Website design is the process of creating a website that focuses on aesthetic factors like layout, user interface, and other visual imagery in order to make the website more visually appealing and easy to use.
The current economy is unpredictable, and savvy business owners are looking for ways to stay afloat and sustain their success. One way you can do this is by taking a close look at your business website and making some updates.
A well-designednavigation menu makes it easy for customers to find what they need quickly. As a result, visitors are likely to remain on your site longer to discover more information about your company.
When evaluating your navigation menu, be sure that all links are clearly labeled, organized logically, and easily navigable. If people can’t find what they’re looking for on your website, they will likely leave without making a purchase or taking any further action.
Add Testimonial Pages
Testimonials demonstrate to potential customers that you have satisfied customers who have had positive, successful experiences with your company. This helps build consumer trust and encourages more people to buy from your business.
You can include testimonials on your homepage or on product pages; you can even create an entire page dedicated to showcasing customer reviews and feedback.
Enhance Website Security with PDFs & Encryption
In precarious economic times such as these, it’s particularly critical to make sure your website is secure. One way to enhance website security is through the use of PDFs and encryption. Here’s how it works…
By combining PDF technology with secure encryption algorithms and a secure shell (SSH) protocol, you can safeguard the data stored on your website from online fraud or theft. Furthermore, you can use a secure connection such as SSH when sharing large files and rotating PDFs, regardless of size or format.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is vital for increasing your business’s online visibility and driving traffic to your website. The higher up your site appears in search engine results, the more likely people will be to see – and hopefully purchase – your products and services.
It’s important to update your website content regularly so that visitors know they’re getting current information from a reliable source whenever they visit your site.
While making key improvements to keep your website up to date might sound like an insurmountable task, it doesn’t have to be! The web design and digital marketing professionals at HighClick Media can help!
Whether you need to freshen up your current website or you’re looking to build your business website from scratch, we’re ready, willing, and able to partner with you to help your business succeed in the digital age, even in uncertain economic conditions.
Marketing Agency vs. In-House Team: Which Should You Choose?
Like most business owners, you know you need to effectively market your business to expand your sphere of influence and engage new customers – but you’re unsure of the right approach. Is it better to recruit a dedicated marketing team to manage all your marketing in-house? Or should you enlist the services of an experienced digital marketing agency to tackle everything for you?
Both are reasonable options, but there are also ramifications connected with either decision. In this article, we’ll take a look at the pros and cons of hiring a digital marketing agency versus hiring an in-house marketing team.
3 Time-Tested Methods for Growing Your Business
If you want to grow your business (and why wouldn’t you?), there are a few tried-and-true methods you can employ to attract new customers:
Word of Mouth & Referrals
Advertising & Marketing (PPC, SEO, Social Media)
Direct Sales (Cold Calls, Email Blasts, Knocking on Doors)
In a perfect world, a business would land so many new customer referrals that it wouldn’t have to shell out money for advertising, marketing, or direct sales. But when you’re first getting started in business, you can’t always rely on getting the referrals you need. As a result, many companies will consider either hiring an in-house marketing team or outsourcing their marketing to an agency. Let’s examine both options…
Why Hire an In-House Marketing Team?
Based on your specific business needs, employing a dedicated in-house marketing team might seem more reasonable. Sure, you’re accruing additional salary expenses to the business, but you’re also gaining total control over how your marketing plan is put into action.
Recruiting an experienced, skilled marketing manager who can take charge of every aspect of your marketing efforts can help grow lead generation and steadily attract new customers. So, let’s weigh the pros and cons of hiring an in-house marketing team:
PROS:
In-House Marketers Have a Deeper Understanding of the Business
Generally speaking, someone who works exclusively for your business is likely to have a much better understanding of your customers’ needs. They’re more acquainted with your products and services, and they know how best to promote them to your clientele. If you’re a B2B organization – one that specializes in selling products and services to other companies – employing an in-house marketing team may be even more critical. After all, an outside agency might not be as familiar with your specific market.
In-house marketers are likely to feel more connected to and in line with your overall business strategy. In addition, they probably have a fairly solid knowledge base and a good awareness of previous campaigns – and whether or not those campaigns have been successful – without having to go to the trouble of researching them as an agency would. Moreover, an in-house team gives you creative control over the end-to-end digital process.
An In-House Marketing Team Is Focused On Your Brand Only
While marketing agencies will certainly make the effort to familiarize themselves with your brand and devote ample time to your marketing strategy, they’re also focused on the marketing needs of their other clients.
By contrast, in-house marketers can focus on your business 100% of the time. Each of their marketing efforts is customized to your business’s specific needs. They spend time examining what’s working for you and making adjustments to marketing goals and processes. Because of this singular focus, your in-house marketing team is liable to put forth more ideas that are unique to your business.
In-House Marketers Are Available All Workweek Long
With a dedicated in-house marketing team, you don’t have to schedule a time to meet – you can brainstorm or revise plans anytime you need to.
Having convenient access to key decision-makers in real time can help streamline creative timelines and project management much more so than if you are outsourcing a project.
CONS:
In-House Marketing Can Be Inconsistent and Lackluster
One of the challenges of having just one or two people working on your marketing is that it’s often a part-time role. In-house personnel might already have other duties they’re expected to perform, and handling the business’s marketing needs is simply bundled into their job description.
As a result, consistency plummets quickly. It’s conceivable that in-house marketers could go weeks without posting any new content or monitoring ad campaign statistics.
Additionally, if budget constraints prevent you from recruiting a diverse team of crackerjack marketers, the content created by these individuals might be lifeless and uninspired as a result.
An In-House Marketing Team May Have Limited Training Time
Marketing agencies often spend a considerable amount of time and resources ensuring that their employees keep up to date on their knowledge and skills. Ongoing training might include attending marketing conferences or webinars, exchanging articles and resources online, and brainstorming between various departments.
By contrast, in-house marketers usually have less time to dedicate to improving their skills. They also don’t have the benefit of learning from or collaborating with other marketing departments. While you may initially hire individuals based on their digital marketing experience and expertise, once they’re a part of your in-house team they are far less likely to have the time and resources available to continue to maintain and refine their skills.
