by Nick Throlson | Mar 2, 2018 | Guest Post, Web Design
An adorable and user-friendly website design is essential to keeping visitors on your site longer and to reduce your bounce rate. The longer a visitor stays on your website, the more chances of business and sales are there. In how much time your visitors determine what your company does? If the answer is over 5 seconds, then your website needs a lot of improvement. Web designing is an art, If you want to stay ahead of your competitors, you need to be constantly aware of the latest developments in technology and designing to make your website easier to explore and helpful for your visitors. In this article, I?ll reveal six crucial tips to make your web designing more professional and top notch.Use Customized LogoHaving an attractive logo is very important to your website and for the branding of your business; your business logo is the icon that symbolically represents what your company is all about. An eye-catching logo will undoubtedly attract new customers. Make your logo visible prominently on the website; many business owners underestimate the importance of customized logo for their company. There are many freelancers and companies available on the internet that can provide you an incredible customized logo which will reflect your business.Collect RequirementsAfter logo designing the second step is to collect the requirements of the website which you are going to design. This is an extremely important step since it requires a substantial understanding of the business and its goals. Many designers start the work with all good intentions but end up delivering a website which their client never wanted. So, it is necessary to ask for the requirements before starting the work. Here is the example of some questions you need to ask.- What your business is all about?
- What features do you want on your website?
- Do you have some specific colors that need to be used?
Use Easy to Read FontsA lot of time a font style is a thing which separates a professional website from an amateur look. Choosing the right font style doesn't take much effort or time, but can give a purposeful improvement to your website. Your first point to look when choosing a font for a website should be that it matches the theme of your website. The right and simple fonts will enhance the visitor experience.Quality Navigation MenuThe navigation bar is among the most crucial elements of a website design, as it literally allows the user to navigate through your site. The navigation bar should be simple and same on all the pages of the website. If your website's navigation is poor, then customers can easily become frustrated and leave your website. The only thing to remember is to always make sure visitors understand what you have done. If users don't know how to navigate your navigation menu, it has failed.Call to ActionA call to action is a marketing term which is used to direct your audience to take the action that you want. Highly focused calls to action will insanely increase your website's conversions. Make your call to action as simple as possible. Calls to action should be appropriate for a visitor's level of engagement with your company. If your website is new and emerging, only invite them to subscribe to the newsletter. Always remember to include a call to action at least once on every page.Optimize ImagesThe longer it takes a website to load, the more likely you?ll lose an approaching customer. If you don?t want search engines to hate your website then you have to reduce your image?s file sizes to improve your website's loading speed. There are a lot of both free and premium tools and programs on the internet, which you can use to optimize your images on the website.So, there are 6 crucial designing tips for a professional website, by working properly on them you can take your skills to the next level and provide your users with a better and pleasant experience.Author Bio: Jessica Watson has been writing for websites and blogs for four years now, currently, she is working with Aurion International who is very famous for providing ISO certification in Sharjah and across all UAE.
by Nick Throlson | Mar 1, 2018 | Web Design
2017 was a year for bold, brutalist web design. Take a brand like Balenciaga.
The use of negative space and clean lines makes for a highly functional web environment. It looks immaculate on all devices. However, this year, trends are evolving towards the bold and immersive. Picture bright, saturated colors, pattern, and artful typography. Whether you?re looking to draw users into your opt-in pages, or show off your products, this post will talk you through five web design trends for new ecommerce sites in 2018.Making The Most Of Customer Reviews
88% of customers check out reviews online before deciding to buy. You need to make sure that you are doing what you can to maximize the increased traffic customer reviews can bring.Sites like AO.com use layered review options, optimizing for the user?s preferences in the features of the products. Dynamic bars also animate to show the ratings. This is a useful design feature that adds a sense of authenticity to the user-generated reviews.
