Tips to Provide the Best Website Experience, Page 9 of 25

In a recent podcast, the State Department announced that was converting their network of overseas mission websites -- which host country information, visa applications and more -- to a responsive web design. Their plan is to make sure that everyone can access their 450 websites from any computing device from anywhere in the world.

As the State Department discovered, the mobile computing revolution changed how every business and organization conducts its business online. Everyone from your customers to your employees now do most of the computing and media consumption with some sort of mobile device. Indeed, according to the State’s own web metrics, about 30 percent of visitors to their sites come from mobile phones with another 7 percent using tablet.

However, a lot of people still use desktop computers. Some people even use both. One moment consuming your website on their desktop only to move to a mobile device in the next. If you want to keep these customers from going to your competitors, you have to make sure your website has a responsive web design. That is the only way you can ensure your customers see everything you offer them.

Unfortunately, not all response website site designs will work in all situations. The State Department discovered early on that they need a custom theme for their website as all commercial themes were too much for what they need.

Fortunately, we have you covered. If you find yourselves with your own growing mobile customer base, contact us immediately so we can help you develop the right responsive web design for your business.

Recently, more users than ever have been flocking to the Internet. Usage is only going to continue to rise with each passing year. Even with so many people using the Internet on their tablet and mobile phone, many websites haven’t adopted a mobile-friendly design. Not only is this a pain for users, but it also causes you to lose out on potential customers. A responsive Web design can take care of all your problems at once. Find out more about the benefits of responsive websites below.

It’s the preferred option for SEO purposes.

Google prefers the new responsive websites over a traditional template. When you have a single URL, the Google bot can easily crawl through your site. This helps to reduce the chance of any errors with on-page SEO. These sites tend to perform better and are far simpler to maintain that a mobile template that stands alone.

It cuts down on multiple SEO campaigns.

With a responsive website, you don’t have to worry about having two separate websites and two separate SEO campaigns. It’s hard enough to try to keep up with one SEO campaign, let alone having to have two separate ones to accommodate a separate mobile site and desktop site. Combine your sites together with a responsive design and focus your efforts on a single SEO campaign.

It loads faster.

Any mobile content that lies above the fold should load in less than one second. The entire page should be loaded within just two seconds. This isn’t possible when attempting to load a standard desktop site on your mobile device. If the user waits too long for the page to load, they are going to head elsewhere to get what they want. Responsive sites eliminate the long wait times.

If you want to take your website to the next level, contact us to help redesign your website today.

As experts in web app creation, we work in an agile software development environment. Our expertise is creating applications for clients that are superior because they have been extensively tested. Every app is the collective work of engineers, designers, and analysts who strive to understand the client's application requirements.

Why Choose Agile Development for Web App Creation

The belief behind agile development is that the client will get a software product of higher quality and that the total development time is shorter. When we pursue web app creation in an agile environment, we are developing products for small and medium businesses and larger organizations. Diverse organizations may have multiple needs for their software applications, but they all want a product that serves its purpose. Every application must also provide enough security to comply with government and industry standards.

Creativity in the Agile Environment

The agile development process that we use for web app creation differs from traditional software development. This discipline consists of developing software requirements, design, coding, testing, and deployment. Now, we use a cross-functional team of designers and engineers to turn out a product in a matter of weeks. The process involves a series of iterations, each of which includes these stages: user input, planning, development, user review, and retrospective. The series of iterations that we use to develop a software eventually produces a version that satisfies the client and performs the best in user tests.

Our web development team loves to create new web apps for clients that test the limits of existing coding methods. If you have a project that you would like us to tackle in the agile environment, please contact us today.

Having a business website is an important part of any branding and marketing strategy. A poor user experience caused by web design mistakes can have a negative effect on your business. Improving your user experience begins by avoiding some common business website development mistakes. The following are four web design mistakes to avoid in your marketing strategy.

Poor Navigation

Usability plays a huge part in your visitor's experience. Your website's navigation and internal linking should provide easy access to all of the important areas of your website. A poor navigation structure creates a frustrating experience for your visitors. Be sure that your internal links and main navigation are easy to use and easy to find. This will ensure your website's navigation is seamless.

Lack of Social Media Buttons

Website visitors like to share information they find interesting or helpful. Make it easy for your visitors to share your content by placing social media buttons in key areas of your website. There are plenty of plugins to create share bars, floating social buttons, and more. The more social sharing options you provide, the higher the chance your visitors will share your website.