In-House Marketers May Run Out of Fresh Ideas
Effective marketing inherently demands imaginative minds that thrive on change. When a small in-house marketing team is focused on managing your brand alone, creativity can begin to languish over time. After all, it’s difficult to keep formulating new and innovative strategies to promote products and share content when you have no one outside your circle to bounce ideas off.
In some cases, company leadership keeps a tight rein on their creative team and doesn’t give them leeway to take chances and try new things. There may also be some overarching arrogance on the part of leadership, believing that no one outside the organization can represent the company as effectively as its employees.
Companies Must Foot the Bill for Retaining an In-House Team
In the short term, it can seem like you’re getting a better bargain by opting for a small in-house marketing team. But ultimately, it can become considerably more costly.
If you choose to partner with a marketing agency, you can anticipate spending more money at first to get you set up. But these costs will dramatically decrease to monthly maintenance over time.
By contrast, you will need to keep paying your in-house marketing team members an annual salary, as well as benefits and paid time off in most cases. With cost-of-living increases, this amount will only grow.
Why Hire a Digital Marketing Agency?
Securing the services of a digital marketing agency can feel like a monumental maneuver. Typically, there’s a preliminary meeting, a contract of some duration, numerous discussions regarding the scope of work, and interaction with a variety of different people on the team. Finding the ideal agency can involve a great deal of time and effort.
Then there are the costs. Working with an agency is oftentimes more expensive than “DIY” marketing or recruiting in-house personnel, primarily because the agency is more experienced. However, a digital marketing agency can deliver a more expansive array of services and also churn out higher-quality work. Here are some pros and cons of hiring a digital marketing agency:
PROS:
Professional Marketers Have Specialized Skill Sets
When you partner with a reputable digital marketing agency, you gain access to an entire team of specialists – each of whom knows their niche and understands how best to get results. These passionate and knowledgeable marketers routinely manage a wide range of clientele, making it all the more probable that they’ll implement the proper strategies for your company with not as much trial and error.
A Marketing Agency Can Offer a Fresh Perspective
Companies that have been in business for any significant period may ultimately realize that they’re circulating the same ideas over and over again. Campaigns start to look alike, and copywriters continue using the same terminology to describe things. In-house marketers keep trying to devise new and innovative ideas, but it’s getting more and more challenging to do so.
This is entirely normal. There’s a natural limit to how long a company can craft quality content when they’re promoting the same products and services day in and day out. It’s easy to become single-minded when working from inside an organization. That said, getting an outside perspective can be immensely beneficial to a business.
Partnering with an agency can help you view your company from a different perspective and bring a fresh approach to your marketing strategy. While it’s true that an outside agency will not immediately have a thorough, expansive understanding of your company’s brand and history, this can actually be beneficial. An agency can objectively identify opportunities that might have gone unnoticed or were not as easily recognizable by in-house personnel.
Digital marketing specialists have years of knowledge and experience, and they’re trained to analyze your business from the consumer’s or client’s viewpoint. The old adage “two heads are better than one” is especially relevant when it comes to digital marketing.
Additionally, an agency may be more willing to push the envelope and think unconventionally. This can bring about increased ingenuity and quite possibly more successful marketing strategies.
Consistency and Speed of Work Are Hallmarks of Marketing Agencies
When generating new marketing collateral, it’s easy for an organization to become careless about what and when to communicate. More often than not, attending to customers is their primary focus, and marketing takes a back seat.
Since the majority of in-house personnel have other responsibilities apart from their marketing roles, the time they have available to keep up to date on all the latest social media, SEO, content marketing, and branding trends is extremely limited.
By contrast, entrusting your marketing to an outside agency enables these marketers to jump in and start implementing strategies right away, carrying out each project from planning to completion. Because these agencies routinely handle a wide array of client accounts, they typically work far more efficiently than an in-house marketing team.
Over time, these agile marketers have designed state-of-the-art workflows and processes that are built for quality, volume, and efficiency. Outsourced agencies will strive to make sure to send your content, ad campaigns, and social media marketing out on time, making sure it not only looks great but also that your branding is consistent.
Marketing Agencies Are Cost-Effective Over the Long Term
While partnering with an outside agency might seem more expensive at face value, when compared to the costs of recruiting a full team of dedicated marketers, it’s a bargain! In-house personnel can set your company back hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in salaries, benefits, and technology investments.
On the other hand, you might choose to designate a single, in-house employee to handle all of your social media marketing, graphic design, and online advertising. But for less than the costs associated with that one individual, you could hire an agency and gain access to an entire team of specialists who are experienced in meeting the needs of a variety of diverse clients in multiple industries.
Working with an agency that comprehends your company’s specific needs will allow you to move swifter, secure better outcomes, and make decisions more effortlessly. You may not even have to work with an agency long-term at full scale – once you’re up and running successfully, you may only have to manage maintenance fees, which are considerably less by comparison.
Outsourcing to a Marketing Agency Gives Your Company a Competitive Edge
Competition is fierce and technologies evolve at lightning speed. Therefore, it’s essential to keep up-to-date with the latest trends to stay ahead of your competitors. It’s possible to achieve this with an in-house team if your organization is prepared to invest in marketing education, new technology, and advanced resources. But most aren’t.
Fortunately, staying on top of the most current digital marketing techniques is an agency’s lifeblood. Marketing agencies often enjoy early access to cutting-edge technologies, tools, and software – most of which just aren’t available to smaller, in-house marketing teams.
Unless your internal marketing team is large enough to justify the costs of ongoing education and technology, it’s generally more economical to outsource your marketing to an agency.
CONS:
Partnering with a Marketing Agency Can Incur Higher Costs Over the Short Term
Depending on how many functions you decide to pass on to an agency, you can expect to spend a bigger chunk of your marketing budget than you would with a single, in-house professional – at least at first.
But, as previously mentioned, you can’t always get the best results when entrusting all of your marketing efforts to one person. If you’re currently covering the total cost of salaries plus benefits to support an entire in-house team, you might find that outsourcing to a marketing agency is actually more affordable.
When you partner with an outside marketing agency, it’s important to bear in mind that, in addition to gaining access to a whole team of professional marketers, you’re also laying the foundations of a long-term marketing strategy that will gradually decrease costs and improve overall profitability.
Being businesses as well, marketing agencies naturally have their own salaries, taxes, and other expenses that they must meet. To accomplish this, agencies must set prices for each of their various services. That said, most agencies are upfront about their pricing and are willing to adjust their fee structures to meet your budget.
