Tips to Provide the Best Website Experience, Page 16 of 25

12 Stats about responsive web design that will make you look smart around the water cooler

Ask a marketer about important digital trends, and we guarantee that responsive web design will be among their first answers. And it's easy to explain why: the last two years saw a dramatic shift toward mobile internet usage, culminating in Google's now-infamous "Mobilegeddon" algorithm update in April that threatened to banish non-responsive websites from the front pages of its search results.

So when you hear about responsive design, it's not just a buzzword. In 2015, it should be an integral part of your digital strategy, regardless of your industry. So the next time a co-worker brings up the concept during a water break, here are 12 stats about responsive web design that will make you look smart around the water cooler

1) 90% of internet users use multiple screens.

When users visit your site, they won't just be on desktop computers. They'll be looking at your content from laptops, tablets, and mobile devices, expecting it to look and read just as well on each screen.

2) Easy access to most devices is the #1 priority of web developers.

Given the first stat, this one shouldn't come as a surprise. Web developers all industries noted in a 2014 study that their biggest challenge and priority is to make their site user-friendly for users of all devices. The best way to do so? Responsive design.

3) 62% of mobile-optimized websites increased sales.

Mobile is no longer an option. Designing your website responsively will directly lead to increased sales and ultimately helps your business.

4) 52% of users would not return to a site if the mobile experience was bad.

On the flipside of the previous point is the fact that if your site is not optimized for a pleasant mobile experience, you will lose users (and ultimately sales) as a direct result.

5) Half of all consumers take a non-optimized site as an indication that you don't care.

Here, we have the explanation for point 4: if your site is not optimized for their mobile devices, your users will take it personally and think less of you as a company. No less than 48% reported that they take it as an indication that you don't care about them.

6) If your website doesn't load in 3 seconds, 40% of users leave.

Slow load times are among the safest guarantors of losing visitors. And here's the problem: a static site will take longer to load on a mobile device than its responsive counterpart. If your site is not responsive, you risk losing a significant chunk of your potential customers.

Now, let's look at some of the statistics showing how responsive design can improve your website.

7) 69% of users want bigger buttons on mobile.

As we all know, a touch screen is a bit more difficult to precisely navigate than a mouse or touchpad. That's why comparatively bigger buttons are imperative for a pleasant mobile experience, and they are easy to implement with responsive design.

8) Three quarters of users want an experience customized to their screen.

A "regular" (read: old) mobile site that simply duplicates content in a slimmer but static format does not work if your users access it from their tablets, phablets and smartphones. Instead, you need a site that automatically fits their screen, eliminating the need to scroll left or right in any scenario.

9) 74% of users still want a full site.

Another reason against a mobile site or simply adjusting your regular site to fit smaller screens: as it turns out, users still want to have the option of going to the full site to do more in-depth research if need be.

10) 44% of users find navigation on a mobile site difficult.

This is where you can stand out. With an effective, responsive navigation, your website can increase the chance that users turn into customers after you offer them a fulfilling, stress-free online experience.

11) 40% of users go elsewhere if the first Google result is not mobile-friendly.

You can find out whether your site is mobile friendly enough for Google with this quick test tool. If it isn't, you may want to think about responsive design.

And now, a final statistic:

12) Only 55% of companies currently do mobile testing.

Considering all the stats we listed above, that's a shockingly low amount. How do you know if your users' mobile experience is satisfactory if you don't run the tests yourself? Fortunately, that's where we come in. If you are looking for responsive design that incorporates testing into the entire development process, contact us.

Are you looking for a way to expand your business, broaden your audience, and increase your sales?

Websites are not only an excellent way to achieve this, they're a necessity in today's hyper-competitive markets. You may already have a website, but feel overwhelmed by the number of phases involved in the website development process.

To help you out, here is a breakdown of the 5 most important steps in the website development process to get you started.

Purpose

What is the purpose of your site? Is it to host a blog and engage an audience or is it a company profile complete with product descriptions. What are your goals? To improve sales, position yourself as a market authority, or to increase brand advocacy? And finally, who is your target audience? What are their interests, their needs, and possible perception of your brand? Answering these questions during the planning phase of the web development process ensures your objectives are clear and measurable.

