Posts Tagged web design
The Mobile Craze Hits the Web & The Seattle Web Design Industry in 2014
Posted by Rory Martin in Web Design and Development on December 23, 2013
Most of us know that web design is about as static as SEO, meaning that it’s about as far from as it is possible to get. The industry is constantly changing and updating according to online trends, and anyone who wants to stay ahead in Seattle’s competitive e-commerce market knows that. Today, it isn’t hard to see where the newest trends are coming from, and that is mobile. At the moment, more people in the U.S. have smart phones than not, and considering that more than 20% of search is now mobile, it’s hard to ignore that the gadgets are taking over. In fact, with most of the new smart-watches now hitting the market early in 2014, and new tablets that are more affordable than laptops, mobile search is one of the fastest growing industries in marketing. But while this obviously affects your SEO, it also affects your web design in more ways than one. With that in mind, the following include a few of the important changes in the Seattle web design industry, and how they affect you now, and in 2014.
Flash Is Out
Flash based websites are popular and pretty on the web, although they do have trouble in some browsers, but the truth is that many of them simply do not work in mobile browsers. For that reason, anyone with a purely flash website is committing web-design suicide because mobile users might just see a fancy white page and nothing else. If you do want to go with flash, you have to work with your designer to cross test on multiple popular mobile web browsers in order to ensure that your site is fully functional across all platforms.
Responsive Web Design is No Longer an Option
Responsive web design first became popular a few years ago as a good way to boost your mobile popularity. The technique essentially utilizes adaptive code that changes size and shape to suit the browser and screen size it is displayed on. While in 2012, this was purely optional as the majority of search was still on the web, today, it can mean the difference between a potential sale and an unusually high mobile bounce rate. Make sure that your website resizes and looks good, no matter what sort of device your traffic is on. If you don’t feel like creating responsive theme variations for each and every device, you can take a look at your analytics (Google Analytics works) to see which devices are most common. For most, iOS including the iPhone, iPad, and iPad Mini) and Android are the two most common, but keep in mind that screen sizes vary across the most popular OS as well.
Speed
Did you know that the average web user will leave a page if it hasn’t loaded within 3 to 5 seconds? While mobile users are slightly more patient due to the restrictions of mobile Internet, their patience is also very finite. For this reason, you have to ensure that your web pages load as quickly as possible so that mobile users don’t leave before the page even finishes loading.
Depending on your website, you might need a lot of changed, you might need a new website, and you might already be good to go. Wherever you think you are, consider monitoring your mobile traffic and if you have a high exit rate, consider having a chat with your Seattle web design company to talk about responsive and mobile friendly design otpions.
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.
The Vital Role of Web Hosting on Your Online Presence
Posted by Rory Martin in Web Design and Development on July 5, 2013
If you’re thinking about setting up a website then you have to consider your web hosting as an important element of your site. Web hosting affects more than you might think as it influences your website speed, uptime vs. downtime, and even your SEO. While it might be tempting to simply choose the cheapest web host available, here are a couple of reasons why you should take your time, research, and find the best Seattle web host available. So how does your website hosting affect your site?
Speed – One of the most important factors of any web host package is speed. The faster your site loads the better, and for multiple reasons. The first is that many people believe that Google considers the speed of your website when choosing sites to bring up first in search. Fast websites obviously come up first while slower sites come in second, third, or on the next page. Another consideration is that studies estimate that you lose traffic if your website takes longer than a second to load. At 3.5 seconds, more than half of users have already hit the back button rather than waiting for it to load. In fact, a study by Google showed that traffic dropped by 20% when the load page of their sites was increased by just .5 seconds. Therefor you need a reliable host that loads your website as quickly as possible.
Reliability – While speed is an important consideration, uptime is also a very big concern. You most likely want a server with an uptime of 99% or more, so that your website stays online. A good web host should have multiple backup servers so that your data stays safe and is protected during outages.
Location – Many people don’t consider the location of their web host but it is sometimes a good idea to work with a local host. A local Seattle web host gives you easy access to your server, makes it easy to call a technician to ask for help, and might make updating and loading your website faster, especially if you get mostly local traffic. Sometimes the country location of the server matters as well because some countries have a larger reputation for spam than others, for example China, the Ukraine, and Russia are all hotspots for servers that also host spam sites. Going with a local server helps you to avoid these issues.
Last but not least, you can always ask your Seattle web developer for advice on where to get your web hosting. Many, like Rory Martin, offer their own dedicated web hosting so that you can get full service web development, design, and hosting all in one place. Best of all, if your web host is provided by your web developer, you can trust that your site will be easily uploaded and set up for a single price, rather than you having to pay multiple companies. Generally your final choice should also depend on the pricing, packaging, and what is included as well as the factors that are listed above, so consider researching your options and choosing what is best for your website.
