A strong online presence is crucial for any business. We asked small business owners how important a website was to them, and what benefits it brought their organization. Continue reading to find out how a site can help you take your business to a new level.

The Welcome Mat

Websites are the doorway, welcome mat, and gateway to a business. It should both educate and evoke emotion in the consumer. The first impression is what will determine whether the consumer will engage with the brand.

It shows you actually exist

In today’s digital age, a small business must have a website in order to be successful. You will lose out on a lot of potential business if you don’t have a website. Consumers won’t be able learn about your business or you. A website is a great way to show your audience you exist.

This shows potential clients if your business is the right fit

Small businesses need a platform to accurately represent who they are, and why people should use or buy their products. You want to be available when potential customers search for a service or product. You want to make sure that they see a functional, clean website which makes them feel as though your business is a good choice. It is important to have an online presence for your brand. A website represents it in the digital world.

People Need to Find You On Google

Google is the go-to place for people in today’s digital age to find almost anything, from products and services nearby to answers to their questions. Search engines are crucial to the success of online businesses. You cannot be found by potential customers if you don’t have a website. Create a central place to store all of your information, including your phone number, address, product/service list, prices and contact form. This will allow people to easily find your business on the internet.

Credibility of Business Increased

A website will increase your credibility as a business. A website is a must-have for any business in the digital age. You will be perceived as less trustworthy and not convert as many sales if you don’t have one. You will be found online by customers, and a website is a good way to establish trustworthiness.

This allows you to compete

A website is essential for every business, just as you would plant a tree. A website is a great way to put your business into an environment that will allow it to thrive. You can use it to market your product, establish credibility, differentiate yourself and, quite frankly, compete. You will lose out on many opportunities and even loyal customers if you are not online. If you can’t be found, your customers will go to someone else.

You can expand your physical location.

Websites are a great investment. Your presence is usually limited when you only operate in one location. You can reach people all over the world with a website. These people could become investors, customers or suppliers. They would never have found you without a website.

It is a reflection of the service you will provide

Small businesses should use a website to communicate with their clients and reach out to them in a timely manner. Consumers today use websites to not only identify companies with whom to transact, but also to determine the ‘fitness or trustworthiness’ of a small business. A website that is ‘outdated’ or inadequate may convey to the consumer today a lack of attention to detail or laziness – traits which are unattractive to them and cause them to ‘swipe right’.

You can now download your digital brochure

A website is a digital brochure. A website is primarily informative, giving people an insight into who you and your company are, what you do, or offer. When content is engaging and fresh, a website’s best features are community building, connection and loyalty. Websites must be mobile-optimized, as the majority of searches are conducted via mobile devices.

Your own domain name increases credibility

A website will give your small business credibility. You want your business to show up in the search results when someone searches for your service or product online. Your email address will also be more credible if it has your own domain (company.com). If you are sending emails from your personal email account, customers may not treat you seriously.

A website is also a must for every small business. I tell the entrepreneurs that I work with to concentrate on their “core” social media channels, which are LinkedIn, Facebook Twitter and Instagram. You can promote your website on social media once you launch it.

You can advertise for free

A professional website allows people to find you easily and access the information they require. If you optimize your site well, you may also appear in search results even if people didn’t know they were searching for you.

Create pages to describe the services that you provide and where they are offered. You can also create pages that explain your products, or how you solve common problems. You can transform from an invisible Cleveland plumber to one who appears whenever anyone nearby searches how to unclog drains.

In our digital world, it’s essential

Customers enjoy the convenience of online shopping. Businesses that do not have a website are missing out on this market. They may also be considered outdated or “not with it” by people who have grown up using the internet.

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We get it.

The idea of having to create hundreds of pages of unique content on a website is overwhelming for many business owners.It takes time and effort to write a large amount of content for your website. It can also be intimidating to your website users to see large blocks of text.

Regardless of whether your potential customers cling to your every written word, they still need SOME content–well-written, compelling content–in order to make an educated decision on your product or service. Around 70% of consumers prefer articles and content to ads when learning about a service or product. 60% of consumers won’t buy from brands with poorly written, personalized, or mobile-unfriendly content. Google knows that people prefer to conduct their own research. Google understands users’ desire to read content that is well-written and answers any questions they may have on a particular problem or subject. Content length, quantity, and quality all play a role in search engine rankings.

How much content is needed to be ranked in search engines? We’ll start by examining how much content you need to satisfy your customers (after all they are the ones who pay your bills) and then move on to how much search engines require.