Ideally, you want to limit the number of your goals and keep them as simple as possible. Otherwise, you could spread your resources too thin, rush the design, and not adequately address the main purpose of your website. So start by creating a summary that outlines your company, its background and history, while highlighting the unique value your products and services can provide to your audience. This will set the tone of your key messages you’ll use to attract and interest your audience, while also distinguishing you from any competitor’s you have.

It’s also recommended you work with an SEO consulate to effectively target your audience and help your website’s visibility in ….

Site Architecture

This step sketches out the overall navigation structure of your site, providing you with a detailed view of key pages and of content that will appear throughout the site. It doesn’t involve any design elements, but focuses on the sitemap and wireframes of your pages, laying out the foundation of how you want your site to look.

At this step in the development phase, you should consider the relationship between pages and their positions. For instance, will you have the most recent blog posts displayed at the top of your site or a company video showcasing your product? Will your navigation buttons sit at the top or beneath your logo?

The purpose and goals of your website will determine its design. To get some ideas, freely browse some Wordpress websites or even competitor websites to help you flesh out the design.

Visual Design and Development

With a solid blueprint, you can begin the next step in the development process: the visual design. This step is about visually conveying your company’s brand in a way that appeals to your audience. In fact, the first impression visitors have about your company is determined by how the perceive the design.

The average visitor spends 8 seconds on a page before clicking somewhere else. With such as small frame of time to capture the attention of your audience, your content and media need to immediately seize their interest. For the best advice on how to do this, look to social media.

For instance, photos make up 93% of the most engaging posts on Facebook, with an 87% interaction rate from users; tweets with images get 18% more clicks and 150% more retweets than tweets without images. Furthermore, the average internet user spends 88% more time on websites with video than a website without video.

Use similar visual tactics on your website to effectively capture the attention of your audience.

Testing and Launch

You need to make sure that your site is functionally properly, there are no broken links or missing elements before it’s launched. It’s recommended you place your site on a private server and only share the web address within your company.

This will allow you and other team members to view your site and find any issues that could make a bad impression on your brand. It’s also critical you review your site on multiple browsers and devices to ensure there are no redirects or errors that undermine the user’s viewing experience.

When you do launch your website, keep in mind the project is far from over. There are bound to be mistakes only your users find, so it's important you encourage feedback and do your best to immediately fix any problems. As traffic grows, you can start using that data to make any adjustments to your design in order to optimize the user experience. From here, come the headache of website maintenance, requiring a different set of skills entirely.

Need support along the way? At Contensive, our talented team of engineers, analysts and web designers can ensure your website progress forward, offering you complete transparency through the process. For ongoing support and user training, contact us today. 

The business world used spreadsheets long before the invention of the computer. It should come as no surprise then, that most businesses use spreadsheet applications. They're easy to work with and contain many features such as data display, reporting, and analysis. They are versatile and inexpensive. In the hands of a knowledgeable expert, they can even be useful as an engineering analysis tool.

With all of these benefits, how can spreadsheets possibly be a problem? When they cease being a single user tool, when they are used to store critical business data, and when they get shared among different people and departments, they become a liability. Multiple copies of spreadsheets that are passed around a company make version control nearly impossible. Important data can be accidentally or intentionally changed. Important analysis equations and macros within spreadsheets can be accidentally changed. A slip of the finger that changes a coefficient or an exponent, drastically changes an equation's behavior. Correct data that's incorrectly analyzed leads to wrong business decisions.

Spreadsheets do not scale well. As your business grows, the size and complexity of your spreadsheets increase. They get larger, and the complex interrelationships among cells within the spreadsheet turn into spaghetti. They slow down and become prone to crashing. Why does this happen? Because the people who create spreadsheets are not software developers. While experts in their fields, they lack training in creating software systems that scale well. Spreadsheets created by other people are also difficult to understand and modify because there are no design protocols.

Why Web Application Development Is The Better Choice

Data that's critical to your business belongs in a separate database. Data storage in one central location solves the problem of accidental and unauthorized data changes because data input can be limited to a few authorized individuals. Those without authorization can have access to the database for data use only. Still finer access control is achieved through the adoption of a user permission system.

