I’m extremely excited that yesterday we pulled back the curtains on The Advance Guard’s web site. It was a long time coming, but I'm excited by how it turned out.

When we launched the company, we knew we needed a web site. To think otherwise is a very naive thought. But, we also knew that we were extremely busy right out of the gate and being a startup meant that we had to spend every dollar and hour of the day as wisely as possible.

So, we put up a place holder page to let people know we existed and directed them to Facebook to find out more about us. We started with a group and eventually transitioned to a Fan page. What we liked about this was that it allowed us to get a firm understanding of the differences between the two and how brands could leverage this space.

I’ve always believed that reading about something never teaches you as much as actually doing it. By dealing with the features (and limitations) that Facebook gave us allowed us to be able to advise more then one client on how to leverage the space. It was a great learning experience and one that I’m glad we went through.

We had wanted to get a full web site up, but whenever we got the urge we were usually balls to the walls busy with client work and that always comes first. But, as the end of 2008 began to come into focus we took time to really make sure it would happen. We had the goal of going live with the new year, but ended up pushing that off to make sure we got it right.

The idea was not to build the standard site that everyone would expect, but to take more of a magazine feel for the site with big images and detailed stories. The writing on the site posed problems for me personally since I tend to write in a much more conversational nature then what we were striving for. It was good to stretch my writing though even if I did pull my hair out more then once. *grin*

One piece in particular on our site that makes me smile is the case story titled “The Advance Guard Takes to the Field.” Rather then the standard about us page we wanted to have some fun with the magazine vibe and treat it as if someone had written a piece about us. Steve is extremely creative when he gets into the groove and it was fun to watch him write this.

The site is certainly a work in progress, so let us know your ideas.

We’ll continue to use it to showcase the variety of work we are doing for clients. Of course we are looking for more clients to add to that roster as well and our doors are always open so please don’t hesitate to contact us.

I’m proud of the site and our entire team. I’m excited for where we go from here.