How much content do my customers need?

What is the minimum amount of content that you should have on your website to ensure it remains effective? What is the right question?

How much copy should I use on my website to help my users find the product they are looking for without having them waste time?  

What is your target audience?

You need to know who your audience is to determine if you are creating too little or too many content. There are two main groups of consumers.

Maximizers are those who look for content and options that will help them make better decisions.

Satisfiers are those who make decisions that they feel are adequate, rather than the best decision. They do this to save time.

You can use less content if your audience is predominantly the latter. Maximizers need more content, though, to be convinced that your product or service is the best.

How much content do I need to rank in search engine results?

How much content are search engines looking for?

Ideally, your website should include a landing page for each product or service you provide, along with a blog post and FAQs to answer any questions that your customers may have.

 The average is around 2,400 words per page. This number drops to 1,600 words for more niche industries.  

Why investing in website content is a smart idea

Traditional marketing and advertising campaigns don’t yield the same results as they used to. Consumers today have a wealth of information available to them, easily accessible via their smartphone or laptop. Take a look at these statistics.

•  Blogs help small businesses grow their lead generation by 126 percent compared to those without.  
•  After reading customized content, 82 percent of consumers feel better about a business  
•  Outbound marketing costs 62 percent more than content marketing, but generates three-times as many leads.  

Content that provides real value to your prospects is the future of marketing. Create content that will help them make better choices and establish your company as THE authority.If you do it correctly, your website will appear on the first Google page for relevant keyword searches.

Call Emerging Business Systems to learn more.

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However, they may neglect a vital section of their website–the About Us Page. Even the most basic website templates have an About Us section. Are you maximizing the potential of your About Us Page? This page is often almost a last-minute addition. The companies simply throw a generic description on the screen, and then call it a night. This is a waste of an opportunity to make the most out of one of your most important web pages. You can establish a rapport with potential customers on your About Us page. This can be challenging if you are not in person.

Why Do We Need an About Us Page

Visitors to your website will likely spend a few seconds on the home page. But if they are serious about learning more about you and your business, they will likely click over to your About Us section within a couple of clicks. This is the page where you can introduce yourself to potential customers. This precious space on your website can be used to build credibility and trust. Visitors to your website may not be familiar with you unless you’re a well-known, large company. They’ll want to know a bit more about your company before they decide to spend money or their time. Internet shopping can be anonymous, unlike brick-and mortar stores. Potential customers who are about to buy something will want to find out who is behind the curtain. They want to be sure that any transaction they make will go smoothly, and they’ll get the goods or service they ordered. You can reassure them by letting them know you’re a legit company and that you stand behind your promises on the About Us page.

Best Practices

To begin with, ensure that people can easily find your About page. This page is called About Us or something similar for a good reason. You can be creative with “Meet The Team” or our story, but if you go overboard, potential customers may not even recognize they are reading the About Us page.

Display your personality simply.

You can have fun on your About Us page. Your writing should be easy to read. Avoid using too many buzzwords. Avoid using long and confusing descriptions. This will help anyone who visits your About Us page to quickly understand what you do, and what products and services you offer. Use generic, bland text and avoid using legalese. Use rich language and be genuine. Try to tell a good story, if possible.

Use Ws.

When you don’t know where to start, answer the five Ws – who, what and when. Also, why. Show potential clients who you are, your job, the date you began, where you are located, and the reasons you’re best to do the job.

Know Your Customer

You still want to make sure that the content you write is relevant to your target audience, even if you are writing an “about me” page. You should ask yourself:

How can I help?

Tell them how you will solve their problem. Offer benefits and solutions that are easily understood. Don’t just say that you are the best. Give them facts. Mention specific achievements, such as how your company helped another company save X dollars by offering the best solution. Has your company won any industry awards relevant to you? You can also add them to this section, but do not go overboard.

Make the people stare.

Include pictures because customers want to know who they are dealing with. Don’t use any photo. People can tell if it is a generic stock image from a distance. Your pictures should reflect the real world and be of people or places. You can use individual or group photos. A photo of your founder or a picture of your store can add credibility. A pleasant photo can help establish trust, especially since it’s the Internet.

Tell them to come home.

It’s time to create a call-to action. It’s obvious that people who have made it to the About Us page are interested in what you offer. Make it simple for them to move forward. You can ask them to call for more information or add a link so that they can visit your online store and make a sale.

Keep on fine-tuning

Your About Us page, just like the rest your website is not really finished. Try out different things to see what works and what doesn’t. Remember to update your achievements regularly. Add any new contracts or customers that you have won. An updated, fresh About Us page can help spread the word and attract more customers.