Rather than increase the size and complexity of a spreadsheet by adding equations and macros to accommodate increasing business needs, web applications can be created that operate off the database. Different uses for the data such as reports, business intelligence, inventory control, mobile apps for field agents, customer service, and so forth can be realized as separate independent web applications. Whenever an additional use for the data is required, another application can be created without increasing the system's complexity. Therefore the system is scalable.

Web applications are universally accessible to all authorized individuals with Internet access. Multiple user access doesn't entail duplicate spreadsheet distribution with its attendant version control headaches. Web applications can use multi-tenancy which allow individuals some customization of their instance of an application without affecting other users' instances of the same application. Multi-tenancy also allow a user to create and maintain a personalized database that is isolated from the personalized databases of other users.

Other web application features not possible with spreadsheets include having it email an alert when critical data reach a threshold level such as when inventory levels of a product or part are getting low. The functionality of web applications can also be augmented through their integration with third-party web services.

Spreadsheets are meant to be single user tools that allow you to analyze, view, and report data. However, when the spreadsheet itself becomes a vital company asset, it subjects your business to the dangers previously discussed. Spreadsheet reliance has proved costly to many businesses. Don't allow the same to happen to you. If you wish to transition away from spreadsheets and enjoy the benefits of web applications, contact us at Contensive.

For some website owners, responsive web design amounts to fixing a problem by adding a plug-in or adopting a responsive theme. After doing this and making some adjustments, they check their websites against a common range of device screen sizes. If it looks OK, the problem is ticked off their to-do list and they move on.

To approach responsive design as an after-thought is to miss the point of it. What is wrong with the above described approach? A replica of your desktop site that uses software to accommodate different screen sizes does not address its usability on mobile devices. In short, the "design" part of responsive web design has not been addressed. Here are four of these design considerations:

Keep The Navigation Simple

A common responsive navigation technique is the menu icon button which displays or hides the navigation menu when it is toggled. A variation to the technique of hiding menus is the off-canvas effect. The off-canvas menu is positioned out of sight and slides into view when a button is clicked. Often there is an array of category buttons that activate the associated menu.

While these techniques make good use of space, they will not compensate for an overly complicated, multi-level navigation scheme. Keep your site structure and its navigation simple. Provide a prioritized set of links to the main features and content of your website.

Test Your Website On Lots Of Devices

While web-based mobile emulators are convenient, they are not suitable for testing purposes. Many provide information on your site's appearance but do not simulate your site's interactions with the various mobile operating systems. The only way to do this is visiting and using the site with a device. Only then will you get a good sense of how easy it is to navigate, to click buttons, and to fully use the site as intended.

Optimize Your Site For Speed

Mobile Internet connections tend to be slow. If your website is a bit on the slow side for the desktop or laptop computer, it will be too slow for your mobile traffic. Therefore, you have to optimize your site for speed. Ways of doing this include:

• Caching - The benefits of database driven sites are many but these come at the cost of website speed. When someone visits your site, the web page is reconstructed on his browser through multiple database queries. More page elements usually mean more queries. Caching solves this problem by storing copies of the files that make up the page. Rather than asking the database to build up the page from scratch, the file copies are directly used to render the page.
• Minification of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files - Code that is easy for a human to understand takes longer to execute. Minification removes multiple spaces and lines, as well as comments. This reduces the file size and speeds up the code.
• Image optimization - Use lossless image compression that reduces file size without reducing image quality. Smart compression techniques also exist that dramatically reduce file size with unnoticeable quality reduction. Site speed is also improved by getting rid of images that do not add to the page in some way. In addition to image optimization, there is the issue of resizing images to accommodate different screen sizes. One approach is never using images larger than can be displayed on the smallest devices. This gives the quickest loading speeds. Another approach is using fluid image techniques that resize your images to the screen size.

Size Your Links And Buttons For Easy Clicking

Unlike the large screens of desktops with their small cursors, the small touch screens of mobile devices and the large fingers of their users make clicking links and buttons a more difficult task. The target size for a clickable area should be about 44 pixels wide and 44 pixels high. Areas smaller than this can cause accidental clicks of the wrong links or buttons. Another problem associated with small target areas is that it slows down usage speeds because the task requires more effort and focus.

At Contensive, our talented team of engineers, analysts and designers develop responsive websites that convert mobile traffic. If your site is not mobile responsive or requires changes to improve mobile conversions, contact us.

