How Architects Can Optimize Their Websites
Author: Madison Lockwood

Architectural firms with any sense of marketing at all have
long used the internet as a portfolio. Both commercial and
residential architectural firms publish beautiful photographs
of their work, many of them employing professional
photographers in order to maximize impact. Architects that
specialize in restoration projects will often post pictures of
the project before and after their work as been done. For most
established architectural firms, this is standard fare.

A website can also be utilized to emphasize an architect's
problem solving skills. Spatial challenges and structural
complexities can be illustrated both though the use of
photographs and drawings. Blueprints are too detailed, but
simplified versions of drawings can be very helpful to the
browser with a development or redevelopment
project.

Building Revitalization - an Illustrated Guide

Many towns and cities are putting public funds into development
projects that maintain the traditional look of an old downtown
area while refurbishing the structures that are there. Often
this means maintaining a building façade and constructing a new
facility behind it. Architects will also often find themselves
faced with unstable brick shells of older structures that are
being converted from warehouse or mill to condominiums or
offices. The challenge with these scenarios is twofold:
reinforcing unstable walls that are a century or more old, and
constructing modern facilities within them.

Architects that specialize in this sort of urban redevelopment
will sometimes go into substantial detail describing the
problems that they faced and the methods they devised to solve
those problems. A description of this sort can be a valuable
sales tool, because it is a method of illustrating structural
creativity. Meeting modern codes in old buildings can be a
challenge. Architects can illustrate a successful history of
innovative problem solving in this area on a website. Photos
and copy can explain the problem and the solution.

New Homes and Renewed Homes

High end residential architects use their websites to provide
elegant photographic displays of past projects. Homes with open
ended budgets can often turn into a tour de force for an
architect who has a client looking for creativity. But
architects who have done remodeling jobs on older homes,
working with a limited budget, often use the web to greater
effect. Showing an unadorned, older rectangular house in a
"before" picture and the same home with a deck, a small
addition and a lot more glass in an "after" picture can be an
effective sales tool as well. Some architects - with permission
from the homeowner - will be frank about financial limitations
and how they achieved quality design and construction within
those parameters.

People of means who are constructing new homes or second,
vacation homes often shop for a "name" architect. Firms that
have designed elaborate residences will often identify them by
name and location. Firms that wish to stress their remodeling
skills tend to focus on realigning rooms, clever use of stale
space (such as summer kitchens or butler's pantries) and
retaining a home's historical look while modernizing its
functionality.

Here again drawings can be helpful, especially if there are
additions that involve two levels or incorporation of an unused
attic into living space. Drawings can illustrate how the house
was used when originally designed and how that usage has been
realigned.

The Internet - An Optimum Sales Tool for Architects

Architects have portfolios just as do fine artists. With a good
website, an architectural firm can showcase its best work with
photos and video as well as drawings. The internet can provide
a complete picture of a successfully executed project.


About The Author: Madison Lockwood is a customer relations
associate for http://ApolloHosting.com,
http://www.apollohosting.com. As a small business consultant,
she helps prospective clients understand how a website may
benefit them both personally and professionally. Apollo Hosting
provides website hosting, ecommerce hosting, & vps hosting to a
wide range of customers.