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Let’s look at some of the questions that you should be asking yourself before building your own corner on the Internet.

1. Do you know them well? Understanding your audience helps you to structure the website in terms of content and layout. It will improve the way people interact with your content.
2. What age range is your target audience?
   Everything from the graphics to the readability will be influenced by your audience’s age. You wouldn’t want to use a college-level vocabulary if your target audience is 13 or younger.
3. How long has it been since you last thought about your logo?
   Brand recognition is largely based on imagery. Colors, shapes and designs help your website stick in the memory of fans while also making it easier to identify.
4. What other reasons do you have for creating a website, apart from the primary purpose?
   As an example, let’s say that you want to start a personal blog. Do you plan to monetize your blog? You may want to sell products on the site in the future.
5. What media will you showcase on your website?
   You can use a variety of media types to enhance your website. These include photo galleries and videos.
6. Do you plan to build it yourself or hire someone else?
   You should consider hiring someone who can design and build your website. A DIY website rarely turns out well.
7. Your visitors will share your information
   Sharing is almost a necessity today. Sharing via social media and email is a popular way to add content to a website.
8. What type of call to actions are you planning to use?
   Calls-to-action include elements such as signing up for a mailing list, purchasing a product immediately and other methods of encouraging visitors to take action.
9. Do you have a mobile strategy?
   A mobile-friendly site is also a must if you are looking to be successful online. It is because people access the internet more often from their mobile devices today than they do through computers.
10. Are you ready to implement your Search Engine Optimization strategy?
    Internet competition is fierce. If you want your website to be seen by engines such as Google, then SEO is a must.
11. Do you have a content strategy in place for your website?
    It is said that “Content is King” on the Internet. This is what people will use to find your website: words, images, and videos. It is essential to have a content marketing strategy that works.
12. Do you plan to connect your website with Social Media channels?
    Facebook and Twitter are social sites with a large number of followers and fans. Create profiles for your website to attract these audiences. It’s also free!
13. What are you trying to say with your website? Is this a business or personal website?
    Content is usually the main difference between personal sites and business websites. Personal sites have more flexibility when it comes time to write articles. A business website is more likely generate income and gain a larger fan base.
14. Are you planning to update an existing website or create one?
    A brand-new site allows you to be more flexible in terms of design and development. Sometimes it is easier and more efficient to just revamp an existing site.
15. Are you ready to choose a hosting service? Have you checked all the current offers?
    It is vital to choose a reliable web hosting provider. Make sure that you have all the tools necessary for your success. You’ll need a content distribution network, current server hardware and background applications such as PHP.
16. What emotions do you plan to convey through your website?
    Emotional connections are a great way to engage an audience. They create a tempo and help you build relationships with your guests.
17. Are you familiar with website analytics? Have you done any research on how to utilize the data?
    The website analytics provides a wealth of information about how users interact with your content. This information is also useful when you’re determining who your audience is and what they want to read. Google Analytics reports, for example, are a great way to learn more about your readers.
18. How much time will you spend on this website?
    You can’t just set up a website and leave it. To build a strong following that will open up more opportunities, it takes time and effort. Maintaining a website is a commitment, whether you want to earn money or gain notoriety.

These are a few questions to help you generate some ideas for your website.

WIIIFV

What’s in it for Visitors? Everyone is constantly asking this question. Why do you wish people would visit your site? What do you want to promote through your content and your website?

People are always looking for freebies. This could be information, assistance, tutorials or feedback. It is therefore even more important to understand what your target audience wants. You can achieve this by doing some market research.

How do I Promote my Website?

You now know that it is important to get people to come to your website. Next, you will need to learn how to properly promote it. Most new website owners will spend 90% of their budget on the website and only 10% on marketing.

Most website businesses fail because of this. It is essential to invest 50%-50% in building and promoting your website. You can promote your website through Google Adwords, blog posts, search engine, subscription newsletters, etc.

Not all promotions require a financial investment. Many methods only require time. Sharing your website’s content via Facebook and Twitter, for example, can help you reach a larger audience without having to spend a dime.

Shares on social media improve brand recognition and reputation, as well as help build a loyal following.