While an agency may cost more in the short term, it is likely to generate better returns that you can measure right away. This signifies that you know the value that you’re paying for.
Marketing Agencies May Lack Your Knowledge of the Industry
While some marketing agencies concentrate on a specific industry, most of them work with clients in a variety of markets. Consequently, they may not have the degree of knowledge you have about your products and services.
In such cases, there will be a bit of a “discovery period” in the early days of a project until the agency has become familiar with the particulars of your key business processes. Even agencies that have worked with a vast array of clients will need time to grasp your customers’ needs.
Because each market is distinct, what performs well for one business might fail miserably for another. You won’t want to squander money on a campaign that will end up alienating potential customers.
It Can Take Time for Agencies to Get Up to Speed On a Company
It can be hard to get down to business straightaway after hiring an agency. The client-agency partnership needs time to ensure proper alignment with the client’s stated objectives.
A creditable marketing agency will want to gain a deep understanding of your clients and identify what it is that they’re looking for. At the same time, they’ll need to make sure they have a good grasp of your brand’s voice and image.
After taking the time to evaluate your goals and prior marketing efforts with their team, the agency will work to determine what direction to take with your marketing and ensure that you approve of it as well.
Once a campaign has concluded, the agency will ask for your feedback so that they can adapt and enhance your marketing strategy going forward. All of these things take time, and a freewheeling approach won’t produce optimal results.
You Can Expect Lots of Meetings, Especially Early On
When outsourcing your marketing to an agency, you can anticipate taking part in a lot of meetings and discussions, especially at the outset of the relationship.
Every single aspect demands your consent and stamp of approval early on, and you can’t relegate these critical decisions to the agency. Being tasked with reviewing a new web design, fresh website content, or greenlighting an ad campaign can be burdensome at times – but it’s an integral part of the process.
As the client-agency relationship progresses, you can expect to continue having regular meetings to:
Review current projects and determine whether or not they’re on track to meet their objectives
Address concerns, bring new ideas to light, and get clarifications as needed
Regular Communication with a Marketing Agency Can Be Challenging
Effective communication is crucial to keeping your marketing plan running smoothly. But when you partner with an outside marketing agency, you won’t always have instant access to your team. Lack of physical proximity is a natural barrier, and face-to-face communication is understandably more limited.
Communicating with agency partners often takes place via phone or email, and they may be slower to respond to requests, questions, or concerns than you’d prefer. Certainly, meetings can be arranged, but they typically occur hours or days later.
The fact of the matter is, you aren’t the agency’s only client. You may not even be their biggest client. Agencies routinely manage multiple accounts for a variety of clients. If other clients contract for more services, your company’s project may not be prioritized as highly. Simply put, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle.
However, principled marketing agencies will work to ensure that no client feels less valued than another. They strive to keep in constant contact with each of their clients and make a conscious effort to respond to concerns quickly.
Final Thoughts
Both recruiting an in-house marketing team and outsourcing to an agency have their benefits and drawbacks. Neither option is inherently right nor wrong for any business.
To determine which approach is right for your company, it’s important to examine your short-term marketing goals as well as your long-term growth strategy. Weighing these against your own team’s strengths and weaknesses is critical to assessing whether you should keep your marketing initiatives in-house or entrust them to outside experts.
In addition, identifying which particular services your company needs and determining your marketing budget are essential to reaching a final decision.
Many companies already have a core of in-house individuals tasked with handling their marketing.
By and large, in-house personnel live and breathe the company brand and are likely to have a far more in-depth understanding of the business’s unique selling proposition, product set, and buyer personas.
Thus, in-house marketers may be better qualified to create relevant content and effective communication strategies for the company.
Nevertheless, the range of expertise and resources available to in-house marketers may be limited – indeed, they may find it difficult to implement new software or keep pace with ever-evolving trends and technologies.
There’s a steep learning curve involved with digital marketing, and teaming up with an external agency can help avoid classic “newbie” mistakes.
Instead of spending time and effort exploring various possibilities, agency specialists will formulate and carry out a hard-and-fast plan without delay, ensuring a quicker return on your investment.
Many organizations find that a hybrid approach to marketing works best.
Outsourcing key services to agency specialists can not only be extremely cost-effective, but it also provides an outside perspective that can help in-house marketing teams recognize opportunities to improve.
Keeping some of your resources in-house also helps the company maintain some degree of direct control over its content, branding, and other marketing resources.
Now that you’ve had a chance to analyze the pros and cons of retaining an in-house marketing team versus partnering with an outside agency, it’s time to take the next step.
We provide comprehensive digital media and online marketing solutions for businesses of all sizes.
Our talented team of creative thinkers, innovators, and digital marketers bring skills above and beyond the ordinary to every project, resulting in explosive business success!
Marketing Agency vs. In-House Team: Which Should You Choose? Like most business owners, you know you need to effectively market your business to expand your
Why Having a Mobile-Friendly Website Is a Necessity
Suppose I told you that seven out of 10 prospects and customers in your field can’t find your company. That would be pretty agitating, right?
Now, suppose I shared with you that 75% of the phone calls your prospects and customers want to make are not getting through. Would you go into full on freak-out mode?
As a digital marketer, I often ask: “Is your website mobile-friendly?” Which is basically a fancy way to say: “Does your website automatically adjust to a smartphone or a tablet?” Unfortunately, I often hear: “No.” This makes me equal parts concerned and sad.
Fun Fact: During 2018, over 200 million Americans will use a smartphone, and that number is expected to continue growing in the years to come.
So what are almost all of these people – including you, no doubt – doing on the tiny displays of these magic wands we carry in the palms of our hands? Besides calling, texting and emailing, they are:
1. Online Shopping – Deciding what they desire and who to purchase it from. 2. Looking Up Directions – Hello, Google Maps. 3. Buying Stuff – They’re making purchases by one little touch of a button on the screen.
You’re probably rolling your eyes right now while wondering why I’m stating the obvious. Or you may be objecting that prospects can do all three of those things on your regular website. But people don’t like to do either one of those three actions on your regular website while viewing the small screen of their smartphone. And they don’t need to, because there are numerous mobile-friendly competitors – *cough cough*, Amazon, – whose mobile site fits the small screen while providing a one-touch payment option.