The data collected in survey content can help you structure your data for easier consumption on your website. Highly technical reviews can be separated from everyday ?happy customer? comments, satisfying different audience segments.Reviews can also be thought of as a form of social proof. Developments over the last year within Facebook have enabled business pages to leverage all social media interactions towards their star rating. All comments, likes, and check-ins can count towards your site?s online clout. And so to encourage interaction across platforms, social plugins can help draw in new responses.One-On-One Recommendations
Chatbots and voice command A.I are starting to become mainstream. In the year ahead, ecommerce brands should be looking for ways to incorporate machine learning wherever there?s a fit. Chatbots are one of the easiest ways to make your site feel more personable and customer-service oriented.There?s a lot that goes into marrying UX, personalization and live chat, and it starts with a brainstorming session. List all of the possible commands and questions your website could pose. Next, consider how they may be rephrased using different terms and start creating your own chatbot responses to common questions.On-site chatbots are commonly seen on the bottom right-hand side of a website. However, the best ecommerce brands are using Facebook Messenger and unique hooks to encourage the user to interact long-term.Typefaces: The Bolder The Better
Many brands are embracing the bold, serif typeface trend. In many cases, the header text spans across the length of the hero banner.However, for a fresh new look, headers are also being scattered throughout landing page designs.Left, right, center justification, or entirely animated ? bold text is being used in modern designs to create more immersive scanning patterns across the landing page copy.
Unconventional scanning patterns can keep visitors interested and reduce bounce rates.Further, bolding certain words and phrases can help your messages sink in and trigger specific emotions in the reader.In all of your on-page copy, you can use exciting typefaces to draw attention to the subheadings and keywords that you want your customers to focus on.Easy-To-Scale Social-Friendly Sites
The number of selling channels is ever-increasing. Running a website that can evolve with the ecommerce trends is key to staying afloat in the saturated online market.Open source CMS systems are enabling more brands to experiment with bespoke design elements, while maintaining scalable functionality.Subscription as Service (SaaS) models allow you to create an online store, customize it, and access all of the backend features to keep it running it smoothly.? For those who are new to ecommerce and web design SaaS hosts offer useful 24/7 support. You can even buy one that?s already set up & running.As a reflection of the domination of social media in ecommerce marketing, many sales sites are mirroring the aesthetics of networks like Instagram. A simple product grid can easily match that of an Instagram profile, in the case of the Nick Mayer art store site:
Homepages that focus on the products make for a layout that?s easy-on-the-eye for smartphone users. The nested menu options are also easy to navigate on any device..Inclusive Design
Designing websites for accessibility is not a new thing. But, it is undoubtedly becoming more normalized as awareness of Inclusive Design Principles grows.?The days of making assumptions about how, where, and why people consume content in the ways they do, are over. The need for inclusion is now ubiquitous.? ?? Leonie Watson, Brand Consultant @ Heydon Pickering? Accessible Design gives people of all ages and abilities a clear path to conversion on any given webpage. As just one small example, if you are supplying video, you must ensure you include closed caption subtitles.Bold and graphically exciting landing pages may look interesting. But, if the mix of fonts and colors is inconsistent, many users may have difficulty finding what they need from you.Also, trends like parallax screens may have been trendy in the past. However, according to the outlined principles for web designers to follow, parallax sites can make some users feel nauseous.Bear this in mind when considering your scroll options, on-screen animations, and use of video. You also need to present controls for turning these features off.There you have five web design trends for new ecommerce sellers to look out for in 2018. One of the key takeaway points to consider is how you can use your layout, typography, and imagery to create a visual brand narrative. As long as your site is accessible and scaleable with the latest customer interaction trends, there?s plenty of creative leeway for businesses looking to push the aesthetic envelope.
