This year we finally had the opportunity to redesign our website, update our framework to the newest technologies and showcase our work in a new way. During this process we began to reminisce about doing this in the past and how our online presence continuously evolves with technologies and trends. Our first website rolled in 1999. While our look, domains, and even branding has changed over the years one thing that has remained consistent is our message. We want to help great companies find customers and continue to deliver cutting edge, modern products at a competitive rate.
1999
Our first site rolled in 1999. I had been building websites Freelance for a couple years but it was all based on referral. We had built about 10 websites before I got around to building the first Point & Click site. Back then the internet was all dial up, sites were basic with simple graphics and no one really knew why they needed to be online.
Point & Click Website 1999
Fun Fact: Before the website went live we worked under the name Absolute Design and only changed to Point & Click because we could not find a good domain for Absolute. Funny how these things work out.
2001
A couple years had passed and it was time to redesign again. Broadband internet became widely available and with that some giant leaps in the web industry. We still started most meetings explaining why someone would want to be “online” but it was picking up steam and with new connection speeds came more impressive graphics and even some neat animations via java applets. This is when SEO started to be a trendy term and one of our more popular services.
Point & Click Website 2001
Fun Fact: Back then hit counters were considered a viable way to measure website traffic.
2003
Again over a 2 year period we saw advances in the industry moving lightspeed ahead of anything before. Broadband internet was a standard, computer monitors were bigger, giving us more room to work, and Google Adwords for search advertising became very popular. Plus Flash was huge, everyone wanted their websites to move and make noise. In some cases people thought this was more important than generating leads, they just wanted it to be cool!
Point & Click Website 2003
Fun Fact: Out of all of our sites this is one of my favorites and for a site that is almost 15 years old I think it holds up nice.
2007
This marked the start of some really cool things. We were seeing a big rise in mobile devices and with that came new opportunities and new problems. Social Media gained popularity and most businesses began to see the need for online marketing. Less of our meetings started with “Why” and more of our meetings focused on “How”.
Point & Click Website 2007
Fun Fact: This is when we developed the “Atpersand” which is the name we devised for the & symbol in our logo.
2012
The evolution we have seen over the years has taken us to this point. After working with hundreds of companies and building hundreds and hundreds of websites we were able to put that knowledge to work for us. The next few years are going to see further growth in social networking, search engines and search marketing and more importantly the expedited growth of mobile devices like smartphones, tablets and other mobile readers. Everyone gets why they need to be online and everyone sees the value in leaving behind traditional advertising for digital marketing. This is an exciting time!
Point & Click Website 2012
Fun Fact: When we redesigned the site we also redesigned the logo. We still use the “atpersand” but updated the overall look.
In closing, it has been a fun trip. For well over a decade we have been designing amazing websites and marketing those websites effectively. While the changes in the industry to date have been vast I can’t help but wonder what it will look like 10 years from now … I look forward to updating this blog when we redesign again in a few years.