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5 Mistakes When Creating A Business Website

By Latoya Robinson

Having a successful presence online is an important part of a successful business. This is because there are many people looking for businesses using the internet. To maintain such a presence, you need a professional website. This is a website that your target audience can easily find and one that convinces them to obey the call to action. As a business owner, you must ensure that your website is professionally designed. We will look at the top 5 mistakes when creating a business website. When these mistakes are avoided, your website is likely to succeed and this will be evident in sales.

Most people just create websites so that their businesses can enter the World Wide Web. There is a lot of work that goes into a website for it to play its role in marketing your business. A bad website is worse than not having a website at all. This is because a website that visitors do not want to stay on will hurt the reputation of your business more than not having one. Let us look at these website mistakes and their solutions to help you make better decisions.

1. Making A Website That Is Not Mobile Friendly

According to statistics, there are more users accessing the internet using mobile devices than those using desktops and laptops. This is a clear indication that every website created should consider mobile users. It is also more likely that a mobile user will visit a business near them after they search for it. Despite these numbers, there are still many business websites that are not mobile-friendly. This means that they lock mobile users out of the picture which is a big loss since it is possible that a big part of their potential customers are using mobile phones.

The best way to deal with this problem is to move with technology. You do not need to have a separate website that is friendly to mobile devices. What you need is a responsive web design. This design makes sure that your website content is visible on different screen sizes without compromising on user experience. A person using a big desktop screen will view the website the same way a mobile phone user will. The only difference is that the content will be adjusted according to the size of the screen. This means that everyone will be taken care of regardless of which screen they are using.

2. Creating Thin Content

When we talk about thin content, we are referring to a website with limited content. For example, if you are a roofing company, the service page does not need to be the generic kind where the services are just listed. You need to list all the services then expand them by having a page for each service. Hiding your services on the generic services page limits the keyword specific content that search engines look for. A page for each service will also help visitors read content for the exact service they are looking for.  If you have no idea what to write, ask yourself a few questions about the service and think about the customers and what they would want to know. Create content between 500 and 1000 words for each page and you will be good to go.

3. Poor Page Optimization

As you create a website for your business, you should not forget about optimizing the pages. This is not all that technical; it’s just about the basic optimization elements such as Page Title that includes the industry your business is in and the location. Something like ‘Roofer New York’. The best-ranking sites include the industry and location and this should tell you the importance of this element of optimization. Always make sure you are including the target keywords in the pages, include internal links and you will love the results. When your pages are optimized, they have a better chance of being highly ranked on search engine result pages which gives you more exposure.

4. Poor Loading Speed

While in the process of creating a website, you should factor in the load speed. Users are looking for websites that will load fast and anything less will see them leave and visit another site. Speed is very important especially when you have an e-commerce website. Since most people are using mobile phones to access the internet, you need to make sure that you consider them.  Most users will not wait for a slow website while there are many other sites that can load faster. Another important reason is the fact that Google also includes the load speed in the ranking elements considered. Optimize your website’s code to make the site efficient, use SSD hosting which makes use of Solid State Drives that are hundreds of times faster than the conventional spinning disks, and reduce unnecessary media that might be slowing your website down. Make sure your website is simple yet attractive enough to keep the visitor long enough to convert them to buyers.

5. Lack Of Content Strategy

As you create a website for your business, one of the best ways to keep the website fresh is having a blog section. You should use this section to update content often. People will not only come to your website to look at the service pages because they will not change much. With a blog section, you can share industry news or your knowledge on certain topics. Having a content strategy will make sure that when a user visits the website again, they find the fresh content they will be interested in. Also, this is a good way to stay relevant in the eyes of search engines. Always think about what your audience is interested in and keep the content over 500 words and 1000 if possible.

Conclusion

Your online marketing is an important part of your business and your website is your representation online. It is important that you avoid these 5 mistakes when creating a business website for a successful site and business.

