by Nick Throlson | Aug 18, 2017 | Guest Post, SEO, Web Design
While there are many factors that can affect the appeal of your website, its responsiveness always comes at the forefront. There is an interesting statistic claiming that after not responding for only 4 seconds, your website can drive away about 25 percent of all your audience. Aside from this, most visitors to your website expect it to load somewhere within first two seconds. However, this is only a tip of the iceberg of all the advantages that having a responsive website brings. For instance, there are several ways in which it can improve your SEO efforts. Here are few examples.
Reducing Bounce Rate
The first thing we mentioned in the introduction was the fact that people might leave your page if it takes too much to load. This rapid page abandonment is also known as a bounce rate and it is a factor that is closely monitored by Google. You see, there are only a few reasons why people would leave your page within a matter of seconds and most of them are various black hat techniques like click bait. Either way, it only goes to prove that a surprisingly large number of people found your page ?not worth their attention? which is something that Google is bound to penalize. On the other hand, by improving the responsiveness of your website, you are bound to reduce the bounce rate.
Taking the High Road
Another great thing about boosting the responsiveness of your website is the fact that it is one of the few ways to improve your website?s SEO rank without turning to a black hat or even grey-area methods. According to renowned digital marketing experts behind?Websitesthatsell, most black hat agencies use risky and spammy links that will give you short-term results. In other words, while the campaign is in its full swing, it will seem as if you have great results but these are bound to rapidly drop over the course of time. On the other hand, by taking the higher road and simply making your website more functional, you are giving your search engine rank a permanent boost.?1500+ Quality Blogs That Accept Guest Posts.
Friendlier for Mobile Users
The next major reason for boosting the speed of your website is to make it more mobile-friendly. You see, according to the survey we mentioned in the introduction, only 11 percent of mobile users stated that they expect the loading time to be much slower on their phone. This being said, failing to optimize the speed for mobile users shows potential to let a huge portion of your overall audience down. This is particularly true due to the fact that the majority of users currently browse the internet through mobile devices.
Avoiding Duplicate Content
Seeing how desktop and mobile devices often have different loading speed, some users tend to make two versions of their website. This, however, means using duplicate content, which is something Google is not so fond of. This being said, by focusing on making your website both mobile- and desktop-friendly, you can solve both of these problems with a single swing. An additional plus is the fact that this doesn?t take nearly as much effort as it may appear at first.
Cost-Effectiveness
Finally, we already mentioned the idea of building two separate websites for mobile and desktop users. Still, a lot of people decide to make an app for mobile users instead, which, although more effective, also costs significantly more. This being said, simply optimizing your already existent website to be slightly faster is much more cost- and labor-effective than either of these other solutions. Moreover, it doesn?t take more than several minutes of your time, which means that making a decision of your future course of action into an even greater no-brainer.
In Conclusion
As you can see, making your website more responsive might be one of the best investments of both your time and resources that you could possibly make. Not only does it improve your standing on search engines and your website?s overall credibility but it also gives your overall user-experience quite a boost. Outside of this, it is Google-friendly and even makes your link building efforts more efficient. Overall, a win-win scenario regardless of how you decide to look at it.
by Nick Throlson | Aug 17, 2017 | Business, Web Design
One way to attract customers is through your website. It?s a simple approach for connecting with users on a daily basis and exchanging information. The problem is that not all websites are user-friendly. Customers can?t stand it when they come across a company page that?s difficult to navigate.Your goal is to engage customers and create a space that makes them want to stay. Many people look up companies online and judge them before even going into a store or trying out their product. Make sure you?re proud of what they encounter. See five ways to improve the customer experience on your website. SpeedSpeed is very important these days. It?s critical for customer service, data exchanges and a businesses? website. You must have a speedy website and blog for customers to review. It should also be mobile-friendly and available for accessing anytime, anywhere. A slow and clunky site will cause people to click out and not have any desire to come back in the future. ?DesignIf you?re not a designer, it?s important you hire one to work with you. They know what colors, buttons and banners to include for the best customer experience. It?s not a guessing game and should be taken seriously. A beautiful and attractive design has the potential to bring you more business. Don?t let a bad website design ruin it for you. PurposeAsk your users to take action on your website, whether it?s through a lead generation form or purchasing a product. Implement a WordPress shop theme so you have a professional looking store and customers can easily work the shopping cart system. Your website is the perfect place to include a call to action and have users provide you with their contact information or complete a transaction.InformationUse your website to provide value to your customers. Let them explore through organized pages and relevant and timely content. List pricing and contact information so they don?t have to go digging for it somewhere else. Give customers what they want before they have to ask for it. Have enough content on your website to make it worth their time to visit. This is a great opportunity to launch a blog and help educate your audience through engaging posts. Proofread When you?re all done making improvements to your website, take the time to proofread through the details. You?ll look silly if your site has errors all over the place. Take pride in your work and correct mistakes before the audience sees them. A website that looks professionally done and is free of inaccuracies helps build trust with your audience. This is how you get them interested in you and wanting to try your product. Spelling mistakes make you look silly and as if you don?t care enough to fix them. ConclusionCustomers are always paying attention. Impress them by taking pride in your business and rolling out updates they?ll appreciate. These are five ways to improve the customer experience on your website.