Six Tips for Website Design: Avoidance

Many people will offer you different ideas on how to design your website. You should remember that many of the older tips no longer apply today. Some of these include…

• Background music:  It is completely irritating and spoils your content’s mood. In 2001 it may have seemed cute and fun, but now visitors are less likely to enjoy the music.
• Stuffing keywords: Search engines such as Google focus more on providing quality content to users. Search engines will penalize your website if you try to cram as many keywords into one page as possible.
• Too much advertising: Limit the number of advertisement blocks. A bad layout will result if you have too many advertisements.
• Walls of text: Text that is too long and drawn out can be difficult to read on mobile devices. Divide your content into smaller paragraphs and images, or with headers.
• Too many animations? Some animations can be quite effective in keeping an audience engaged. You don’t need too many animations as they can become a distraction.
• Ignoring Mobile Users: It is important to consider your mobile audience when designing your website. You could alienate large portions of your audience if you do not.

Design for your Visitors

Create the website based on what your audience wants to see and do. Your site will grow in popularity as you give them what they desire. It may be ignored in the digital universe.

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Why would you use social media as your only source of online information?

There are many reasons why a business may choose to use a social media site as its “business website”. Here are some of the most likely ones.

1.It’s Easy

It’s likely that social media is a part of the lives of many people, and they are comfortable using it. Many platforms make it simple to create accounts for business because social media is so widely used. If the platform charges advertising fees, they will encourage users to create business pages to earn money.

2.It’s Typically free

It’s usually free and easy to set up a basic business account. This alone is appealing to new business owners, who are often looking to save money.

3.Easy to Share

What else do you require besides being free and simple? sharing your business page with family and friends. Social media can be a great way to spread the word about your business. Its purpose is to engage potential customers and be social.

Why Businesses Need Websites Outside of Social Media

Although the benefits of using social media to promote your business are obvious — and it is usually a good thing to have at least one social media profile for your company — there are other very important reasons that businesses shouldn’t just stop there.

Business Information

Social media platforms have fixed sections of content. You are limited to what the platform allows you to do if you want to include specific information on a particular page.

2.Design & Branding

You can use images and your company logo but you cannot change the fonts, colors, layout or overall design.

3.Promotion and Advertising

You can advertise your products and services on most social media platforms. This is great. However, if your website allows you to add these sections, it’s a lot easier. Businesses can advertise their website through search engines if the budget permits.

4.Search Engine Results

Over time, social media accounts will appear in search engine results — such as Google or Bing. However, they are mostly self-contained. You may want to share information or services on the internet, but you are restricted by the “containers” of social media profiles. Search results may include the account, but may hide specific information. This is true, especially if a company chooses to blog instead of writing tweets or posts.

5.You can now control your online presence

You do not own the social media platform. Maintaining an independent level control over your company’s web presence is essential. By relying on a stable third party, you are putting the control of your company’s most important online presence into someone else’s hands who may not be looking out for your best interests. Social media platforms are free to change things whenever and however they please, without your input. These changes could have a negative or positive impact on your business.

What to Keep in Mind When Using a Website as well as Social Media Accounts for Business

Most companies have their own website and one or more accounts on social media. It’s standard practice for businesses to start developing their online presence. This is a good thing. There are some key things to remember if you’re trying to balance a website with social media.

1.Keep your information consistent

Keep your business information consistent on all platforms. You don’t want your potential customers to be confused by incorrect or outdated information. It may seem like a no-brainer, but it is a common problem. The most important information is the business hours, location, and contact information. Information can also include special offers, types of services and notifications such as construction or random closures because of weather, lack of power or other reasons.

2.List of Accounts

It may seem easy to maintain a website and a social media account, but it becomes more difficult as the business grows. It doesn’t matter if you are the “web/social manager” or not, having someone keep track of all accounts and logins that have been privately created is a good way to know what needs updating.

3.Brand Consistency

This is important for consistency but not as crucial as the information about your business. It’s important to make sure that all accounts online are updated when a business decides to change its brand, logo or imagery. This will ensure that online visitors can immediately recognize the company. This should be done immediately after any updates to business information.

Contact me about your web design needs

Contact Emerging Business Systems if you need help or guidance with your online presence or social media accounts. We are happy to provide assistance or guidance!

The post Why Using Social Media as Your Website Should Be Avoided appeared first on Emerging Business Systems Ltd..

A poor website can cause businesses to lose clients, which is money.

Web Design is an art form. Like art, web design aims to create an experience for its audience. Web Design is a combination of form and functionality that makes websites enjoyable, navigable and interesting. There are some “rules”, both spoken and unspoken, that web designers should follow. People often don’t adhere to these rules and this is why websites such as this are created.

These are the most common mistakes that small business owners make when it comes to web design.