If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, I’ve got more bad news: When a famished Pirate utters these words into a smartphone, “brunch in downtown Greenville”, search engines know what sort of device the request is coming from and move non-mobile-ready sites way down the search results. He or she wants a hot phone number, big directions on a small screen, and one-touch pay.
In the Age of the Customer, one of the best ways to stay relevant is being fully accessible and high-functioning when a customer would like to connect in a way that’s convenient for them. And what’s more convenient than the tiny screen that fits in the palm of a hand?
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This is so important because it shows your customers how you’re going to accommodate them. Your brand is your business name, logo, tagline, personality, and more! Most popular brands evolve by adjusting to the times. This allows them to meet the ever-changing needs and expectations of the clients and customers. If nothing else, you need a brand name, a target audience, and an idea of how your brand personality is going to connect with your target audience.
(1971)
(2022)
This is a good example of brand evolution. Starbucks is continuously updating their brand and services, presenting a fresh take on a company we’ve known for decades.
If you’re a newbie, you probably don’t have a huge website budget yet, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have an awesome website. Ideally, your site should be simple and easy to navigate. Fast load times are also vital, or you might be losing people before they even see your site!
You will also want to make sure that your website is mobile-optimized, meaning that if someone wants to visit your site from a phone or tablet, they’ll still get a great browsing experience.
Content covers all the things. Anything that educates your customers about your business is content. Potential clients are going to visit your website to see if and how your content is relates to them and their needs. The best content should be non-intrusive and inspire your customers to come to you.
A strategically planned-out ad can help your business grow substantially. And the best part? You don’t need a ton of money to get started! Advertising is key – don’t forget it!
If you’re just getting started, my suggestion to you is remarketing to people who have already visited your website. They’ve already shown interest, and all you need to do is seal the deal! Digital advertising is a great way to drive traffic to your site and convert prospects into customers.
There you have it! Four essential digital marketing elements that every business needs to have in order to set you up for success!
If you wish to have more traffic, leads or sales, then it’s time we talk!
I find it baffling how many businesses do not have a website in 2023. Whether it’s a simple splash page or an elaborate, feature-filled site and a blog, your business needs a professional website. Business owners have a lot of reasons for not having a business website. Most often, I hear the following:
I just can’t afford a website right now.
I have a Facebook business page, so I don’t need a website.
I don’t have the time or skill to invest in a website.
If your business is not on the Internet, then your business will be out of business. ~ Bill Gates
Do You Need a Dedicated Business Website? Yes! Here’s Why.
1. Your Customers Expect You to Be Online
This fact alone is reason enough for you to create a website. 60% of consumers perform a local search on a search engine like Google to find the products and services they need before ever stepping foot into a store.
If you don’t have a business website, how will these consumers find you in a Google search? How will you get any new business? The only thing worse than not being found by a potential customer is when that potential customer finds your competitor instead.
And your customers have high standards. They have no desire to visit your single-page website that hasn’t been updated since 2004. Here are a few things consumers are looking for in a business website:
88% of consumers say they won’t return to a website after a bad user experience.
Upon visiting the homepage of your site, 86% of consumers want to see product and service information, 64% expect to see contact information, and 52% want to know more about your business.
You don’t need anything complicated. You don’t need to overthink it. You just need a few pages with basic, up-to-date information that your audience is looking for.
2. You Can Control the Narrative
The increasingly advanced features on social media platforms are prompting many business owners to utilize a Facebook business page as their primary online presence. In all fairness, social media does make it easy to connect with prospects, and Facebook now has 80 million business pages across the platform.
Reviews and comments on social media feel great, but you can’t control what others say. Shouldn’t you have control over the stories being told about you? A business website serves as an official online presence so that you can share your real story instead of depending on others to speak for you.
3. Other Reasons You Need a Business Website, Not Just a Facebook Page
You Have Control Over the Overall Experience
A professionally designed business website is the place for you to share your company culture, values, and services. A website can be customized, whereas Facebook only allows you to swap out your profile and cover photo. You can have the most amazing cover photo in the world, but when all is said and done, a Facebook page looks and operates like a Facebook page.
You Make the Rules
If you’re using a social media platform as your primary online presence, you’re at the mercy of that social media platform. Algorithms and rules change constantly and unpredictably. Just a few months ago, Facebook changed its algorithm to prioritize posts from friends over posts from businesses in user feeds. When you have a website, you control the content and the message.
My suggestion? Don’t choose one over the other. If you want to thrive, you’ll have a business website AND social media platforms that work together. Use your Facebook business page to build relationships with your target audience, and then convert them to website visitors, which you can then nurture into loyal customers.
It’s Not That Hard, and It’s Not That Expensive.
You don’t need to be a tech guru to get and maintain a business website. Most digital marketing agencies offer basic, budget-friendly, starter websites. HighClick Media even offers training for business owners who want to learn to make updates to their sites at their leisure.
Change Your Mindset
When you spend marketing dollars on a professional website design, you’re not getting a disposable product in return. A website is a gift that keeps on giving. A strategically designed, well-optimized business website offers a better return on investment than any other form of advertising. With a website, your business can be discovered online by your target audience 24/7.
Why Should You Consider HighClick Media to Design Your Business Website?
We take time to fully understand your business goals and customer needs. We analyze your industry and competitors to ensure your website meets your specific needs.
We’re your partner, so we’ll advise you along the way.
Your new website will act as a new salesperson.
We’ll support you. Even after your website goes live, we’re here to answer any questions you may have.
We’ll teach you. If you want full control of your website, we’ll train you on how to make certain changes and updates yourself.
Our website builders keep search engine optimization in mind.
We regularly update the client during the web design process.
Technology has been advancing at a rapid pace over the past several years, and there’s every reason to believe that it’s not going to slow down anytime soon.
What’s more, social media has evolved into a digital marketing hub, which has escalated the competition for businesses to remain relevant.
In order to contend in today’s market, your organization may be due for a website overhaul, as there are hallmarks that consumers expect in terms of accessibility, new content, and an engaging experience.
If your website hasn’t been updated recently, it may be hurting your business both in leads and credibility.
