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The Importance Of Having A Quality eCommerce Website

Written by wfootD on . Posted in eCommerce, Uncategorized.

Is your business looking at taking advantage of the continual boom in popularity of buying things via the Internet? If not, then you need to ask yourself why because surely it makes sense to try to grab a slice of a market that is growing and where you can really target specific customers who are more likely to spend money with you? The sad fact is that there are a lot of companies out there that will miss out on a lot of extra income simply because they have failed to capitalize on a wonderful opportunity, but then that is where speaking to a company that can not only build the website, but also help with marketing and Search Engine Optimization is so important.

eCommerce WebsitesThe beauty of the Internet and an eCommerce website is that you pretty much have free reign to do what you want with it. Of course everybody is aware of the possibilities of selling online when you have various products to sell, either digital or the real thing, but a number of companies miss out on selling services online and this can be a huge mistake.

The Internet does not have to be used purely to sell shoes, clothes, electronics or any other tangible goods, but instead what is wrong with companies that offer services using an eCommerce website in order to accept payments for work done or even a deposit? What is wrong with a trades person taking that deposit via their website or even setting up a payment plan via the likes of PayPal whereby an individual can pay a certain amount each month to clear their bill? There are more possibilities out there if you think long enough and hard enough about your own business and surely anything that can lead to you generating more income is worth thinking about?

Attitudes towards spending money online have certainly changed a lot over the last decade as there is less fear about going ahead and splashing the cash although there is still an understanding of a need to be careful. People are more aware of what to look out for in order to build their confidence about spending money online with any particular website. It is of course up to each individual business to get the correct professional help with this to make sure that, at least from a security point of view, people will have no need to worry about being on there in the first place as a customer that feels secure in using your website will have no problem in spending money.

So how do you create that feeling of security with your eCommerce website? Well, the first thing is that people do make a snap judgment depending on what the website looks like, so it has to be clean, professional looking, well laid out, but has clearly had some thought put into its development. Think about your own reactions for a minute if you land on an eCommerce website that is outdated or has broken links. Would you spend money there? Would you spend money in an offline store that had broken windows and was filthy? Nope of course not, so why would anybody feel drawn into spending money online?

There is also the fact that people do look at the payment options as there are only certain names that they really trust and you would be surprised to find out just how many people are aware of various payment processors such as Authorize.net, 2CheckOut, and of course PayPal, so there is automatically a bit of trust being built up when they see certain names. It makes sense from a business point of view to focus on using a payment processor that is well established and has that trust factor already attached to it. You need to remember that the biggest fear that people have over all of this is what happens to their payment details, so do yourself a real favor and give them the trust that they crave.

By using established, and loved, payment processors people will also realize that you are using a secure payment processor and that involves the padlock symbol appearing in their browser letting them know that things are secure at least from your side of things. In the past, people were guilty of just accepting at face value that a certain company or website was secure, but now we are so aware of various features that should exist with an eCommerce website and that can then drive a person to either spending money or walking away. Have more than one way of allowing them to contact you, have your terms and conditions and privacy policy clearly displayed, have as much information as possible about your company, and just be as visible as possible to show them that there is nothing to worry about.

Doing all of this does of course have to involve you using a company that knows what it is doing when it comes to creating an ecommerce website. Do both yourself and your business a favor by using a company that has a team of experts that will not only design your website to make it attractive to potential customers, but also make it as visible as possible to the search engines. That company is us, call us at 815-468-1524 to arrange an appointment to talk to one of our team.

 

What To Look For In 2015 Website Design Trends

Written by wfootD on . Posted in Graphic Design, Uncategorized.

As we get closer and closer to 2015 it does mean that there is greater insight into the trends for websites that we should see happening all over the place in the next 12 months. Knowing what is going to be in fashion with websites is extremely important for a number of companies especially where being hip is something that defines their site and their brand. So, what can we expect to see more of in 2015?

Responsive Websites are a Must

2015 Web Design TrendsThe one thing that nobody should do without is having a responsive website. Your site must be able to be viewed via different devices and not just a desktop or laptop. Failure to have this kind of website can severely hamper your business as people will simply be turned off if they go there on their smartphones or tablets and are faced with a website that is a mess and just does not work the way it is supposed to. This is actually a trend from 2014, but it will still remain in 2015 and indeed most people in the industry now see it as being the absolute norm for website design rather than an approach that will simply fade away after people switch their attention to something else.

