns with our brand identity. We used jquery to present more information without having to load new pages (and to make the site more dynamic), improved the Information Architecture (IA) and User Experience (UX) to make it easier for visitors to find information and for Tellenger to communicate our core messages. And, of course, we’ve increased our use of social media and real-time technologies.

On the back-end, we’ve utilized WordPress as a content management system as well as a blog. We have super clean code for greater efficiency and employ an uber-reliable host. Of course, Google Analytics keeps us informed of key site data and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) make us easy to find online.

The site is a reflection of what we preach: Technology driven by business objectives. Our objectives were to (1) clarify our brand, (2) clearly communicate our capabilities and experience, (3) leverage social media to increase site traffic, (4) make our website faster and easier to manage, and (5) use Tellenger.com to increase sales and brand awareness. Early data shows we’re off to a great start.

When hiring, it can be tempting to choose the slightly less expert job candidate to save on compensation costs. But the higher expertise, and thus more expensive, employees actually reduce costs and increase profit. Top employees get the job done at a higher quality, more efficiently, and on-time and on-budget. Plus, they add value in innumerable other ways by identifying risks to a project that may have been missed by someone not as proficient, see new opportunities, and generally bring performance of the entire team to a higher level. Top employees also make more interesting colleagues, which then attracts more high quality employees. A-level employees, create an A-level company, that produces A-level products and services, which leads to greater demand, higher revenue, and better profit margins.

Although it’s easy to take the short-term view, over the long-term the extra cost of better employees is a worthwhile investment in a company’s success.

After two years, we’ve re-launched Tellenger.com to better highlight the results of our work and the services we provide. Like many businesses, we started heading in one direction, though our successes, clients, and the market have encouraged us to adapt in order to better meet a unique set of needs.

Some of the changes that more accurately describe Tellenger include:

1. No longer focused exclusively on Government clients – We’ve found that our work with the Marine Corps, for example, has led to private sector businesses wanting our advanced coding skills. And our Government clients want to benefit from our leading edge work in the private sector.
2. Increased focus on Business Strategy – While strategy has always been an important part of our process, we were surprised to discover how many competitors fail to put the business strategy of an organization at the forefront of technology consulting. We let the business objectives of our clients drive our exceptional technology engineering and visual design … not the other way around. As a result, we’ve proven exceptionally skilled at building web-based businesses and driving organizational value through technology.
3. Not just complex coding anymore – Tellenger got its start building complex, mission-driven software applications delivered through the web so people could access their apps anywhere, anytime. However, we were missing an important market segment of organizations that needed less complex, though equally important, websites and digital technology solutions. Interestingly, the shift to building web-based businesses and ecommerce sites has actually enhanced our software apps.

While some website re-launches are simply refreshes or updates, Tellenger’s signifies our successes and our growth. We are doing outstanding work for our clients, which is leading to new clients, new requests, and repeat business. The new Tellenger.com site is a marker of the achievements our clients have experienced as a result of our work together.

I’m proud to welcome the new Tellenger.com.