Digital Branding Expertise at identityXperts

Secrets of Web Design for the Pragmatic

A website functions as the main headquarters for your online business. Thus, it only makes sense that you want it to be both functional and enticing. That means sticking with the best possible design principles to make it appealing to a wide range of persons. Here are a few “secrets for pragmatic web design.” Use these ideas to make sure your site is hitting on all cylinders:

Site Navigation Secrets

Make the site navigation system as clear as possible. Visitors should be able to find their way around your site with ease. Avoid complicated flash menus; you want your navigation to be simple enough for a child to understand. If visitors aren’t able to find what they’re looking for, they’re likely to go elsewhere.

While we’re talking about navigation, make sure that site users can easily see where they are on your site. If they’ve browsed themselves down a few levels deep, you want them to be able to see where they are to avoid confusion.

Images Secrets

Go easy on the images. Your site will load more quickly with fewer pictures, which means potential customers are more likely to stay on the page. Any images that must be on the page should be optimized for size using an image editor. Make the image file size as small as possible to speed up your site load time.

Seeing a solid wall of text on a page is one of the quickest ways to get visitors to head off to another website. Big blocks of text are uninviting to readers. Instead, break your text up into smaller, easier-to-read paragraphs, and you’ll find that visitors are more likely actually to read your content.

Browser Platform Secrets

Check your page across all the major browser platforms. Obviously, appearance is important. Your website might look perfect on Firefox, but if it looks bad on Chrome and Opera, visitors will be hitting the back button – meaning you’re losing out on potential earnings.
Do you know what a splash page is? These are those pages you see on many websites with pretty pictures and the words “Click Here to Enter Site.” Avoid the flashy splash page! They are a waste of your time and a time-waster for the visitors to your page. When someone comes to your page, they want to see the value right from the start, not fancy graphics.

Banner Ad Secrets

Avoid using an overabundance of banner ads on the header and sidebars of your site. Most people don’t pay them any attention, anyway – in fact; it’s been shown that as the internet matures, web surfers are developing “banner blindness,” where they don’t notice banners anymore. You’ll be better off supplying your followers with epic content that has relevant text links to your affiliate offers.

Audio Secrets

Finally, think long and hard about using audio on your site – and then say no! There are two big reasons for this. First, many people do their web surfing at work; unexpected audio can get them in trouble. Secondly, even when surfing at home, people multi-task. They may be watching TV or listening to music while visiting your site; your choice of music might not be as enjoyable for them as what they were already listening to. What’s more, if they spend more than a couple of minutes on your site – which you hope they do – having the same tune loop over and over can get really annoying. If you absolutely must have audio, make sure that the controls for muting it are easy to find.

Dr. John P. Elcik, IV
The Pragmatic Web Designer

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5 Basic Ways to Help Your Website Become SEO Friendly

If you are responsible for developing a website for your business, then you should know the fundamentals of effective web design. One behind-the-scenes success factor for any website is that of search engine optimization (SEO). Search engine optimization is the process of making your site as visible and relevant as possible to search engines so that it ranks as highly as possible when people are using the web to find products or services related to your business. Here are five basic ways to help your website become SEO friendly:

Optimize your graphics

Search engines do not recognize graphics (even graphics with text and Flash graphics, for that matter). Therefore, if your pages are image-heavy, the search engines are missing out on a lot of what makes your site relevant to site visitors. Optimize all of your graphics by adding descriptive alt tags.

High-quality content

When search engines “crawl” your site, they populate the content in a way that enables them to determine the relevance of your pages. Therefore, if you want your website to rank highly for searches related to your business, your content should be well-written and targeted to your audience.

Keywords

Keywords and keyword phrases are terms that web users might use to query a search engine for your business product or service. In addition to loading your content with high-quality keywords, you should also use relevant keywords when titling your pages and writing your page descriptions and headers. Use an online service like Google’s free keyword tool to find keywords that may be most effective for your purposes.

An SEO-friendly URL

Your site’s URL should be short, concise, and descriptive of your business brand. It is a good idea to use relevant keyword phrases in your URL to make it as SEO-friendly as possible.

Site structure

Search engines need your help in identifying relevant content on your site. One of the best ways to do that is to structure your website in a way that flows and is easy to follow from page to page. Your sitemap should make sense logically and should efficiently lead to any and every relevant page of your website.

When it comes to building your brand, your website is one of your most powerful tools. Contact Dr. John Elcik at identityXperts to handle all of your web design needs. We can be reached by phone at (561) 543-2892 or email: jelcik@identityXperts.com.