Consider these critical indicators in determining whether it’s time for a website overhaul:
More than ever, people are using their smartphones and other mobile devices to connect to the internet. Accordingly, you need to make certain that your website is compatible with a variety of screen sizes without undermining the quality and layout of your site.
The overall appearance of your website on mobile should be congruent with the desktop version to guarantee that customers are capable of accessing links and navigating the page from their tablets or smartphones.
Having a website that isn’t optimized for different screens can adversely affect your search engine rankings, since Google prioritizes responsive websites in their search results.
If you haven’t already configured your website to function the same on mobile and tablet device screens, you should modernize the design of your website without delay.
No matter what type of business you’re operating, your website needs to have an inviting visual design. Mismatched fonts and out-of-date imagery and content can make your website seem unappealing to customers. Revamping your website aesthetic can give you an edge over your competitors.
When assessing the present design of your website, ask yourself these key questions:
Are the images displayed on your site an accurate visual representation of your brand? Poor-quality, stretched, or run-of-the-mill stock photos are a dead giveaway that you’re ready for a redesign.
Is your website content easy to read and comprehend? It’s critical for your viewers’ overall experience to achieve the proper balance of text, background, and visuals.
Is your website too cluttered and disorderly? Having incongruous fonts, lengthy paragraphs, or compressed photos can make it hard for viewers to navigate your site.
Do you really want to occupy “prime real estate” on your website with content of little worth to your brand or the message you’re trying to convey? Your content should clearly communicate what your business is about: its core principles, the products and services you offer, and how to get in touch with you. Here are a few clues that your content might need to be refreshed:
There are products/services listed on your site that are no longer offered.
Your most recent blog or news article was posted over a year ago.
Your website contains immaterial content that doesn’t correspond with your brand.
As previously discussed, a majority of people use their smartphones and tablets to access the web. They also spend a LOT of time on social media!
Two reasons why you should be taking advantage of this popular resource:
Social Media Can Help Grow Your Brand
Facebook and Instagram are excellent avenues for sharing more innovative content, advertising your wares, and engaging with customers directly. By linking your social media profiles to your website and vice versa, you can create more traffic to each platform, which is likely to grab customers’ attention more effectively.
Consumers Prefer Brands That Are Active on Social Media
Making personal connections with customers online helps create loyal customers and generate better feedback. Plus, it’s a surefire way to identify what your customers are looking for – this, in turn, can help you answer their questions and make informative content that they want to interact with.
Your Professional Website Redesign Is Only a Phone Call Away!
At HighClick Media, our professional web designers are experts in website redesign! We love solving hard problems with creative solutions! Our website redesign process integrates marketing, design, technology, and digital strategy, to give you the best product possible. We believe that great design inspires website visitors to take action and to take notice of your company. Partnering with us as your web design agency ensures you that you are receiving the most comprehensive web design strategy possible. Call us today at 252.814.2150 to schedule a consultation with our web design team!
6 Things People May Totally Hate About Your Website (And How To Address Them)
Whatever the size of your organization, one of the first things you, as a business owner, will seek to sort out is your website – understandably so, given the digital age in which we live.
A good website is an integral part of any business’s success; but for ecommerce companies, in particular, it’s absolutely essential. Notwithstanding, businesses are often quick to launch a website without making certain that it functions in a user-friendly manner.
Making the effort to ensure that your website is fully operative – both from a design and usability perspective – can help your site become a chief source of both leads and revenue. But neglecting to do so could bring about an infinite number of missed opportunities.
In this article, we’ll take a look at 6 key components that people generally hate about websites in order to help you avoid making the same mistakes with your site.
Slow Loading Web Pages
Let’s start with one of the greatest nuisances for web users today – loading time. In this day and age, people want instant gratification in every area of their lives; rapid access to web pages is merely another “necessity” that we’ve come to expect. Indeed, the impatience level of most people is about 3 seconds – with approximately 40% of individuals reporting that they’ve exited a site which has failed to load in that time.
There are a number of ways you can effectively overcome slow loading times. These range from quick fixes such as decreasing the amount of media on a page as well as compressing large image sizes, to more technical solutions – some of which might necessitate the services of a professional web developer.
Keyword Stuffing in Your Website Content
Website content that’s jam-packed with keywords does nothing but lead to haphazard copy providing very little value to consumers. Moreover, it actually undermines your search ranking, as Google now penalizes sites observed to be employing this method – meaning that there’s no good reason for businesses to persist in this practice.
The concept of keyword stuffing came about at the turn of the 21st century when Google’s search algorithm leaned heavily on the amount of keywords featured on a website. This led to marketers incorporating as many keywords into their copy as possible, without regard to the overall quality of the content – which, at the time, saw their websites ascending through Google’s search rankings.
Since that time, Google’s ranking algorithms have progressed by leaps and bounds, and now a considerable burden is being placed on website reputability and user behavior. Regrettably, many marketers are still seeking to optimize their sites through the now-antiquated practice of keyword stuffing.
You ought to have a good idea of the content that’s currently on your site. However, it’s never a bad idea to revisit your copy to make certain that it provides genuine value to website visitors and hasn’t fallen into the trap of keyword stuffing. You can have an in-house employee refresh your copy or hire a professional copywriter to update it for you. The long-term effects of being penalized by Google will outbalance the short-term commitment of time and money in rewriting the content – the sooner you get this taken care of, the better.
There’s Too Much Text on the Page
While it’s important to provide quality content that users will find beneficial, websites should also be visually appealing. Content doesn’t only consist of written copy. Nowadays, images play a critical role as well. Not only do images help provide a visual reference, but they’re also ideal for splitting up large portions of text.
Websites featuring excess verbiage will instantly turn off many users. In this day and age, when people’s patience levels and attention spans are perpetually declining, it’s unreasonable to expect them to wade through multiple paragraphs of text.
Your Website Doesn’t Clearly State What Your Business Does
Having a website that doesn’t explicitly spell out what your business does is a surefire way to suffer defeat at the hands of your competitors. As with many decisions these days, consumers are likely to hop online and research their options before investing in a particular product, business, or service.
When a user visits your website, they’ll expect to quickly find out what it is you do and how your product or service could be of use to them. It’s vital that you communicate this information right away, as consumers are typically only a couple of clicks away from looking elsewhere.
If you know your target audience would prefer to be spoken to in plain English, then you’d be wise to stay away from industry jargon as this could make your product offering hard to understand. It’s always best to keep your message as clear and concise as possible.
