In the upcoming year, we anticipate a significant shift in design principles and approaches, influenced by emerging technologies and changing user behaviors. This blog aims to explore and analyze the most prominent UI/UX trends that are expected to dominate 2024. By understanding and adapting to these trends, designers and developers can create exceptional digital experiences that captivate users and drive business growth.

In-demand UI/UX Trends for 2024

Dark Mode and Low-light Interfaces

Dark mode has rapidly gained traction due to its aesthetic appeal and potential benefits for reducing eye strain and conserving device battery life, especially for OLED screens. In 2024, we foresee a broader adoption of dark mode and low-light interfaces across various applications and websites. This design trend not only caters to users who prefer a sleek, dark aesthetic but also enhances readability in low-light environments.

Implementing dark mode necessitates a carefully curated color palette, considering contrast ratios and legibility. Striking the right balance ensures an enjoyable user experience while maintaining the application’s visual appeal.

3D and Immersive Experiences

The integration of three-dimensional (3D) elements into UI/UX design is set to make a significant mark in 2024. 3D graphics and animations can revolutionize user engagement and interactivity, providing a more immersive and visually stimulating experience. Whether it’s interactive product displays or gaming interfaces, incorporating 3D elements can captivate users and set applications apart in the competitive digital landscape.

This trend aligns with the increasing availability and accessibility of powerful hardware and technologies that support 3D rendering. Designers can leverage this trend to create captivating user interfaces that stand out and enhance the overall user experience.

Minimalistic and Clutter-free Design

Minimalism remains a timeless trend in UI/UX design, and it’s poised to be a dominant force in 2024. Minimalistic design focuses on simplicity, clarity, and essential elements, offering users a clean and efficient interface. By removing unnecessary clutter, users can easily navigate and comprehend the content, leading to improved user satisfaction and task completion rates.

Designers will emphasize the use of ample white space, crisp typography, and a limited color palette to convey messages effectively. The key is to provide a seamless user experience with an uncluttered and visually appealing design.

Voice User Interface (VUI) and Conversational UI

Voice User Interface (VUI) and Conversational UI are gaining momentum with the proliferation of smart devices and virtual assistants. VUI enables users to interact with applications through voice commands, while conversational UI focuses on a natural, chat-like interface. This trend is driven by the convenience and efficiency it offers, allowing users to accomplish tasks through voice interactions seamlessly.

In 2024, we can expect more applications integrating VUI and conversational UI to provide intuitive and user-friendly experiences. Designers will focus on creating conversational flows that mirror human interaction, making the user feel engaged and understood.

Inclusivity and Accessibility in Design

Inclusivity and accessibility in design are no longer optional but imperative. Designers are increasingly recognizing the importance of creating digital experiences that cater to a diverse audience, including individuals with disabilities. In 2024, this trend will see a further push, ensuring that digital products are usable and navigable by everyone, regardless of their abilities or disabilities.

Designers will prioritize features like readable fonts, adequate color contrast, keyboard navigation, and screen reader compatibility. A more inclusive approach to design not only enhances the user experience but also aligns with ethical and legal considerations.

Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) Integration

The integration of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) into UI/UX design is set to revolutionize user experiences. AR overlays digital content in the real world, enhancing interactions and providing a more engaging experience. On the other hand, VR immerses users in a simulated environment, creating a fully interactive and immersive experience.

In 2024, we’ll witness increased adoption of AR and VR in various applications, from retail and education to healthcare and entertainment. Designers will focus on creating seamless transitions between the real and virtual worlds, providing users with a captivating and interactive interface.

Emerging Technologies Shaping UI/UX in 2024

AI-powered Design and Personalization

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is set to play a pivotal role in UI/UX design in 2024. AI algorithms can analyze vast amounts of data to derive valuable insights into user behavior, preferences, and patterns. Designers can utilize this data to tailor user interfaces, personalize experiences, and anticipate user needs, creating a more intuitive and engaging journey for each individual.

AI can automate repetitive design tasks, allowing designers to focus on higher-level creativity and innovation. Through AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants, applications can provide immediate and personalized assistance to users, enhancing overall satisfaction and usability.

Blockchain for Enhancing Security and Trust

Blockchain technology is gaining prominence in UI/UX design for its potential to enhance security and establish trust in digital interactions. By providing a decentralized and immutable ledger, blockchain can secure sensitive user data, transactions, and interactions within applications. This fosters trust and confidence among users, a critical aspect in today’s data-driven world.

Designers will focus on incorporating blockchain elements into the UI to communicate security and transparency effectively. Users can verify the authenticity of information, transactions, and actions, promoting a safer and more trustworthy digital experience.

Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) for Seamless Experiences

Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are poised to become a cornerstone of UI/UX design in 2024. These web applications offer a seamless and app-like experience directly through web browsers, eliminating the need for downloads and installations. PWAs are fast, reliable, and responsive, providing an exceptional user experience across various devices and network conditions.

Designers will optimize PWAs to prioritize speed, smooth navigation, and engaging interfaces. The ability to work offline and offer push notifications allows for a more immersive and interactive experience, blurring the lines between web and traditional applications.

Edge Computing for Faster Loading and Responsiveness

Edge computing, with its decentralized data processing approach, will significantly impact UI/UX in 2024. By moving computational tasks closer to the user (at the edge of the network), applications can achieve faster loading times and increased responsiveness. This is particularly crucial for delivering a seamless user experience, especially in real-time applications.

Designers will need to consider the distributed nature of edge computing when designing UIs, optimizing for reduced latency and smooth transitions. A well-designed UI, in harmony with edge computing, can deliver lightning-fast interactions and significantly enhance user satisfaction.

Future Outlook: Predictions for UI/UX Beyond 2024

Speculations on How UI/UX May Evolve in the Coming Years

The future of UI/UX design beyond 2024 is intriguing and promises radical transformations. One of the key aspects is Neurodesign, where the understanding of brain responses and behavior will be integrated into design principles. Designers will leverage neuroscience to craft experiences that align with how our brains perceive and process information.

Moreover, Biofeedback Interfaces are expected to emerge, allowing applications to adapt and personalize experiences based on the user’s physiological responses. Devices will measure biometrics, such as heart rate and stress levels, to optimize the interface in real time, providing a truly personalized user experience.

Another exciting trend is the rise of Emotionally Intelligent Interfaces, where AI algorithms will analyze facial expressions, tone of voice, and other cues to understand user emotions. The interface will then adjust in response, aiming to create a more empathetic and supportive interaction.

Anticipated Technological Advancements Influencing Design

Technological advancements will be a driving force in shaping UI/UX beyond 2024. 5G Technology will play a crucial role, ensuring faster and more reliable internet connections. This will facilitate the seamless integration of complex elements like AR, VR, and high-definition media into applications, enriching the user experience.

Internet of Things (IoT) will also have a significant impact. UI/UX will extend beyond screens to encompass a user’s environment, with interconnected devices providing a cohesive and integrated experience. Designers will need to envision interfaces that seamlessly blend the digital and physical worlds.

Furthermore, the evolution of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) will enable highly dynamic and personalized content creation. UIs will adapt in real time based on user interactions and preferences, creating an individualized journey for every user.

In conclusion, the future of UI/UX design holds immense potential, with a focus on human-centered, technology-driven, and emotionally intelligent interfaces. Designers must stay at the forefront of these technological advancements to craft compelling experiences that cater to the evolving needs and expectations of users.

The post UI/UX Trends in 2024: What’s In and What’s Out appeared first on SiteProNews.

Keeping ahead with the best web design and UX tips, you can power up your web design game and provide a great experience that meets all your customer needs.

User-friendly websites go beyond an attractive design; they foster meaningful interactions and facilitate achieving business and individual goals.

Whether you are a startup or a well-established business, this article is for you to help you create a highly appealing website.

Now let’s reveal the secret to building a user-friendly website that captures and engages users immediately. Let’s go! Are you up for it? We’re ready to go!

Unlock the Power of Appealing Design with UX Design

UX Design revolves around developing a website that is easy for users to navigate. User experience design helps to make your website or application easy to use and does not confuse your users.

A UX designer focuses on how your consumers will use your product. As you sell a product or service, you also produce content to reach and connect with your customers before the products even reach their hands.

While building the website, it is great to consider the user perspective in mind as you want your audience to land on the right page that defines your business.

With an inexperienced web design team, you might not meet the users’ expectations. By choosing a UI/UX development company, you can deliver a great user experience.

Key UX Tips to Create Visually Appealing Websites

Rather than designing casually, designers must put time and effort into the best website by incorporating tips and tricks to make it look good, responsive, and user-friendly.

Seeking the right tips? Here, we have compiled the best tips and tricks to design a beautiful, user-friendly website.

Put the User at the Center of Your Website Design

There is more to website design than what works for you and your team. Rather, choose a style that centers around the needs of your users.

Moving from this to a user experience perspective, you can quickly spot areas where problems might arise.