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5 Tips to Help Your Website Load Faster

When it comes to your website, you must consider more than just design. Some factors determine whether or not your site visitors will stay to explore or leave without so much as a goodbye. One thing that can make or break your website’s success is the amount of time it takes for your pages to load. After all, web surfers are a finicky bunch; they lose interest quickly if they can’t move around your site quickly and efficiently. So, what steps can you take to prevent page load lag? Here are five tips to help your website load faster:

Cut out unnecessary coding

Bulky coding slows downloading speed because browsers must read through everything as they load your pages. Therefore, just going through your coding to eliminate unnecessary white space and tag elements can reduce the amount of time it takes for your pages to load.

Enable caching

PHP caching will store images and other vital information from your site on visitors’ computers when it is downloaded the first time so that your site visitors can subsequently retrieve that data in the blink of an eye.

Trim your images down

Graphics take much longer to load than text, so you should be strategic about your use of them. There are a few things you can do to trim down your images. First, assess the pictures you are using to determine which are necessary, and then keep only those. Second, scale the images down if you can (as smaller images will load faster than larger images). Third, if you have a page with many photos (an online catalog page, for example), then you can give each image its page instead of including all of the pictures on one, slow-loading page.

Optimize your database

There are numerous ways you can optimize your database to decrease your site’s load times. Simple search the web for “database optimization” to learn the details of how to get optimal performance out of your site by optimizing your database.

Find a new host

Believe it or not, the distance you are from your host affects how quickly your site loads. You can decrease your page load time by simply choosing a host that is nearby.

Additionally, some of the cheaper hosting companies use inferior equipment. This can significantly delay your site load. Consider upgrading.

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Web Navigation is So Important to Your Website

All good web designers know not to overlook specific aspects of web design like navigation. Navigation is just what it sounds like – how people get around on your website. If your site is lacking in effective navigation, it is not going to work for your business the way you need it. Here are some reasons why website navigation is so important.

Web Navigation

People can enter your site from several different pages.

Some people make the mistake of designing their website entirely on the home page. It is important to remember, however, that a multitude of your site’s pages may be ranked simultaneously by search engines. People will be able to access your website from pages other than your homepage. Without proper navigation, visitors could get stuck on a page and not be able to move on to explore more of your site.

You don’t want to put your site visitors to work.

Simply put, users don’t want to work hard to explore your site. A lousy navigation network can mean multiple clicks (and guesses) to get the desired information. If you force your visitors to put in too much effort, you will lose their interest. And you will lose them.

Your site should be well-organized.

Again, this comes down to helping your site visitors find what they need, with as little effort as possible. You can’t expect people to understand how to get where they want to go automatically. Navigation is your way of organizing your site. For example, by making good use of primary navigation, secondary navigation, menus, and internal linking, you can create a user experience that is likely to keep people interested, and loyal, to your site.

If they can’t find it, they can’t read it.

You put a lot of money and time into creating, aggregating, and commissioning content for your site. Simply put, if your website is not designed with navigation in mind, your visitors won’t be able to find your content. If they can’t find it, they can’t read it. So what good is that content?

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Design Essentials for Websites: 5 Must-Haves

When people think of web design, they often think of things like graphics, page layout, and attention-grabbing fonts. And yes, these elements are certainly part of web design. The truth is, however, that web design essentials encompass much more than just aesthetics. Are you interested in learning more about what makes a great website design? Then check out these five must-have website design essentials:

Navigation.

Navigation pertains to how people will get around on your site. You can’t make them work for it. You want all of your content to be readily available, and good navigation is the answer. Use primary navigation, secondary navigation, text menus, internal links, search boxes, and breadcrumbs wisely. Do this throughout your site to ensure your site visitors can easily find what they are looking for.

Leading the eye

Navigating through the site, you must also help visitors determine how to focus their attention on each page. You must “lead the eye,” so to speak, by strategically applying weighting, placement, positioning, spacing, and highlighting techniques to guide your visitors from areas of primary importance to supporting or secondary areas.

Typography

The type and size of font you use will significantly impact the user experience and will go a long way in creating the impression you want (or even one you don’t want if you are not careful). Additionally, you must consider line spacing, text effects, line length, paragraph size, and emphasis (italics and bold) when placing your typography.

Clarity

While it may be tempting to pack your website with all the neat graphics and informative content you can, it is more important that your site visitors can quickly ascertain what is on your page. Keep in mind that simplicity is almost always preferable over complexity when it comes to web design and that too many visuals (or too much information) could end up looking like nothing more than a jumbled mess to your site visitors.