by Nick Throlson | Aug 14, 2017 | Social Media, Web Design, WordPress
When it comes to having a modern, up-to-date and, therefore, successful website, many businesses are lacking. Businesses believe that all you have to do is be online, have your products or services available, and customers will be flocking to your website. This is incorrect. To get click-through rates, you cannot simply rely on ?just being there.? You must transition into the digital era and make use of the internet and all the separate avenues available to you. This is how to bring your website into the 21st century. Update Your LayoutIf your website follows an obvious, quite static template, you need to swap it out for one which is user-friendly and more aesthetically pleasing. Modern and minimalist designs are popular, and a ?less is more? approach makes navigating through your website less stressful and more appealing. Have a select few of pages and tabs available, include images, and keep everything simple. Wow them with quality over quantity. Lucid Digital LLC and similar web design companies can offer your user-friendly web design that?ll optimize your sales and revenue.Additionally, you will need to remove any ?spammy? ads, as Google is likely penalized your site and lower your ranking. Websites solely based on ads and generating revenue are being heavily targeted by Google?s latest update, Fred.Mobile FriendlyNowadays, people are more likely to access the internet via their smartphones than their desktop or laptop. This is because people live busier lives, and smartphones can be easier to access and can also run smooth enough for optimal web surfing. Your website need to be available across multiple devices, otherwise it will lead to frustrations and people won?t click through (or they?ll abandon ship when they can?t get to or buy what they want). Social MediaHave your website linked to your social media accounts, and have your social media profiles link back to your website. Doing so allows you to fully utilize your social media marketing; you can post images of your product on Instagram, for example, and have it link back to the relevant page so people can purchase it easily. If you show your social media accounts on your website, people can easily ?like? your Facebook page or follow your Twitter and Instagram, making it easier for them to see you company updates or promotions. Onsite SEOBetter your onsite SEO by improving your website?s content. You want relevant and useful keywords, and there?s nothing more jarring than seeing a website talking about outdated or irrelevant products/services. Plus, if you were prone to keyword stuffing or posting empty content, then removing them and starting afresh will better your Google ranking.Offsite SEOIf your website isn?t easily found or crawling up Google ranking?s, you will need to consider offsite SEO as a means of becoming more noticeable. Competition is fierce, so you need optimal online visibility to become successful. You can implement SEO with content marketing, useful meta descriptions and hiring reputable SEO professionals who understand the digital marketing practice.
by Nick Throlson | Aug 5, 2017 | SEO, Web Design, WordPress
Websites have become a staple in recent years. Without one, it?s incredibly hard for a business to get off the ground, as customers won?t be able to find you. Along with this, it?s become one of the easiest ways for businesses to get started, removing the need for a physical building. Websites are great. But, are you ready to start making your own? To help you answer this question, this post will be going through the skills you need to complete a job like this. Along with this, it will also have some great places to get help in areas you?re unsure of.
Bootstrap/WordPress/Other: Nowadays, there?s nearly no reason to start a website build from scratch. Instead, you can use a tool like WordPress or Bootstrap to lay the foundations for you. Using them will take some learning, though. So, it?s worth trying them out before you start on your final website.HTML/CSS: Most modern websites are built using a special markup language called HTML. Alongside this, a similar language called CSS is responsible for the styles on the website. Both of these are very easy to learn, with resources to be found all over the internet. It?s worth understanding them before you begin, though.Java/PHP/Plugins: Using bootstrap or another barebones system, you might have to learn some PHP and JavaScript to add applications to your site. On a service like WordPress, though, you may only have to learn about some different plugins.SEO: Websites need to be optimized for search engines to help them reach the highest rankings. Without this, customers wouldn?t be able to find your site. This area is very complicated, so it?s worth using everything at your disposal to help you. There are loads of add-ons you can add to your site to facilitate this work.Security: Most reputable websites are secured using a tool called SSL. Installing a security certificate isn?t an easy job, though, and you?ll need to do some research. Along with this, you should also learn a little bit about network security to make sure the service system you are using is good enough. People will be warned by their browser when a website isn?t secure.Databases: A website which collects data of any sort has to have databases to store it in. In most cases, this database will be a MySQL variant, making it easy to learn what you?ll need to know. This sort of database is very common, so it?s easy to find loads of resources to help you when you?re using your own.