Consider Using Responsive Design

The next best practices involved creating a highly appealing experience for the users to consider implementing a responsive design that is easily accessible from any device (desktops, laptops, tablets, and mobile devices).

Nowadays, more and more people visit websites on their mobile devices, which makes responsive design essential. Depending on your device, your website might not display properly without it. As a result, your website’s bounce rate is high, and engagement is low, leading to a poor user experience.

Use Consistent and Clear Navigation

A website can’t function without clear navigation. Websites are like maps for users. With the crystal clear navigation process in place, you can provide the best user experience to the visitors visiting your website and easily satisfy what they are looking for. You should ensure that your navigation is visible and easily accessible. It is highly recommended to reduce the excessive use of drop-down menus. This may confuse the users, and they might leave the website immediately. Adding something that guides the user to navigate the website easily is great.

Contextualize Your Images

Pictures speak louder than words! When optimizing your website’s UX and visual aesthetic, ensure your images complement your fonts, text, and layout. Visuals and design are up to you, but ensuring images add value and context is important.

In addition to images and videos, GIFs can reinforce your brand and demonstrate how your products work. Video, animation, and motion graphics are also more eye-catching than static images, which can help your website stand out.

Make Effective Use of Whitespace

A website’s white space is the area between images, text, and other design elements. By utilizing whitespace effectively, a website can be made more readable and more user-friendly. This, in turn, will help you create a great visual appeal by placing the elements in the right way in the background.

It also facilitates the scanning of content more efficiently and provides a more sophisticated and elegant appearance to the website.

Maintain a Consistent Typography

An effective typographic design establishes a brand’s identity and conveys information on a website. A consistent typographic style throughout the website facilitates navigation and interaction.

Keep your fonts consistent, stick to one font, stay consistent with colors, and make sure your typography looks good on different devices and browsers.

Put a Call to Action That Is Appealing

CTAs encourage users to act. As a result, conversion rates increase while user navigation is improved. The CTAs on your website should be visible on every page and throughout the user experience. To make CTAs stand out from other buttons, appropriate colors and textures can make them pop. There is also a need to consider the placement of the CTA and the text that appears on the CTA. The user should be encouraged to take action by incorporating an action verb in the text.

Boost the Speed of Your Website

Users need to experience a fast-loading website. They may get frustrated with long loading times. Increase conversions and engagement by optimizing your website for speed.

If you have larger images on your website, start compressing them to enhance the speed and performance of your website.

Bring User Feedback into the Process

Always open to taking feedback from the user. Without incorporating the feedback, you cannot find how users interact with your website and where they face issues. Overall, feedback allows you to make more informed design decisions. A user-centered approach increases user satisfaction, boosts engagement, and increases profitability.

A website should incorporate user feedback, whether through surveys, user testing, or other means, to stay current and relevant, meet the needs of its users, and ultimately facilitate business growth.

Do Not Forget to Test Your Website

To ensure a functional, reliable, and easy-to-use website, thorough testing is essential. It is essential to thoroughly test your website before launching to ensure a positive user experience and avoid negative feedback.

A broken link also called a 404 error, is one of the most common problems that may arise. If you delete a website or change its URL, you must create a 301 redirect. Broken links will not result in a Google penalty but can negatively affect website visitors’ experience. To avoid issues like these, you must thoroughly test your website.

Conclusion

Developing a web page that is both visually pleasing and user-friendly involves more than just technical expertise. Visitors should also be able to enjoy and remember their experience on your website. Take time to explore the expectations of your target audience. Choosing a UI UX design services provider will benefit in multiple ways.

The post Creating Visually Appealing and User-friendly Websites: Web Design and UX Tips appeared first on SiteProNews.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has traditionally been centered around optimizing websites for search engine algorithms. It involves various techniques, including keyword research, on-page optimization, link building, and technical optimizations. The goal of SEO is to improve a website’s search engine rankings, driving organic traffic and increasing visibility. However, with the changing digital landscape and increasing user expectations, the focus has shifted toward delivering a seamless user experience.

User Experience (UX) encompasses the overall experience that users have when interacting with a website. It includes factors such as website design, navigation, page load speed, mobile responsiveness, and content quality. A positive UX ensures that visitors can easily find what they’re looking for, have a pleasant browsing experience, and are more likely to convert into customers. UX is not just about aesthetics; it’s about creating a user-centric environment that meets the needs and expectations of your target audience.

The synergy between SEO and UX lies in their shared goal of satisfying user intent. While SEO focuses on driving organic traffic, UX ensures that the visitors have a positive experience once they land on your website. Let’s explore how these two disciplines complement each other and contribute to the success of your digital marketing efforts.

1. Keyword Research and User Intent

Keyword research has always been a core component of SEO. However, it’s essential to align keyword targeting with user intent. Understanding the intent behind a user’s search query allows you to create content that directly addresses their needs. By integrating user intent into your keyword research, you can optimize your website’s content to match the searcher’s expectations, resulting in higher engagement and improved rankings.

2. Content Optimization and Engagement

Quality content is crucial for both SEO and UX. Search engines prioritize websites that provide valuable and relevant content to users. At the same time, engaging and informative content enhances the user experience by keeping visitors on your site and encouraging them to explore further. When optimizing your content, focus on providing value to your audience while incorporating relevant keywords naturally. This approach ensures that your content appeals to search engines and resonates with your target audience.

3. Website Speed and User Satisfaction

Website speed is a vital factor in both SEO and UX. A slow-loading website not only negatively impacts your search engine rankings but also frustrates visitors, leading to high bounce rates. Optimizing your website’s speed not only improves your SEO performance but also enhances the overall user experience. Minimize file sizes, leverage caching mechanisms, and optimize code to ensure your website loads quickly and provides a seamless browsing experience.

4. Mobile Responsiveness and Accessibility

With the rise in mobile device usage, having a mobile-responsive website is no longer optional. Search engines prioritize mobile-friendly websites in their rankings, considering the increasing number of users accessing the internet through smartphones and tablets. A mobile-responsive website not only improves your SEO but also ensures a positive user experience across devices. Optimizing your website for mobile includes using responsive design, optimizing touch elements, and ensuring that the content is easily readable on smaller screens.

5. User-Friendly Navigation and Conversion Optimization

Intuitive and user-friendly website navigation is crucial for both SEO and UX. A well-structured website with clear navigation helps search engines crawl and index your content effectively. Additionally, it allows users to find the information they need quickly and effortlessly. A seamless navigation experience increases user engagement and encourages visitors to stay longer on your site, exploring more pages and ultimately increasing the chances of conversion.

6. User Signals and Search Engine Rankings

User signals, such as click-through rates (CTRs), bounce rates, and time spent on the page, have become increasingly important ranking factors for search engines. Search engines consider these signals to determine the relevance and quality of a website. When users have a positive experience on your site, they are more likely to engage, stay longer, and interact with your content, sending positive signals to search engines. By prioritizing UX, you indirectly influence your search engine rankings, further emphasizing the synergy between SEO and UX.

7. A/B Testing and Continuous Improvement

Both SEO and UX require a data-driven approach for optimal results. A/B testing allows you to experiment with different elements of your website, such as layout, design, CTAs, and content, to determine what resonates best with your audience. By analysing user behaviour and metrics, you can identify areas for improvement and make data-backed decisions to enhance both SEO and UX. This iterative process ensures that your website evolves to meet the changing needs and preferences of your users, leading to better performance in search rankings and user satisfaction.

8. Social Signals and Brand Awareness

Social media plays a significant role in digital marketing, and it intertwines with both SEO and UX. When users find your content valuable and engaging, they are more likely to share it on social media platforms, creating social signals that impact your search engine rankings. Additionally, social media platforms provide an opportunity to interact directly with your audience, gather feedback, and build brand awareness. By fostering a positive user experience on your website, you increase the likelihood of users sharing your content and amplifying your brand reach through social channels.

9. Local SEO and User Localization

For businesses targeting local audiences, the integration of local SEO and user experience is essential. Local SEO focuses on optimizing your website to appear in local search results, such as “near me” queries. Simultaneously, user experience factors like clear contact information, localized content, and positive reviews contribute to the overall user experience for local visitors. By aligning local SEO efforts with user expectations and preferences, you can attract and convert local customers effectively.

10. Voice Search and Conversational Experiences

The rise of voice search has transformed the way users interact with search engines. Voice search queries are often longer and conversational, reflecting the natural language patterns of users. To align SEO and UX with voice search, it’s crucial to understand user intent in conversational queries and optimize your content accordingly. Additionally, providing a conversational experience on your website through chatbots or voice-activated features can enhance user engagement and satisfaction.