The Information Age has morphed into the Innovation Age. This is particularly evident in web app creation.

And examining the great ideas of others can often rejuvenate creative thinking -- like these five web app concepts:

1. Modest Mouse Is Not Just a Band Anymore; Now They're Into Web App Design

We'll start with the weirdest one. Yes, that's right, Modest Mouse is no longer just a band. They're designing web apps too. (Well, they're hiring people like us to design them.)

Their Strangers Linguistic Remix Generator takes words that you enter in a text box, and uses the rhythmic flow and length of the phrase to craft a custom-made, instrumental Modern Mouse song just for you, right there, on the spot -- complete with art house imagery flashing the lyrics you've written across the screen.

John Brownlee at FastCodesign.com, observed this about the new web app from Modest Mouse:

Modest Mouse calls its app the 'Strangers Linguistic Remix Generator.' Upon loading up the website, the generator asks you to input a phrase of up to 96 characters, then dynamically converts it into a remix based on samples from Modest Mouse's new record, complete with a seemingly random music video broken up into kaleidoscopic patterns.

'The algorithm compares common letter frequency data, and generates stems and patterns to match'...

Now that is music of the 21st century.

2. Flying Emojis

Remember the ancient screen saver from the '90s and early 2000s that made it look like you were flying through space with stars zooming at you (and by you)? Well, someone created a web app that make emojis fly at you. The flow of the emojis respond to your mouse movements.

Useful? No, not really.

Addicting, weird, and a classic example of the Internet's undying novelty?

Absolutely.

3. Create Your Own Fonts

Now on to something a little more practical. Ever wanted to create your own fonts? Now you can in a very user-friendly environment that's fun and easy, thanks to Metaflop, as explained in this article, quoted here:

Created by Swiss designers...Metaflop isn't just an easy online tool for creating simple typefaces, it's also a great tutorial on a lot of the terminology of type design. If you've ever read about typeface terms like ascenders, cap heights, overshoot, descenders, and contrasts, there's no better way to figure out what these terms mean than by using a slider to change their variables and see how it changes a typeface in real time.

Now when someone accuses you for not having a unique font for your brand, well, unfortunately now you have no excuse. Now we can all create our own fonts with a user-friendly, enriching web app experience.

4. YouNow: Broadcast Your Life Live

The YouTube generation -- pre-recorded and edited user-generated content -- has now arrived at its logical conclusion: user-generated live broadcasting.

Of course, live broadcasting online is nothing particularly new. But YouNow facilitates the process, hosts the live streaming data, and makes the experience user-friendly -- just how YouTube did for posting videos on the Internet.

And, wow, is it catching on.

For example, in a March 2015 article, TheVerge.com described the sudden international popularity of a cashier who signed up to YouNow and just began streaming his life working in a gas station. The experience went from just filming mundane moments to genuine interaction between the cashier and his fans. His daily, ordinary life became a hit online:

Abuhamdeh’s routine was subtle. People would walk up and pay, he would ring them up, and then as they left, nail them with a zinger spoken to the camera. If a customer was in on the joke, Abuhamdeh would banter with them a bit. He shared stories from his home life, and slowly began to invite fans into it, broadcasting from his apartment, from a cousin’s wedding, while driving in his car or getting a haircut.

15 years ago society was still getting used to the idea of email. Now we're video broadcasting our lives online to the world 24/7. We live in a fascinating world.

5. An Oldie But a Goodie: Still Love the Coast

This is an oldie but a goodie, but to those who have grown to love this app since its 2013 launch, they will appreciate seeing it included here.

A couple of years ago, Opera created a browsing app called Coast -- exclusively for iPhone and iPad -- and finally did something about the web browsing concepts born from the '90s that still dominated the mobile web surfing.

It was a simple fix, really. Opera modeled the web browsing experience after the menus of our smart phones -- i.e. how the apps are represented by squares that can be moved at will to different areas of the phone.

Coast took this concept and added smoothness to all of the motions. It is notably less clunky than the effort it takes to move apps around an iPhone screen, for example. And it has a sparse, clean design to make surfing the Internet more enjoyable. Coast arranges your favorite websites like a buffet of easily organized apps with gorgeous, clean graphics.

What will be the next brilliant web app? Will it be yours?

