Archive for the ‘Website Design’ Category

   As long as there was web design there were clients asking for a fancy intro page (sometimes called a splash page). An intro page is a specially designed welcome page, meant to be the first page a person sees before entering a website. They often have fancy graphics, sound or flash animation that welcomes the visitor. They usually include a link that say “Skip Intro” or “Click here to enter site.” Although most people agree they are beautiful to look at, professional web designers and search engine optimization specialists universally agree that splash / intro pages are a BAD IDEA. Here’s why:

1. They Annoy Visitors. Visitors to your website want to get to the information on your website as quickly as possible. Intro pages waste your visitor’s time by forcing the visitor to take unnecessary steps to get to the content of your website. The main goal of a website is to provide easily accessible information to visitors and splash pages stand in their way.
2. Lower Search Engine Ranking. Two of the most important things Search Engines look for are text-based content and text-based hyperlinks, neither of which is available on a splash intro page usually. The other goal of a website is to be found by Search Engines, and intro pages make this difficult.
3. 80% of Consumers Hate Intros! Here’s a market research report done by Marketing Sherpa https://www.marketingsherpa.com/barrier.html?ident=23442
4. Newfangled did some digging into their access logs and had this to say about their findings: “The number one reason for getting rid of our splash page was that it turned away at least 25% of our site visitors, sometimes more. This percentage has actually been researched and it turns out that at least 25% of site visitors will immediately leave a site as soon as they see a  message for a Flash splash screen (even if there’s a ’skip intro’ link). Our access logs confirmed this for us and this over all the other reasons caused us to get rid of it. The opportunity to improve our creativity was not worth the loss of such a high percentage of visitors. “
5. “Click to Enter” is redundant. By visiting your site your visitor already agreed to enter it, why do they have to do it again?  It’d be like opening the door to a store only to find another door that says, “Ha-ha, just kidding.  Open this door to enter for real this time.”
6. Minimizing steps. You want to minimize the number of steps involved in reaching your offerings. Having an extra click from an intro page does not align with this idea.
7. You need to have uniform navigation. Most splash pages don’t have the same primary navigation as the rest of the site. Some even drastically change the design when you go from the intro page to the real site. This is confusing to users who respond best to navigation that is persistent. Splash pages also enforce the idea that they are visiting two separate sites.

Technorati Tags: brick and mortar business, usability, Website Design

A small company grows and moves on from a start-up status and its’ software and web development needs change. You might have gotten along initially by working with moonlighters or a freelancer because they were cheap. But let’s face it – it is not a long term strategy. Most moonlighters and freelancers will abandon ship very quickly because it’s not their primary source of income and something better usually comes along or they just lose interest. It can be a frustrating experience trying to find a new one and hand over the project to that person. Even with a software web development company you have to realize that you’re not their only client. You hired them to do a project and they did a fantastic job. Now you want to roll out a second version of your product, but that company might be busy working on other projects now and you might have to wait in line to get your new version done because this is a new project and more time needs to be allocated for it.

There is a better way! If you need things done on an ongoing basis you need to work with a company that offers an SLA (Service Level Agreement). If you require ongoing work this is the best solution for you. Main purpose of a service level agreement is to allocate time for your project in that company’s schedule to ensure that work can be done when you need it. It quantifies the minimum acceptable level of service to you by spelling out the time that will be allocated to your project on an ongoing basis, response time for regular work and emergencies, etc. You can then rest assured that your software/web project will be taken care of when you need it.

Technorati Tags: custom software development, managing website, Software and Web Development, Website Design

It seems that everyone is seeking better search engine rankings. If you have a high ranking in the search engine results for the right keywords, you’ll get a lot of targeted traffic to your website. But how many of those visitors become your customers?

Conversion – not ranking – is what pays the bills. Conversion is converting website visitors into customers (if they can pay you right on the website) or getting them to take a certain action like filling out a contact form or a signup sheet for something like a newsletter or a webinar.

Search Engines, referrals, print ads, and hyperlinks all play an important role in an effective web marketing strategy. But once visitors arrive at your site, how do you go about persuading them to take the actions you want them to take? There are two main considerations: usability and content.

Usability

Make it easy for your website visitors to find what they came for. Consider creating landing pages that are directly relevant to the search terms they used to find your site. Visitors will quickly understand that they’re in the right place and can begin to move along the conversion process: fill out a form, contact you, or make a purchase.

