Mobile Design

Having a responsive website design has become more and more necessary in the digital world than ever before. Many people are still on the fence about taking the plunge and redesigning their site so that it can be accessed on different technology platforms. Rather than building separate sites for each device, responsive design uses a single website that intelligently adjusts its layout and features based on how it is being viewed.

For some businesses however this change does not need to be, but how does a person know if it is right for their business? Below are the top 4 reason for someone to build a responsive site.

1. Flexibility

Two interesting things are happening with web browsing.  Phones are becoming smaller and more useful for web browsing, and desktops and TV screens are getting larger and it seems to be happening at a rapid pace. With a responsive design this will allow you to easily adapt to changing screen sizes. People are even using TV screens to browse the web and this will help adapt to the ever evolving screen sizes that you see whether it be on a tablet, TV, desktop, or phone.

With responsive design it’s much easier to go in and change what is shown on different screen sizes. Without responsive design, when a new screen size comes out, you have to go and build a new site. That means new design, new production chances are more money as well.

You will know when flexibility is beginning to become important to your business by looking at the amount of traffic you have coming in. When mobile or tablet traffic reaches more than 40% of your site’s traffic, it’s time to flexible.

2. Regularity

With responsive designs the look and feel of your desktop site is the same throughout each platform, particularly your mobile device. That means the header and other content on the sites are the same fonts, the color scheme matches, and all of the other minor details are the exact same throughout, no matter what device your customer decides to use.

3. Search Engine Optimization

Google is obviously a very reliable source and one of the top search engines on the web. Google stated recently, “Google recommends webmasters follow the industry best practice of using responsive web design, namely serving the same HTML for all devices and using only CSS media queries to decide the rendering on each device.” If Google is saying it, then it must be important.

It’s hard to argue with the company that provides most of the search traffic to your site. From this information we can assume that in the future, responsive sites will be easier to optimize for Google. Plus it’s less work than attempting to optimize a desktop site, a mobile site, and a tablet site.

4. Fast Changes

As the internet constantly is undergoing new changes, so should your site. It is important to evolve with the internet and technology and test your website with the different developments in order to make your site the best it can be, regardless of what the goal of your site is. That being said, would you rather have to make those changes once or multiple times?  It is much less work to make those changes once and have them reflect on multiple different devices, rather than having to make a the changes separately from your site on a desktop, then update your mobile site, then go back and update your tablet. And let’s not forget about the future, as screen sizes change rapidly, it’s easy to think you could have 3 or 4 different sites out there, or to make it easier you could just have site that responds to all devices.

Considering getting a responsive web design is important and can help your business attract more viewers to your site, even while on the go. Make sure you look at advantages of having a website that can respond across all platforms and understand how effective it just may be.

Sometimes, companies ignore or forget how user friendly their website needs to be. Usability is crucial for the achievements of any web page and should never be neglected. Good functionality can enhance the performance of your web page and improve your possibilities of success. It can also improve sales and income for your business.

For your website to be successful, not only should it look professional, but it should also provide the visitor with an easy user experience. If you want your website to be effective, it has to be user friendly. This is why efficient functionality is essential. This will help your website stand out against your competitors.

A good website with user-friendly usability is about making it easy for visitors to find the information they need quickly and effortlessly and including a design that appeals to your customer.

There are many ways to improve the usability of your website. These characteristics can make your site more appealing and help with your online success. Below are a few essential characteristics of a user-friendly website.

1. Accessible for Anyone

Having a user-friendly website means that it should be accessible to anyone. There are simple web design techniques that can be applied to make sure your website can be accessed easily on-screen readers, making your website available to a larger audience.

2. Mobile Friendly

Today, more and more people use their mobile phones to access the Internet, so creating a mobile optimized website has become a necessity.

The first step is to check how your existing website appears on mobile. If your website cannot currently be accessed on mobile, then it is important to invest in finding a way to do this, especially with the number of people who use their mobile devices to access websites.

3. Well Planned Layout

How information is organized and presented on your website is vital for good usability. However, it is often neglected. It has become even more important today as websites offer a wide range of information and resources to attract their target market. Plan your website sections and categories carefully and present information in a way that it is easy for users to find. Thinking from the perspective of your users will help. This is particularly important if you offer a lot of content on your company’s website.

It has become even more important these days as sites provide a variety of details, content, and resources to attract the focus of their target audience. Plan your web page segments and categories properly in a way that it is easy for customers to find.

4.  Fast Load Times

If a website takes too long to load then chances are most people will not stick around to wait. Nothing is more annoying for website visitors than a website that takes long to load. Slow speed is one of the main reasons visitors leave a website.

It is important to make sure that your backgrounds, plug-ins, and widgets are all used correctly to ensure fast load times. These factors are just a few that affect website speed. Try to limit their use and only use the ones that are absolutely necessary.

People are becoming less patient, especially nowadays with the advanced technology. A typical customer will only wait for a few seconds for your page to load, after which they will most likely navigate away to a competitor’s site never to visit again. You want to make sure that your backgrounds, plug-ins, and widgets are all used correctly to ensure fast load times. These factors are just a few that affect website speed. Try to limit their use and only use the ones that are absolutely necessary.