by Nick Throlson | Jan 21, 2018 | E-commerce, Web Design
The world of e-commerce is exciting and filled with possibilities. You?ll have read many success stories about people who?ve made their fortune with an online store and perhaps even felt inspired to give it a go. If you?ve always wanted to work for yourself, e-commerce could be a great option, a venture that allows you to call the shots and reap the rewards. It sounds great, but it?s not exactly easy. Think you?ve got what it takes to make it big in e-commerce? Take a look at the following before you dive in.Getting started
Getting set up with an e-commerce website isn?t as simple as just having an idea and building a website. It has to be a great idea and an outstanding website to stand any chance of success. This 7 part guide on how to get started in e-commerce explains the step-by-step processes you need to go through to build a successful online store. You?ll need to do a lot of research and testing to find out if people even want to buy your product. The initial research is worth it, however, to make sure you don?t invest a lot of time and money into something that won?t pay off.You?re going to need help
An e-commerce business has a lot happening behind the scenes. Not only does someone need to manage orders and deal with queries, but there are also people responsible for the website maintenance, marketing, finance and other areas. This may all sound like something you can do yourself, but you?ll soon find that it takes a team to get this working. To get a team in place, you might need to source investment or take out a business loan - something that could be a gamble if your venture doesn?t take off.It could be a long time before you see any profit
There?s a misconception that the money to be made online is instant, and sadly this couldn?t be further from the truth. Your success depends on many different things, and you could go months or even years without seeing real profit. Many people have to retain their income from elsewhere to get by during the launch phase of an e-commerce venture, so don?t think about quitting the day job just yet. There are many mistakes that people make with e-commerce at the beginning, so if you make sure that all bases are covered before you begin - you could see a profit sooner than expected.E-commerce is a great money-maker if you know how to play it, and could be the start of a profitable new adventure for you. At the heart of every great e-commerce venture is a fantastic website, and there are a lot of elements you need to make sure your website is a success. Do your research, ask others how it?s done and make sure you know what you?re doing before you throw yourself into the world of e-commerce.
by Nick Throlson | Jan 10, 2018 | Business, Marketing, Web Design
January might mean the time to be making new resolutions personally, but it may also be time for businesses to do the same. One resolution all businesses should pin to their office wall is revisiting and refreshing their current marketing strategy. To continue to grow as a thriving business in today?s busy modern world, keeping track of the newest trends can make the difference between making that 1000th sale or missing out altogether. Below are a few trends that are key to watch out for this upcoming year: ?Hello Siri, Alexa, and GoogleVoice-activated search is becoming increasingly popular in 2018, especially with the introduction of devices such as the Google Home Hub and the Amazon Echo to our homes. These devices have revolutionized the home by allowing consumers set alarms, play music and order shopping using their voice alone. The smart technology means marketers now have the power to create a specialized copy using advanced keywords to help consumers find even more services and products related to their voice command. ????Smartphone TrafficAs millennials become the focus more of marketing in 2018, it?s safe to say traffic sources are currently to be found primarily from smartphones, rather than desktop computers, as they grew up with the power of the internet at their hands. Traffic from smartphones is predicted to continue to rise in 2018, meaning creating engaging, yet concise, copy that?s small-screen friendly is key. Your current content on-site and your search engine optimization strategy may need to be revisited to allow your consumers to read your copy easier on the small screen. It?s time to move away from chunks of paragraphs, each heavy with keywords, and instead craft content people can read and view on the go. This could mean turning more towards videography and infographics, rather than text-centered articles. ?Social Media and Live VideosTapping into social media isn?t a new idea or a new trend, but it?s arguably one of the fastest growing marketing platforms for the digital age. Nearly 800 million users log on and post to Instagram every month. Social media channels are ideal for sharing a variety of rich-media posts, including videography. Live Videos came into their own in 2017, but in 2018, the trend continues to grow. They provide real-time engagement with visitors to your social media channels, with Facebook and Instagram being the ones to watch regarding Live Videos. They can target potential audiences as consumers chose to watch a Live Stream and continue to scroll past advertisements. ??Augmented and Virtual Reality The popularity of smartphone game Pok?mon Go was able to show marketers that there is a channel waiting to be tapped into for their next step in their strategy. Pok?mon Go was one of the first that used AR content to create an immersive game by tracking the users? locations and time-zone to adapt their experience. Augmented Reality offers consumers the opportunity to experience immersive story-telling from their favorite brands, and it?s one to watch in 2018.