Lack of a Content Strategy

Many businesses do not place enough emphasis on their content. Content is one of the main reasons visitors will land on your website. Having a well thought out content strategy will help you create valuable, high-quality content that will engage your users. Keep in mind that web visitors tend to skim content so use web elements such as headlines, bullet points, and white space to draw your user's eyes to key information.

Providing a great user experience will help your visitors find the information they need, share more of your content, and learn more about what your business offers.

Are you seeking web development help for your business website? Contact us today to schedule a consultation. Web development and web application development are what we do well.

When you are looking for responsive web design, there are many firms you could choose to service your organization. Some providers will try to sell you something cookie-cutter, and other providers will help you customize your site to truly represent your brand. We are a professional web development agency staffed by a talented team of engineers, and we can make a more responsive website for you on the desired platform. We understand what consumers want and how to give it to them in a complete user experience.

The Difference

Customers often ask us what we can do for their business that sets us apart from other design firms. In reality, we are experts at studying your brand and adapting the best web development and design strategies to communicate with your range of audiences. What that looks on paper is that we give you the commercial website with the applications and features you want, such as a storefront or another kind of site that converts visitors into buyers.

The User's Interactive Experience

The user experience is the biggest concern that your company will have. When a prospective customer visits your commercial website, it must offer an intuitive design that responds immediately to her needs, rapidly connecting her to the products or services on her list. If she finds the information she needs, chooses from the available selection, and completes the checkout in a quick and secure fashion, your business wins.

The Results You Get

When you hire a team of web development experts, you want people who truly understand your market or know how to do the research to achieve that knowledge. Our methodologies give us deep insights into what target audiences want. We can bring the right responsive web design techniques together to seamlessly represent your brand on the digital or mobile screen. For more information about hiring us for Responsive web design, please contact us today.

If there is one main marketing lesson to remember from 2015, it's that content is king. And if there is a second lesson to remember and apply for 2016, it's that content is accessed via the mobile platform. A recent survey showed that 85% of consumers would rather use a native app on their Smartphone rather than a regular website!

This survey shows that your mobile website is simply not cutting it anymore. If you don't have an app yet, it is time to take the plunge and create one.

Why do consumers want apps? Mobile apps allow for a more interactive, personalized and stream-lined experience. Apps are about getting rid of the middle-man (the mobile browser) to get straight to the point and provide users with an efficient and enjoyable way to complete an action.

Apps allow for a unique user experience

Are you familiar with Uber? This company took a stagnant taxi industry by storm by re-inventing the way people take cabs. The app provides users with a tool they can use to locate a nearby cab, hail it, pay for the ride and rate their driver. This app is incredibly successful because it provides users with a unique, stream-lined and enjoyable experience.

Uber is not the only example. Apps like Snapchat have changed the way young people communicate and apps like Spotify or the newly-released YouTube Red are changing the way people listen to music.

Apps allow you to collect data and other stuff

Consumers want apps because they are convenient and deliver a unique experience. But why should you want an app for your brand? The answer is simple. Apps allow you to collect data on your audience. You can then learn from this data and use it to identify your shortcomings and deliver something even better the next time.

Consumers' online behaviors are very complex and there are some unique challenges such as tracking these behaviors across the desktop and mobile platforms. Using app analytics allow you to get a much better understanding of what people do on the mobile platform, why they connect with your brand and what kind of decision process they go through before making a purchase or completing another action.

You can for instance use app analytics to track retention and use the data you collect to develop personalized marketing campaigns and keep users engaged by delivering the content they want.

Apps are what consumers expect

Remember the old saying, 'the customer is always right'? Not only is the 21st century customer always right, they also expect to have access to everything they want without waiting. And they will walk away if you do not deliver what they want since other brands are offering it. You need to treat your customers like the unique individuals they are and the best way to do this is to develop an app that will deliver personalized content.

A mobile app provide you with a platform where you can address your customers' need to be treated as unique individuals by providing them with tailored content relevant to their habits and interests. You can for instance show articles related to other content they have read, show products that could be interesting based on what they purchased in the past or share deals with users in a specific location.

Developing a quality app that provides users with a unique and personalized experience should be one of your goals for 2016. You should contact us to learn more about how we can help you achieve this goal, catch up with the mobile platform and meet consumers' expectations.

If your business is interested in having a mobile application developed, there are many traits that you should seek in mobile application development companies that you choose to work with. A mobile application is a big investment and it is imperative that you work with a company that understands your business, the industry you work in, and the needs of your customers who will be interacting with your company through the application. As mobile devices have become increasingly popular over the last decade, there has been a heavy shift toward mobile application development, with thousands of new development companies popping up every year.

