Design Mester | Web Design – Web Design & Development

7 Ways You Can Maximise Your Content’s Impact On Your SEO

April 4, 2023

“Content. Content. Content.” That is the mantra you will often hear from any SEO expert who says that you need to create excellent content to achieve higher rankings in Google. They are right because when Google’s spiders go out into the internet and analyse your website, they are looking for content.

Content not only lets Google know what your website is about and, thus, what keywords you are trying to rank for, but it also contributes to the experience of your visitors. User experience is one of Google’s key differentiators, and it means that the better your content is, the more Google will reward you in the only way they can…better rankings.

One problem that some website owners have is they think simply publishing content is enough. It is not. Content needs to be optimised, not just for those who read it, but also for Google’s spiders. Thankfully, most content optimisations are easy to implement and better still, some of what you implement optimises your content for both the user and Google. Based on the marketing knowledge from the professionals at Oxygen Marketing, here are seven ways to enhance your content for SEO purposes.

5 ways to boost your SEO score

January 24, 2023

Although SEO (search engine optimisation) is becoming increasingly competitive, it’s still more than possible to rank well for keywords that are relevant to your website. After a discussion with SEO expert, Peter Brittain, we found you need to make sure that you’re ticking all the boxes in order to help your SEO score.

With this in mind, I’ve looked closely at the hundreds of factors that search engine crawler bots take into account when analysing your website. From this, I’ve developed a list of the top 5 ways to boost your SEO score. These include:

Focus On Creating High-Quality Content

The SEO experts at seosydneypro.com.au say one of the most important parts of search engine optimisation is creating high-quality authority content. You need to make sure that your content is relevant to the search terms that people are going to use to find your website.

Similarly, you need to make sure that your content is engaging and interesting. The longer people spend on your website – known as the “dwell time” – the better your SEO score will be.

Make Sure You Use Outbound Links

While you’re creating content for your website you need to be thinking about ways to bring value to your readers. One of the best ways to do this is to add outbound links to respected, authority websites in your niche.

Setting Up Your Basic Digital Marketing Campaign

October 19, 2022

There’s a quote from the 1989 movie ‘Field of Dreams’ that goes ‘Build it and they will come’. Unfortunately, that is the attitude many business owners have about their digital marketing once they have a website live and online. They are under the misconception that by having a website, flocks of customers are going to come knocking on their home page door. They couldn’t be more wrong.

This is not to say you shouldn’t have a website. Of course, you should. But its mere presence means nothing if you don’t back it up with a properly thought out digital marketing plan.

Your marketing plan doesn’t have to be particularly complicated, as there are few basic strategies which can be implemented to make the most of what the internet can offer in terms of traffic and potential customers.

The first action must be the creation of an email subscriber system. If you did nothing else this action alone can, not only be the foundation of your online business, it can be the catalyst for its success. There have been hundreds of online millionaires created purely down to the fact that they have a list of email subscribers, and they market to that list effectively.

How to Write for Mobile So That Google Puts You Ahead in the SEO Game

October 15, 2022

There’s no escaping the fact that unless you have your website optimised for mobile devices, no matter how good the rest of your SEO tactics are, you are going to be playing catch up when it comes to rankings. Since mobile overtook desktop for online searches in 2015 Google has made it clear the emphasis of their search engine results would be moving towards mobile sites, which is something to consider when developing a digital marketing strategy.

With them producing their first mobile search indexing, it means if you have both a mobile and a desktop version of your online business website, (and if you don’t, why not?), the mobile version will be considered the primary site over the desktop version.

What these means that just as we have had to ensure that our content was everything it needed to be in terms of quality and keyword relevance on desktop, the mobile version needs to be likewise. The key here is that it’s not enough simply to make your website mobile compatible but that the content used is more appropriate for being consumed on a mobile device such as a phone or tablet.

We mentioned consumed there and this should really be the first thing to discuss because you need to be aware of how content is viewed or read on a mobile device. There is a tendency for a user to read or view content in a more evenly distributed way than eyes being drawn to the top-left or F-shaped reading pattern of desktop users.

Unleash the Power of Search Engine Optimization to Improve your Website Rankings

June 1, 2021

One does not necessarily have to be a history buff to testify that search engines have been around for as long as the Internet in some form or the other.