Overusing Stock Imagery on Web Pages
Users welcome an image or two to break up sections of written copy. Regardless, businesses that choose to utilize stock imagery have to take into account the types of images they use. A huge number of identical or similar-looking images are being overused these days. Adding to these trends could leave your website looking tacky and outdated while failing to reflect the true nature of your business.
The images you choose to use on your site should add value as far as providing a visual aid for the information on the page – or, at the very least, be aesthetically appealing while still being relative to the page itself.
Stock photos are classic examples of the type of imagery that will leave your business looking dull and unimaginative. Make sure your brand identity isn’t obscured amidst the excessive use of generic images.
Your Website Isn’t Optimized for Mobile Devices
While mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets are being used to surf the internet more than ever before, a staggering number of websites still aren’t optimized for mobile. This often makes for a lousy user experience for visitors attempting to browse a site that lacks mobile functionality.
Whether it’s persistent pinching and pulling to navigate each page, multiple clicks on the wrong tabs due to the display screen being too small, or a section of the web page not showing up correctly on the screen – the end result is typically that visitors will no longer wish to return to the website, at least not on mobile devices.
If you have yet to optimize your website for mobile, it’s time to take a look at how much of your traffic is arriving via mobile. If it’s a considerable chunk – and let’s be honest, it almost certainly is – then optimizing your website should be your primary concern. You don’t want to be turning away potential customers due to negative experiences while navigating your site.
Final Thoughts
There are several elements that visitors dislike or find annoying about business websites. Hopefully, this list will help you identify any trouble spots on your website while also offering some practical ideas for how to improve it.
Before you go about making drastic changes, though, it’s important to take a close look at how your website is currently performing. Doing so will allow you to better track how the changes you make now will impact your site’s performance going forward.
If you’re like a lot of small businesses, the highly technical task of updating and optimizing your website might be a bit outside the scope of your personnel’s capabilities. Never fear! The knowledgeable web designers and developers at HighClick Media are ready, willing, and able to help! Call us today at 252.814.2150 or drop us a line to see how we can help elevate your brand!
Launching a website is a big decision. If you make the wrong choice, it can cost you thousands of dollars and years to correct. Before launching your website, there are a few things you should remember so that you can achieve the desired success.
Ensure That Your Logo Represents Your Brand
Creating your logo design for a website should be simple yet creative and unique so that it can be easily recognized by customers.
Your logo should also represent your brand in a way that’s straightforward for users to understand. The best logos usually include text, illustrations, or designs with the company name included in them.
Research Your Competitors Carefully
In any niche market or industry today, it pays to know what your competitors are doing at all times. This will help you come up with better ways of getting ahead of them, by offering something they don’t have or targeting their audiences effectively without being noticed. You can do this through various means, such as social media monitoring tools and third-party trackers among others.
Publish Great Content That’s Unique & Informative
Having great content definitely plays a role when trying to attract users to visit your site from time to time. However, this doesn’t mean you should plagiarize others’ work! Just make sure that the content you have is unique in its own way and provides genuine information to your users.
Develop an Effective SEO Strategy
If you want your site to succeed, you cannot overlook the importance of having an effective SEO strategy. This is one of the most important aspects you will need to consider before launching your website so that it ranks high on all major search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
It’s no longer news that mobile internet usage has overtaken desktop usage worldwide. With this in mind, you should not ignore the importance of having a responsive website that’s compatible with all devices, including tablets and smartphones. Therefore, test your site for mobile compatibility before taking it live.
Be Consistent with Your Content
When it comes to having a successful website, consistency definitely plays an important role as well. You need to make sure that you post new blog posts on a regular basis. This includes updating existing ones from time to time so that they remain fresh for visitors who might be checking out your site after some months of not visiting it. This will also help Google know what topics or categories are most relevant to yours, therefore giving you more chances of ranking high when people search for those keywords online.
Build a Strong Relationship with Users & Readers
Building strong relationships with readers doesn’t only mean posting engaging content, it also means having the patience to reply to their concerns or questions as much as possible. This will help you establish a strong connection with your audience and give them reasons to come back for more. By building a relationship with your audience, you will, without a doubt, gain an edge over your competition.
Focus on Your Users’ Needs and Goals
When launching your website, never forget that users are the ones who matter most! Their needs and goals must be put first before anything else. Meeting their goals determines whether your site will be successful enough in attracting more customers through referrals and retaining existing ones. When you provide value and do everything right, then people might get curious about what products or services you offer and find themselves visiting the site more often.
Remember to Prioritize Content Sharing On Social Media Platforms
Social media marketing plays a very important role when trying to get the word out about your website or its services. In fact, some of the best ways you can use social media for free include promoting blog posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, sharing content with friends and followers on these platforms, and joining groups that share similar interests like Pinterest boards and LinkedIn groups, and more. Just make sure not to spam people’s feeds by oversharing!
Have an Email Newsletter Ready for Subscribers
Having an email newsletter ready means that you are taking advantage of one of the most effective ways to interact with visitors on a regular basis without being noticed by Google as “spammy” links which will affect your site’s rankings!
An email list allows you to send updates about new posts or products anytime while staying at the top of your mind without appearing pushy whatsoever. This method has been proven successful time and again when done right.
Final Thoughts
Your website is an invaluable tool for your business. It not only helps you attract more users but also provides information that can help consumers make better decisions about the products and services they’re interested in buying. Therefore, increasing your chances of making a sale that will eventually lead to generating revenue should be your first priority. Use this article as a guide before launching your site, and you will achieve optimal success in no time.
Keep in mind that building a professional website for your business is no easy task. But it’s not in which you have to “go it alone.” HighClick Media is here to help! Our talented team of professional website designers and developers can customize your site to your exact specifications.
Maybe you already have a business website, but it’s time for an update or a total facelift. We can help with that as well! Call us today at 252.814.2150 or drop us a line to see how we can help you elevate your brand!
Thanks to advanced technology, building a website today can be extremely simple. However, a website design that pairs impeccable functionality with stunning visuals is still challenging. It goes without saying that websites are now a fundamental part of a business’s online identity.
No business can hope to survive, let alone thrive, in today’s cutthroat market without an attractive, easy-to-navigate website. Far too many businesses fail at building a substantial online presence for their brand due to subpar website design.