Major Web Development Trends For 2017

By Latoya Robinson

Website development has always been in constant evolution thanks to technology. The internet has something new and this means that websites can develop further every year. It is important to state that technology is not the only thing that influences change in web development. There are also other factors but the main one is human behavior. Websites are developed for humans and this means the user’s experience plays a major role in setting the rules of development. We will look at the major web development trends for 2017 to understand how they will influence development.

As a business, you must be ready to take advantage of new trends to better your website. The internet is literally made of competition and being left a step behind will greatly cost your business a great deal in profits. It is only safe for you to assume that your direct competitors are taking all steps possible to beat you. This way, you will be working extra hard to be a step ahead in your industry. Websites are important parts of a business and you should make sure that yours is giving your target audience a great experience for increase engagement and conversion.

The Minimalist Design Trend

The minimalist design is taking over the development world. This is where a website is developed in such a way that it focuses on the input of users. All the content and elements that are unnecessary are eliminated to create a streamlined website. This trend has two main advantages, the user gets a better experience and the website is fast to load. Some people argue that the minimalist design trend is taking the flare and visual appeal from websites. Well, the fact that many organizations are putting it in use means that it must be providing more benefits that outweigh any existing drawbacks.  It however, depends on the industry you are in and what the website is supposed to do.

More Focus On User Experience

Today, the process of building a website is more focused on giving the user an experience they will not forget. In place of basic frameworks that build websites that are rather boring, developers are using additional tools to enhance the experience of the users. The additional changes results in things such as the parallax design where the background and the foreground move in different speeds. It also includes the highlighting of links such that they are easy to identify on computers as well as smaller screens.

Cinemagraphs are the movements within that are improving the experience of users. They are becoming popular and use less bandwidth compared to videos and bring more versatility to the table. Developers are now pushed towards the story telling end. This is because story telling keeps the audience glued to the screen and this trend just makes this happen.

Interface Improvement For More User Engagement

The evolution of web design and the internet at large has greatly influence the development of website layouts. Instead of a basic link in the navigation, developers are now going for creative user interfaces that lean more on being interactive. The experience users get is more like controlling an application as opposed to a website. The main reason why this trend is major is because of the fact that most people are now using mobile phone to access the internet. There is the touch screen factor that results in larger links and buttons. Responsive design has proven that it is not simply about ensuring a site fits well in smaller screens, it is also about making it easy to navigate the site.

Long Website Scrolling

Close to two decades ago, experts were against long-scrolling and encouraged developers to avoid it. This trend has however become popular and all credits go to social media and the flat design. Since mobile phones are leading in internet access, you can understand why long scrolling is a major development trend. Users use their fingers to navigate the web. For most of them, it is easy to scroll long and not sit waiting for a page to load after tapping the ‘next’ button. For this reason, developers are now focusing on long scrolling that will most probably get rid of the many pages of a website. This brings us to the next trend which is lazy loading.

Lazy Loading Trend

Lazy loading is a new concept by web developers. The concept involves loading certain elements of the website only when they are really necessary. This is aimed at increasing the site’s efficiency and loading speed. The concept works well on any platform whether it is using a reseller hosting account or a shared server. In conventional sites, all the elements of the website, including graphics and content load at once. If the page in question is full of materials, the loading is delayed. Lazy loading makes sure that the website will load faster and this is exactly what users are looking for.

This trend has greatly helped the slow internet connection problem. There are also older mobile phone versions that have a problem in loading heavier websites. Instead of trying to load all elements, this technology ensures that only the necessary materials load and this gives mobile and computer users a better experience. Keep in mind that there are more people accessing the internet using their mobile phones than those doing it using the traditional desktops. This simply means that any development element that involves improving mobile user experience cannot be overlooked.

Conclusion

Web development trends are always changing and what was hot a few years ago might be dead today. As a web developer, it is important that you know the major wed development trends of 2017 to make sure that you are a step ahead in your industry. These trends are all geared towards improving the website to give users a better experience. There are other trends that will go big this year but all we can do is sit watch as we use the existing trends.