In summary, the synergy between search engine optimization (SEO) and user experience (UX) is multifaceted and crucial for digital marketing success. By considering the user at every step of your SEO strategy, you can create a seamless and engaging experience that satisfies user intent and search engine requirements. Remember that SEO and UX are not standalone elements but interconnected components that work together to enhance your website’s visibility, engagement, and conversions. Embrace the synergy, continuously analyze data, and adapt your strategies to stay ahead in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

The post From SEO to UX: The Synergy Between Search Engine Optimization and User Experience appeared first on SiteProNews.

Now, the main question: What makes a website successful? The success of a website is measured by the number of its visitors and their conversion rate. What can you do to bring more traffic to your website? Well, the answer is quite simple; provide your users a great experience!

This blog first describes user experience and highlights its importance. Then it covers how a good user experience drives traffic to your website. Finally, it explains the process of ensuring an effective UX design. Let’s get started.

What is User Experience (UX) Design?

User Experience refers to the overall experience of a user when using your website. UX Design means a website design built to enhance user satisfaction. Satisfying users requires an in-depth analysis of what they need or value, how they interact with your website, and how they feel over each interaction.

User Experience (UX) is often confused with User Interface (UI). However, users do not just need an interactive digital interface for a good experience on a website. There are various other aspects involved, like visual design, information architecture, content strategy, and usability.

Why Does It Matter?

Would you revisit a website if it takes too long to load? How about websites that have confusing navigation or low-quality graphics? Nobody likes to deal with such poorly designed websites.

People nowadays have very short attention spans. They abandon a website immediately if it fails to appeal to them within the first few minutes of their use. Even search engines like Google do not index such websites anymore.

Therefore, websites with slow user interfaces, difficult navigation, or average content do not survive in the market for long. It’s high time for businesses now to level up their user experience game.

How Does User Experience Design Increase Traffic?

User Experience Design is all about ensuring a worthwhile experience for your users. People will definitely revisit your website if they have a positive experience the first time.

Let’s see how the elements of UX design attract people and convert them into actual customers.

1. The First Impression

The first few seconds after a user clicks on your website are crucial. Users will only continue further if the landing page loads quickly. Plus, the home page content (including text and graphics) needs to impress them at the first glance. You have to make the best use of typography, expressive images, colors, fonts, etc. Users explore a website further only when the landing page is quick, readable, and attractive.

2. Mobile Optimization

Gone are the days when people had to use a PC to access the Internet. Now almost everything happens on mobiles! People mostly surf the Internet on the go. Therefore, your website will lose maximum traffic if it’s not optimized to run on mobiles. The better your website looks, feels, and performs across different screen sizes, the more traffic it generates.

3. Engaging Content

Content is truly the king of the digital world!

Nothing can save a website with dull and boring content. Users never revisit a website if they do not like the content there. Websites with interesting articles, impressive info-graphics, catchy images, and meaningful videos definitely receive the highest amount of traffic.

Improved content is also a crucial factor for search engine optimization. The better your content is, the higher it ranks on the search engines. A higher rank on search engine pages leads to higher visibility amongst your target audience.

4. Smooth & Simple Navigation

The audience doesn’t bother using confusing websites. They abandon a website the moment they feel that it’s difficult to move around. In fact, most user complaints are related to navigation issues. This proves the fact that a website’s performance also depends on smooth and simple navigation.

5. Search Engine Optimization

An effective UX Design means better SEO for your website. But how do search engines determine the ranks of the websites? They check the website’s relevance in terms of the user interface, user experience, customer support, and content. If a website performs well in all such aspects, it automatically ranks higher on the result pages. And a better rank on search result pages automatically drives more traffic to the website.

How to Ensure an Effective UX Design?

To provide an exceptional experience to your users, you first need to know them closely. Research about your target audience and develop user profiles. User profiles will help you create experiences that relate to their emotions.

Then experiment with different user interface designs. When you have a few suitable alternatives, test them to see which one is more effective. Tools like Google Optimize allows you to test different interfaces and see which one performs better.

Do not forget to include your users in the design process. Take their feedback to know what they would prefer to see on your website. You can use surveys, interviews, polls, or suggestion boxes to gather valuable user insights.

Make flowcharts of how you expect your users to move around the website development agency. Then compare how they actually navigate through the website. Use tools to track their movement and then make relevant structural changes based on that data.

Finally, think about the sitemaps, style guides, design patterns, wireframes, and prototypes for an effective UX design.

Conclusion

Your website’s traffic highly depends on what the users feel when they use your website. A good UX design is necessary to attract new visitors and convert them into actual customers. More people will use your website if it’s easy to navigate, SEO optimized, and quick to load. Plus, engaging content also plays a vital role in generating more traffic to your website. The better the UX design of your website is, the more traffic it receives.

The post The Key Relation Between UX Design and Website Traffic appeared first on SiteProNews.

Today, there are many ways to build a unique website without spending too much time or resources. These easy tweaks will help boost user experience and boost the website’s conversion rates.

Note: there is not a one-size-fits-all solution for improving UI. As we move into an increasingly connected world that has seen the most significant shift to online since WWW was introduced- it is now even more crowded and competitive. The Total Internet Users Worldwide was compiled by Broadband Search.

Getting in front of consumers ahead of your competitors has never been easy. And now, thanks to social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and Pinterest, social and online presence have become one of the most vital parts of a business today.

What is UI?

The user interface is the website’s design that supports the user’s experience (UX) when browsing. Therefore, almost all website elements, including buttons, search bars, CTAs, icons, and text layout, can be considered UI design elements.

Researching and refining how your users interact with your site is a great place to start to boost conversions and generate more leads. User experience ensures users find valuable services and products on your site as efficiently as possible.

For all businesses, one of the main aims is to generate more sales. More sales equate to steady growth and better financial outcome. UI, along with UX, plays a vital role in this growth.

There are some fundamental components of UI that make for a more effective website when placed together.

The site’s usability and its visual design and interaction design affect users’ interpretations and use of a site. Therefore, the site’s information architecture is vital as it ensures users can access the information they need.

Wireframing is an integral part of UI. It is a visual guide representing the site’s design framework, outlining how buttons, tabs, and menus respond to users’ actions. It helps to make sure users can easily navigate throughout the website.

When building a substantial brand value and reputation, businesses must emphasise a high level of user satisfaction across all areas, including the website. As e-commerce continues to grow, online shoppers have higher expectations when it comes to the online experience. Therefore, online stores opt to push to satisfy the needs of their customers as the top priority.

The need for a brand to get its online presence and site right has never been more critical than now. In addition, a well researched and thorough UI can effectively grab consumer attention and enhance user experience, thereby improving ROI.

UI Design Elements

UI elements of a website consist of parts and elements that designers use to improve the development of apps and websites.

An online study found that improving a site’s navigation may help increase the conversion rate by as much as 18.5%. Therefore, all websites must pay attention to the UI and UX. Here is a look at four practical ways to improve UI:

1. Improve Conversion with Persuasive CTA

A highly effective call-to-action (CTA) button does what it says on the tin and helps to deliver a direct yet straightforward statement for the user. In addition, it gives clear directions to the user concerning what to do next, and upon clicking the button, it provides the users with the idea that they are visiting a different website.

With great design and UI that is simple yet catchy, CTAs are crucial as they guide consumers into the sales funnel where conversions happen, some great tips are in this post on GoSquared.

With a focus on mobile users, presenting a large area responsive to a tap or a click on a call-to-action button is essential to leading the user to the right destination.

Unfortunately, many buttons on a website are purely graphical and embed small link texts, which work well for viewing sites on a desktop but are not very mobile-friendly. Designs like this can cause frustration to users and deter them from using a website altogether.

Also, we advise you to use a standard colour of red for each type of call-to-action button. If your website visitors get used to a particular colour for a specific button, they will subconsciously be more attached to it.

When designing a template, make sure to pick the right colours for each type of CTA button. If a call-to-action button is too small and not clickable, chances are there will be fewer clicks, and conversion rates can drop significantly. Make sure that all-important links incorporated into the button are identified quickly and have a correct anchor.

Tip: Do not play around with button colours too much. If your “Get Started” button is colour blue, try keeping everything consistent (i.e. avoid using a different colour for the same button on a separate page) – this may confuse the user.

2. Use White Spaces Effectively

The first step in improving conversion rates is to pay attention to the psychology of colour.

Make it the goal to remove all excess clutter and noise from a page. Then, replace the white space with the images that matter. Adding a background image to one page is possible, but it is essential to ensure it doesn’t distract users from the aspects you want them to see.

White spaces allow users to scan the website smoothly without being too distracted by any clutter or unnecessary elements on the page. White areas are a great way to increase click-through rates. For this reason, keeping an adequate amount of white space on a page can lead to more leads and a higher conversion rate.

Furthermore, white spacing makes information on the page look more clear and defined.

However, using colour in the right way can be tactical leverage for any business with this in mind. Using colours is effective to help focus the user’s attention to specific parts of the page and work well for actionable elements such as CTAs.

Tip: Using warmer tones like orange and yellow attracts the eyes the same way red does, expanding against darker, colder tone colours such as blue and green. Highlighting these crucial elements of the page ensures they do not get lost.