So, why do some websites fail to attract and hold traffic where others succeed?
Certain elements of website design contribute the most to building visitors’ interest in a site. Including these elements on your website gives it a beautiful visual appeal along with flawless functionality and authority. These are also the components that are most often botched during development.
Let’s take a closer look at 16 critical elements for building a great website:
Color Schemes
The color scheme of a website is seldom paid attention to when developing a website. However, you should know how important a role it plays in influencing a visitor’s behavior. Therefore, it’s important to use a color scheme that will best appeal to your visitors while also representing your brand well.
For instance, if you visit the fast-food giant McDonald’s website, you’ll be greeted with a color scheme that combines red, white, and yellow. These colors have been synonymous with the brand for ages.
We suggest first choosing the dominant color that best represents your brand. You can then choose an analogous color scheme that complements your dominant color choice to highlight certain sections of your site, like call-to-action (CTA) buttons.
White Space
Open any website today and you’ll find that a majority of these websites possess white space that divides certain sections of the web pages. These spaces lend an immaculate and accessible design to your site. They make the content or CTA buttons on your site easy to identify and read for visitors.
Some websites also use white space to give certain aspects of the site more emphasis than others. For instance, white space can be used to make certain “special deals” the focal point of a page.
Make sure you’re consistent in spacing the gaps between sections of your site. We recommend beginning with the navigation and then moving your attention to the content of your site. A grid-based layout can help you design a clean interface that maintains consistency across the entire page.
Easy Navigation
Sites that make it complicated for their visitors to navigate normally experience higher bounce rates.
As such, it’s imperative to facilitate simple navigation by giving users an easy-to-use and intuitive website. The website should offer users simple routes to navigate to certain fundamental aspects of a site, and recommended pages, along with a way back to the original page.
We suggest using parallax scrolling as a navigation system, which includes arrows that make a website’s user interface (UI) easy to interact with. Therefore, you must place a strong emphasis on simple navigation if you want visitors to spend more time on your site.
Distinct Typography
Using unique typography to present content on your site is an ideal way to distinguish yourself from other similar sites online. The fonts you ultimately choose should complement your brand while communicating its message to visitors. It’s also important to consider a font that makes your site look professional without appearing bland.
We suggest using a font size of at least 16 pixels to make your site’s content readable on mobile and desktop devices. You can use different but complementary fonts to highlight the headings and subheadings on the site. Finally, use contrasting color schemes to match your text with the background perfectly. Pairing darker tones with lighter colors will do the trick just fine.
Outstanding Visuals
This goes without saying, but certain visual cues on your site will give any website a distinct edge over similar websites online. Populating a webpage with high-resolution images and beautiful illustrations can make your site more compelling to visitors.
Of course, you can’t use just any random visuals on your site. They should align with what your brand stands for.
Use stunning banner images. You can populate your page with custom-made images, which can also be used to highlight certain key focal points of your site. Try to avoid using too many stock photos on your pages.
Site Usability
Aside from beautiful design, you also need to create a site that provides users with a satisfying user experience (UX). Most developers make the critical mistake of compromising a site’s usability in favor of its overall visual design. It’s imperative to optimize a site in order to facilitate smooth interaction between the site’s elements and visitors. A subpar UX design could result in your website’s bounce rate blowing through the roof.
You can enhance the user experience by using animations, readable and engaging content, simple navigation, and more interactive elements.
High-Quality Content
Having high-quality content is integral to optimizing search engine rankings for your site and thus generating more traffic to your site. It’s also absolutely essential to populate your site with quality content in order to keep your visitors engaged. Top-notch content that’s relevant to your brand can persuade visitors to spend more time on your site, explore other areas, or make a purchase.
We recommend dividing your content based on its relevance. Always keep relevant information about your website, product, or service at the top. Follow it up with content that explains your services or highlights features that set you apart from competitors.
Finally, use an FAQ section to answer questions that a visitor may have about your service.
Compelling Calls to Action
A website exists to persuade a visitor to take certain actions on it. CTA buttons on a site trigger this response from visitors.
As such, you need to place CTA buttons strategically throughout your site to persuade visitors to perform desirable actions on the webpage.
The call-to-action messages themselves must be persuasive. They should explain what you want visitors to do in a few words.
“Buy Now,” “Sign up Free,” “Contact Us,” etc. are all examples of CTA buttons commonly used by most websites.
Make sure your landing page leads users to all the CTA buttons present on the page. You can utilize contrasting color schemes, content, and white spaces to highlight a CTA button.
If you have a variety of CTA buttons on your page, determine which type is more important and use it more prominently.
Mobile-Friendly Design
It is a well-known fact that the majority of websites receive most of their traffic from mobile users. With over 7 billion active smartphone users around the world today, not optimizing your site for mobile devices means losing out on such a massive audience. Suffice it to say, mobile optimization is one of the first things you need to do when building a website.
We recommend using Google Search Console or other free tools like Pingdom or BrowserStack to check whether your site is mobile-friendly.
SEO-Friendly Elements
As you may know by now, search engines like Google take many aspects of a site’s user experience into consideration when ranking a site. As such, a developer needs to consider search engine optimization from the very beginning of a website’s design process. Elements like simple navigation, scannable text, loading speed, and mobile friendliness contribute to the overall user experience.
A problem with any of the above elements will result in a user having a poor experience with your site, eventually increasing its bounce rate. Google will take this high bounce as a sign of bad UX and ultimately plummet your site in search engine rankings.
It’s important to consider how each element will contribute to your site’s SEO. We suggest working with an SEO expert, who will monitor and assess all crucial elements of your site while it is in development.
Right Usage of Ads
You’ll find many websites online that have successfully monetized their websites by displaying ads on them. If used appropriately, display ads can be a great way to earn some revenue from your website. However, such advertisements – if used incorrectly – can aggravate your visitor’s user experience. In short, advertisements have the power to make or break your site.
As such, we discourage using too many ads on websites as it can harm the user experience. You don’t want your website to look unprofessional, which is exactly what will happen if your webpage is littered with ads.
The most effective way to advertise on a site, in our opinion, would be combining banner ads with affiliate marketing. Make sure your ads integrate organically with your site. They shouldn’t feel out of place and interfere with the content on your site.