1. There’s Too Much Going on

Immediately include pertinent information about your business on your website. Visitors will leave your website if they can’t grasp the purpose of your site within a couple seconds. This is important to remember, but it can lead small business owners into cramming too much information above the fold. A cluttered website is also not a good idea. It will take longer to load a website with a lot of text, images, or other elements. This can confuse visitors. Avoid designs that are too busy.

2. There is Too Little Going on

On the other side of the spectrum are websites with almost nothing on them. When done right, minimalism is in style. Some small business sites are too cryptic, and they leave a lot to the imagination. This is another mistake. Visitors want to know what you do and who you are. If you rely too heavily on simple images without a clear direction, your visitors will be left guessing.

3. It’s Too Confusing

The “confused brand website” is a site that falls somewhere in between the extremes of too much and too little. A confused website is a site that features different typefaces and images, as well as color palettes and themes. It can happen for a variety of reasons. This can happen if you do not have a clear idea of the image that your brand wants to project. This can happen when you want to use all the design templates because you love them. This can happen if you try to express too many ideas and treat your website as a collection of individual elements rather than a whole. Choose one theme, logo and typeface when designing your website. Stick with it throughout the site.

4. The CTA is a Terrible CTA

It is your gateway to success. Your CTA (Call To Action) commands your visitors to click here! Get a coupon! Find out more about this product. It’s important to make sure that the CTA tells your visitors exactly what they should do. Visitors should have enough information to know what to expect from taking action, and what information to provide. There’s also a fine balance between being helpful and annoying. Your CTA should be concise and clearly state what the customer needs to do. Limit the amount of form filling and allow them to spend a few moments on your site before the CTA appears.

5. The content and whitespace are not used well.

Content is an important part of any website or marketing campaign. Content tells the reader about your company and what you have to offer. You should pay attention to fonts and the layout of the content on the page.

The font you choose will reflect your brand in addition to what you actually write. So, make sure it is readable and appealing. Use white space to draw the eye around your website and make large blocks of text easier to read. Many people make the mistake of adding too much text to their website. Use visual elements where possible to illustrate concepts and break up text where you can. If you don’t update your content, customers may think that you have closed down.

6. Pictures that are ugly or irrelevant

Web design also includes photos and graphics. Images are a great way to convey complex ideas quickly, without the need to read text. Many businesses use low-quality or irrelevant images. Images of poor quality can ruin your website, and make visitors leave. Images that are irrelevant will confuse readers and make them wonder what your message is.

7. Hidden Navigation

Navigational issues will quickly kill the popularity of your website. In an age when everything is instantaneous, people will abandon your website if it takes too long. One common mistake is to make your navigation menu difficult to find. You’ve probably been on a website where you couldn’t locate the menu, or even the search bar. It’s infuriating. It’s frustrating.

8. Missing Your Target

You know how important it can be to understand your audience as a small-business owner. You probably have spent hours creating profiles of your customers and trying to figure out how you can attract their attention. It is also important in web design. Your site’s “look” and “feel” will attract certain types of visitors. Some websites are very professional, others are hip and trendy, and some are just fun. A website can try to appeal to too many different audiences. You’ll have a confusing website if you try to appeal to too many different types of clients. You should identify and profile your audience, and then cater to it.

9. Insufficient Contact Information

A lack of contact details is also a common mistake. It is important to have your contact information available as soon as visitors decide whether or not they want to use your service. You must provide them with the contact information as soon as they decide that you are the right company for their needs. Visitors who have to hunt through your website for contact information will get frustrated and likely leave. You should have a “Contact Us” link at the top of each page or on every page.

Keep your target audience in mind at every stage of the design process, from planning to analysis after launch. You’ll be able to create a website that is beautiful and speaks volumes about your company if you are able to reconcile these two factors. If you build it (digitally), they will come.

The post The Most Common Mistakes in Web Design Small Businesses Make appeared first on Emerging Business Systems Ltd..

In fact, failing to keep an eye on a number of back-end processes and even the theme might result in penalties from search engines, which also means a lower ranking and significantly less traffic.

Why therefore should you keep your WordPress site’s theme and plugins up to date?

Themes and Plugins

You’ll discover that there is just one item that can be anticipated with certainty after some online browsing. And this is that things, particularly software, will change at some point. It should come as no surprise that software needs to advance with the numerous devices and technological advancements.

Your theme and any plugins you employ must adhere to the same principle. If the creator of the plugin or theme is serious about offering something others might not be, you can anticipate seeing regular updates if you install either right now.

