Affiliate Marketing – User Experience

There are various types of affiliate marketing you can use on your website; some are obvious to readers, while others tend to be subtler. Most people will visit your website because of the services, products or information you offer, therefore you don’t want to deter them from your site altogether by bombarding them with too many adverts or links which will ruin their browsing experience. You should select the companies you choose to affiliate with wisely and ensure their products fit in with your brand as this will maximize the number of click-throughs and conversions you receive, meaning you make more money.

Strategic Placement

Making money from home is easy when you place your affiliate links in locations which make the reader want to click on them to find out more. With MediaKix reporting that 16% of all online orders are made from successful affiliate marketing, it’s vital that your links are dotted strategically around your site. Some of the most successful locations to place affiliate links is on sidebar and header banner ads, in your articles and blog posts and on resource pages, although, non-traditional affiliate methods are proving victorious for some big brands too. Your website designer will be able to work your affiliate advertisement requirements into your website’s current layout or into a brand new design if required, so ensure you do your research and understand what will work best for you and your customers.

Affiliate Marketing – Maximizing your Conversions

Call to action buttons are the ultimate way of gaining conversions on your website and making money. It’s important that you get these buttons spot on, even down to their color. WordStream advises that green and orange perform the best, as do contrasting colors. Keep your action buttons above the fold so that you grab your reader’s attention immediately and ensure that your highest paying affiliates are featured on these buttons so that you make as much cash from them as possible. You also need to choose a layout which gives you space to add multiple ads and images in order to enhance your conversions and your SEO. People are naturally drawn to bold images and you should opt for a two-column layout to allow you to place your affiliate advertisements horizontally down one side of your main content.

Making cash from a well-designed website via affiliate marketing is easy to achieve. Always choose who you affiliate with wisely as they need to meet the needs of your customers in order to gain maximum income from them. Carefully place your links in locations on your site which are proven to generate click-throughs and use the call to action buttons cleverly to gauge interest and increase your conversions.

Featured image by Hal Gatewood on Unsplash.

The post Create The Perfect Website Design To Make Cash From Affiliate Marketing first appeared on DFW Website Designers - 817.247.6003.

Designing for Every Device You Can Access a Website On

From e-readers to smartphones to tablets, the consequences of responsive design are significant. Responsive design, also known as omnichannel design, is where web pages can detect the size of users’ screens and adjust the content on them automatically. Without it, some websites end up being very difficult to navigate. With 45% of total e-commerce purchases likely to be made on mobile by 2020, it’s crucial to make sure your website is ready.

Keeping Customers Hooked

Even after a customer has made a purchase, many online stores now think about how to keep these people engaged enough to consider making another purchase in the future, creating a more regular relationship. Effective digital marketing means it’s no longer a large time commitment for even the smallest of businesses to set up a regular newsletter or keep social media platforms active. In this way, previous customers stay informed about new products or promotions. As one marketing professional put it in an interview: “For small brands it’s often all about the story – if they can differentiate themselves from the big faceless brands out there and connect with consumers on an emotional, more personal, level.” Regular communication provides a clear avenue to do this.

Bringing the Product to Life

Businesses’ product visualization brings the sense of the product in a more vivid way to potential clients. It’s likely you’ve come across this on larger retail websites already: many contain the option to say, view a video of how a dress moves on a live model as they’re walking. For businesses selling complex products, like vehicles or architecture, a 3D visualization can be the start of a conversation with a customer which can guide the final product towards exactly what the client wants.

Augmented and virtual reality is the natural next step of product visualization and there’s significant innovation going on in this area already. Users of the interior design app Hutch take a picture of the room they’re trying to style, swipe through ‘design filters’ and then finalize their products within the preselected theme. Meanwhile, through Avametric, shoppers can try on clothes virtually, using the company’s ‘clothing-fit’ technology.

Future-Proofing Your Online Business

All of this can seem overwhelming for a small business owner on a limited budget, but there are ways you can incorporate these three trends into your business. It’s easy to check whether your web pages look ok on a mobile, and keeping in touch with existing customers is a great way to find out what they like and dislike about your products. Even for product visualization, every shopper appreciates plenty of photos of the product, and free returns if it ends up not living up to the promise. In such a competitive online landscape, it’s important to do whatever you can to ensure your online business stands out!

Featured image by NeONBRAND on Unsplash.