With the introduction of a number of algorithms with different names, search engines have evolved so much that they are now considered as the backbone of the digital marketing landscape. Almost the entire web population relies on search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo to search for the information they are looking for to satisfy their needs.

It is generally believed that grabbing the top position on search engines is only possible through excessive keyword usage and link stuffing. However, search engines like Google are very smart for that – any illegal or inappropriate optimization tactics used on your website can backfire on you and it takes only a fraction of time for Google to pick on these and penalize your rankings, you need to stick to the recommended guidelines.

Ecommerce Activities – Are They Important for a Startup?

September 25, 2020

There are so many opportunities for startups today that one can feel overwhelmed regarding how to get started. However, if you are planning to start an online store, then ecommerce could be the likely solution to help you set up a virtual space. WooCommerce, Shopify, Volusion, and BigCommerce are some of the top ecommerce platforms today that help startups open full-featured online stores.

That being said, engaging in ecommerce activity is not really a necessity, especially if you want your startup to be involved in other online ventures. At the same time, an ecommerce website is not as easy as it sounds, and focusing too much on selling and marketing may lead you to compromise on networking, data storage capacity, and personally identifiable information (PII) of consumers.

The Case For

If you are planning on opening a full-feature store on the internet, then ecommerce is the most practical solution to your needs. By full-feature, we mean a store that has product categories, descriptions with images, virtual shopping carts, safe and secure checkout, various payments gateways, shipment methods, and much more. In other words, you must first have your bases covered in terms of merchandising and shipment to actually start an ecommerce store.

Remember that if you plan on running a full-feature store, you will have to have a promotional strategy for existing and potential customers. This could include flash sales, super deals, coupon codes, and more. Ali Express, the leading ecommerce platform today, is a great example of promotional success as the store has Super Deals running for different products at different times of the day.

Building Blocks for Great (Website) First Impressions

January 21, 2020

It turns out that as humans, we’re pretty quick to make a judgement. There’s plenty of sayings and phrases that make this clear. Having a ‘gut feel’ or a ‘blink reaction’ are just two examples. Parents and teachers advising us to not rush to judge a book by its cover (because they know that this is something that everyone does) is another:

A lot of the time those snap judgements are about people or ideas. But that tendency to rush to judgement is also present in the online world, thus you should take this into account when you are designing and building your responsive website.

Snap Judgements

Some designers and web experts estimate that browsers will form an opinion about a website or app within one second of using it. That’s right: just one second. So that means that there is plenty of work to be done to ensure that the first impression you give browsers is a good one.

And to make that whole process simpler, we’ve collated some of the most relevant here.

Images Matter

There’s a reason that magazines thrived for a century, and why ecommerce didn’t really take off until we could upload high resolution images to websites. And that reason is images. Images, and their quality matter more than almost any other single element on a web page.

Humans are visual creatures. It’s estimated that most of the communication we do is non-verbal and conveyed through cues and tone. It’s the same online – ‘showing’ using pictures, graphics, slideshows and colours is far more effective than ‘telling’ using only words.

5 SEO Tips For New Landscaping Websites

January 23, 2019

If you don’t already have a website for your landscaping or landscape design company, you need to get one. As a predominantly visual art, landscapers need somewhere to showcase their work to potential clients. A customised website offers just this, especially if it’s built well and used in conjunction with social media.

However, it’s important to create a website that people can find. If no one can find you, they won’t come to you for work. This is where search engine optimisation, or SEO, comes into the picture.

When creating a new website, you need to make sure that it’s optimised for search engine crawler bots to make sure that you get the highest search engine results ranking possible. There are a lot of different things to consider when performing SEO, but here’s 5 quick tips to help you get started:

Focus on quality rather than quantity

When you’re creating written content for your landscaping website, it’s important to focus on quality rather than quantity. You should never rush your keyword research – make sure that all of your content contains relevant keywords and keywords variations, and make sure that it mentions the areas you work in from time to time. Above all, make sure that it’s free from spelling and grammar mistakes, otherwise you will be penalised by the search engines.

Include high quality images

Again, make sure that you focus on adding high quality images to your website rather than adding a lot of images. People want to see your best work, so show them this. If you show potential clients sub-par work, then they will take their business elsewhere – it’s quite simple really!