These updates will no longer be installed by WordPress automatically. However, you will be promptly informed when a new version of the software has been released, so you can still do this manually. As soon as you log into your dashboard, WordPress warns you and emphasizes how crucial it is that you act upon this notice.

The Benefits of Maintaining Plugin and Theme Updates

A number of factors make an update potentially crucial. For instance, an old plugin or theme can make the site load more slowly. Visitors become irate as a result, and the bounce rate rises swiftly.

Given that upgrades frequently include adjustments to better safeguard your website, you are also exposed to security dangers. If security isn’t updated, your website is open to attacks.

Then take into account the fact that you won’t be gaining the same advantage as other website owners who use the same plugin or theme but regularly stay up to date with everything. Updates are released for a reason, thus you should at the very least check for them once every month.

Maintaining the changes that keep your site going ahead is necessary if you want to get your site to a high position and keep it there.

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Reasons:

1. First Impression Matters a Lot

For starters, it will be many of your potential clients’ first point of contact. When visitors arrive at your website for the first time, it will create an immediate and lasting impression of your company. Within the first few seconds of visiting your website, they will make a final judgment on your company. You’ll want to work hard to leave the best possible impression on them in those first few seconds.

They will probably form a bad initial impression of your company if your website is outdated and unattractive, which may discourage them from visiting further. Your website is probably not going to be visually appealing to them, which may discourage them from visiting your business and from looking around more of it. Because they instantly visit one of your competitors’ websites, you will thereby miss out on leads.

     2. It can enhance your SEO efforts.

Numerous web design components and techniques may ultimately have an impact on how you publish material on your website. This can therefore affect how web crawlers for SEO view and index your website. It is one of those things that you simply cannot afford to get wrong because of this. You will be fighting an uphill struggle to start out at the top of the rankings if your on-site SEO tactics and methods are not effectively applied.

Along with the manner in which your content is released, there are other web design components that might negatively affect your SEO efforts. If you are not completely certain how it operates and why it operates, web design is not something that is very simply comprehended. However, to put it plainly, your website must be built with SEO in mind.

3. It Affects How You Treat Customers

Whether intentionally or not, your website design can give the impression that you offer poor customer service. The visitor will ultimately gain a clear understanding of how you perceive and value your audience. Because of this, if you don’t put any effort into the design process, your audience will think less of your ability to deliver customer service and your concern for their experience.

You might imagine your company’s website as its customer service agent. Your audience will be much more at ease and will feel much more welcomed if your website is current, friendly, and full of vibrant colors. Your design should convey the idea that your establishment welcomes and accommodates new customers.

On the other hand, having a dated and unattractive website might make your company seem out of date and below par with current industry standards. Customers are reluctant to patronize establishments that don’t esteem them highly enough to create the favorable initial impression they are looking for.

As a result, you should consider your website and the way it is created to be the digital face of your company. If someone entered your physical place, you would want them to be welcomed by a smiling face. The equivalent of that is to have a fresh, contemporary, and welcoming website design.

4. Increase Your Audience’s Trust

You can gain your audience’s trust by using your website’s design. After all, customers are not going to trust an out-of-date site design. Customers will come to believe that your website is unreliable due of its sketchy design.

Consider things from the viewpoint of the customer. They would want the assurance that their order and personal information is protected if they are ready to spend a lot of money with a corporation. You will give the impression that you don’t care about their data or security if your website is out of current. Building trust with your audience through a professional-looking website can significantly increase conversion rates.

5. Your competitors are doing in it

Your competitors ought to be a second justification, if you need one. The truth is that your rivals are probably already making significant investments in their own expert web design projects. Not doing it yourself could cause you to lag behind the competitors.

Improved Consistency

The capacity to develop a unified and consistent brand image would be another factor. The greatest method to help your audience become more familiar with your brand is to be consistent in all of your branding activities, including your website design.

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What Color Is Your Brand Identity?

In choosing colors for their own websites, business owners often think:

I’m not a designer!

My attempt turned into a psychedelic nightmare!

Isn’t it possible to just use the colors in my logo?

Choosing a website color scheme may seem difficult, but it’s quite important, and unless you have a design department, you’ll be responsible for it.

It isn’t difficult at all.

You can come up with a website color scheme that works for your business if you think about your brand identity, your target audience, and also the psychological effects of color.

Focus on:

• Identifying the dominant color of your brand
• Defining complementary accent colors with it
• Consider your background color carefully
• Choosing the right colors for your site’s elements

The logo of a business might act as the company’s silent ambassador, but the brand’s color scheme has a more subtle effect on customers.