Web Design Layout Techniques That Work
Posted by Rory Martin in Web Design and Development on February 27, 2013
Creating your website is about more than using code and pictures to create a final whole. If that were so, you could create your website yourself, or you could if you know code. But the real reason that prompts most people to hire a Seattle web design company is the fact that real web design is about creating a work of art that utilizes every bit of space and color to its best advantage. From layout design to text and images, every bit of your website is thoroughly thought about and designed. The following includes just some of the attention to detail that the web designers at Rory Martin in Seattle put into your website.
Background
Your website design starts with the background. Studies show that a uniform color background allows text and images to be more readable, so that is the best place to start. While it is possible to use an image background, a simple solid color can provide much better results. Style also plays a factor in your web design. Studies show that light colors such as white and grey are associated with professionalism, while darker colors such as black are associated with modern and alternative. Most of the time subtle light colors such as white or grey, or a subtly patterned backgrounds show the best results. While you can use a standard white background, many businesses prefer to show a bit more personality and utilize subtle coloring in their background.
Consistency Provides Better Results
Another thing that you might notice about a website is that a consistent design will help to improve results. Consistency looks good which means that it looks professional. Most customers and readers appreciate professionalism which will earn you recognition for that professionalism. Importantly, you can use differentiation in a consistent website to make certain items stand out.
Large Images
Images help to draw attention, and keep interest, especially around blocks of content. Most experts recommend using large images combined with small blocks of text to tell your readers what you are about in as few words as possible. Short and sweet text combined with a visually rich website can create a great deal more impact than a long bland text with little to no visual impact. Your website should be about imagery as well as the written word so consider incorporating it with large photos, photo sliders, and other rich visual content.
Broken Grids Draw the Most Attention
An organized website on a grid layout can draw a lot of attention, but by slightly breaking up the grid, or highlighting one or two blocks from your grid, you can create a lot more visual impact, and change the way people look at your website. Organization is important and grids and broken grids are the easiest way to get there. Depending on website style and methods, either could be great for you. A couple of tips that can help with your Seattle web design include that smaller blocks of text create the most impact, large visual images are better than small pictures, and design and pattern matter. If you want to know what might work for your website, consider asking one of the Seattle web design pros at Rory Martin for a consultation and free estimate on your website.
Better Color Schemes in Web Design and Development
Posted by Rory Martin in Web Design and Development on December 11, 2012
When completing the web design or development process, what do you consider important for search engine optimization and conversion rates? According to Shari Thurow, the one thing you’re probably forgetting, overlooking, or taking for granted is color and how the color of your web content affects its visibility to search engine spiders and the way in which it can convince web users to take specific action.
Thurow says that clickability is one of the primary concerns for web design – so in your color scheme, clickable items should look clickable from the searcher’s point of view. Your users shouldn’t have to mouseover all the text to figure out where to click. And making your links hidden in your color scheme, by not differentiating links from regular text, might be considered blackhat SEO and could be penalized.
Thurow focuses mostly on conversions in color schemes. She explains, white text on a black background is not a good color optimization because it’s hard to visually scan, leading to lower conversions. Also, she mentions the problem of text size since responsive layouts or mobile optimized sites often use a smaller text – which can be interpreted as spam by search engines.
Color theory quick reference sheet – www.icanbecreative.com
In her article, Thurow also stresses the importance of cultural color associations, saying: “the color red communicates happiness in China; anger and danger in Japan; and life and creativity in India.” Designing websites for maximum conversions means knowing who your audience is and designing for that audience. For example, a website for a naturopath and massage therapist likely won’t want to use reds, but will opt for blue instead because of it’s calm, relaxation-based connotations.
A color scheme that works for one website may not work for another, and deciding on a color scheme can be one of the toughest decisions for a designer to make. So how does a good web designer determine the color scheme for a website? Complementation, Contrast, and Vibrancy should be some of the deciding factors in your color scheme.
The vibrancy of the color on your website has a direct affect on the “emotion” behind your design. Brighter colors seem more energetic, which will help invoke an emotional response, whereas darker shades are relaxing, letting the user focus on the content.
Contrast between elements in your web design help drive the focus of your site – drawing attention to certain page elements. You can clearly divide elements on the page to direct the viewer’s eye to certain text, links, or content by just using contrast.
Complementation is a way of building relationships between colors. Considering complementation in your web design, you may want to use split complementary colors (colors across from each other on the color wheel), analagous or monochromatic colors (colors next to each other, or shades of a base color), or a triadic color scheme (using 3 colors on separate ends of the color spectrum – like red, yellow, and blue).
With all this information in mind, how do YOU design web color schemes for SEO and maximum conversion rates?
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