Posts Tagged seattle web development
What’s the Difference Between Web Design and Web Development?
Posted by Rory Martin in Web Design and Development on December 2, 2014
If you’re getting ready to hire a Seattle web design or development company to create your website, then it is important to know the difference between them. While many business owners often confuse the two, web design and web development are two different things, and depending on which you hire, will create vastly different outcomes. While some of the best Seattle website companies offer both, you should be able to distinguish between the two.
What is Web Design
Web design is the visual element of a website. It includes your graphics, your layout, your branding, and usually a good part of your UX. Web designers are graphic artists and designers who specialize in creating websites. When you hire a web design company, you’re paying for someone to create the look and feel of your website as others will see it. Most of them then either work with a web developer to create a CMS and the back end code for your website, or use an existing CMS such as Joomla to skip the web developer. Things that a web designer may offer include page design, landing page design, brand analysis, website branding, lead generation forms, email marketing templates, and more.
What is Web Development
Web developers create the functionality behind your website, they also create the back end, where you can interact with your site, add content, and otherwise edit it. Web developers are code experts, and although some of them are also graphic editors and able to do web design as well as development, not all of them are. A web developer might create you a website, and then allow you to design the graphics, colors, and style yourself. Another might work with a web designer to hand you a complete website. Web development is programming rather than graphic design, and web development usually costs a great deal more than web design. However, if you don’t want to use a pre-existing CMS, then you do need a developer. Items that web developers offer include website design, ecommerce creation and integration, interface development, database management systems or integration, email marketing development, landing pages, form creation, and more.
Which Should You Choose?
Most of the time, you want a web team that handles both development and design. However, you can usually save money by hiring a web designer and using a pre-existing CMS like Joomla to power your site. In some cases, you may also want to stick with a developer. For example, if you’re creating a storefront that mostly just needs a banner header and focus on the products, rather than great design.
Essentially, depending on your website and your needs, you might need one, the other, or both. You can decide on your own which you need, or discuss your needs with a professional Seattle web developer to see what they recommend based on your budget, your goal website, and your needs. There are plenty of reasons to go either way, so your best bet is to talk it out with a professional and choose based on your needs.
Seattle Web Design Tips: How to Tell Your Designer What You Really Want
Posted by Rory Martin in Web Design and Development on November 11, 2014
Seattle Web Design Tips: How to Tell Your Designer What You Really Want
Communication between website owner and website designer has always been more than a little hazy, with the former often knowing what they want in theory without really knowing how to put that across in firm physical descriptions to designers. Most of the time “I want it to pop more” or “it should remind me of Pistachio ice cream” just isn’t going to cut it, unless you add more background information. Because even the best web designer can’t see your image, their idea of this thing could be something completely different then yours. So, here are a few of the best ways that Seattle web designers agree you can use to get across what you really want.
Make Sure They Know Your Business
If you hire a great Seattle web designer then the first thing they’re going to do is familiarize themselves with you and your business. If they haven’t and you’re not yet ready to switch designers, make sure you tell them about your ideals, business meaning, and anything else that they can use to recreate the feel of ‘who you are’ onto a website. Business branding requires personality, and you want to make sure that the web designer knows yours.
Share Concepts That You Like
If you take the time and go over a few websites or portfolio pieces with the web designer to let them know which styles and themes you like and do not like, you stand a better chance of getting something that you love. While not every web designer wants to sit down and discuss their portfolio with you, it will definitely make sure that they go into creating the design with a good idea of which pieces you like.
Create Reasons For Changes
When you ask for changes try going into detail as to why. If you’re not familiar with graphic design or terminology, that’s okay, just use normal language and say why you want it to look different in your language. For example, rather than saying “it should pop more” say “I think that some of the colors should be brighter, I want it to stand out a little bit more, and grab attention”, and then explain why. Discussing your needs with your Seattle web designer allows them to do their job.