Typography Will be Huge Factor

One thing that you can expect to see more of in 2015 with web design is the use of typography on a huge scale. Words are going to be very prominent indeed and people will be looking at experimenting with different fonts with different colors and different sizes on the one web page. This is going to make websites look completely different as there will be less use of the Aerial font for example and the good news is that font kits are cheaper, or there are more available for free, than ever before, so it will be easier for people with a smaller budget to still take advantage of these new and exciting fonts.

Large Backgrounds or Videos

Another design feature that we can expect to see more of in 2015 is the use of a large background image or even having a video playing as the backdrop to a web page. This means that sites are going to be far more colorful and less regimental in their design and in actual fact it does make quite a powerful statement, but of course only when you use the correct image in the first place.

Scroll Instead of Click

The trend of scrolling rather than clicking is something that is directly related to more people using tablets or smartphones in order to view the Internet. Trying to click on those devices can be rather difficult to say the least, so instead expect sites to focus more on scrolling through the pages to just make life easier for everybody. This has already started to appear on some websites and you can expect the trend to continue and indeed it should become the norm in the not too distant future.

The “Card Design” Will Become More Popular

The card design is basically the way that sites such as Pinterest are laid out and this is something that you should expect to see more of in 2015. It actually gives the site a great deal of flexibility as well as making it very easy to use and it is also attractive on the eye. You may have already noticed some websites looking like this already in 2014, but there is no doubt that more will pick up on it and its responsive nature next year.

Flat Design Will Make an Appearance

Flat design is something that appears to have been started by Google and it is expected to make major inroads in 2015. This approach involves using quite flat graphics along with just slight shading and change of gradients in the graphics and even though it may sound rather strange you just need to look at buttons that Google produce, or graphics that they are responsible for, in order to get a better idea as to what it will look like.

Using Micro Interactions

You are probably wondering what micro interactions actually are, but they are relatively easy to understand. Basically, if you go to a website and a box pops up asking you to sign up by email, then that is a micro interaction. The idea is that they do increase user interaction and gives the website a better idea as to who their visitors are and how to market to them. However, the difficult part is trying to make sure that these interactions are not over used or else it is likely to put people off going to your website.

Those are just a few of the things that are expected to really take hold in a big way when it comes to website design in 2015. Interaction and ability to be viewed on every possible device is a major thing and it shows how web design has to really change according to the technology that is available and there is no way that it can ever be left behind.

Do yourself and your business a favor by having your current website updated to bring it into the modern world and do so by calling us on 815-468-1524 to speak to one of our team.

 

Can A Blog Make A Difference For Your Business?

Written by wfootD on . Posted in Blog, Uncategorized.

Does a blog actually make a difference for your business? This in itself is an interesting question and to answer it we need to look at the potential role it can play for your company and how that can then be turned into a useful tool that can link you with your current customers and potential future clients. Are you one of those people that feel that a blog, which is basically an online diary, is only limited to John Doe? Well, in all honesty you could not be more wrong if you tried.
Instead, you need to think more carefully about the role of the blog as there is more to it than just voicing your opinion about a certain subject. Yes, it is a vehicle for you to put across ideas and to discuss various things, but it also gives people the opportunity to actually learn more about you as an individual or you as a business.

Take this blog for example. So far we have covered a number of different topics that we hope have been interesting to you and perhaps you have found a lot of the information to be useful in some way or educated you in a topic that you did not know much about. Now look at the role that has been played here and the relationship that has been created between blog and yourself.

This blog has been designed to educate and to discuss various aspects of web design, social media, Internet marketing and anything else connected to our areas of expertise. You as the reader picks up information as to the importance of various things not only for your website, but your business and it allows you to work out if it is something that is beneficial to you.

The idea is to generate some discussion even just within the reader and to make them think about what it means to them and what they should then do to enact upon the information that they have just read. Was it purely entertainment? Even those kinds of posts can be beneficial if you read between the lines. Was it on a specific point that can be applied in any way to your business? Is it dealing with something that you have thought about or should think about for your business? A blog post is more than just reading an article in a newspaper as there is always a lot of thought goes into it in order to make sure that it does actually deliver on something for the reader, so it is never just the inane ramblings of an individual, well, at least when you are dealing with a business blog.

