New York Web Design Services

In this exclusive interview with Ken Braun, the President of Lounge Lizard, a New York web design services company, discusses what it's like to run a large web design company with a full staff that's capable of creating unique and full featured web pages.

Lounge Lizard New York Web Design Services

Lounge Lizard is a New York based web design company out of Bohemia, New York, with a full team of programmers capable of creating websites in many different programming languages and with unique aesthetic styles that match the requirements and demands of any client. Lounge Lizard President Ken Braun sits down with LoveToKnow Web-Design to describe the many aspects and demands of running a popular, successful web design company.

LTK: Based on your website, your company has already established itself with a number of impressive website projects, do you have a staff of programmers at Lounge Lizard?

KB: Lounge Lizard staffs a full-service team that includes a number of various talents that our clients require: project management, graphic design, copywriting, information architecture, and web and interactive development.

LTK: One area of your site showcases your ability to create high quality online Flash games - could you describe any particular projects where you had to develop these?

KB: As part of the marketing campaign for the Antz movie, we developed a game called "The Ant Bully". The game is a 2D side-scroller in which characters from the movie jump and crouch their way past obstacles, and combat enemies in the form of Flies, Wasps, and Spiders.

LTK: Do you have a particular project you've done that you'd call your favorite or that you're the most proud of?

KB: In this industry, you are always learning and improving upon your past techniques. Two of our largest projects from the last year really brought our company and our clients a great deal of satisfaction.

First is My Little Swans, which is a travel website that aims at providing sophisticated information and resources to affluent travelers who are in search of new adventures. It was a 6 month project that included flash development, social networking, a custom Content Management System, and in my opinion, some of our best design work.

Next is Imongr. Imongr is a movie and video game trading service that allows users to trade their legally purchased CDs, DVDs and video games. It was a massive online platform with incredibly involved back-end order processing and fulfillment that I can't do justice in short form. It was one of our most unique and rewarding ventures to date.

Lounge Lizard Website

LTK: Does developing an online Flash game take a substantial amount of time compared to strictly creating a website?

KB: It depends; every project is different. While a Flash game may be more involved than the typical brochure-ware website, we also handle a lot of large scale projects, especially web applications, that are as easily as big or bigger than your average Flash game.

LTK: Is your focus exclusively on Flash or do incorporate other web programming and technologies as well into the websites that you build?

KB: Many clients come to us thinking flash is our specialty after being wowed by the Lounge Lizard flash bar, but there is a lot more to the team at Lounge Lizard. Over the past year we have started an initiative to showcase some of our other skills, through our "Tech Heads" section, and most recently, we were proud to introduce "Behind the Bar", a Lounge Lizard endeavor filled with blog articles, technology tips, our detailed processes, and client portfolio.

In addition to Interactive Flash, our strongest suit is PHP and the open-source LAMP stack. We've been known to recommend the Zend Framework, work frequently on Magento e-commerce projects, and stretch WordPress to its limits as a customized Content Management System. All that being said, we consider every opportunity that comes our way. Members of our team have experience in .NET, Coldfusion, J2EE, and even iPhone application development.

LTK: Do you have advice for webmasters who are looking for help with SEO efforts on there own site - is it possible to do anything on your own or is a professional SEO expert absolutely necessary?

KB: There are two sides to SEO. The first aspect is the technical side, and it's an art that requires a lot of time and determination. I won't go into those details, as there are plenty of online resources for the technically inclined. What you can do though, and what is generally more effective than 2 weeks of re-writing your copy is, to publish something that people will find interesting.

Search engines assign tremendous value to inbound links -- so offer your visitors something worth linking to. You can add value to your website with original blog articles, tutorials, or even by producing a viral and entertaining video. Think about the kinds of links that you share with others, and then try to put your own unique twist on them that pertains to your industry.

LTK: What advice can you offer to new web designers who are hoping to build a successful web design company? Are there any lessons learned that you can share?

KB: First, be passionate about the web. Your clients may not always understand the intricacies of what you do, but they can tell when you are knowledgeable about your field and take pride in your work. Once you've turned your first few sales leads into paying customers, nurture those relationships and turn them into repeat business. A solid customer base brings a steady stream of maintenance work and updates that carry you through the slow times.

While Lounge Lizard is a successful New York web design services firm pushing the limits of web design on the East Coast, there are web design companies both large and small throughout the world that work hard to define themselves as unique within a large and competitive industry. Lounge Lizard is an example of one of the best web design firms in the country, and LoveToKnow Web-Design appreciates Ken's time in offering LTK readers his knowledge and insight.

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