3. Link Padding

Anchors and links present on the site by default are usually the same size, keeping in line with the rest of the elements on the page. Unfortunately, this means they can only span that specific area to remain clickable, such as the height and width of the text.

Expand the clickable area for superb usability of the link. Adding extra padding to the text can also be done by converting the link into a block element, making it appear more extensive and inviting.

You can use the following simple code to increase the padding of the link:

a {
display: block;
padding: 6px;
}

A larger area will, for obvious reasons, be more clickable and easier to use. This method also makes these links more mobile-friendly, giving users less chance of missing the link. Converting links into blocks also helps make the text area span the entire width of the box, making the theme ideal for sidebars.

Adding a healthy amount of padding to the link is essential as it ensures the link itself is visible enough to be clicked.

Tip: Do not overuse padding on text links (i.e. links that are not buttons). These may confuse and frustrate mobile users when scrolling down. Users can accidentally click the link without intending to do so.

4. Design Based on Users

Sometimes it is easy to get carried away with designing your new website. However, it’s increasingly important to offer your user what they want compared to what your business thinks they might like. Thinking about the consumer, what they need, and the types of things they would look for will help construct a better, well-thought-out website tailored to users’ needs.

A timeline indicating progress on the site is one of the best UI elements to include on a site. The timeline helps users understand where they are in the sales funnel and essentially helps them in and out sooner.

Use tools like Google Analytics and Finteza to determine the pages your users stay on, how they go from page to page and where they drop off.

Unfortunately, design elements are of much concern to users. Yes, they help make sites look attractive. Still, the baseline is that consumers want to get things done in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of hassle and frustration. A good design will have all these elements integrated. In addition, the easier the sales process can be, the more inviting it is for users, giving them a positive shopping experience and making them more likely to come back.

Tip: Use heatmaps to determine the website areas where your users seem to be focusing most. Determine the areas that need tweaking, then use them to display the most important CTAs.

One of the main points to consider when creating and having a website is that it needs to constantly be updated to work best for those interacting with it. Make sure to run tests and audits, helping you keep on top of the competition.

The post 4 Effective UI Improvements to Skyrocket Website Conversions appeared first on SiteProNews.

It’s important to stay on top of the latest developments and understand why they are important. So, let’s talk about what a mobile-friendly website entails and why it’s key to the growth of your business. 

What is a Mobile-Friendly Website?

A mobile-friendly website is one that loads quickly on smartphones and tablets and is pretty responsive. They are designed to display properly on smaller screens, such as iPhones, Androids, or tablets. The content and overall appearance of a mobile-friendly website includes:

• Larger text which is easier to read
• Mobile-friendly navigation
• Site speed & responsiveness
• Page speed
• Overall design and functionality
• Touch friendly buttons & page elements 
• Ability to contact company via mobile website

The reason why these are so important is because mobile-friendly websites allow businesses to reach and expand their audience. Taking into consideration that the majority of people have smartphones, it only makes sense to create a mobile-friendly site that loads fast and provides a seamless experience for the user. 

Stay on Top of the Competition

It is likely that your competitors already have a mobile-friendly website, which is why it’s even more important for your business to have one. If users cannot quickly and easily access your website, they will move on and likely won’t revisit. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes, would you want to browse an unresponsive and slow website? Probably not, so make sure that your customers are getting the right experience. 

Maintain a Positive Reputation

The decision to provide a mobile-friendly experience does in fact affect your reputation. In the eyes of your customers, a slow-loading, unresponsive mobile site is going to stick with them for a while. They might even tell their family and friends about it. Overall, it doesn’t necessarily send a good first impression to your customers, and you will be better off providing an experience that they will remember. If your site is efficient on mobile devices, you are able to reach a wider audience, leading to happier customers who will have a more positive outlook on your brand.

Improve Your SEO

There are a ton of SEO-related benefits that can stem from having a mobile-friendly website. In fact, a mobile-friendly site will boost your ranking on Google, which can lead to more exposure, resulting in increased leads and conversions. A non-mobile responsive website will take a hit on your click-through rate, which is when users click out of a site that is not responding well. Considering the fact that Google ranks sites based on mobile-friendliness, it’s crucial to your business. 

Creating a Better User Experience 

Considering that more than half of website traffic is done on smartphones, you’re going to want to take into account the experience that your customers are receiving. When it comes to digital marketing, the user experience should always come first. It’s crucial to understand what your audience wants, and deliver the right results. After all, your customers are the driving force behind your sales and revenue. 

A website that is mobile-friendly gives your customers an enjoyable and memorable experience. This creates positive relationships with your brand, which increases customer loyalty and a higher likelihood that your customers will recommend you to their family and friends. So, make decisions based on the user experience and how that impacts your brand. 

Mobile Users Act Differently  

Users tend to act a little bit differently on mobile devices as opposed to computers. Users are more likely to use their smartphones while they are bored, connecting with friends, and purchasing products. Since users are more likely to be browsing the web on their smartphones, it only makes sense to provide the right experience for them. According to perficient, mobile devices drove 61% of visits to websites in the USA in 2020. You risk missing out on a lot of opportunities if your website is not mobile-friendly. 

The Time to Go Mobile Is Now!

Now that you understand the many reasons why mobile-friendly websites are essential to the growth of your business, it’s up to you to make the final decision. Going mobile provides more business opportunities, can increase your revenue, create better customer relationships, and solidify your brand and reputation. If you feel like you don’t have time for it, or don’t know where to start, contact a professional and experienced web design agency that can make a reliable mobile-friendly website for your business.

The post Why your Website Must be Mobile-Friendly appeared first on SiteProNews.

Just how important is user experience? Nowadays, a whopping 88% of online consumers won’t revisit a site after a bad experience. Web development experts know several elements contribute to the creation of a superb user experience. There’s user interface, responsive web design, and usability, for starters.

In essence, an exceptional user experience is all about making the end-user happy. To achieve this objective, a brand needs to have a clear and thorough understanding of the needs and priorities of consumers.

Why User Experience Matters

To fully appreciate the significance of user experience, let us examine some interesting statistics:

• If site content is not optimized, a staggering 79% of visitors will leave the site and look for information elsewhere.
• At least 88% of online visitors won’t revisit a site after a bad experience.
• Superb UX design has been known to boost conversion by as much as 400%.
• A well-designed user interface can increase the conversion rate of a site by as much as 200%.
• Some studies also indicate that mobile users are five times more likely to leave a task unfinished if the website is not optimized.

Still not convinced? The experience of some of the world’s leading brands highlight the significant role user experience plays:

• According to Adobe, at least 39% of visitors will leave a site right away if the loading time is slow or the images won’t load.
• KoMarketing revealed that 51% of site visitors consider contact information as essential elements missing from most websites.
• The revenue of ESPN jumped by 35% after they implemented some of the homepage redesign suggestions provided by their community.

Also, since Google wants to provide a great experience each time people use their search engine, it is believed that UX is considered one of the main factors that affect search engine rankings.

Why You Should Care

If you don’t make user experience a priority, you put critical aspects of your business on the line, including sales, brand reputation, and customer loyalty.

Sales

If the primary purpose of your website is to drive online sales, user experience should rank high in your list of priorities. It is important to remember that websites that load slowly have cost retailers $2.6 billion in lost sales yearly. 

At least 60 percent of consumers cite lack of information, a small screen, and slow connection as some reasons for not buying. Next, check the conversion rate of your site. Is it good enough for you? If not, poor user experience can be the likely culprit.

Brand Reputation

When a website is not visually pleasing, visitors and consumers might take it against your brand. Here’s something not many people know about: some studies pointed out that 94 percent of first impressions are related to design.

At least 60% of site visitors also stated they wouldn’t recommend a brand that has a poorly designed website. Undoubtedly, user experience has a massive impact on the overall experience.

Customer Loyalty

At least 52% of site visitors revealed that they no longer want to engage with a brand after a bad mobile experience. What is even more alarming is 79% of visitors who don’t like what they find on a specific site will search for information on other sites.

Understandably, no visitor would stay long on a site that does not contain the information they want. For those struggling to retain and entice new customers, improving the user experience should be one of your top priorities.

Effective Ways to Improve User Experience

There is no shortage of powerful ways you can improve user experience. Some of the most effective include:

Auditing your site’s flow

Examine the structure of your site. Also known as sitemap, check if the structure of your site can help visitors find what they are looking for quickly and effortlessly. If multiple steps are required, consider redesigning your site’s structure and flow.

You can use a user testing tool to understand the site paths that are considered straightforward and complex by your visitors. Aside from a good site structure, ensuring that headings are used properly can make a world of difference.

Asking your visitors how you can improve

Each time a visitor purchases from your site, send a follow-up email and ask them about their experience navigating and interacting with your site. Ensure you also ask straightforward questions and not vague ones.