Why Have A Website Design Company Create Your Small Business Site

By Latoya Robinson

So, who needs a web design company when do it yourself seems easy and cheap? Is it not just about downloading some software and using a web hosting firm to make a working website? Well, there is more to this is and this is why you need a professional handling your website. You might still be asking why have a website design company create your small business site and this post will shed some light on the reasons.

The biggest mistake that small business owners make in the digital world is to underestimate the importance of a website in their operations. Your website can make or break your business in this era. This is because it is better to not have a website at all than having a site that does not work properly. The websites we have today are not what we had a decade ago. Today, a website is a marketing vehicle as well as a tool that makes life easy for consumers. Here are some of the reasons why you need to let a professional web designer work on your small business website.

First Impression Matters

What your visitors see when they first visit your website determines how they perceive you as a business. It is therefore, important that you make sure that what they see first is the best representation of your business. The best way to do this is through using the services of a professional web designer. Even if your business is selling the best products in the market, the website will play an important role in marketing the products. This is the main reason why you will need a website that can speak to consumers and convince them to buy from you as opposed to your competitors.

New Mobile Technology Compatibility

If you are not an expert web designer, then you probably have limited knowledge of the latest mobile technology in relation to websites. If you decide to go the DIY way, you might miss out on very important elements that can help your business flourish. A professional in web design will show you the importance of a responsive website as opposed to a mobile website. This will in turn, save you hundreds of dollars in maintenance of the mobile version website. It will also save you a great deal of time used in maintaining the desktop and the mobile versions.

Reliability

You can get an error message after the website has been live for a month. This is a common problem in the world of websites even when using reliable systems like WordPress. In most cases, most website owners will go through multiple Google searches trying to find an easy solution. Eventually, they give up and call a professional, something they would have done a long time ago. The professional will fix the site but this does not take away the risk of it going down again. To be on the safe side, it is a good idea to work with a professional right from the beginning. This will make sure that when the site goes down, there is an expert on standby ready to solve the issue as fast as possible.

A Great Design

If you use the many website builders available online, you will probably be using a template that is available to many other interested people. This is why you will find many small business websites that look the same even if they deal with different products and services. In a competitive line of business, uniqueness pays. You need to stand out to attract attention and this is not going to happen with a pre-made template. A professional web designer or company will make sure that your site is custom designed to meet your needs and stand out. They will go an extra mile to recommend an ideal hosting company since this is also a big deal.

Google Ranks

When designing your own website, you will probably not be thinking about the search engine optimization. When a professional is handling the web design process, they will be incorporating SEO every step of the way. This means that your website will have a higher chance of appearing in Google search result pages. This means you will enjoy more visibility. There are a lot of people using Google to search for businesses and it only makes sense that yours is where they are looking. This will only happen if you let an expert weave in all the necessary SEO strategies that will see your website appear at the top of search result pages of relevant keywords.

More Money

A good web design will not only attract potential consumers, it will also ensure that they stick around enough to make a decision to purchase your services or products. With a good design, you have endless possibilities of making money and this ensures that your business is growing financially. This is in addition to attracting more traffic which means more sales and profits.

Fast Website

Speed is an important element when it comes to website loading. This is the thin line between a visitor staying and leaving your site. When a professional designs your site, they make sure that it is fast enough to keep the visitor there. Any delay that lasts longer that the visitor expects will see them go to another website. This other website will probably belong to your competitor.

Cheaper Than You Think

Most people think that web design by professionals is expensive. This is the case because of the initially cost. When you look at the bigger picture, you will realize that designing your own site will actually cost more money and time than just letting an expert handle it.

Conclusion

This post answers the question why have a website design company create your small business site. If you own a small business, do not think that you do not need a professional website because you do. This will play a major role in taking your business to the next level. It is crucial that you work with a professional website designer to bring out the best in a site that will help your business grow.