Website Security
Online security should be an integral part of any website. Security and privacy have often been major causes of concern for individuals surfing the web. Security alerts popping up when someone tries to open your site is a surefire way of turning potential website visitors away forever.
Internet security should be given as much focus as the design and overall functionality of your site. It should be mandatory for your website to implement an HTTPS protocol. This will help protect a user’s information, lend some much-needed credibility, and build trust among prospects.
We suggest buying SSL certificates from reliable hosting service providers. These are cheap to acquire and can be integrated seamlessly with your site.
Integrating Social Media
Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have billions of active users from all around the world. So it only makes sense to integrate social media into your site’s design plan. You should have social media buttons that instantly redirect your users to your site’s official social media channel. You can also have buttons that allow users to directly share certain content or products from your website on their private channels.
Having social media buttons strategically placed on your website is a great way of indirectly marketing your site, opening doors for people to leap directly onto your site from their respective social media profiles online.
Adding Internal & External Links
A proper link-building strategy can prove to be a great way of enhancing the brand authority of your website. It is important to learn how to build internal and external links to help boost your website’s performance. For instance, you can direct users to certain content on your site and improve its SEO performance by using appropriate internal links.
Proper link-building research requires a good strategy. We suggest finding out how your competitor’s websites are employing their link-building strategy. Draw inspiration for sites that are using the strategy with productive results.
Comments Section
We’ve already stressed how important it is to make your site as interactive and engaging as possible. Aside from content, you can add a comments section to your site, which allows users to leave their two cents below a particular content or product information. This can be a great way to receive feedback, which can be used to improve your service.
If you’re running an ecommerce store, we recommend adding a review section similar to what is found on sites like Amazon and eBay. A dedicated comments and review section will make your site more interactive and improve brand loyalty.
Achievements & Endorsements
This is perhaps the most effective and widely adopted way of building trust among customers. It is in your business’s best interest to flaunt your past achievements on your website for all to see. Displaying your achievements can go a long way toward building a solid reputation for your business and brand.
We recommend having a dedicated section for testimonials, displaying positive comments from at least 4 to 5 past clients.
We also suggest highlighting the names of all the popular brands you’ve served. If you’ve received endorsements from authoritative brands, add them to your site as well.
Final Thoughts
While these 16 elements can seem a bit overwhelming, they’re essential to building a website that not only looks fantastic but functions flawlessly as well.
Are you ready for the good news? You don’t have to do it on your own!
HighClick Media is a full-service digital marketing agency that specializes in professional website design. Our talented web designers will craft your business website with lots of TLC and plenty of technical prowess! We can build you a brand new website from scratch or spruce up your existing site.
Interested? Reach out to HighClick Media at 252.814.2150 or drop us a line today to see how we can help elevate your brand with a world-class website for your business.
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Guest blogger Joseph Schneider is the Director of Marketing at Haitna, a digital marketing firm based in Texas.
The Pros & Cons of Using Animation On Your Website
Incorporating elements of animation is a great way to make your website come to life. When properly implemented, quality animation can significantly enhance your site’s user experience as well as its overall effectiveness.
Animation in the right place at the right time has the power to capture a user’s attention, improve engagement, secure more conversions, and even increase sales.
That being said, animation also presents its share of challenges. For one thing, it’s easy to get carried away and add an excessive amount of animation. Even professional designers and developers have to toe the line between making the most of all that animation has to offer and creating a site that’s overwhelmed with too much activity.
Instead of attracting more visitors to your site, badly executed animation can actually alienate users. Animation that’s carelessly integrated into your design can create confusion, discord, and chaos for users.
If you’re thinking about including elements of animation on your business website, there are a few things you should take into consideration. Let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons of using animation on your website.
PROS:
Animation Can Help Increase User Engagement
Adding animation to your website design is sure to grab a user’s attention more than just a static screen. Websites that not only function efficiently but look good as well are more likely to enjoy positive feedback and decreased bounce rates from users.
Animation Lends Authenticity and Legitimacy to Your Site
Online scammers don’t generally invest a lot of time or effort into a complex website design. When done well, animation not only indicates to users that your website is legitimate, but it also positions your brand as a credible authority in your field.
Animation Enhances the Overall Design of Your Site
The right animation effects can breathe life into your website design, leaving a lasting impression on visitors. Couple an aesthetically pleasing design with interactive elements and you’ll further increase users’ interest in spending more time on your site.
CONS:
Animation Can Slow Page Loading Speeds
Since animation places a heavy load on website resources, it can cause slower load speeds for both individual pages and the site itself. Slow loading times can frustrate users, leading them to move on to other sites that have what they’re looking for but load much faster. Longer loading times can also negatively impact your rankings in Google search engine results.
Animation Can Distract from Your Business Goals
Having too many animated elements can annoy users and cause them to abandon your website without completing a purchase – regardless of what motivated them to visit in the first place. When inexpertly executed, web animation can also draw a user’s attention away from your core message. Instead of focusing on what products to buy, visitors may become overly distracted by the movement on the page.
Animation Might Not Always Improve User Experience
While animation may add to the visual appeal of your website, it doesn’t always enhance the user’s experience. Websites should be designed to function in a way that’s easy for visitors to use. Adding animation where it’s not needed can make a site harder to navigate and ultimately detract from the overall user experience.
Final Thoughts
Before determining whether animation is right for your website, consider the following questions:
What is its purpose?
Will it enhance or detract from the user experience?
How will it benefit users or add to your message?
Will it help guide your visitors in the right direction (e.g., making a purchase or booking an appointment)?
Will it slow your site down?
Can you execute it well?
When it comes to web animation, it’s best to exercise a less-is-more approach. You shouldn’t simply include animation whenever and wherever you want – its use must always be justified. By and large, web animation should always be integrated in ways that align with your broader business objectives.
So, should you use animation on your website? That, of course, is up to you to decide. Ultimately, it all boils down to the user experience you can and want to provide.
By heeding the advice above, it’s possible to incorporate elements of animation into your business website design that will allow you to reap all the benefits of the pros and none of the cons. To ensure maximum results, enlist the services of professional web designers and developers.
If you’re looking to give your business website a facelift (with or without the animation), HighClick Media can help! Reach out to us today at 252.814.2150 or drop us a line here.