by Nick Throlson | Jan 9, 2018 | Guest Post, Web Design
We all know what a great website has. It has an aesthetically pleasing landing page that draws your visitor in. It?s a site that has user design in mind and is easy and simple to use. It is a website with great content, stunning visuals, and perhaps even a few videos. Today, great websites are powerful, clean, and modern, but that?s not all. There is so much more to a great website than what is on the page. That is why the greatest-looking website in the world will still not be good enough if it doesn?t have these five elements:- A Strong Team
A website simply wouldn?t exist without someone behind it. Similarly, a great website won?t exist nor could it run without a great team. That is why you should focus on other areas of your business, aside from just the business aspects. Hire HR advisory services to ensure that your entire business is optimized and ready, creating a greater business value.- A Focus on SEO
If your website does not have a focus on SEO, then you might as well stop now. Having a website that cannot be found is a website that has minimal organic reach. This means that you will likely have to continue to pay advertising costs to get new people onto your site, only without any guarantee that they will buy from your site, subscribe, or do anything other than click on and off.- A Focus on Security
Though it might seem like your website is secure, there?s a chance that your website is un-secure, putting both you, your business and your customers at risk. That?s because hackers can access your simple security protocols and can either completely lock you out, hijack your computer, and so much more. They will then either sell the information you have, like names, emails, and passwords, or they will blackmail you. Avoid this by increasing your security, keeping your website updated, and using the appropriate software to keep your hardware and even the cloud secure.- Organized and Backed-Up Data
If you want your website to be a success, you need to have your data backed up. The better you organize and categorize your data that is on your website, the better you?ll be able to protect your company and your content. Do this, and you at least have a backup option if your website goes down, is hacked, or damaged. Similarly, having this organized and backed-up data will provide better customer service.- The Human Element
Customer service should always be at the top of every single company?s focuses because without great customer service you have no customers. Even great products can suffer if the service offered by your company fails, which is why it?s important to keep a human element to your website. Contact information, respond to comments and even have a pop-up chat that people can use to get real answers from real people.A website is your global doorway to your company, no matter how big or small it is. To have a truly successful website, however, you need to make sure your company is running smoothly because a great company has a website that reflects it.
by Nick Throlson | Jan 8, 2018 | Web Design
Analyzing your website performance is a must for anyone who relies on their website for business. However, not all metrics should be added to your dashboard, here are some metrics that definitely might be avoided. Bounce Rate. Bounce rate shows how many people only visit that one page before exiting a site. While it may have been useful at some point, today it is irrelevant. Think of landing pages which only have one page and their purpose is to generate form submits. And what about websites that are only one page long, those get bounce rates at 100%. Therefore, this metric should not be paid much attention to. Time on site ? Most people believe the longer someone stays on the site the better. However, that is not always the case. Some of the best customers are the ones that interacted the least amount of time as they were ready to buy and did not waste time. Active Users - ?Active users? metric shows you how many unique users visited your website within a day, week or month. This metric is useless unless you compare it to the previous day, week, month. However, that also holds a problem as it does not account for seasonality factor. For example, if you were to compare last week of the year versus mid-week in January you will get very different results due to the holidays. These are just a few metrics that should be avoided when building your dashboard. The other pitfall to avoid is to look at data sources separately. You will not get a full picture by looking only at Google Analytics or Facebook Ad Performance, or your email marketing performance. However, if you combine all sources you will be able to see the whole picture. For example, combining Facebook Ads and Google AdWords will allow you to see what percentage of marketing spent goes where it will also allow you to compare cost per conversion across multiple sources and across campaigns. There are different ways to analyze your data and there is no universal solution that fits all. Thus, it is advisable to build a custom dashboard that fits your business needs. Start your dashboard build out by asking yourself what data you need to see first, then figure out where the data lives and what metrics you are going to use to answer your question. 
The use of negative space and clean lines makes for a highly functional web environment. It looks immaculate on all devices. However, this year, trends are evolving towards the bold and immersive. Picture bright, saturated colors, pattern, and artful typography. Whether you?re looking to draw users into your opt-in pages, or show off your products, this post will talk you through five web design trends for new ecommerce sites in 2018.
The data collected in survey content can help you structure your data for easier consumption on your website. Highly technical reviews can be separated from everyday ?happy customer? comments, satisfying different audience segments.Reviews can also be thought of as a form of social proof. Developments over the last year within Facebook have enabled business pages to leverage all social media interactions towards their star rating. All comments, likes, and check-ins can count towards your site?s online clout. And so to encourage interaction across platforms, social plugins can help draw in new responses.
Unconventional scanning patterns can keep visitors interested and reduce bounce rates.Further, bolding certain words and phrases can help your messages sink in and trigger specific emotions in the reader.In all of your on-page copy, you can use exciting typefaces to draw attention to the subheadings and keywords that you want your customers to focus on.
Homepages that focus on the products make for a layout that?s easy-on-the-eye for smartphone users. The nested menu options are also easy to navigate on any device..