You need to plan for different visitor scenarios. Do you have an understanding of the steps a typical visitor to your web site will take? Good navigation leads them through the conversion process with clear action steps. They should always know what to click next to achieve their goal.

Don’t overwhelm prospects with too many options. Eliminate unnecessary information like copy that doesn’t really say anything, links or banners that distract from the conversion process and graphics that serves no function. You got it right – less is more.

Test the conversion process yourself and get your or someone’s grandma to try it. Fill out a form. Register for membership. Make a purchase from your own shop. If it’s not painless for you or your grandma then you’re on the right track. Otherwise it is going to be tough for anyone coming to your site for the first time. Here’s the golden rule: keep it simple.

Put your efforts into improving your conversions. Think about it. Even a small increase in your conversion rate from 0.5% to 1% wills double your sales! Your targeted traffic will then be that much more valuable to you.

Content

Make sure that your basic message is very clear to your web site visitors. Don’t make them think. Provide clear answers to their most obvious questions and you’ll build your credibility.

Good copywriting may be the single most important factor in raising your conversion rate. The text on your pages should speak to your visitors in a consistent and appropriate voice. It should offer the right information at the right time.

Support the personal and psychological variables of your potential clients. It is also important not to overwhelm your website visitors with too much text. Some people want to read, but others prefer to see photographs and diagrams. Provide basic information to everyone and additional information (pictures and documents they need to fully evaluate your products and services) to the people who want it. When including pictures make sure they’re really useful: not every picture is worth a thousand words. Use high-quality detail shots and enlargements to tell the full story.

Technorati Tags: conversion rate, double my sales, Internet Marketing, leads generation, promoting your business, search engines, selling products online, seo, site promotion, usability, website optimization

Building software or a website is an exciting process for any business. Dreaming up nifty features that will save you a ton of time and money and looking at other similar projects for inspiration get our creative juices flowing.

But that enthusiasm can quickly go cold if the website or software you end up with does not deliver the results you expect.  That’s why the first step in the website and software development process is one of the most important. Careful planning early on can often mean the difference between a software or a website that is a driving force of your company’s growth and one that needs to be redone one or more times shortly after its’ completion.

Good planning reaps benefits that are critical to any organization. It ensures that your project is on time and on budget and that the website or software you end up with not only is what you want but serves the needs of your organization better than any alternative.

The website and software development process is not a lot different than building a home. Knowing what kind of home you want is the first step. How will the floor be laid out? Where will each door go? How many bathrooms? Not knowing the answers to these questions before you start building guarantees trouble ahead. Realizing that you need a bay window when the house is nearly built will cost you much more time and money than if you had anticipated one from the start.

Likewise, the process of developing website and software begins with identifying what kind of website or software you need. A good development firm will not only listen to your needs but help you identify goals that you may not have realized were essential to your project’s success. Based on those needs, your developer will then draft a blueprint that lays out a design for your website or software and the steps required to achieve it.

Once you’ve seen the blueprint, you’ll then have a much clearer picture of the online “home” you’ve been working towards. A bit of tweaking here and there is normal, but now the process of actually building the website can begin on good footing.

It all begins with good planning. The process is a good one to become familiar with as you begin thinking about the website or software you want and searching for a design company that can get you to that point.

Technorati Tags: custom software development, planning, Software and Web Development, web site, Website Design

Generating leads through your own website can be broken down into two basic steps: getting people to your website and converting them into a lead once they are on the website.

Step 1: There are many ways to attract people to your website: search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, cost-per-lead (CPL) advertising, banner ads, link ads, affiliate programs, link baits, etc. If you’re a smaller company I would only recommend using SEO, PPC and CPL.

Step 2: Convert your website visitors into leads. Depending on your sales cycle you can consider a lead to be someone who is interested in your product or service right now, someone who signs up for an e-newsletter or a webinar. In any case you want your website visitor to take a certain action on your website to become a lead. The percentage of visitors that become leads is called a conversion rate. To double your conversion rate on a certain page of your site you just need to make a 25% improvement to four things on that page like your introductory text, your guarantee, your “call to action”, and your page layout. You will need to test which one of these combinations works best. To do that you can use a free tool like Google Website Optimizer www.google.com/websiteoptimizer.

Technorati Tags: conversion rate, leads generation, ppc, seo, website traffic