5. Browser Consistency

Browser compatibility can be easily overlooked. This is bad for branding and has a negative effect on website usability.

Although modern browsers have evolved and become more efficient, some inconsistencies may still exist in how a website looks in different browsers. It is important to ensure your website appears and behaves consistently across all major browsers such as Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari.

6. Effective Navigation

Good navigation is one of the most important aspects of website usability. It is important for the navigation to be organized, simple to use, and clutter-free. Try to limit the number of menu items as much as possible. A drop-down menu or sub-navigation may work better on large site with many sections and pages.

7. Good Color Scheme

The right contrast between the background of the website and content is one of the most basic yet most important web design principles that should never be overlooked. Good contrast between background and text color makes your content easy to read and lack of contrast, makes it very difficult for visitors to read your content. Make sure it is also a color that appeals to your visitors. If it does not work to flatter your business, or is a color that makes no sense then it can create a significant first impression, and not a good one.

The success of your website depends on its user friendly capabilities. This is one factor that will set you apart from your competitors. Good usability helps to provide a seamless experience for visitors and improves your chances of success.

Having a website is crucial to your online success. Like many people, they don’t usually know where to begin or what they should put on their website. It may seem like a daunting task, but taking it step by step can help.  If you don’t currently have one, then these principles will be a great way to get you started.

Focus on User Navigation and Usability:

The first step to determining how your website should be designed is determining what will attract your target audience. It doesn’t matter if your website will be used just to get information about your business across or if people will use it to make purchases, the design must make it easy for your viewer to achieve their goal. The layout of your pages and how your audience can access these pages must be designed so that at any point during their search through your website they don’t find themselves lost and become frustrated.

The design should be easy to use and should transition smoothly from page to page.  Focusing on your menu items at the top can help with this. If you have a lot of information you want to put on the site using a drop down navigation can be very useful and make your website look clean and organized.

Know What Your Short and Long Term Goals of the Company Are:

The main base of a websites design is the goal the company wants to achieve. The most effective design is the one which is going to help the company achieve its goals. The goals may start off in one direction and as the time goes on and as you become more popular the goals may shift. The design must always bring that out and reflect that to the customer.

Create a Call to Action:

Another very important principle to focus your design around is the call to action you are using on your site. This can be a subscribe button, a contact us form to receive a quote, etc. If you are a business that provides a service, having a place with for people to give their name, number and questions can help you get business and make it easy for your customers to contact you.

The design of your site must push people to use these calls of action and it must be extremely user friendly. Your call to action must be very simple with a set number of options which they can choose from. If using the call to action is complex and requires a lot of input then chances are people will avoid using it.

Color and Uniqueness of the Site:

Every site that you build should be unique in some way. By doing research into different sites within your industry, you can save a lot of hassle when it comes to being able to differentiate yourself from the competition. Don’t go overboard and make the site complex and hard to use because that will just defeat the whole purpose. Make it unique and recognizable to your visitors, so that they know they are visiting your site.

Also, the color schemes can be tricky if you have nothing to base it off of. Don’t copy other companies’ sites in your industry if those colors don’t fit your business. If you have an existing store or a logo then the best thing to do is to just use that color scheme, so existing and future customers don’t get confused.

Simple is Better:

The saying “the simpler the better,” is usually always true and in this instance that definitely pertains. Content on the site must be easy on the eyes and nicely spaced out so that each piece of info is easy to go through. Your viewer doesn’t want to sift through loads and loads of information to find what they are looking for. Making good use of read more links and using your web pages effectively can help a lot.

These principles will help you get started and will make it a smoother and easier process. Having a company that specializes in website design and development will also make building and creating your website much less stressful.

53% of American cell phone owners have a Smartphone, and since 88% of all US adults are now cell phone owners, that means nearly half (46%) of all American adults own a Smartphone, according to recent findings by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Moreover, 90% percent of those smartphone owners say they use the device to check email and surf the web. Therefore, with mobile Internet traffic on the rise, you may be turning away potential customers if you lack a mobile-friendly version of your website.

With numbers like these, developing a mobile-friendly website may seem like a no brainer. However, in this case common sense doesn’t translate into common practice among small business owners. Only 26 percent of small businesses have a mobile website – which can be detrimental, especially for local businesses.

It is pivotal that business owners consider how their website displays on a smartphone or tablet. If content isn’t easy to read or access on a smaller screen, it may cause potential customers to seek your products/services elsewhere.

In addition to making information easy to read on a smaller screen, there are several things you should consider when designing a mobile-friendly website:

1. Less is more. Keep it simple with a one touch “Call Us/Contact Us” button, along with prominently displayed “Hours of Operation” and “GPS Directions” links. Customers don’t care about you; they want to know how you can benefit them. So it’s important display information a customer may be searching for at the top of your site and in plain text.
2. Avoid flash players. Flash isn’t ideal for mobile sites due to loading time and small screen resolutions.
3. Don’t make users download PDF’s and try to avoid making them navigate across several pages. Your mobile-friendly website should be straightforward and easy to quickly use.