Although pop-ups are vastly used for surveys of this type, chat boxes are considered ideal as they won’t intrude with any activities visitors do on the site.

Testing your site

User testing is one of the most effective ways to assess if your site provides an exceptional user experience. Nowadays, there are countless tools online that you can use. Some tools are designed to ask visitors questions about design, functionality, and web content.

Final Thoughts

The importance of user experience cannot be overemphasized. Without it, websites will be impossible to navigate and a pain to use. It is crucial to keep in mind that user experience can significantly contribute to the success of your brand. That said, make sure you provide nothing but the best experience on every visit.

The post User Experience: What It Is and Why You Should Care appeared first on SiteProNews.

Interaction Designers can avoid this situation by adhering to some basic principles that ensure the user’s “flow” is not interrupted and they are able to complete their tasks in an unobtrusive manner.

Here are five interaction design principles that should be kept in mind while designing for a great User Experience.

1. Provide Feedback in an Unobtrusive Manner

The user is using the application to fulfill a need or accomplish a goal like making a payment, food ordering, or hailing a cab. Anytime you show an unnecessary notification, you distract the user from the task at hand. The concentration and flow of the user get broken. Good user experience let’s users perform their tasks in an unobtrusive manner.

When the user has completed a task, the application typically shows a confirmation message to indicate a task has been completed. This feedback should be provided by the application in an unobtrusive manner as well. 

For example, Gmail shows a small notification box ‘Message sent’ at the corner of the screen with ‘Undo’ and ‘View Message’ options, but this notification is shown in a way that does not prevent the user from taking any action they might need to do next.

2. Provide Choices Rather than Asking Questions

When users interact with the product, the UI interface should recommend a few options based on users’ past choices to help them make a selection quickly. 

For example, when ordering food on a food ordering app, customers have to go through a large menu — this hampers the user experience greatly as it leads to a paradox of choice. 

 On the other hand, if a recommendation engine is implemented — it helps display food items based on one’s past purchases. This helps in better decision-making, which, in turn, offers a personalized customer experience. 

Auto-suggest is another great example of how this principle is implemented. When searching for a product, if the user does not remember the exact search term, the system presents some options while they are typing the keyword.

When users initiate an action, they don’t expect to provide extensive information to complete the action. User input should be minimized by providing defaults where possible, while also providing options to change them should the user wish to do so.

For example, in Google Slides, when the user starts a new presentation, the application opens a blank slide to get them started quickly but also provides a number of themes to choose from.

Similarly, many times the application needs to ask the user for a command. Asking the question in the form of a modal dialogue or a popup is not good design. Instead, it is better to present the requisite options to the user and let them select the one they want.

3. Keep Necessary Tools Close at Hand

Sometimes users need specific information to perform the task at hand. If this information is available from within the application then it should be made accessible in context. If the information is externally available, then an easy way to access the information should be provided. Users should be prevented from leaving the app to find the information they are looking for.

Google has implemented a sidebar with buttons for Calendar, Notes, and Tasks. On clicking these buttons the sidebar extends and reveals the information a user asked for. For example, if I have some notes that I want to reference when working on a document, I can click on the notes icon to see my notes and simply use the ‘add to document’ feature to easily add them to the document I’m working on.

4. Reflect Object and Application Status

Ever clicked or tapped on the submit button only to see an error message stating the form was already submitted. The user waited a few seconds and sensing no feedback from the app, clicked the submit button twice. There are multiple ways this problem can be avoided. The submit button can be greyed out and an animated icon can be shown to indicate that a process is underway.

This is a common example but there are many other instances where the user expects feedback from the app after performing an action, which if not forthcoming, can be confusing. Some apps also make use of sound effects to suggest that an action has taken place.

5. Design for the Probable but Anticipate the Possible

Recently I came across a form that had a Reset button in close proximity and equal priority to Submit. After filling the form I nearly hit the reset button. It would have been a disaster as the form was very long and I had to fill a lot of fields and upload three images.

Now there is a possibility that the user would need to hit the reset button after filling this long-form but the probability of it is extremely low. Placing the reset button in close proximity and giving it an equal priority increased the possibility of the user clicking this button in error.

Conclusion

These are five basic principles of interaction design but there can be multiple ways to implement these in user interfaces, each resulting in a different user experience. Interaction Designers should always strive to innovate and experiment with multiple implementations of the design and perform UX testing to see which ones are the most desirable for the user experience.

The post 5 Basic Interaction Design Principles for a Better UX appeared first on SiteProNews.

Our article will explore 8 latest trends in web design and development in 2021. Here are some of the ones we predict will have a huge impact.  

1. Use of Automated Testing Tools to Help Improve User Experience

 2020 has been a trying year due to the pandemic. Yet, it has also been a year when e-commerce has exploded. Brick and mortar locations became a no-go zone with the lockdowns. Most customers now use e-commerce platforms for shopping.  

Businesses had to catch up real quick; otherwise, they would lose out. It, therefore, became imperative to give customers a good user experience. Customers demand responsive websites. Businesses have had to invest in the latest technologies to keep customers happy.  

Automated testing tools provide a way to check the functionality of a website. They identify bugs and glitches, whether on the browser or mobile. The demand for online services will not end anytime soon. 2021 may very well experience more significant growth in the sector.  

2. Incorporation of Virtual Reality

 Business owners may have to improve the user experience with virtual reality. Customers need to feel like they are at a physical location. It allows for better interaction with products and services. In years gone by, e-commerce owners have primarily relied on images and videos.  

But now, the competition is greater. Even brick-and-mortar store owners are on the online platform. Providing an interactive experience for customers is now a necessity. Those who incorporate virtual reality may gain critical traction with customers.  

3. Incorporation of 3D Elements

3D is nothing new, but it is a trend that will only grow bigger. There was a time it was out of reach for many companies. Startups could not even start to think about the cost implication. However, technology has continued to evolve.  

Many web designers and developers now have easy access to 3D elements. It provides a more affordable option for those who cannot afford virtual reality. 3D allows for better interaction. Business owners will reduce bounce rates and engage with audiences better.  

4. Chatbots and Virtual Assistants

 Chatbots and virtual assistants are already in use.  We, however, do not see the trend ending anytime soon.  Voice-user interface enhances experiences online. Instead of typing in requests, you simply speak it.

 Note-taking, information search or any other applications become so much easier. It could explain the popularity of Alexa and Siri. Having the same on your website is sure to be a win-win situation. The best part is you save on the cost of hiring full-time staff and customers receive responses promptly 24/7. 

 5. Increasing Inclusivity

Web designers are becoming more conscious of the need for inclusivity. How do you, for example, ensure that a visually challenged person can use a website? It calls for easier navigation and more visual navigation tools. 

 Stronger contrast between text and backgrounds helps with better visibility. Focus indicators, labels and instructions improve navigation. The use of jargon-free, easy to understand copy is great for better communication. 

 6. Greater Adoption of Dark Mode

Dark mode seems to be gaining more popularity. We can only expect it to get bigger in 2021. Twitter was one of the leading contenders with their mobile app. WhatsApp was quick to follow and the reception was quite positive. Dark mode allows for design aspects to stand out.

Dark mode also contrasts with the background resulting in an aesthetically appealing website. It brings a chic modern look to a website. Quite honestly, it is more likely to catch a user’s attention. 

It is also easy on the eyes.  Very bright colors can hurt your eyes, especially if you use the computer for too long. If you are using AMOLED or OLED screens, you get to save battery power with dark mode.  

7. Less Focus on Design Perfection 

Less focus on design perfection is resulting in a movement known as anti-design. It is all about throwing caution to the wind and allowing for imperfection. Designers can distort, exaggerate and experiment to their heart’s content.   

The grid system, for example, has been in use for a long time when designing layouts.  But now, web designers are coming up with interesting asymmetrical layouts.  It frees them from rigidity and allows for more experimentation.   

While the trend is not for everyone, it may very well catch on.   The younger generations who are now business owners may be more willing to adapt. You get more dynamism and a more exciting web design.  

Designers use multiple-element overlays, collapse gutters and empty spaces.  The play on fonts and image sizes makes the outcome more appealing. 

 8. Colorful Minimalism

Minimalism is something that web designers have done for a long time. Year-in, year-out, it continues to maintain its relevance. We do not see any change in 2021. What makes it attractive is the focus on basics. 

The text is clean, and there is a lot of empty space in the design. Many people associate minimalism with black and white websites.  But now, the trend could be moving towards colorful minimalism. 

Designers embrace the use of bold colors in the background and fonts. Even if they do this, they maintain the basic features of minimalistic websites. The result is a simple yet visually impactful website design.  

Final Thoughts

It is interesting to see the direction web design and development take in 2021. 3D elements, virtual reality and voice user interface will enhance overall experience. Designers now have more freedom to really express their creativity. 