The colors of a brand are an important part of a company’s identity. Many companies have created lasting color associations in the minds of consumers, such as Coca-Cola red, Starbucks green, or UPS brown.

Colors can have a profound effect on customer emotions as well as facilitate brand recognition. Companies have learned that colors have a significant influence on our decisions, and ignoring such a powerful tool would be a rather unfortunate practice in a competitive market.

Consistency of colors across platforms

Using colors consistently across all your marketing channels is crucial. The colors of your brand should be prominently displayed on all platforms – from print ads and brochures to your business cards.

You probably already know your company’s colors, whether it’s through your Facebook page, local ads, or the logo on the side of your van. It’s much easier to select colors for your website!

By using the same colors that you’ve chosen in the past, you can maintain and amplify your existing brand identity.

When designing your company logo, hopefully you didn’t just select a color blindly. In that case, and if you’re still building your brand identity, it might be wise to scrap it and start over. That places you in the same position as those who do not have a brand identity at all. That’s not a bad thing.

Many logos are designed without thinking about how the colors would appear on a website. When just starting your business, you have the opportunity to think about things like that before committing to colors that might not be appropriate for all your marketing channels.

Know your target audience – Focus on the customer

When selecting brand colors, the first thing you need to consider is your target audience. Choose colors that resonate with your customers depending on your product or service.

Our purchases often reflect our personality or interests. Once you have identified a group of consumers as your target audience, it is easy to determine what colors they will find appealing based on their personality traits and interests.

It might take a little amateur psychology to understand your customers’ minds, but it’s essential when defining your brand’s look and feel, including the colors.

The Psychology of Color: An Introduction

Numerous studies have shown that people associate colors with specific emotions and ideas, and that these connections differ based on factors such as age, gender, and nationality. Colors can have a significant impact on behavior and can attract specific types of customers. Color psychology may be used by companies to attract certain types of customers.

Color & Commerce

The brain processes color first, followed by words and shapes. When we’re driving down the highway and see the McDonald’s Golden Arches, many of us automatically register the giant “M” made of French fries, and we think, “Mmmm… McDonald’s!”.”

There’s more going on here than brand recognition. You feel a subconscious desire to eat a moment before the restaurant name appears in your mind. The fast-food chain selected its red and yellow colors in order to whet your appetite.

Red triggers an increase in appetite and yellow triggers happiness.

It makes sense that website colors should be utilized in a way that enhances your business if colors can have such an impact on our buying decisions. Colors create subconscious associations in consumers’ minds, so you should align your color selections with the reaction you hope to evoke.

Consider Accessibility

Accessibility is affected greatly by the colors you use in your web design, and, more importantly, the contrast between them. In order for your content to be easily understood, color choice should be based on readability. A color scheme that’s easy to read for people with visual impairments may also be important, depending on your audience.

Readability Matters

It’s all about contrast when it comes to reading. You should choose colors that offer a high level of contrast to go with your chosen palette. You can verify your choice by using a contrast checker.

For maximum readability, text should jump off the page – the text and background colors should be very contrasted. You can also include brighter colors in a call to action.

Any element on your website that you wish to draw attention to, such as an infographic or call-out, can be more creative. You can still use contrast, but you can use colors outside your basic scheme for a more drastic shift.

What About Visual Impairment?

The age of internet users increased as it became the massive marketing tool that it is today. Many senior citizens today shop online, and their eyesight isn’t as good as that of younger shoppers. The web design for your site shouldn’t exclude those people – not when it’s fairly easy to cater to their needs.

Contrast is the most important factor for people with visual impairments. There are many common eye disorders that negatively affect a person’s sensitivity to contrast. As people age, it becomes increasingly difficult to tell the difference between shades.

Colorblind users should avoid color combinations that confound action buttons. For example, red and green, or blue and yellow.

Defining Your Website Color Scheme

When choosing a color scheme for your website, you need to consider several factors.

Step 1. Start with the dominant color of your brand.

The color scheme should be anchored by your main brand color. All of the other colors you use will depend on how well they match the dominant one, so picking it is a crucial first step.

Step 2. Identify the perfect complementary colors and tap into your inner artist.

The color wheel and color theory come into play here. Don’t be afraid to experiment and get a second opinion. Getting it right will greatly improve the visual appeal of your website, so take your time. Your site will be accented with complementary colors.

Step 3. Decide on a background color – contrast is the key.