Discuss What You Want
If you don’t know what you want, then you probably want to either sit down and talk it out with the designer, or work it out before finding a designer. Unfortunately, you can waste a lot of time and money looking for the perfect website if you don’t yet know what that website is. So, get a good idea of what it is you want from your website, and then after a discussion with a designer or developer, get into the web project knowing exactly what you want. This ensures that you get what you want, and you won’t have to do multiple revisions or eventually completely scrap the project.
Hiring a Seattle web designer is a big deal but by communicating openly, sharing ideas, and making sure everyone is on the same page, you can ensure that you get a website you love.
Seattle Web Designers Discuss: What Mobile Website Do You Need?
Posted by Rory Martin in Web Design and Development on July 8, 2014
Talking to someone about what you need for your website might be confusing if don’t know an especially lot about web design. Especially with all of the choices and options available. Mobile website? Responsive design? What?
If you want to make your website mobile friendly (and you should since at least 40% of normal traffic is mobile based), then you have to choose one (or several) options. Unfortunately, that’s more than a little difficult if you don’t know the differences. So what are the different ways to go mobile? Keep reading to find out what Seattle web designers have to say on the matter.
A Mobile Website
A mobile website is a secondary website with a different URL (usually m.yourdomain.com) that automatically redirects when it detects that the visitor is not on a browser. This allows the website to automatically adjust to the mobile version. A couple of points to keep in mind are that the result is a completely different website, so you can control everything that mobile users see because you can create entirely different content for mobile. This is great if your main website is complex, or you want to narrow the mobile options down to the absolute basics. If you are familiar with SEO, you may guess that this is bad for SEO in that you have two entirely different websites, one of which is only available for mobile, and ranking does not carry through to the mobile version, however, they do rank extremely well for mobile search. Mobile websites are faster than responsive websites because
Mobile Responsive Design
Mobile Responsive design is completely different from a mobile website in that it uses the same URL, and is in fact, the same website. Responsive design detects the screen size of the user based on the dimensions of the browser and then re-adjusts to that screen size using a set of given parameters. Essentially, your responsive design looks different for each mobile device, because it has been designed separately for each device, and then told to adjust. This is better for users because they don’t have to worry about being redirected to another site, and better for SEO because you are only using one website. Sometimes responsive design is also more difficult for users to navigate because you are essentially just resizing everything for the device.
So which is the best option for you? Most people end up choosing between mobile and responsive design based on their budget, their customer needs, and customer volume. If you have to give customers the best experience possible then mobile web design is faster and more user friendly. On the other hand, if you’re looking for an affordable experience that allows you to easily change your website from one size to another, then responsive is the way to go.
Want to know more about different types of web design or discuss your options? Contact Rory Martin to talk with our professional Seattle web design team about your business on the web.
Seattle Web Development – Setting a Budget for Mobile
Posted by Rory Martin in Web Design and Development on May 2, 2014
Mobile friendly is the web trend of 2014, mainly because web visits from mobile devices have skyrocketed up to nearly 50 percent. With that in mind, half of your potential web traffic could be from a mobile device, meaning that if your website isn’t loading quickly for phone and tablet users, you are loosing viable sales and leads by the handful. Unfortunately, you might not have any real idea of what to spend on your website upgrades for making your site mobile friendly. If that sounds like you, keep reading these tips from your Seattle web development team to find out how you can settle on a budget.
Consider Your ROI
The first thing to consider is how much you can afford to spend for your mobile budget. Sure, you could say ‘nothing’, and that is the easiest answer, but try taking a look at your web analytics. Google Analytics is fine. How many of your visitors are from mobile? How many of them turn into sales? How high is your exit rate (people leaving within 3 seconds?), and how high is your conversion rate for computer users? If you have a 0.03% conversion rate with a low number like 1,000 browser visits a day, and 30% of your visits are from a mobile, but they’re all exiting fairly quickly, your looking at one extra sale a day from your mobile users. That’s not taking into account that mobile users are usually looking to make a purchase, or that most websites have an average conversion rate of 2-3%, and sometimes more like 10%. With those statistics in mind, you could be looking at an extra 9 sales per day, rather than 1. If you’re selling low budget items that earn you a median of $3 per, that’s still an extra $27 a day, and if you’re earning more like $10, that’s up to an additional $90 a day, or an extra $21,000 a year if you’re sales are consistent. You may be driving more or less traffic, but you can probably see how you can use your current data to estimate a basic ROI.