Minimalism, dark mode and less focus on perfection are the perfect avenues for this creativity. Page responsiveness and loading speeds will be easy to check with automated testing tools. Such tools eliminate human error and make the processes more efficient.

The post 8 Latest Trends in Web Design and Development in 2021 appeared first on SiteProNews.

After all, nothing is more off-putting than a page that loads slowly. 

The alarming part is that you don’t even have 5 seconds!

That’s right. The bounce rates increase by 90% if the web page takes 5 seconds or more to load. If you want your hard-earned traffic to stay a while longer on your website, page speed optimization is a vital factor that must be dealt with carefully.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll provide an in-depth insight into what page speed is, why it is crucial for your website, and how page optimization helps make your website better.

What Is Page Speed?

Technically, your page’s speed is the loading time of the content of that particular page on the website or, in practical terms, time to first byte (TTFB) which measures the time it takes for the user to get the first byte of the web page data from the moment they open the site.

Page speed is an overlooked yet pivotal factor that helps capture visitor’s attention, retains them, and finally converts them from visitors to actual buyers.

Why Is Page Speed Important? 

Pages that load in two seconds have an average bounce rate of 9%, whereas webpages that load within five seconds see bounce rates soar to 38%. As stated by John Mueller, the Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google, 2 seconds is the limit that most visitors want to wait for your webpage to load completely.

Two seconds has been the standard loading time since 2015, and businesses need to follow through and keep the page load times under this benchmark.

Even renowned names like the BBC see an additional 10% drop in visitors for each extra second their websites take to load. While they can afford that, your business probably can’t.

There are various reasons as to why it is essential to lower your site’s page load time:

User Experience

An agile website with minimal page loading time means – higher conversion rates and – lower bounce rates. On the other hand, slow-loading web pages deter visitors and ruin their experience. 

For better user experience, Google launched a page speed related update to its process in July 2018 that highlights the importance of speed as a critical factor.

SEO Ranking

Search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, and others consider positive user experience a crucial factor in determining the worth of a website. Google, in particular, uses page speed as a reason for ranking. Therefore, the quicker your web page loads, the better your chances of ranking higher in search results.

Conversion Rate Optimization

Improving your site’s loading time and making it load faster can have a significant impact on your conversion rates. Each extra second your site takes to load can decrease the conversion rates by up to 7%. Web pages with a slower loading time can be a severe turn-off for visitors.

How Is Page Speed Measured?

Generally, the real-time performance of a website varies from user to user depending on their devices, internet service, and other factors that can affect their experience. Also, the terms “page speed” and “loading time” are interchangeable.

The following are some of the ways to measure page speed:

Time to First Byte (TTFB)

It’s the duration from when the user requests an HTTP to the first byte of the information displayed on the web page. 

First Contentful Paint (FCP)

It’s a measure for perceived load time as it displays the first bit of the content that a user can view which can be in the form of any text or images. 

First Meaningful Paint (FMP)

This is how long a page takes to display the primary content on the user’s screen, giving them the impression that it has loaded. However, sometimes it also catches non-meaningful paint such as navigation bars, headers, etc.

Time to Interactive (TTI)

This term refers to the time it takes for a web page to render and be ready for the user to engage and interact with it.

For instance, when a visitor clicks on the ‘Add to Cart” button, TTI gauges how long it takes the user to use an interactive element on the other page, as in this case, the “checkout” button.

How Long Should It Take a Website To Load?

Generally, a page should load within two seconds for good visitor experience. The faster it loads, the better the user interacts with your page. However, in an ideal world, the loading time of a page should be less than a second. 

This load time depends on different factors:

Factors You Can’t Control

Capacity

Naturally, lower bandwidth will cause lags in the internet speed, which will increase the loading time of a website and web pages.

Browser cache

If the user has not cleared the browser cache, the loading time may be slower than usual because of its inability to process it.

Client Processing Power

Insufficient memory can interrupt the load time of web pages, especially with conventional desktops as the (Document Object Model) DOM is unable to function correctly because of processor and memory issues. Document Object Model is a software interface for documents representing the data and content on the web page.

Factors You Can Control

File Sizes

The file sizes on your website determine how responsive and quickly your website loads. The script files, HTML codes, stylesheets, and images – all impact page speed. Smaller sized files can enhance the loading time of your website and make it faster.

Web Server Network

When a client calls up a website, the request is processed by the webserver. If there is minimal data, it can accommodate the request faster but, if there are too many requests simultaneously, it can be a roadblock to the loading time. As website traffic increases, the processor slows down. So, it is imperative to increase the capacity of the processor.

Techniques for Optimizing Page Speed

The smaller the size of files, the faster the process. This is also the case with programming code that displays on the visitor’s browser. The code can be shortened and simplified, like in a zip file, thus enhancing website loading time.

Optimize Web Server

When it comes to web pages, it is crucial to determine the root cause of the delays in page loading time. Quite often, the server is overloaded resulting in the host showing an error and being unable to process various requests.

Recognize the roadblocks, and then implement the hosting solutions available to measure the performance of your website. You can gauge it by the time to the first byte, and if too slow, you need to fix the webserver.

Optimize Images 

It is essential to decrease image file sizes, i.e., compress the images to increase the loading speed of your site and ensure a better experience for users.

Since images are an essential element on a website, you can’t afford to remove them. Therefore, to captivate the user’s attention and at the same time to make them stay on your website, it is crucial to compress the images to smaller sizes while maintaining the quality of images. 

Typically, JPEG and PNG are the preferable formats. These can be compressed but still retain most of the image quality. 

Consider Different Devices (Desktop and Mobile)

Your visitors access your website using many types of devices with different operating systems. It is vital to consider the users’ experience and ensure that the output media delivers diverse yet high-resolution images for smartphone and desktop users alike. 

Outsource JavaScript and CSS

JavaScript is a coding language that lets you execute intricate features on a web page, whereas Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are used for layout designs and formatting. However, this entails a lot of source code that reloads every time a user requests the URL, which is time-consuming.

To eliminate this and increase efficiency, you can outsource the JavaScript and CSS files to decrease the source code. Loading time can be substantially reduced by amalgamating source code into a single document.

Conclusion

Your page speed matters a lot and can be a game-changer in helping you acquire and maintain the customer base you are looking for.

There is no doubt that anyone can make their websites loading time faster by following the above methods. These strategies can help you create a seamless experience for visitors and also please search engines.

The post All You Need To Know About Page Speed Optimization appeared first on SiteProNews.

A long time ago, billboards were the ultimate marketing tool, as they could easily be seen by thousands of people driving or walking by. And even though we still see billboards all over the roads, the era of traditional advertising has started to fade for quite some time now, and we have digitalization to hold accountable for it. 

As we spend more and more time hooked on our devices, digital marketing is becoming the pinnacle of advertisement for anyone who wants their products or services to be seen. 

But what exactly is digital marketing?

Digital marketing involves any form of marketing that relies on electronic devices. This includes TV and radio commercials, mobile apps, emails, websites, and search engines. Check out this guide to find out more.

Successfully mastering digital marketing is the key to increasing sales and developing a successful business, but how exactly can you do so?

Because the subject is too complex to be tackled in one stay, today we are going to focus on three online marketing strategies that, if you haven’t already, you need to implement right away!

Website optimization

We are going to start our list with website optimization because it sits at the core of any successful online marketing campaign. No matter how much you spend on advertising on all possible digital channels, if customers go on your website and they don’t like what they see, they will not spend a second more looking at your products. This means the first digital marketing strategy you need to implement is proper and constant website optimization.

Website optimization goes hand in hand with search engine optimization (SEO), which is something you will hear about a lot in digital marketing. 

Proper website optimization includes a lot of aspects, but to help you out, here are the most important ones:

Design

Your website will often be the first thing potential customers come in contact with when discovering your brand, so you need to make sure it reflects the values and image you want for your company. Use colors, imagery, and other graphic elements that are relevant for your brand, keep things simple, and make sure each webpage is cohesive and works with the overall theme.

User experience

No matter how good a website looks, people are not going to like it if they spend hours trying to figure out how to add a product to cart. User experience should be at the core of any good website design, as it is paramount for guiding customers through your sales funnel. 

Speed and reliability

Surveys show pages that take more than 2-3 seconds to load lead to a 38% bounce rate because people rarely like to sit around and wait for a site to finally load up. To keep customers on your website, you need to ensure all pages load fast, and all links work appropriately. 

Accessibility

To succeed in online marketing, it’s no longer enough to have a website that looks good and responds fasts on desktops. Over half of all web traffic is from smartphones and portable devices, meaning you now have to focus on mobile experiences as well. Proper optimization means your website will be just as reliable and will look just as good no matter the device it’s being accessed from. 

Content marketing

Having a website that looks good is equal to nothing if it is not filled with good content. Getting people to access your website is not that complicated, but making them stay is next to impossible without giving them something that is valuable for them.

Content marketing is a strategy that should be used together with other marketing techniques, such as SEO and email marketing because it gives people something valuable in return for their attention. 