From the business point of view

Now look at it from the perspective of your business if you were running your own blog. This gives you the opportunity to put across your opinions, although they should never be controversial, ideas, and thoughts on pretty much anything, within reason of course. It allows you to discuss new products, new marketing ideas, industry related news that you feel may be interesting to your customers, or to even just answer questions that you may have been asked.

The main thing is that it gives you some space outwith your website to discuss things in a controlled and structured manner that may very well lead to new customers or clients deciding to use your services and surely that can only be a good thing? However, you should never see your blog as purely being a sales tool as that is wrong. Instead, it is your chance to show your customers and clients that you are a company that is active, is aware of what is going on, and one that actually interacts with people rather than appearing to be distant.

A blog helps from a marketing and SEO perspective

Finally, we should also mention that blogs can be useful from an SEO perspective and linking to other blogs, if it is hosted on its own away from your website, can be a wonderful way of getting quality backlinks that are loved by the search engines. Of course, this is something that your web designer or SEO specialist can deal with, but search engines love to use what are seen as being authority sites and blogs are currently the flavor of the month in that respect. In other words, having a blog can lead to an increase in organic traffic to your website. If more people are reading your blog and checking out what you have to offer, then it can easily lead to an increase in your turnover and surely that is something that no business can do without?

What we are basically saying here is that a blog is not just for personal use, but it can be an extremely useful tool for any business. It gives a better link between business and customer and is appreciated by clients as they can see that it is not all about selling, but also about discussing industry news that may indeed be useful to them.

A blog gives an interesting platform for both sides to discuss various topics and considering all it takes is some time to write an interesting piece, then is there anything to lose by not having one?

 

The Flexibility Of CMS

Written by wfootD on . Posted in CMS, Joomla!, Uncategorized, WordPress.

To the untrained eye, the entire concept of web design is a world that is confusing and with various accumulations of letters that apparently mean important things, but which appear to make no sense at all. If you look at the resume of some web designers you would be forgiven for thinking it resembled random letters from a word game as you see things such as HTML, CSS, PHP, JAVASCRIPT and many more and yes you may be impressed in some way, but do you really understand it? How does all of this make a difference to you when you are just looking for a website? Does it make a difference?

Joomla! and WordPress CMS DevelopersYou see, when it comes to having a website designed you do actually start off with a number of options. The main thing to think about is how your website is going to be built and in some ways it does depend as to what you want it to do for the direction that you need to go. Right now, we can discount the likes of PHP and instead focus more on just two sets of letters. HTML and CMS.

What They Both Mean

HTML stands for Hyper-Text Markup Language while CMS is the shortened form of Content Management System. Both undoubtedly have their place in the world of web design, but there are a number of key differences between the two that may very well have an impact on your decision as to which one you should use.

Basically, HTML is better for a website where it is static and not going to change at any point whereas CMS offers you so much more flexibility that it has now become the key choice for the majority of websites that are now being built around the world.

What options are there within CMS?

There are two main software packages used in order to produce a website in this way. These options are Joomla! and WordPress and even though there are many others such as Drupal and Concrete5 for example, there is no doubt that these two really are the market leaders. Why? Simply because of how easy it is to use them as well as the number of plugins that are available that can take your site from being just a bunch of words and images and transform it into something that is seriously cool and interactive. Do you know the best part? The program does most of the hard work for you although clearly you still need professional help in order to produce something that is unique to you.

CMS Makes Your Site More Fluid

By using a framework such as Joomla!! or WordPress it does mean that changes can be made to your site instantly. If you have a business and you need to include new images, then that is very straightforward. How about changing prices? That is also not a problem. In actual fact, anything can pretty much be done to a CMS website in a short space of time.

You should also take a look at the WordPress or Joomla! sites yourself and just look at all of the extensions that are available. Why have static images when you can have a cool gallery? Include links to social media sites, play videos, get comments, message boards, there really is so much that can be done, so these sites can easily be tailor made to suit your own specific needs and surely that alone is a wonderful thing for a business to know?

Help With SEO

SEO is important with any website, but when you have a company that knows what it is doing with both Search Engine Optimization as well as web design, then you have a powerful combination. However, with the likes of WordPress and Joomla! it does make it that bit easier for the correct information to be entered into the website to make sure that it is picked up by the search engines. You do still need to have the correct work carried out in order to get the results that you desired, but it is easy to do things such as adding the correct information to images, keywords, correct tags, and other small things that can make a huge difference to your positioning.

