Your website is a very important part of your marketing plan and as such, should be created and designed with users in mind. This will ensure a positive user experience and effectiveness in getting your message across. If you don’t yet have a website and are just starting to create your master plan or feel that you have an ineffective website, make sure you consider these tips for a more engaging and effective website. 1. Less is More With so many technologies and tools available, it’s possible to have your website filled with features that might cloud your message. While this may ...

The Direct Marketing Association is the leading global trade association of businesses and nonprofit organizations using and supporting multichannel direct marketing tools and techniques. They will be releasing their new website design that complete revitalizes their company. Their old homepage was extremely cluttered with links, a lot of flashing banners, and a moving ticker at the bottom. There is no clear direction in which the DMA wants their visitors to go. With so many options and links, it can be confusing for visitors to figure out where they will go and lead to a low click-through rate and high bounce rate. Their ...

Including clear navigation and links for social shopping can help improve a shopper's experience on your eCommerce website. However, the basics are often what customers focus on when visiting your website. According to the “Revolutionizing Website Design” report from digital marketing agency Oneupweb, Web users tend to focus on the fundamentals that facilitate purchasing. Clear pricing and shipping information topped the important feature list, followed by a website that looks credible and trustworthy. More advanced features like links to social media and online customer service fell to the bottom of the list. Online retailers who are worried about conversion rates, failed transactions and ...

A key element of website design is having clear call-to-action buttons and links. A "call to action" refers to copy and images that compel a user to take a certain action. Typically the action is to purchase a product or take a step in the sales cycle that will hopefully lead to a sale, like sign up for a newsletter. A clear call to action tells your visitors what you expect them to do, and what they can expect when they do that. It will lead your visitors strategically on a path through your website. One example of a website with clear ...

Launching a new website or a website redesign takes a lot of time, energy, and money. It is important that you have a clear plan from the beginning to make sure that you aren't wasting your resources on a website that will end up not meeting your goals. Look through these reasons why many websites fail to perform and see if your website is making any of the same mistakes. Undefined Objectives - Maybe your website is trying to do too much at one time. Or maybe there is no clear objective. Either option will only hurt your website's performance. Creating clear ...

Small businesses often times have a smaller marketing budget and need to be wise in how they spend that money. However, one area where they should not hold back money is in their website design. According to a recent survey, approximately 75 percent of web users admit to judging a website's creditability based on its website design. On average, visitors take only 50 milliseconds to make a decision on a website's visual design. Some basic web design aspects that businesses should be careful of are: Using unprofessional images and fonts Having complicated navigation Hiding important product/service information Not updating the information available on your website Bad language ...

If you haven’t been paying attention to how your website is performing, you are losing valuable information. Paying attention to your web metrics can help you figure out exactly what is and isn’t working on your website. Web metrics software is easily available and can provide you a lot of information. However, it can become overwhelming if you don’t know exactly what the information is and means. Once you learn what your metrics is telling you, then you can use that data to manage your website. There are four basic ways to break down your web metrics: Traffic, Conversion, Performance, Maintenance. Performance Once you ...

A website is more than just a brochure. It is a 24-hour live sales person that is constantly promoting your company and its products and services. Among many things, your website serves as a tool that helps communicate the value that your business brings to the consumer. Let your website show why visitors should utilize your business and why you are different from your competition. As you may only get a few minutes of your potential customers' time, it is imperative that the information that you provide is conveyed easily, effectively and dynamically. Otherwise you risk the possibility of the individual leaving ...

While money may be the highest factor for travelers when using a travel website, a lot of them will leave a website if they have difficulties navigating the website and checkout process. According to a survey of survey of US online travel bookers by PhoCusWright, site-related complaints like not wanting to register with the website, slow loading times, and general confusion caused people not to complete their online transactions. Also, more than a third of online travel bookers said that website problems like this make them less likely to shop at that website again. Business travelers, who are more likely than ...

On average, website visitors only read about 20% of the text on a page, according to a study from 2008 on web usability. With people only paying attention to such a small amount of your copy, it is important to make it all count. After cutting down the amount of copy on your website, here are some other ways to imrprove your website's readability. Clear and Simple Language Avoid using jargin and general information. Be specific and clear. Keep paragraphs short with one idea per paragraph. Use lists with numbers or bullet points to break up information. Organize Your Information Put the most ...

While it is important to have a website for your business that you like, you ultimately should be creating a website that appeals to your audience. You must learn to look at your website through the eyes of your audience. Even if your website seems perfect to you, it may not come across that way to your audience. This could mean you are pushing away potential customers from knowing about your business and what it can offer. When looking at your website, there are three things you should focus on from the perspective of a visitor. Usability Is your website easy to navigate? ...

It is important when creating a presence for your business on the web to choose the options that work best for your specific business. It can be difficult to decide if you want to create a microsite, if you want to get multiple domain names, or to use your main website. Each option has strengths and benefits depending on what you are aiming to achieve, and the budget you have available. Microsite A microsite provides detailed information about a specific product or service that may not be available on the main website. By using a microsite, you can target specific keywords to make the ...