The post Is Your Website Ready For The Upcoming Trends In Online Commerce? first appeared on DFW Website Designers - 817.247.6003.

For events organizers, this is crucial – events sell out quickly, especially where the big guns are concerned, and a frustrating website experience will drive customers away. For the events industry, a fast and customer focused web design is the first, and most important, a step towards online success.

Cross Platform Compatibility

With the huge range of smartphones available today outselling feature phones from 2013 onwards (according to IDC), and now standing as the most popular way to get online, it is essential for a savvy online business to be able to reach multiple platforms to appeal to a wider audience. More than that, smartphones top popularity charts for getting online, according to research reported by the New York Post. Ensure that your web design is compatible with multiple platforms so customers can access your web-based event sales service seamlessly and without frustration. Bear in mind that 2.2-second improvement, and how speed and ease of use will help your client base.

Intuitive Design and Details

For every website that has a real-world application – as opposed to being purely digital – it is crucial to include intuitive details suited to your products. Think about scale. If you’re a small scale, local events organizer, it can be helpful to provide small, locally known items; such as directions to the venue, and street-level maps. For a larger, national organizer, you’re going to need larger-scale maps that can be linked into the surrounding state geography. Consider using local travel tips and ideas for foods and drinks, including closing times. It can be helpful to link to local travel infrastructure, too.

Keeping Your Infrastructure Up to Date

Initial website design is exciting, and getting a great product together that works quickly, efficiently, and effectively, is a challenge. The worst mistake you can make is resting on your laurels. According to tech guru Toms Hardware, 30% of websites use outdated code. The main problem here is security. Outdated web architecture makes ripe pickings for hackers, and that can be disastrous in a client-led business. Aside from that, new versions of code bring with them faster speeds, better design elements and compatibility with new protocols. Many search engines can be picky in their rankings if websites are not compliant with up-to-date security and architecture protocols.

Build your website inclusive, built it smart, and keep it maintained. Do all of this, and you’ll be well on your way to having a great events ticketing website.

Featured image by Lee Campbell on Unsplash.

The post Essential Elements for a Modern Ticketing Website first appeared on DFW Website Designers - 817.247.6003.

A Website Can Lead To Success Even In College

Although some only found fame after college, there are many great relationships that formed while some of the most well-known entrepreneurs of the 21st century were still at college. These include Jerry Yang and David Filo who later went on to find Yahoo! Setting up a website does not necessarily lead to instant success, but it does provide students with the opportunity to form great relationships with others who may just point them in the right direction where their talents are concerned, irrespective of their chosen field of study.

The Opportunity To Finance Studies

Students who are unable to pay for their studies through savings have many other options available to them. There are a number of student loan options out there, and for those who wish to supplement their income, there is the option to earn some income online. A website is an ideal platform for students to earn some passive income through affiliate marketing or to provide services and products to others. This lessens the financial burden by allowing students to repay their student loans faster or to pay for their courses directly.

A Showcase For Future Employers

There are a number of career choices that would benefit students from having a website, such as photographers, graphic designers, artists, musicians, journalists, and more. The platform is an addition to a resume and can set the student apart from others applying for the same role by showing a little bit of creativity. An online portfolio that’s well maintained may also provide students with the opportunity to do freelance work and have access to many different projects as opposed to applying for a job at a single firm.

The internet is not only changing the way we do business, but also the way businesses look for future talent. Students who familiarize themselves with the possibilities of setting up a professional website may reap the rewards well before they graduate, putting them one step ahead of the pack.

Featured image by Jens Kreuter on Unsplash.

The post Websites: Setting Students Up For Future Success first appeared on DFW Website Designers - 817.247.6003.

The Basics of Bitcoin

Cryptocurrencies are a type of digital currency that can be used online, whether you’re looking to buy, sell or trade coins. There are hundreds of different Cryptocurrencies available over the Internet, but perhaps the most famous of these is Bitcoin. It was first founded in 2009 when an anonymous developer figured out how to use peer-to-peer networks to verify transactions and track Bitcoin activity. In short, this means that no one could game the system by spending the same coin twice.

Cryptocurrencies work similarly to traditional online banking. Though coins have no physical form, they can be used to pay a salary for services, purchase goods online, saved for a rainy day fund, and much more. The value of a coin is determined by investors, as demand for a cryptocurrency goes up, so does the price.