Use that ROI
Once you have your estimated ROI in hand, you can use it to set your budget. First, you can’t rely on your estimated ROI to be static. For example, you may or may not drive the same number of sales every day, your sales may go up, and you might change products. There are a lot of variables, so you cannot rely on earning that specific amount of money. Instead, use it as a generalization. Usually, it’s best to hedge your bets and go on the safe side by spending less than you would earn in a 6 month period. So, for example, if you were making an extra $300 a month with mobile sales, you could estimate that if you spend $1200 on making your website mobile friendly, you’re still around $600 under what you could potentially earn with your estimated ROI.
Want to know more? Contact us at Rory Martin to find out how our Seattle web development team can get you ready for mobile traffic.
Where Do You Look for Quality Seattle Web Design?
Posted by Rory Martin in Web Design and Development on October 23, 2013
While there are plenty of web designers out there, many people simply have no idea how to find them, and going by the first page of results on Google tells you nothing about who is trustworthy, good, or worth the money. Others have no idea where to even look for web design services outside of the newspaper, Craigslist, or hiring an in-house design team. The truth is that web designers are everywhere, and usually the biggest challenge is not finding them, but finding a good one. Here are a couple of tips to help you on your search for quality Seattle web design companies.
The Best companies Have Their Own Sites
While you can find a web designer on Craigslist, in the newspaper, or even on eBay, you probably want to skip it. Many web design companies do advertise via online hiring sites, but all of the good ones have their own site. If they have a site then you can visit it, see the website, and see what they can do. Most web designers use their website as a working portfolio so it’s a good way to get a first impression of their work as well as their quality. If you don’t like the designer’s website, you might not like their work either. Of course, you should always look at available samples before making a decision.
In Your City
While you can look for web designers anywhere, or even hire out of Zimbabwe, the best web designers are those you can talk to, get a hold of easily, and maybe even sit down in a face to face chat with. For that reason, most people are happier looking for local web designers, right here in Seattle, rather than going to another city. If you’re worried about talent and quality, don’t be. Seattle has one of the best tech markets in the world, and therefore some of the best and most talented designers.
Tips for Getting the Best
Consider looking for more than one web designer, and then looking through their work to see which one you like best. Once you find a designer you like, you can start talking with them about your project to get quotes, timeframes, and other details. Many web designers can work with you from the ground up to brainstorm, design, create, and launch your website, and usually this is the best idea if you don’t’ already have a developer on board. Many designers will have online reviews that you can use to sort quality and average customer satisfaction as well, although you should do your own research rather than simply relying on what the internet says.
Choosing your designer is important, because who you pick will influence the final look and feel of your website. Just make sure you like their previous work, and that you like working with them, in order to get results you are happy with. For actually locating local web designers, you can try Google Businesses, an online equivalent to the Yellow Pages. Remember that you’re looking for a website, good reviews, and quality sample designs.
Seattle Web Development Tips: Planning Web Content for Your Consumers
Posted by Rory Martin in Web Design and Development on October 1, 2013
Web Design is a Multi-Step process that takes a lot of work from every member of the team or party, but one thing that is often easy to overlook is that the end result is aimed not at the person paying for the site, but at their customers. While this is easy to forget in the hustle of trying to make something that is appealing to you, it’s important to remember that customers come first, even with web content. So, how do you plan and design for your users rather than yourself?