Contensive loves designing web apps. Contact us to learn more about how our talented, hard-working team of engineers can help you with your next web app creation.

Soon, the question of "is there an app for that?" may be shifting to "is there a web app for that?" For a few years now, the operating systems iOS and Android continue to battle for supremacy in the mobile world - leading to the need for app developers to essentially duplicate their products for each operating system. That dynamic is beginning to shift with the emergence of web apps, which run through HTML 5 and are thus supported equally by all mobile and desktop operating system.

As a result, you may find yourself in the need of a web app. The Computer Business Review lists the emergence of web apps as one of its top app development trends in 2015, citing their speed and compatibility as reasons for the continued rise. In fact, the same article mentions that web apps have become so advanced, they're now "sufficient for most businesses. So if you're looking to jump onto this trend, here are 3 things you should know about web app creation.

1) The Advantages

We already mentioned compatibility with all operating systems as a major advantage. That advantage, in turn, leads to other benefits of web apps:

2) The Limitations

Of course, web apps also come with some limitations when compared with "traditional" apps:

3) The Development Process

Finally, how are web apps created? We're glad you asked! That's our specialty. Every app development company uses slightly different approaches, but we believe in the power of agile development. We've detailed that concept in past blog posts. For you, that means you'll be more integrated into the review process, able to make changes as they come up. The cost and development of developing your web app will also be more transparent to you than it is in traditional design processes.

Agile development is especially beneficial for web apps because it allows us to leave enough time to test the app on the multiple browsers on which the app may be viewed. In the end, our goal is the same as yours: to develop a great app that helps and improves your business. So if you're ready to create your own web app, contact us!

When it comes to web application development, many businesses do not understand the difference between web applications, mobile applications and traditional software. Additionally, many businesses do not understand the market reasons to engage in building custom apps and software for managing business processes, customers and real property (inventory, equipment, facilities).

From market-driven development to modern technologies, here are some key things to understand about web application development.

Development Systems

One of the older systems of development, waterfall is designed to build the large business software systems of the past. Modern web and mobile app development teams use a development system called agile. The difference between waterfall and agile is simple: in waterfall, each level of development (planning, engineering, testing) is done in succession by experts isolated from the various parts of the programming processes.

Agile is a system which employs experts across the entire development process in concert. Agile development creates your software swiftly, with each section of the browser based app or software being developed, deployed and tested within 1-4 weeks, so that you have the opportunity to develop your software systematically.

In the past, applications and even mobile apps were developed over a period of months or years and tested on smaller markets before being released to the larger market. Currently both marketplace based apps (Google Play, Windows Store, App Store) and web software are developed and produced in weeks or months, because of modern development systems.

Market Driving Towards Web-Based Development

With increased access to internet round-the clock in any location via smartphone apps and browsers, businesses are scrambling to offer their products and services via web and cloud based deployments.

As more large enterprise companies are offering their software and services on the cloud (Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft Office 365, HuluPlus for TV), consumers and businesses alike are expecting more access to companies via the internet and apps. The expectation of access is driving more companies onto web applications, which drives market expectations. This cycle has been increasing over the last 3 years and shows little signs of stopping, as the Internet of Things (IoT) creates more and more opportunities for cloud based services.

For those unfamiliar with the term, the IoT is the term technologists use for the networking of non-traditional computing items, like refrigerators, lights, cars, and TVs to name a few.

Browser Based Applications are In

As tablet and cell-phone users face overwhelming numbers of apps, many businesses are moving from their own apps to in-browser software managed by a CMS (Content Management System). Web applications are now becoming a powerful way for businesses to access customers, vendors and employees without creating a mobile app.

Web based software brings several advantages to the savvy business owner. It reduces the need for multiple development plans for each device and operating system down to a much simpler design and development for Chrome, Firefox and Safari. Browsers share much more in common than operating systems and with responsive web design, they adapt easily to different screen sizes as well.

Outsourcing is Easier than Ever

With agile development, cloud based deployments and development and browser based software, businesses have more opportunity and access for outsourcing software development than ever before. Expert development teams are available online, and can work closely with your business across any distance to bring you quality custom software.

The mobile nature of web based application development is great for outsourcing in both development and business processes later down the road. This moves businesses from rigid, cost heavy structures to more streamlined systems where many core business processes are outsourced to qualified staffing, engineering and virtual assistant firms. This gives your business the ability to increase labor results without increasing labor costs.