There are a couple of reasons that cryptocurrencies have become such a popular means of buying and selling power in the past few years. First and foremost, Bitcoins, and Litecoins are a secure means of monetary exchange. You’re safer from counterfeiters, identity thieves, and other threats than if you use traditional banking. Bitcoin is also anonymous, allowing you to make purchases without having your personal information attached to the bill.

What is an ICO?

If you want to create your own cryptocurrency, you’re going to need a pretty large chunk of money to do so. Since most startups don’t just have cash laying around, they rely on an ICO to raise the funds that they need. Investors trade established cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin for emerging cryptocurrencies, helping to give new platforms more power. To create a successful ICO campaign, however, you first need to put some thought into the design of the website that potential investors will see.

ICO Website Design Tips

The main avenue you have to spread the word about an ICO is through online channels. Because of this, it’s essential that you make your website look clean-cut and professional to attract investors. Here are some tips for how you can create a site that will help you to build your brand:

User-Friendly: While Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies used to be reserved for the technologically savvy, they are now widely used by laymen, startup companies, and big businesses alike. You should aim to create a website layout that’s easy to navigate even for users with limited computer experience. Create menus with simple labels and make content clear and concise.

Minimalistic: Minimalist web design not only makes it easier for users to understand and explore your website but also gives your enterprise a more professional appearance. Website design these days is all about simple images and text that’s short and sweet.

Sleek and Chic: While cryptocurrencies are still a relatively new trend, they hold the promise of becoming a major means of purchasing power as technology becomes more and more integrated into our lives. You can reflect this theme of advancement and innovation in your online branding by using a futuristic design scheme that highlights clean lines and cool colors.

Cryptocurrencies offer a new way for entrepreneurs to make money online. While creating a cryptocurrency can be a costly process, ICO campaigns can help you to raise the funds that you need. One of the best things that you can do to make your campaign a success is to put care and thought into the design of your ICO website.

Featured image by Andre Francois on Unsplash.

The post The Bitcoin Craze: Making Money from ICO Websites first appeared on DFW Website Designers - 817.247.6003.

The truth is, there are so many widgets, add-ons, special features and forms of content that can be added to websites. But which ones really work best and will spread your message to customers most effectively? When designing a site, it is essential to keep your ideal customers in mind. By putting yourself in the customer’s shoes, you can create a website that helps grow your business and establishes a reliable and loyal customer base.

Do Your Research: Case Studies

An efficient way to encourage customer loyalty is to do the right research and find out what your customers like and dislike about your website. Even if you are just starting out in building a website, you can integrate different case studies from within your industry. Using the case studies to gather information about best practices will then show you the way to designing a successful website that is sure to be profitable.

If you have a longstanding website and are simply looking to improve its features, you should look to your client success stories for guidance. Ask your customers to complete a survey on your website next time they use your product or service. This way, you can create your own case studies with real-world feedback from your customers, who will certainly appreciate you designing with them in mind.

Training and Support

One of the fastest ways to lose customers it is by having poor customer service. According to data-driven statistics provided by KissMetrics, 71% of consumers have ended a relationship with a company due to poor customer support. Clearly, it is important to make sure that you have a trained support team who can readily provide customers with clarity if needed.

When designing your website, marketers should always keep in mind that helping customers gain valuable insight about your product or service is crucial to the site’s success. Customers shouldn’t have to struggle to navigate your site and find the information they need quickly. If your website is well-designed and efficient, you may not need to have a support team in place; but until it is fully optimized, customer service needs to be a core component of the overall design.

By planning ahead, doing the right research, and offering technical support, companies can ensure that their website as
centered on the customer’s positive experience.

The post Why It’s Essential to Design Websites with the Customer in Mind first appeared on DFW Website Designers - 817.247.6003.

Web Design for Color Blindness – What is CVD?

CVD is the inability to distinguish blue, red and green streams of light. The most common form is red/green color blindness, where any colors that have red or green as part of them are muddled. It is caused by a mutation in the X chromosome, which is why men are more likely to be affected by the condition than women. Women, however, can be carriers of the genetic condition, without actually having any of the symptoms. Other types of CVD include Protan color blindness, which affects the ability to distinguish red light and Protanopia which affects the ability to distinguish blue and purple light.

How Does this Affect Web Design?