Search engine optimization (SEO)

Your site is no good if others can’t find it on the web. When it comes to design essentials, good SEO practices include using alt text for images, no-following outbound links that are irrelevant to the site, and labeling page titles and headers effectively.

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A Great Website is a Branding Opportunity

If you know anything about marketing, then you know that branding is equivalent to your business success. There are numerous ways to grow and strengthen your brand, and you should be taking advantage of all of them. Your company website is one such branding opportunity that you just cannot afford to miss out on, and you should, therefore, put some serious time and effort into creating a site that works for you. Want to know why? Here are some ways in which a great website builds your brand:

Your logo

There’s no doubt you understand the importance of your logo when it comes to branding. Your website should display your logo prominently and on every page. Doing so is just another way of etching that logo into customers’ minds.

Your image

You know who your target market is, and your business image should be relevant to that audience. When you create a business website, some choices must go into the design – options like color, content, layout, graphics, and navigation. All of these design choices will contribute to your business image, which in turn will help strengthen your brand.

Connection. By creating a website that is inviting, informative, and easy to navigate through, you are giving your customers (and potential customers) and an avenue through which they can keep in regular “contact” with your business. Remember that your brand is an abstract thing, based on the impression you give people, as well as all the things they associate with your business. Forging a connection with your company is integral to strengthening your brand, and a great website is a very effective way of doing that.

Personality

Your website is a great place to express your business’ perspective, philosophy, and experience. A website gives your brand a personality. Your brand must be personable in this way, as this is what will endear it to customers, giving them a lasting impression that will keep them coming back for more.

Call to action

When you create content for your website, you have a great chance to inspire your site visitors to engage – thus strengthening your brand. Do this by way of a call to action, such as, “Contact us today to learn more about this exciting opportunity!”

Posted on November 6, 2016September 18, 2021 by Dr. John Elcik — Leave a comment

The Differences between HTML and WordPress

If you are responsible for developing a website for your business and you know very little about web design, then you may find that the various choices you have when it comes to building your website can be quite confusing. After all, how do you choose between a WordPress site and HTML when you don’t even know what those terms mean? If you are having a hard time sorting through the jargon and deciding which option is right for you, then you’ve come to the right place. Here to help is this rundown of the differences between HTML and WordPress:

Coding versus using a template

One of the most definitive differences between WordPress and HTML has to do with how you execute your site creation. HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is a programming code (or language) that you use to design static web pages from scratch. For example, in an HTML document, you would see something like this:

…representing a single line of text with bold text. If you don’t know what all of that means, then you would need to learn HTML to write the code. Otherwise, you could create HTML pages on a platform like Dreamweaver (in which case you should still know a thing or two about coding). WordPress, on the other hand, is a platform for building dynamic web pages (we’ll get to the difference between static and dynamic later), using a template-based format that allows you to easily create websites by adding content and dragging/dropping features you want on your pages.

Static versus dynamic

HTML pages are static, meaning they stand alone and stay the same unless you go in and manually change them. That means that if you want to change the look or feel of your entire website, you will have to open up the file for each page manually and make the necessary changes separately. WordPress pages are dynamic, meaning they are all stored in a single database and linked together in that way that allows you to make style changes with just a few simple clicks from a single user interface. (It is worth mentioning that you can also create static pages using WordPress if you so desire).

Closed source versus open source

HTML is a closed source, meaning only you (or the person who wrote the code) can make changes to, or embellish, the code. This is relatively limiting unless you have a very skilled coder on hand. WordPress is an open-source platform, which means that anyone can develop additions (like plugins) that you can apply to your site to make it better-looking, more functional, and highly customized.
When it comes to building your brand, your website is one of your most powerful tools. Contact Dr. John Elcik at identityXperts to handle all of your web design needs. We can be reached by phone at (561) 543-2892 or email: jelcik@identityXperts.com.

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How a Good Website Design Creates a Great Impression

Your business needs a strong web presence to be successful in the Age of Information and that your website is integral to your web presence. However, do you realize the importance of good web design when it comes to your business brand? That’s right – it’s not just enough to have an aesthetically pleasing site with good content. Good design is more complicated than that, and it can mean the difference between having an effective or ineffective website. Want to know why design is so important? Here is how a good website design creates a great impression:

Professionalism

When you take shortcuts, it shows. Don’t make the mistake of taking shortcuts with your web design. Sure, your teenage cousin knows a thing or two about creating websites. Still, unless he can create a top-notch, professional-looking site for your business, your site is just going to look amateurish. And your site visitors will get the impression that you are an amateur—spring for a good website design.