Designs Are Easier to Change with CMS

The problem with a site made with HTML is that it involves a lot of coding work in order to change the design. However, with the likes of WordPress and Joomla! that is not a problem because instead the entire design can be worked on behind the scenes before being made live and then moving sections around also become a whole lot easier. It just means that customer satisfaction is not a problem and when you are paying money for your website, then clearly you want it to be absolutely perfect at all times don’t you?

Can I update a CMS from my location?

You can!  And you need not know a single piece of code.  We have taught hundreds of customers how to login and make site changes and updates to their websites, and you can too!  We will take care of the hard part, the coding, and the setup, leaving you with only the easy part of making site updates.  If you can operate a simple word processor such as Microsoft Word, then you can updated your website in a CMS, it truly is that simple.

Your Next Step

So your next step is to work out what you want from your website and to then contact us at 815-468-1524 to arrange an appointment with one of the members of our team.  We are Joomla! and WordPress experts and we can take your ideas for your website and turn it into a stunning reality and we can provide your business with the website that it really does deserve. Go with a CMS website and make your life a whole lot easier in the process.

Should I Hire A Professional For SEO?

Written by wfootD on . Posted in SEO, Uncategorized.

So you feel that you know the basics of SEO and would like to put that into practice. You go ahead and throw in some keywords and maybe even link your website to your social media profiles and you see a slight improvement in where you appear on the search engine results pages. This will, in turn, give you some confidence in that you are indeed on the right path, but even though you may at this point be doing things correctly there may very well be a lot of trouble in store in the not too distant future.

The problem is that yes you may very well see a change in your position, but these gains will often be short lived and the chances of you being able to capitalize on this are actually very slim. This is because a number of people mistakenly believe that SEO work is something that just has to be carried out the once and then everything is great with their site, but that is not the case. Instead, SEO is something that is constant and it is constant for a number of reasons, which we will cover shortly, so standing still is not an option or your competitors will simply swallow you up and you will fall back down those pages.

SEO is like a race

You see, SEO is like being in a constant race where you are battling against competitors in order to get into first place. You cannot try to push ahead at the start of the race and think that you have won and stop or they will go past you with ease and it is the same with this. You can try adding keywords, you can try using social media, articles, directories, backlinks, or anything else, but it must be done time and time again in order to stay relevant. Your competitors, and by that we mean people competing against you for the same keywords, are going to be constantly building their presence to not only rank higher, but to maintain their current position as well. If you are unable to run that particular race due to cost and the time spent on it, then you need to look for another race with another set of keywords that is perhaps not as complex.

Problems you could face when doing SEO yourself

We have already covered one of the problems in trying to do SEO work yourself, but there are several that you should actually be made aware of. Running your race is clearly going to be time consuming for you and people do tend to become pretty lazy once the novelty of doing something new has started to wear off. Trying to promote yourself online or writing articles and getting backlinks becomes a real task and it is one that website owners tend to want to shy away from whenever possible. A professional SEO company does this for a living, so by putting it all in their hands you are making your life so much easier and you also free up time to do other things connected to your website or business.

Another major problem is that Google is always making slight tweaks to how they rank websites and it is not unusual for changes to result in websites falling down results pages overnight. The thing about this is that Google will often make changes that can be confusing to a lot of people and of course there is then the need to come up with an alternative strategy in order to get that ranking back and get it back fast.

When you have no formal training in SEO, then it does often lead to you just trying to do the same things as you did before due to not fully understanding why your website has fallen down the pages. Of course this is then going to do nothing thanks to people not being aware that it was their previous actions that have indeed been penalized. People may then continue to do things that Google now frowns upon and that just makes the problem worse because the website will be pushed further down the pages by Google and then you are in a hole that you have no idea how to get out of. The result of all of this? The number of people visiting your site will drop and of course any revenue will head in the same direction as well.

What you can do to rectify the situation

The easiest way to rectify this situation is to avoid getting into it in the first place. By using a company that specializes in SEO it does mean that your website will rank higher and it will meet all of the terms and conditions as set out by Google. The cost of all of this will also be lower than you imagine and as was said earlier it does allow you to then focus on other areas of your business knowing that this important part of your marketing is in safe hands.

Contact us here at Webfoot-Designs on 815-468-1524 to see how we can help you with SEO and improve the organic ranking of your website.