Web design is all about accessibility – creating a website that is simple to use, intuitive in the use buttons and functions. Having a site that is overly busy in pictures and information can put users off, and they will look elsewhere for the things that they need. When you are trying to convey a message, then it is important to use both colors and symbols that are easily distinguishable. Web design has advanced enormously since the 1980s, but even the oldest domains on the internet were designed with the customer’s needs in mind, this is good practice. Things like error messages are often put in red, but unless there are symbols next to them clarifying what is wrong, they can be missed if the website user has CVD.

Keeping Design Clean and Sleek

Keeping web design minimal and clean is aesthetically pleasing to the eye, but also helps users with CVD. Obviously, the color palette that you use is extremely important, but it is also good to be conservative in the choices you make. Using a limited amount of colors will look classic and timeless, and it will also help cut down any confusion. Some color combinations are particularly difficult for people with CVD, not just red/green. Green/brown, blue/grey and green/black can commonly cause problems too.

Instead of concentrating on color, instead, use different textures and patterns on block images to show contrasts. This is particularly useful when featuring infographics and graphs. It is also a good idea to place text next to important images, to clarify their meaning. That way it is easy to understand the information that is needed.

When you are designing a website, considering users with CVD can help make your website look clean, and helps to really focus on making the website content clear. You can’t rely on color to bring across the message that you’re trying to convey. A well-placed text will really help make your website user-friendly.

Feature image courtesy of Igor Miske via Unsplash.com

The post Web Design for Color Blindness first appeared on DFW Website Designers - 817.247.6003.

The good news is that animations have moved away from FLASH technology, which did tend to increase loading times.  They are now created using CSS coding and JavaScrpit that can add animation to a site without overloading it.  Additionally, far from being a distraction, web designers and developers with experience and qualifications in computer animation will be able to use their skills to enhance users’ online experience.  In fact, the use of motion and animation was recently highlighted in an article from Inc.com. Animation will continue to trend in web design and it is increasingly important for small businesses.

What is Web Animation?

Animation used in web design can range from simple movements, such as a button that changes color when a user hovers over it. To something much more complicated like a character that walks across the screen. It can even be an animated film or cartoon that advertises a product. The trick is to get the balance of animation right for your site. According to a user experience research firm, the Nielsen Norman Group, careful consideration should be given to the goal purpose of an animation. Not just to have it included in a web page or application.

How Can Animation Improve My Website?

Animation can make your website easier to use. You can alert users about new features or pages on your site. Or attract their attention to something that they need to do.  For example, a log-in form could shake to show that information has been incorrectly entered.

Whilst animation can be great for grabbing a visitor’s attention. It can also be used to keep a visitor interested and stop them from leaving the site too soon.  A great example of this would be a loading sequence that keeps a user engaged even before the website is fully loaded.  A screen could load in different stages with different elements sliding in from either side. Or its content could cascade onto a page.  A further benefit of animation is that it can help users find their way around your site.  For instance, menu items can be set to fade away once a user has chosen where they want to go.

Using animation on your website can be a great way to make it stand out.  However, you should always remember that it should enhance the user experience, rather than simply be a distraction.  Used carefully, animation can serve as a guide to users around your website. Finally giving them the best online experience without diluting your core message.

Feature Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash.

The post Using Animation in Web Design first appeared on DFW Website Designers - 817.247.6003.

In storing files online, people nowadays rely much on cloud storages because aside from the convenience, storage sites now offer a bigger space per user. But have you ever bothered to ask yourself how secure is it to upload your files to these sites?

The most popular cloud storage available today is the Google Drive and its email platform, Gmail. (Who on earth doesn’t know Google?) One of the things these sites boast about their storage system is the security and privacy.

Wait… Did I just mention privacy? Perhaps it’s time to take a pause and discuss some dark facts and the pitfall of sharing files on Google.

How Secure is Secure?

Of course, before you signed up for these free cloud storages and file sharing apps, they bragged about their “A+” security. Isn’t it one of the reasons you trusted them with your precious files? We always fall for “Your privacy is our concern.” Before you answer “yes”, let us quickly go through this list and see if Google really lives up to their promises.

1. Terms of Service.

While Google assured their users that they retain ownership of any intellectual property rights of any file uploaded to their system, this statement seems to control those rights.

“When you upload, submit, store, send or receive content to or through our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content.

The rights you grant in this license are for the limited purpose of operating, promoting, and improving our Services, and to develop new ones. This license continues even if you stop using our Services (for example, for a business listing you have added to Google Maps).”