Of course, you might have some missing pieces in this list, and that would make sense. Most web developers won?t do all of this work, leaving things like SEO and security to external companies. Finding the best SEO company is just a matter of reading some reviews and doing some research. There are loads of services like this, and you can also find options to help you with design, programming, and databases, too. It?s worth getting help where you have to with something like this. But, you should still be able to do a lot of it on your own.Hopefully, this post will inspire you to start working harder on the website your business uses. Most people have enough of the right skills to get a job like this done. It might take some learning, but it will be worth it in the end. Having professionals do the job from start to finish would not be cheap.
by Nick Throlson | Aug 2, 2017 | SEO, Web Design
Have you checked the loading speed of your website lately? The results of this exercise may be shocking and a slow-loading website could be causing all kinds of problems that you may not be aware of. However, finding out that your website is slow could save you a lot of heartache in the future and it gives you the opportunity to fix the problem before things get worse. If you're still not convinced that you need to address this important issue, the reasons explained below may change your mind.
Online Visitors Expect a Fast Loading Website
Today's online users expect more from a website. They expect it to be useful, they expect to have a great user experience, and above all, they expect a modern website to load instantly. If this does not happen, most online users are impatient and they will leave your website and go elsewhere to find the content, products, or services they are searching for online.
A Fast Website Builds Trust
The vast majority of professional websites that are developed by the leading organizations in the world perform to an extremely high standard. Your website should do the same thing or your visitors will start to lose trust in you, your website, and your online business. A poor hosting solution may be the issue, so you should consider purchasing a reliable, faster hosting plan from a professional hosting company like Certa Hosting.
A Fast Website Increases Conversions
Different website owners have different business models and they also have different types of conversions that are important to them. Some website owners want to convert website visitors into email subscribers, some website owners want to convert website visitors into paying customers, while other website owners want more people to click or view the advertising on their websites.
However, all of these different types of conversions can be affected in a negative way if a website performs poorly. This is particularly true if people get annoyed or frustrated while they try to navigate your website and they will be less likely to answer a call to action if the website is slow to load.
You Will Have More Returning Visitors
Websites such as blogs often depend on returning visitors who come back to a website to consume new content on a regular basis. If a website visitor has had a positive experience in the past, they will be more likely to visit again. A fast-loading website is one of the factors they will take into account before deciding to return to a website.
You Get More Organic Traffic from the Search Engines
When the search engines are ranking a website, its loading speed is a factor that is often taken into account. The more of the search engines guidelines like this that you follow, the better your website should rank.
A fast loading website is no longer an option in today's online world. Each of the reasons above should be seriously considered and if your website is slow, you need to rectify the problem immediately.
by Nick Throlson | Jul 27, 2017 | Business, Web Design
Once you have had a new website designed and it?s live, how do you ensure that you are getting the maximum traffic and the highest conversion rates possible for your business? With promoting your site, there are a whole load of things to consider and simple ways to ensure you are reaching the right people. Follow these steps and be on the road to more hits than you can handle.
When deciding to have a website built, you will have certainly thought about what you are going to use it for and who you are trying to appeal to. When trying to direct visitors to your site, you must be able to implement this in an effective marketing strategy. If you are seeking page hits, then you are going to use a different strategy ? for example, your business plan on sales isn?t going to work. Make sure you keep this in mind before you launch any campaigns and certainly before you spend any money. - Utilize Social Media
An obvious one, but not always put into practice effectively. Read up on the best ways to maintain brand identity across platforms, and make sure you do not publish contradictory information. The last thing you want to do is confuse potential viewers. If you are seeking visits to sell, make sure you are present in forums discussing the industry you are a part of. Never doubt that community can make or break a small business. - Implement A Search Engine Optimization Strategy
If SEO sounds like a foreign term, you probably need to do your research. Getting traffic to your page is not about sitting back, crossing your fingers and hoping to the high heavens that somebody will stumble across your page. Whether it is running a blog, outsourcing some content or targeting particular geographic locations, you will need to understand a little about SEO to get those all important clicks. - Make Sure Your Website Loads Well
A great looking, totally sleek website will not do much if whoever visits has to endure slow loading times and poor usability. More traffic than ever will be accessing your site from a phone or other small device, and so you need to find out if your website is up to the challenge. If not, you really must address this issue right away. You could potentially be losing half of your customers. Furthermore, if your website is slow to load, then your bounce rate will be artificially high. Look into the Best Web Hosting for your requirements; you will kick yourself if your server causes potential customers to leave, and a loss in sales.- Keep it fresh
There is no point in having a website that you don?t update; therefore, make sure it stays in line with the times and that there are new backlinks promoting it as much as possible. Remember that repeat customers will see your website many times, and if nothing changes in a few months, they are likely to become disinterested. Unless you are using your website primarily as a CV, aim to update the content on it as often as you can. 