Navigation

Good design creates an effortless experience for your site visitors. You don’t want people to have to work or make guesses to find their way around your site. By providing them with straightforward, simple, and well-organized site navigation, you are giving your visitors the impression that you care about catering to them. You are also ensuring they can find (and read!) all of the valuable content you have on your site.

Branding

Your website design should be in line with your business branding in every way – from the colors to the fonts. That means that good web design, with your brand in mind, will elevate your brand and increase brand awareness, thereby creating a lasting impression for your visitors.

Attention-grabbing

You have a minimal window of time in which to grab new site visitors’ attention and pique their interest enough to want to stay and explore for a while. Studies show that a first impression in the web world may take as little a fraction of a second to form. Good web design will snag your site visitors and enable you more time to get your message through to them. In a world where first impressions are so vital, you must invest in sound design.

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5 Reasons Why Good Content is Critical for Your Website

If you are in the process of developing a website for your business, then you’ve probably heard the phrase, “content is king.” However, do you understand why, exactly, your site’s content is so imperative to its success? Here are five reasons why good content is critical for your website:

Conveys a clear message

It may seem obvious, but many people miss the boat on the concept of getting a message across. It’s not enough to attract attention with a catchy slogan or a slick story. When it comes down to it, those are just words. Back your words up with clear meaning about the purpose and scope of your site. Good content will inform your potential customers about your business, and assure them that they can count on your website to provide the right information.

Lends credibility

High-quality content will help you establish your voice in the industry. When you effectively provide valuable information, you automatically have an air of authority with your site visitors. This type of credibility is what will help make you a web leader.

Keeps people coming back for more

One of the most important jobs your website has is to mediate an ongoing relationship between you and your site visitors. Web page content that is informative, entertaining, and relevant to your visitors’ needs will keep them engaged on the page for longer, and it will also inspire them to check in periodically for new content. Fresh content is a very effective way for you to stay in touch with your audience and develop lasting relationships.

Supports search engine optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization is a term used for the process of making your site visible and relevant to Internet search engines. Good SEO is how people will naturally find your website when they search the web for a term related to your business product or service. Part of SEO is weaving the right “keywords” into your content; additionally, high quality (relevant) content ranks higher with search engines.

Incites action

Good web content includes a strong call to action that will invite your site visitors to engage even more. Additionally, a call to action will instruct your visitors as to what, correctly, they should do next. This call converts mere visitors into paying customers.

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Making the Most of Your Website or Blog

Chances are you’re putting a lot of time, energy, and effort into your blog or website. Are you getting the results that you want? Are you achieving your online business goals? If not, you may not be making the most of your website or blog.

Test, Test, and Test Some More

The best way to make the most of your website or blog is to test what works and what doesn’t. There are many different things you can check and ways to test. You can test headlines, test calls to action, and test different content formats.

For example, your audience may respond more energetically to video content than they do to print material. Or maybe reviews are preferred over “how-to” articles. Testing is the only way to know what your audience is responding to. Once you know, then you can adapt your strategies and tactics. Split testing is often the easiest method to test.

Analytics

Analytics is almost a website or blog essential. It tells you who visits your site, how long stayed, and what pages navigated. Analytics can also tell you the organic keywords used, or the link used, to find your website. Google Analytics is a free tool that makes it easy to create an account and then literally cut and pastes a piece of code into your site’s code.

Just cutting and pasting code isn’t enough, though. You also need to review the analytics and base your strategy and decisions on the information. For example, if you find out that the majority of your visitors come from the south, then you might create more content, promotions, and offers that appeal to that region.

Facilitate Engagement

If you’re not encouraging participation, comments, and interaction, then you’re missing out. Create systems and opportunities to connect and allow conversation. Blog commenting is a start.

However, the posts need to ask questions and motivate responses. Even more, you want to reply to comments in a thoughtful manner that drives more comments and feedback. Plug-ins that create forums, chats, and social media participation are another means to facilitate engagement.

To make the most of your website or blog, you want to create a more reliable connection with your audience and visitors. By testing, using analytics to track the results, and by creating opportunities for conversation, you’re able to take your site to the next level. It strengthens your relationships with your audience and helps increase traffic, opt-ins, as well as conversions and sales.