Listen to Your Design Team
First and foremost, you probably hired your web developers because they’re experts, so, listen to them. Chances are that your web developers have designed a site or two and know what’s successful and what’s not. If you’re choosing a full service web developer like Rory Martin that also offers extras like social and marketing then they have an even better idea of what goes over well with consumers. When in doubt, listen to your developers, unless you absolutely hate the idea.
Take a Look at Your Competitors
While you don’t want your site to look anything like the competition, you do want to know what factors they have that make the site appealing to customers. Consider checking the layout, any apps, social integrating, blogging, or whatever else happens to be on the site to see what they do to make it more interactive and user friendly. Just remember that you don’t want to steal any ideas because you still want your site to be unique.
Consider Asking
If you already have a social site then you could actually get some great ideas by putting up a poll. Ask your consumers what features they would like to see, what is an absolute must, or even what features they hate about websites. Their answers might give you some great insight on what to do and what not to do on your site. If you don’t already have a fanbase don’t worry as your web developers have most likely already been through this a time or two with their own consumers.
Think Like a Consumer
Last but not least, if you want to make sure your web content goes over well with your users then you have to try to think like one. Decide which features you would like to see if you were buying your products or services, and if you already have a demo of the site, try it out without thinking of it as yours. Most people want a fast, easy to navigate site that offers the bare minimum of functions in order to work without being overly slow or confusing. Your exact demographic may want something different so try to think like a consumer to make a website for yours.
At the end of the day you want to aim for usability so keep that in mind when making plans for your website. While it is still important that you like your website, it is more important that your customers like your website, because they make you money.
Seattle Web Development: Why Your Website Might Not Be Converting Your Traffic
Posted by Rory Martin in Search Engine Optimization, Web Design and Development on September 17, 2013
As a Seattle business owner, your website can expose your products and services to any of the 1.97 million people in King County. Unfortunately for you, if your website isn’t optimized for search, for conversion, and for sales, you won’t be making any money off of it. Even if you have a relatively large number of hits each month, you still might not be making any money. Why? Because your website doesn’t convert.
While there are millions of websites competing with yours, the majority of them are less than optimal. You however can take the steps, or hire a Seattle web development team, to help you create a high performance website that converts your traffic into sales. Here are a few of the reasons your website might not be converting your traffic into sales.
Incorrect Optimization
One of the main reasons that your website might be getting traffic and not converting is that you’re using the wrong keywords. Take a look at your keyword optimization and consider the following questions:
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Are these uniquely related to my business
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What Else would someone be searching for with these keywords
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Would someone looking for my products/services look for these keywords?
While not precisely a web development issue, incorrectly optimizing your website can mean that you get a great deal of traffic that isn’t necessarily looking for your business. Remember that a large number of visitors who leave your site immediately raises your bounce rate, and websites with a very high bounce rate are usually dropped to the bottom of Google search.
No Content Layout
If your content is a jumbled mess then your visitors might be confused. Consider whether or not you can land on a page and then clearly and easily navigate your way to where you can purchase what you’re looking for. No? Then your customers can’t either. Content planning is an important part of web design and if you haven’t carefully mapped out where your content is on your site, then you need to think again.
No or Poor Landing Pages
One of the best ways to sell products or services is to create a landing page. If you don’t know what this is, then it is essentially a web page designed specifically to introduce your visitors to your product and then make a sale. The whole point is to make a sale, without being spammy or overly salesy. Your landing pages should be properly keyword optimized and should include links
Your Site is Too Slow
While you do want plenty of information and content on your site, you don’t want to add so much information that it slows your site down. The average person will actually leave a website if it takes longer than 4 seconds to load, so you have to make sure your site loads quickly. Seattle web developers suggest that your optimal load time is at 1.5 or less seconds.
If you want your website to convert your traffic into sales then you have to carefully plan your content. Social media should be easily accessible so that visitors can check out your pages for more information, landing pages should easily point to sales pages and pages to get more information. The worst thing you can do for your sales is to write a convincing argument and then make it difficult for your customers to make a purchase.