When choosing a background color, consider readability as the primary factor. Choosing carefully can mean the difference between important elements standing out and getting lost in a jumble of content. If you select the color of your background, consider how it will impact the readability of the body text.

Now that you’ve read about some of the basic factors to consider when designing a website color scheme, hopefully it doesn’t seem so overwhelming.

Consider your brand identity, your audience, and a little psychology and color theory, and before you know it, you’ll have an attractive website tailored to your business.

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How can you tell if an image is high quality?

An image’s quality depends on many factors, especially on the web. The quality of an image is determined by the camera’s resolution and sensor size in traditional photography. But everything changes with web photography. We will define “high quality” in this article as sharpness, relevance, and speed.

Sharpness

Blurred images and/or skewed images are not something anyone wants to see. Businesses that rely on their website to interact with consumers cannot understate the importance of having sharp, professional images.

Relevance

If an image has little to no relation to the surrounding content, then it is probably better to leave it out. Random images or ones that do not relate to the content only serve to distract the user.

Speed

What is the use of an image if the user clicks off the page before it loads? When placing images on your website, speed is an extremely important factor. Larger files take longer to load. In order to maintain a sharp image that loads quickly, you must find an appropriate balance between file size and resolution based on how large your website needs to be.

There is no doubt that images make everything easier to read, but why? A user is more likely to relate to an image than a paragraph of words, because they like to see something visual over a huge block of text.

Any type of reading material, including websites, falls into this category. Learn why we at Emerging Business Systems  use high quality images and why we think you should too.

Content with high-quality images is more interesting.

Imagery always makes content more interesting, and this is because you can tell a story and connect with users through it.

They have the power to enhance what the reading material is, this includes;

• Magazines
• Books
• Newspapers
• Websites

Moreover, it will aid the user in remembering the content, as they can match the image to the content they just read, making the visit to the site memorable.

SEO is enhanced by high-quality images.

Increasingly, people are using search engines like Google to find images online, which has necessitated the addition of images to a website.

If you add relevant and high quality images to your website, you will be able to get an organic ranking for your website. You will also be able to increase your online visibility.

You probably want to add high-quality images to your website now that you know all this, right? In order to do this, you will need to consider the following factors:

• Images should link to the content on your site.
• Write and include alt text descriptions and image title tags.
• Including some images are always better than no images at all.

A high-quality image makes a text easier to read.

There are times when users will be reading content on a website and have no idea what the content is about, and this can be both frustrating and time-consuming.

It is easier for the reader to understand what they are reading with high quality images.

A high-quality image helps you sell your product.

Your clients will be able to trust your business more when they see high quality images of your services. Ultimately converting a potential lead into a paying customer is the goal.

The better quality the image is the more likely customers will highly rate your products/services, which will have a big impact on their influence to buy. So, the higher the quality the better chance to convert.

Furthermore, higher quality images are ideal for a number of reasons, which include;

• They fit into modern web design.
• They boost the promotion of your brand.
• They bring continuity to your social media platforms.

Social media visibility increases when images are of high quality.

The use of social media can help boost your business’ visibility when you want it to be seen. Take advantage of social media platforms to promote your company’s website, products, and services.

In addition, high-quality images are more likely to be shared, liked, and commented on by visitors. As a result, make sure that what you are uploading is of the best quality in order to boost your business further on social media platforms.

Some social media platforms you can consider are;

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Pinterest
• LinkedIn
• Instagram

Images help to convert leads.

As we know, sites that contain high quality images in addition to unique and relevant content will get more views than those that only consist of text.

By creating more user engagement, high quality photography provides you with more visits.

Because of this, users are more likely to spend more time on your website, which means you have a longer period to sell your products or services through content and images.

By making information easy to scan, pictures help you tell a story about your business and the services you offer. Utilizing this form of visual communication can help you build credibility and recognition for your brand.

High quality images will help convert your leads by;

• Increasing user engagement
• Decreasing bounce rate
• Forming a link between your customers and your company
• Earning more views to your site

How to Get High Quality Images for Your Website.

It’s likely that you’re wondering what to do now if you don’t have high quality images for your site yet.

Well, you go out and either find some good high resolution images on stock websites like Shutterstock, Big Stock, I Stock, though stock images are not always best, this is because users like to see real life images of what your business does.

For example, you could hire a photographer to take some professional high quality images of your business, products, or services to add to your website to make the content clearer and more user-friendly.

The post The Importance of Having High Quality Images on Your Website appeared first on Emerging Business Systems Ltd..