Yeah, this sounds like no matter what you feel about it, once you have uploaded what’s yours, Google has the right to use it for “improving” their services. And don’t worry. Even if you delete your file and your account, Google can still continue to use the content. (Looks like there is no escaping the system.)

2.  Google has to comply with world governments.

Uh-oh. Even just hearing it makes you wonder. What is it for? Edward Snowden, a former NSA employee exposed that the government is spying on its people collecting telephone records from millions of Verizon customers. He also revealed that Google and Facebook made it easier for the government to collect data from their users through a program called Prism. They say it’s to detect possible terrorist attacks beforehand, but who would ever believe that?

3. Ownership of files can be transferred.

Careful! Transferring ownership to another person can be done as easy as 1, 2, 3, and this sometimes happens accidentally! For enterprises, yes, it’s prone to data leaks.

4. Send without sharing option.

One of the most critical parts of sending files via email is the sharing option. When you send a drive file to someone who does not have the permission to view it, there’s a “Send without sharing” option in Gmail. Otherwise, your file will become public.

5. “Wherever you are, we are there.”

Also known as, “One Account. All of Google”. Indeed, it is easier to manage your Google apps with just one account and password, but the downside of it is that you are more vulnerable to hacking. One account hacked, all of Google.

These are just some of the risks in using Google and probably all other cloud storage and file sharing platforms online. For Gmail, phishing is still one of the main security problems, so make sure to clean your inbox regularly and never click on suspicious links especially if you found them in your spam folder.

Since Google does not use client-side encryption, you might want to consider doing a pre-encryption setup using a third-party software on your computer before uploading your files. It is extremely important that you know the pros and cons before using any services on the Internet. Always remember: Your privacy, your responsibility.

The post Privacy at Risk: The Hidden Dangers of Google File Sharing first appeared on DFW Website Designers - 817.247.6003.

It is easy to get bogged down in the more complicated aspects of digital marketing by analyzing keywords and diving into pay per click strategies. But many of the most effective ways to improve conversions come from the overall design and layout of your website. Here we take a look at three aspects of web design that can make all the difference.

Get the Content Right

Every piece of content on your site needs to be there with the visitor in mind. Gear your content towards providing a solution to their problem or answering the question that brought them there in the first place.

It sounds obvious, but so many sites end up with a mass of content that does nothing. If this sounds like you, it might be time to do a content audit. In doing so, you can check that your content is relevant, useful and on-brand.

Make it Beautiful

Of course, all that great content is not going to help your cause if visitors cannot find it. Today’s websites need to be fresh, clear and intuitive, or visitors will rapidly leave and look somewhere else. As soon as your visitors arrive, they need to be greeted by engaging calls to action. Users also clear signs & headings that will encourage them to stay on your site.

Experiment with different color schemes, fonts and themes. Consider images that are keeping with your brand and your service offering. Here are two simple extreme examples: 1) a kid’s club will be looking to present a friendly, welcoming homepage with bright primary colors. 2) whereas a law firm will want to convey a more formal, professional look.

Also, remember that fashions and approaches change over time. As a general rule, websites need to be refreshed and updated every three years, so if yours is looking anything less than cutting-edge, now could be the time for a change.

Mobile First

Some say that the future is mobile, but the fact is that mobile is now. It is two years since mobile overtook desktop as the preferred platform for surfing the Internet, so if your website is not optimized for mobile platforms such as tablets and smartphones, your conversion rates will be through the floor.

A mobile first approach means ensuring that load times are acceptable, pages display properly and all buttons and calls to action work equally well across every platform.

Bonus Tip: Link to Other Beneficial Website

Part of improving sales and conversions is improving your ranking in Google. An element of this is linking to value added websites. For example, let’s say you are in the remodeling business. And one of the products you suggestion is a slimline radiator. Then you may want to link to other articles or the manufacture like this, that would support the products you recommend.

Watch your Conversions

Following the above tips will be certain to have a major impact on your conversion rates, but do not rest on your laurels. The Internet is a place of constant evolution, so keep a regular eye on your conversions through the reports on Google Analytics to ensure that you follow a process of continuous improvement and refinement.

Feature image courtesy of Aleksi Tappura.

The post 3 Design Tips to Improve Conversions first appeared on DFW Website Designers - 817.247.6003.