Want to learn more? Contact our team of professional Seattle web developers today to find out what we can do for your site.
Seattle Web Development Tips – What Kind of Website Do You Need?
Posted by Rory Martin in Web Design and Development on September 3, 2013
If you’re planning on taking the plunge and hiring a Seattle web development team then you have to know what kind of website you need. While you might think that a website is a website, you couldn’t be more wrong. Most sites are grouped into two main categories but there are numerous subcategories that offer specialized features and options. The two main types of websites are static and content, and both have their pros and cons.
Static Websites
Static websites are the most basic type of website and are usually the best for someone who doesn’t want any thing to do with managing their content. These sites feature fixed information that is not intended to be updated. The website owner usually does not have any kind of access to the website and has to call the developer to make changes. These types of sites are great for businesses with a relatively small amount of data and either a brick and mortar shop or services that are only available offline.
Content Websites
Content websites are the most popular type of website built by Seattle web development teams and for good reason. They offer more customization, more control, and more updates than static sites. Content websites are usually accessible by the owner and can be updated at will to add blog posts, new products, or even to change the web content. These sites typically either use CMS or some form of ecommerce GUI to provide a fully functioning and easy to use control panel for the site.
CMS – CMS is the most popular type of website because it is easy to set up and easy to learn. CMS or Content Management System websites can be powered by open source solutions like WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal, or can include a custom built option. CMS is essentially a control panel that allows people who are not experienced with code to update their website.
E-Commerce – Many E-commerce websites actually use some form of CMS, but e-commerce is usually considered to be its own subcategory of content. E-commerce sites allow you to directly upload content through a CMS system or a GUI (Graphical User Interface) to directly upload products, accept sales, and payments. These are typically harder to set up than CMS sites, but eventually work the same way in that a person who is not experienced with code can easily add and change content.
In some cases you might need something that isn’t available under either of the two standard types of websites so rather than getting a content site or a fixed site you might want something unique. These types of sites make up about 5% of the web, which is still a lot of websites. Unique sites often need specific parameters and functions but are costly and time consuming to build.
Most businesses prefer to use a CMS site because it is faster to get set up, easier to maintain, and can be edited quickly. Large stores with online products require e-commerce websites that can be used to upload and sell products. Last but not least, professionals such as carpet cleaners or accountants tend to prefer fixed content sites that they can upload with contact information and then forget about. All three types are perfect for different types of business but you can probably use your personal needs to choose one.
Need more information or want to talk about your website? Consider talking to us to ask for a quote, see what we can do, or get us started building your very own website.
Mobile Is Taking Over the Web – Are You Ready?
Posted by Rory Martin in Web Design and Development on March 29, 2013
If you’ve ever stopped for a moment to look up a website, store, or restaurant on your phone or tablet, then you’re not alone. Statistics show that more and more consumers are using their mobile phone to research and purchase items online, while websites aren’t really catching up to the trend. In fact, a study in early 2013 shows that 51% of people are more willing to make a purchase from a site with mobile optimized content, but only about 4.8% of applicable sites actually have mobile optimization. With this in mind, jumping on the mobile bandwagon could benefit you more than you might think. Mobile web development services are often more affordable than original website creation, and you can likely use most of your original web design.
Mobile Search to Surpass PC Search by 2014
Experts in mobile and standard search have been saying it since 2011, and are still saying it now in 2013. Mobile Search is expected to surpass computer based searches by 2014, even if it is as little as 1%. Currently consumer based searches on mobiles are at 41% compared to 59% on computers, meaning that mobile doesn’t have too far to catch up. Combined with the eye opening stats on purchases and research, going mobile could be very important for your site.
What is a Mobile Website?
So what is a mobile website? Chances are if you’ve ever taken a moment to research something on the web and you came across an impossibly small website with floating social share buttons in the way, or popup ads that were impossible to close, then your immediate response was to leave. Chances are that this site looked great on a web browser, but on your phone, it’s almost impossible to read.