When working on your website content, keep in mind that you have to deliver valuable information that is relevant to your audience, and you need to keep it consistent. Otherwise, it won’t be worth the time of those who bother to read it. 

To deliver quality content, you need to take into consideration a number of aspects. 

First, there is the type of content you use. Content marketing does not resume to text posts but can mean any type of content you consider best suited for your website. It can be text, imagery, graphics, videos, or a combination of multiple types of content. 

Another very important aspect you need to consider is keywords. To put it simply, keywords are relevant phrases users type in on search engines to find the information they are looking for. Search engines index them, and when someone is looking for a particular thing online, the most relevant results are shown based, among others, on those keywords.

Social media marketing

So, your website looks stellar and is filled with quality content, but how do you get people who are not necessarily typing things out on the Google search bar to actually discover it? By being where 3.8 billion people around the world are – on social media.

Social media is one of the main marketing channels, as it provides countless opportunities to get your brand and products out there for the world to see. You can create targeted ads, which are designed to reach users that are most likely to purchase your products, pair up with influencers for affiliate marketing campaigns or market your products through specially created social media content. 

Another aspect that makes social media marketing such an important strategy is that it serves as one of the best ways to keep consumers engaged and build a strong relationship with them. Being active on social media, responding to comments and messages, posting interesting content – these should all be part of your daily marketing activity.

The post 3 Essential Digital Marketing Techniques You Need to Implement appeared first on SiteProNews.

“User experience encompasses all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products,” says Don Norman, the person who coined the phrase.

When designing a product or service, and setting up your business, it is important to consider how a user is going to learn about the product or service, how they will buy it, how they will use it and how they will get customer support.

Good UX produces a win-win situation where the user (a customer) is satisfied with their purchase and the company (your business) gets plenty of sales.

The following tips will help improve the UX in your business:

1. Business Name

Choose a self-explanatory business name. This name should be easy to remember and it should also be a suitable domain name.

2. Step-by-Step Instructions

When doing step-by-step instructions, try to keep them to a maximum of five steps.

3. Product Pricing

Price the product or service so it is affordable for the customer but also profitable for the business (somewhere between these two).

4. UX Perceptions

When thinking of UX, think: focused, end-result, simple, comprehensible, non-distracting, accurate, sensible, forward-moving, singular, polite, standard, familiar, longevity, and sustainable.

5. Learn more about UX

Learn the basics of what UX is by doing some web research, especially in how it relates to running a business. Even knowing the difference between UX and UI helps.

6. Test your Processes

Before going live, test all your business processes and notice anything that might turn your customer off. Fix these problems.

7. Be Polite

When you test your systems and processes, notice if there is anything that seems rude from a user’s perspective; correct this. All processes should provide a well-mannered experience. For example, sometimes when you read a webpage, a dialog box pops up and prevents you from reading any further until you accept a cookie, for example. This is a rude experience because one, it isn’t asked for, and two, because it halts you from continuing your reading. It is like someone who shoves their foot at the base of a door so you can’t enter a room until you do what they ask. Remember: cookies and privacy are not that important that you would want to interrupt a new visitor to your website while they are focused on reading something. This is an example of poor UX that can cost you sales.

8. Make it Easy for Customers to Buy

Think of your business processes like a “mouse going through a maze to get a piece of cheese”. You don’t want your client getting side-tracked while they are going through the sales process. Each step of the way should be focused, easy to do, have no confusing elements, be sensible, and go along fairly quickly. Your systems and processes should be focused to get to the end result. For example, when you set up a payment page, don’t have any distractions, external links, or logos, unless the image is linked to one of the steps. Anything that might lure the client away from the purchase process is poor UX.

9. What are your customers looking for?

Find out what your clients or customers are looking for and use this to shape your UX.

10. Be User-friendly

User-friendly is the key operative phrase for a positive UX.

11. What causes website abandonment?

1. too much information
2. not enough information
3. unclear steps
4. links that don’t work
5. nowhere to click
6. lack of authenticity
7. something annoying
8. a distraction
9. having too many choices to make
10. something that takes too long to load
11. no Thank You or confirmation message after a submission

12. Average Customers

Instead of trying to satisfy really super-fussy customers, try to satisfy the ideal, average, everyday customer because these are the ones that bring in the bulk of the money.

13. Fluid Journey

You want a fluid user journey – from seeing an ad – to signing up with a form – to paying for a product or service – to asking for something else you offer – to getting great customer service. Each stage must provide a complete and satisfactory user experience.

14. How Someone Uses your Product or Service

Ask: “How will a person use my product or service in the real world?” and then take this information to help you shape a positive UX.

15. Web Standards Are the Best

• Background colors should be white.
• Blue is for links only.
• Red is great for alerts and errors.
• Green is a good color for buttons.
• Put key information near the top of the page.
• Minimize the necessity for SCROLLING.
• Black is for important information.
• Grey is for supplementary or additional information.
• Bright colors come to the foreground.
• Dark colors stay in the background.

16. Imagine Being the Customer

Put yourself in your user’s shoes and design things from their vantage-point.

17. Need-to Policies

Use the Need-To Policy to screen all your processes. Do I need to include this step? Does a customer need to have this feature? Do I need to explain this in detail? … and so on.

18. Thank You Pages

Only do “Thank You” pages that come at the end of a process. Dead-ends should never be in the middle of a process.

19. Function is More Important than Images

Don’t sacrifice functionality for great-looking images. A good UX is when the customer is impressed with what a product or service can do for them.

20. Deterrents to a Positive UX

1. a too long webpage
2. too much clutter
3. excessive scrolling required
4. distractions from the main goal
5. interruptions (like pop-ups that happen right when you are reading something)
6. excessive and obvious promotions
7. ads that can confuse the user with what is organic information and what is sponsored
8. unnecessary or irrelevant information

21. Desktop and Mobile

Always check your web design in both Desktop mode and Mobile mode before publishing it or making changes.

22. Details are for Buyers

Explain all the crucial details. For example, how long it takes to be delivered, when you will respond to an email by, warranty details … and so on. Anything that is helpful for the user to know, or to achieve their goal, tell them plainly and clearly. No customer should ever be left wondering.

23. Layman’s Language

The best language to use for good UX is “layman’s language”, unless your website specifically caters to users using a specialized language.

24. Don’t Make Mistakes

Every mistake you make can end up in a post on someone’s social media site and this can have disastrous consequences. If you do make a mistake, fix it a.s.a.p. and then explain what you did on your website. Remember that the entire Internet and business community is now transparent.

Conclusion

Whether you are starting a new business, or improving an existing business, knowing the user experience of your particular business can help you grow and succeed.

The post 24 UX Tips for Business Owners appeared first on SiteProNews.

Putting it down to experience

Not to be confused with customer loyalty, the term ‘user experience’ embraces the relationship between customer and brand and is based on a wide range of factors.  

As the name suggests, user experience is all about a customer’s perception of your brand – from aesthetics of a physical store to the in-depth experience of site navigation and customer service.

Customers tend to measure experience against previous visits and visits to competitors and, this experience will determine whether a future visit is going to happen.  Customer experience embodies anything from a swift social media visit to a multi-dimensional physical store visit and is influenced by factors such as up-selling and cross-selling.

Perhaps this is why UX consultants offer UX audits to clients who are looking to make more of the traffic they get to their websites. Andy Drinkwater of iQ SEO says “We all get traffic to our website and are excited when we see good positions in the SERPs, but what happens when someone gets to the site? Are they completing an action or are they leaving? Are you even aware of what is happening? If not, then you probably need to think about how you can see what is going on and if there are any bottlenecks or areas of concern.”

Blinded by science

The following (to name just a few) are some of the terribly clever ways in which businesses measure user experience: 

Standardized Universal Percentile Rank (SUPR-Q): uses 13 tools to measure user experience with factors including credibility, reliability and appearance.  Scores are drawn from a database of 200 websites across a huge number of industries – not all (or many) of which will be relevant. 

Net Promoter Score Benchmarks – this method calculates how likely customers are to spread a positive message about your brand – and is, therefore, an indication of how your brand is likely to grow. 

Userfeel – this software allows you to view videos of real customers voicing their thoughts as they use your website or application.  Although a novel piece of software, only a random selection of users will choose to participate.

Impressive?  Yes.  Effective?  Sort of.

Although these tools can be useful in gaining some extra data, they’re not essential and may, in fact, actually be painting a false picture of user experience for your brand.

For a better idea of how your user experience is really performing, it’s worth investing in a UX audit before going any further.

Do the numbers add up?

The simple fact of the matter is that when we conduct user experience research, almost every piece of research will contain errors – which means that your overall user experience result may be incorrect.  We, therefore, calculate a ‘confidence interval’ to compensate – for example, if 50 people are surveyed and 42 of them do something the same way – our result will be a 95% degree of confidence that between 71% and 91% of users will feel the same way. The issue here is that in a data sector of 100 people, we can no longer be sure of the confidence interval and, therefore, should not place our entire trust in the data. 