Whether you are looking for a web based system to manage your business, or just outsourcing your software needs via web based development, Contensive can meet your needs. Please contact us to find out more about web based development.

Poor website designs are a fantastic way to waste all the time and money you spent generating traffic. Despite most businesses knowing the value and necessity of having a website, many are completely lost when it comes to business website development.

Here are the top 6 web design mistakes businesses make and how to fix them.

Ineffective SEO

SEO is still the largest driver of traffic to websites and the largest driver of revenue. But sprinkling SEO throughout your content without any analysis into consumer behavior will have marginal results. When done properly, SEO not only attracts more traffic to your website, but when you optimize your content marketing with SEO, you have a way more powerful revenue driver.

However, topping the search results and dominating a niche requires more than just a few short tail keywords. You need to broaden your reach and find keywords within sub-niches of your main niche, particularly those that focus on consumer problems or interest. For instance, a keyword like “weight loss” has millions of search engine results every month, but the niche is too hyper-competitive to expect the top spot.

Instead, focus on sub-niches within “weight loss” that targets specific audiences and their problems. It could be “weight loss for mothers”, “weight loss for new moms” “ weight loss for vegetarian women”, etc. The purpose is to optimize your content with keywords found in sub-niches that relate to a specific category of your audience or a problem.

Absence of Testimonials

Testimonials are an excellent way to highlight the benefits of your product without coming off as salesy. In their absence, prospects seldom have the trust or the confidence to make a purchase based on your word alone.

But when your loyal customers share how your product helped resolved a problem, this makes a powerful impression on prospects who are still uncertain about your company. As a result, engaging and genuine reviews provides your brand with more credibility and increased sales.

Outdated Design

Google’s new search engine algorithm purportedly favors mobile-friendly websites over websites that aren’t compatible with smart devices. Thus, responsive websites will rank higher on the SERPs, and those websites that haven't adapted may even drop a few ranking.

Consider that 4 out of 5 consumers use their mobile phone to shop for products. Even without the Google update, a tremendous volume of traffic is coming from mobile; failing to adapt and provide a great mobile-viewing experience will wither your mobile traffic, increase your bounce-rates, and severely limit your profits.

Furthermore, an outdated website design is exposed to serious security vulnerabilities that can make you and your business a victim to cyber attacks, hackers, or malware.

Poor Content Marketing

Content is the best channel to attract, engage, and educate your traffic. But if your content isn’t interesting to your audience nor optimized with SEO, it will fall short of its potential.

Engaging and interesting content not only creates loyal followers, but it also positions your brand as a market authority that serves as a mediator between the research and sales process. In addition, content has the ability to attract leads that convert long after a marketing campaign is over, providing you with a channel that can stay profitable for years.

However, your content has to be interesting and provide value to your readers. It is not a platform to further pitch your product or service, but to leverage yourself as a credible expert and authority within your niche. Therefore, craft content based on relevant keywords that address your audiences' problems, wants, desires, and needs.

Failing to Build a List

Attracting traffic is an expensive and labor-intensive endeavor that in no way guarantees sales. So you want to treat every click to your page as a potential prospect and lead that can be nurtured along the sales cycle. One way to do that is by building a list of subscribers or emails that can be leveraged to keep users engaged, promote products, and build loyalty.

Think of this list as fodder for future email marketing campaigns and an opportunity for upsells and cross-sells. In addition, it allows you to keep contact with your customers and prospects in order to keep active and engaged.

Unclear CTA

A call to action (CTA) is what turns your leads into conversions and is the culmination of all your efforts to drive and engage traffic. Yet 70 percent of small businesses lack a clear CTA.

Your CTAs aren't only vehicles to drive sales, they're also an effective way to increase subscription rates and build an email list. But their design is pertinent to their success at converting leads. Even a few tweaks and minor words changes can have a tremendous impact on conversion rates.

While it's best to build several CTAs, test them, and choose the ones that work the best, at the very least you want your CTA to be clear with a big button users can click on.

At Contensive, our talented team of analysts and website designers can help take your business forward. If you want a design that's optimized for conversions and successfully increases sales, contact us to find out more.