A mobile website is one that has been designed with mobile use in mind. Typically there are no sidebars and are optimized for smaller screens with single row wider text that can be read more easily. Ads, if any, should be inserted between lines of text rather than on the side, and anything that floats should typically be removed.
If you aren’t sure how to go about creating a mobile website for your site, you can check with a web developer and ask about using canonical URLs to ensure there is no duplicate content on your site.
Is Mobile Optimization Right For You?
While only about 4.8% of websites have mobile optimized pages, mobile optimization isn’t for everyone. Not every site can benefit from utilizing mobile search, so it is always important to look into the facts before spending your time and money. Popular tools such as How to Go Mobile can be used to calculate how much each mobile click is worth to you, so that you can decide whether or not optimizing for mobile use is good for you. For example, a study by Adidas showed that every mobile search was worth $3.60 because 1 in 5 searchers ended up as a customer.
WordPress vs Joomla: Choosing a CMS Based on Your Website Needs
Posted by Rory Martin in Web Design and Development on March 1, 2013
If you’re looking for a Seattle web designer then one of the first things you should be considering is which CMS you should be using. For most, the decision is as simple as looking at the features offered by WordPress and Joomla and then choosing one that suits your business based on performance, capabilities, and options. For the most part your Seattle designers at Rory Martin will be able to tell you what will and will not work for your site, but this guide can help you to see the advantages of each CMS for yourself.
First a bit about CMS
Before you get choose between WordPress and Joomla, you might want to take a minute and learn a little bit about CMS. A CMS or Content Management System is used for publishing, managing, and editing the content created by your Seattle web designer. Most of the time a CMS is much easier to learn and to use then by doing the same tasks by modifying code via the hosting end of the website. WordPress is currently the most popular CMS but Joomla is also quite popular. Both are suited to slightly different types of sites and the following information should tell you why.
WordPress
WordPress was founded in 2003 and has since become the most popular CMS on the planet. The site functions as a free blogging application as well as a website CMS and is the single best CMS choice for bloggers who want a website. WordPress can be moved from server to server relatively easily, can be used for simplistic or intricate websites, and can be used to host single page or thousand page sites depending on your needs. Contrary to popular belief, WordPress does not necessarily have to be a blog website as it can be used to create solely static pages. You can see a WordPress website in action by visiting Time Magazine online. The benefits of WordPress include:
- CSS Theme Design which is easy to edit and modify
- Low learning curve
- Thousands of Useful Plugins
- Built in Blogging Interface
- Can be Used as a Web Forum
- Can include static pages and blog posts
- Works excellently for e-commerce sites
Joomla
Joomla was founded in 2005 and currently controls about 8% of the CMS market. The platform features a steeper learning curve than WordPress but most experts say that it is better for designing complex websites with multiple pages, but no blog. Joomla is perfect for large complex systems and in fact, eBay uses Joomla for their employee social portal. Joomla offers about 6,000 extension models which is about half the number offered by WordPress, but still quite a lot of tweaks and options. Joomla is highly customizable but requires more knowledge of code and technical tweaks than WordPress which is why fewer people use it. Visit iHop’s website or Linux.com to see a Joomla website in action.
Joomla vs. WordPress
Choosing between Joomla and WordPress is not quite as simple as saying ‘pick one’. For the most part, any blogging website can greatly benefit from using WordPress. With built in blogging functions, an easy to use CMS, and plenty of adons and options for SEO, it’s a great choice. WordPress is also easily customizable, great for adding plugins and social, and relatively easy to learn from the ground up.
Joomla is excellent for anyone who wants a more complex website with different features. Options including e-commerce sites without a blog, business websites, and unique websites with in-site functions all work well with Joomla.
Want to know more about the differences between Joomla and WordPress? You can discuss your website needs with your Seattle web designer and then work with us to choose a CMS that works for you.
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