That doesn’t, of course, mean that measuring user experience is worthless – just that it needs to be done intelligently.  For optimum success, measuring user experience should be concentrated on the following points: 

Rate of questions asked – you need to begin by examining the questions asked – if any of these are questions relating to aspects which you thought were self-explanatory then this may be skewing your figures – in which case, you may need to re-look at the way your information is presented on your site or on your app. 

Rate of complaints – Complaints are, of course, one of the most important aspects of feedback and, therefore, of user experience.  If you’re experiencing a large number of complaints – and a large number of customers are complaining about the same things – this indicates a genuine problem which should be addressed fast. 

Net gain of customers – if the rate of increase of your customer base is in steady decline, there is almost certainly a problem with your user experience.  This is a good time to take a look at the figures of your competitors.  If your competition is smashing it out of the park while you sit on the bench, you need to figure out what they’re doing right and why they’re doing it so much better than you are. 

Churn Rate – Needless to say, a high churn rate means that you’re losing existing customers.  Which means that there’s an issue with your user experience.  Churn rate refers to those customers who have been reasonably loyal to your brand for a length of time but have now defected to a competitor.  Finding out what’s causing the churn – and then figuring out how to reverse it is a huge part of nailing user experience.  

“Once you’ve narrowed down your parameters, you can then engage with customers to gain a more rounded view of how you’re doing,” says Robert Niechcial CEO at Bank Secrets. 

As with any aspect of business, statistics can be really helpful in giving you an overview of the working of your business – just don’t rely solely on the numbers to figure out what your customers want – and need. 

There are a number of tools available which can help boost and monitor user experience indirectly – such as the SEMRush Brand Monitoring Tool which can help you keep an eye on what’s going on with your brand – and tools like this one will generally be more useful than a dedicated UX tool.

The post How Useful are UX Statistics Really? appeared first on SiteProNews.

Having a good spot in search engines can increase site traffic, improve brand recognition, promote your goods and services, build an army of loyal customers and eventually make good revenue. 

But the question is – how?

When you search the internet for this very question, you’ll get tons of results. However, not all are guaranteed to give you a better search engine ranking. To help you achieve such a goal this year, here are five things you can add to your digital marketing strategies.

Know Your Current Ranking

Before you work on improving your rank, the first thing you need to do is to know what your current search engine ranking is. Since Google makes algorithm changes often, your rank is affected whether or not your site is old or new. Thankfully, there are lots of resources available that let you monitor your rank. 

For example, you’re into content marketing and are using specific keywords. There are free websites that let you type in your keyword and your URL, and they will assess your rank. You get to check your average searches every month, which page comes up first whenever someone clicks on your site on search engine results. Know your site’s health, how fast your site loads and don’t forget to track your metrics.

Good Read: How to See Your Site Through Google’s Eyes

Focus On Improving UX

The user experience is one of the definitive factors on whether or not your SEO efforts are paying off. By focusing on user experience, your site visitors will get the impression that you have just the right goods or services they can get in the simplest way possible.

How to Improve User Experience

Make smart use of graphics. Internet users don’t just visit a website for no reason. They are here to find answers to their questions and solutions to their problems. By building simple yet attractive and easy to understand visual elements, you can easily cater to their needs. 

Recommended Read: 5 Tips to Improve User Experience on your Website

Educate Your Site Visitors

Internet users are always on the web looking for the best information to satisfy their inquiries. By educating your customers and potential clients, they’ll find the value of what you have to offer. In turn, users will stay on your landing pages, recommend your site and leave feedback thus gaining positive reviews. If you’re selling goods and services, you get to sell and make revenue.

Make Your Website Mobile-friendly

Most internet users are on their mobile phones. By optimizing your site for mobile devices, you’re giving your site visitors a user-friendly experience. This drives more traffic to your site and generates potential sales. So make sure to use responsive web design that caters to all kinds of internet users.

Speed Up Your Website

In this day and age, speed matters. If a site takes longer to load, you can’t expect happy visitors. Even a few seconds of loading time can affect your web traffic. Make sure to optimize your images and set up automated plugins that can help improve your site’s loading speed.

Build a Powerful PBN with SerpSpace Domains

A Private Blog Network works best in giving you high-quality backlinks from equally competitive sites. While PBNs are basically from old but high authoritative sites, the backlinks you can get are still in demand which makes them the perfect link building strategy. SerpSpace Domains are an excellent example of a high-quality domain. 

Why You Need SerpSpace Domains

When building a PBN, you want to make sure you have consistent quality domains to achieve great results. And this is what SerpSpace Domains can offer. What can you get out of SerpSpace Domains? These sites are relevant to your brand and what you have to offer, and all sites are 100% spam-free. 

How SerpSpace Domains Work

PBNs are one of the best ways to achieve quality backlinks. Backlinks make a difference when it comes to quality search results. With domains from SerpSpace being highly-authoritative you get an edge over your competitors. If you have many authoritative sites pointing towards your website, Google will process the information and mark your site as relevant and trustworthy. Since search engines are after relevant, useful and engaging content, you’ll get better search engine ranking. 

Give Your Site Visitors Fresh Website Content

Users are after unique and useful content. A high-demand for daily content means you need to keep up and create as much content as you can accommodate. But, make it a point not to bombard your site visitors with useless information. Go For Fresh, Engaging, And Relevant Content. Be consistent, but don’t overdo it.

Content Marketing Tips

As content marketing continues to rule, it’s high time to check on your strategy and think of new ways to get ahead of your competitors. This is one of the most cost-effective ways to achieve the best results. One of the things you need to try this year is working with micro influencers.

Nowadays, even micro influencers have tons of power when it comes to your audience. They can guest post on your site and direct their followers to you by linking or sharing your content on their pages. You get to reach a broader audience related to your niche thus giving your online presence a boost. They will, in turn, search for your webpage and the increase in traffic will get you a better ranking in Google. 

And that’s it! Was this article helpful to you? Please let us know by leaving a comment below.

The post Rank Higher in Search Engines with These 5 Digital Marketing Tips appeared first on SiteProNews.

User experience, or UX, is extremely important for every software product. When Steve Jobs founded Apple, this idea of form over function was highly unusual in the software space. In Jobs’ view, you needed to consider software and hardware with the customer’s experience in mind, then build the technology.

1. Minimalism

Ever enter an app with an impressive splash screen, tons of buttons, and functionality? It was probably a beautiful app — but you probably had to take a moment to figure out how to use it effectively. Apps that have exactly what they need and nothing more are becoming more popular for this very reason. When we aren’t inundated with a fancy GUI, we can more easily make sense of how to use the GUI.

The best software products shouldn’t take a second to figure out. Think of Google’s search engine — it was revolutionary because it simply was a text input box against a white screen. Now that minimalistic style isn’t so counterculture anymore — it’s the norm. App makers are looking for more ways to declutter, optimize, and simplify the experience.

2. Colorful screens

Vibrant colors are all the rage in 2018. While sleek, clean, minimalist apps are proving to be the most stylish this year, this doesn’t mean your color palette needs to be toned down. Vibrant colors can be a great complement to minimalist design. Bright colors can help guide the users eyes, group functionality, and add a powerful aesthetic to an otherwise stripped-down application.

Bright colors have an appeal in their own right, but making your app look more fashionable is just one of the reasons this trend is on fire. Vibrant colors are not only beautiful, they’re functional. In fact, UX design has begun to employ colors as indicators of functionality. That is, your screen turns different colors when different actions are performed. 

3. Full-screen Navigation

UX designers are starting to realize that space is quite a valuable thing when making an interactive, 2D product. Instead of asking the user to fill out an entire form on a single scrolling page, UX designers are sending users to multiple pages, each with a only one or two actions. This makes navigating an app easier, and translates into less frustration from the user. Tiny, obvious steps can make your app more intuitive, less daunting, and more user-friendly.

4. Linear journeys

Some software applications overload users with choices. Software designers may think this is a good thing — supplying the user with lots of functionality at once — and it can be. Sometimes, though, it can get in the way of the primary function of your software product. For this reason, linear user journeys are becoming more popular. Guide your user through your app, one step at a time, take them from step one to the end step without interruption. Following this trend can help your users make more sense out of app, and they may report more satisfaction with your product’s ease-of-use.

Conclusion

Most tech companies still have a backwards way of creating technology. They engineer a product with all the functionality they want, then begin work on making it user friendly. All too often, creating a serviceable user experience is impossible this late in the game, however. 

Thinking of the user experience before you even begin prototyping will help your software product greatly. This is why it’s so very important to stay up-to-date on the latest UX trends. Even if you aren’t actively working on a project, take a few moments out of each day to see how UX designers are changing how we interact with technology.

The post 4 UX Design Trends to Follow in 2018 appeared first on SiteProNews.