A Shining Portfolio with Industry Experience

The first and most important aspect that you can look at when choosing a mobile app development shop is the portfolio of apps that they have developed in the past. Choose a company that creates apps with a style similar to your own branding, with the ability to create apps across multiple platforms if needed. The portfolio of a company says a lot about their ability to deliver a product that meets your expectations and performs well for your company, and you should put a lot of faith in their portfolio while realizing that it is likely that they are only showing off their highest quality of work.

An Understanding of Your Business

The company that you choose to develop your mobile application should have an understanding of your business and industry. Try to find a company that has worked with similar businesses in the past so that they do not have to familiarize themselves with your industry too much before getting to work on your app. They should understand what it is that your company does, what you are looking to achieve from the app, and what it is that drives your customers to choose your business.

Excellent Communication

Communication is key for any development companies, and any company that delivers excellent communication throughout the process (from initial contact to drawing up the contract) should have a leg up on the competition. Theyshould be clear about when and how they will be reaching out to you and providing you with updates on the development of the app, while being willing to meet you half way. Excellent communication is the hallmark of a high quality mobile app development company and should be important for any business that wants to stay in constant communication throughout the process.

Ongoing Support and Maintenance

A mobile app project doesn't end the moment that it is published. The mobile industry is constantly shifting, with new operating systems, devices and requirements being released all the time. It is important that you work with a company that will provide ongoing maintenance for your app to ensure that it continues to work seamlessly for years to come. Additionally, your app may require additional maintenance and bug-fixes post-release, and you do not want to have to go back to finding an app developer to work with a year down the road.

Clear Milestones for the Project

Mobile application development companies should provide you with a clear roadmap for the development of your app. Now, this isn't to say that there should never be delays or changes to deadlines, but those should be communicated clearly throughout the process. Work with a company that will provide clear and consistent milestones for the different phases of mobile app development.

If you are interested in putting together a high quality mobile application for your business, and want to work with a company that provides a superior service, please contact us today. We'll schedule an initial consultation and go over how we can help your business with its mobile needs.

In the early days of the Internet, the development of websites was a long and arduous process, and as such, any company that wanted a website had to hire a professional in order to get the job done. However, in this day and age, today's website development platforms are much more user-friendly -- WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal all seem to be designed for the "Average Joe" to create his/her perfect website -- and, as an end result, the same Average Joe believes that s/he doesn't need a professional website developer. In this blog, however, we're going to discuss why that simply isn't so -- why, even in this user-friendly day and age, you WILL in fact need to hire a professional web development company.

In addition, we'll also go over what to look for in a proper web designer, and what to look out for when hiring a professional.

Why do you need a professional web developer?

Think of your website as your business's online store front. It's the first thing that people are going to see when they research your company. It, then, is your primary responsibility to make sure that you present the best possible impression of your company. You cannot do that with an amateur website design.

Here, then, is a complete list of reasons why you should hire a professional web developer:

• Hiring a professional saves you time, which will inevitably save you money. Though you will have to expend money in the first place to hire someone to design this website, in the long run, it will save you money because it was done right the first time.
• Hiring a professional will ensure that your design is unique. Any amateur can download a template from a "free template" web database, but only a professional can create a unique website from scratch, no matter the platform.
• Hiring a professional will ensure a user-friendly website. A professional website developer will know when a design is "clunky," has photos that are too large, or the site is non-responsive (especially on a mobile platform).
• Finally, but no less importantly, when your website is professionally designed, it gives your business credibility. In this world of "big box" stores and major corporations, you have to position yourself as a worthy competitor...and the only way to do that is to establish your online credibility.

What are some of the warning signs you should look for in a professional web designer?

Not all so-called professional web designers are as great as they advertise. With that in mind, we've come up with this list of warning signs to look for when hiring a web developer:

• S/he has no experience with developing websites similar to yours.
• S/he has no experience with branding (if, indeed, that's what you're hiring the developer to handle).
• S/he offers no testimonials for his/her work -- or, the ones that s/he offers aren't easy to get in touch with or won't vouch for their credentials.
• S/he is undercharging for the service -- though it's not always the case, you get what you pay for.
• S/he doesn't give you a status update at least once a week -- communication is essential for any relationship, and it's especially important in a business relationship. If s/he is unwilling to communicate with you, don't hire him/her.
• Finally, but no less importantly, if your developer doesn't know what project manager software is -- or won't implement it on your website -- that's a definite red flag.

Our strength is in our extremely talented team of engineers, analysts and designers. We practice an agile scrum development process that allows for total transparency (cost, time, development and review), in addition to complete life-cycle support. We want to be your online partner going forward. We stand behind our work with user support and training. For more information about us and our services, contact us today.