Three Questions You Must Answer To Create Great Sales Copy

September 30, 2017

Whether you are going to create all the copywriting for your business yourself, or are going to employ a copywriter, the only way that the sales copy which is written can be effective, is if three very important questions are answered beforehand.

The first is one which copywriters going back to the earliest days of advertising have wanted the answer to, and that is what is the product’s unique selling proposition, or USP as it is more commonly referred to. The simple truth is that a business owner wanting to sell a product or service, you must be able to identify what the USP is. In other words, what differentiates your ‘widget’ from all the other widgets.

A simple way to identify it, is by the using the statement “This is the only ‘widget’ that ……”. What you write in the space after the word ‘that’ is the USP of your product. If you cannot think of anything to write in the space, then you must ask yourself why would anyone want to buy my product if it has nothing different to offer them from all the other products that exist already? This is where so many businesses fall at the first hurdle because they are not offering customers anything different from that which they can purchase elsewhere already.

The second question that needs to be answered is who is your market, or who are your potential customers that you are targeting with your marketing campaign? If you simply say ‘everyone’, then there is no way for any of the sales copy which is used in your marketing to speak directly to those customers. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a specific group such as a gender or social class. Instead, it could be ‘dog owners who are fed up with dog hair the rug’, or ‘over 50s who haven’t made a will’, for example.

New Ways to Brand Yourself in Web Design: Top Tips

July 28, 2017

When you are coming up with new ways to brand yourself or you are working with a company that is struggling to brand themselves, you may start to have questions about how you can successfully brand or rebrand without ruffling too many feathers. There are plenty of companies that have committed faux paus when it comes to branding, logo design, and even just setting a tone for your company.

So how can you do it? Here are our top tips for branding:

1. Time the Change

If you or a company is changing brands, it has to be timed correctly within the market. Things are always changing and shifting, so you have to anticipate the appropriate opening.

For companies that don’t have a branding strategy yet, you have more time to play with. Set a timeline but don’t be afraid to change it up and seize the opportunity when it arises.

2. Empower the Brand

Your client has to understand exactly what you are doing when you are re-branding or branding them. The best way to do this is to learn how to suggest things to them so that they think they came up with the idea. The company is more likely to get behind it if it comes from someone on their side than if it comes from you.

3. Be Flexible

Brand expansion, brand extension, and changes within the company happen all the time, even while you are working on the web design. If something happens, go with the flow and learn how to adapt quickly.

The Evolution Of Web Design

May 3, 2017

Like many areas of tech, there is no doubt that web design has come a long way. For many of us, watching the advancements, or even taking the occasional trip back down memory lane, has been nothing less than staggering. In the early stages of web design, the idea that pictures could be plastered onto sites, was nothing short of revolutionary.

Early 90’s Websites

Since some of the earlier websites in 1991, sites have come a long way since their primitive text based days. Aside from websites themselves, during the larger part of the 90’s, dial up internet was the best you could ask for. A lot of the websites during this period, specifically catered as a result to slower internet connections. As mentioned, most of these web site designs consisted only of text. Layouts for the most part, did not extend much further than that. However, as HTML evolved, web page layouts also did so simultaneously. In the immediate sense, this for the most part, consisted of links and headers for paragraphs. It was not until later on, that images as well as advancements in early typography were attainable.

8 Steps to Start an eCommerce Business

December 11, 2016

The Internet has become a great place to start a business. For many people, their website is their business and they have no bricks and mortar store at all. This allows them to start a business that may become worth millions, for a relatively small amount of money, especially compared with what it would cost to start a traditional kind of business.

So what exactly do you need to start an online ecommerce business? Like any other business model you need to do some research to find what product or service people want. Few people these days are in need of wagon wheels; chocolate ones may be a different story. Here are some tips on what you need to start a business online

Products or services that people want.
Decide where you will get your products from. Some people make their own products, others buy and store them – or they dropship. Dropshipping is taking orders for another company who keeps what you want to sell. When you get an order, you send it to the company and they dispatch the order straight to your customer. This saves you having to store goods. You set your own price and get a percentage of the sale.

Decide on the name of your business. This has to be done before you get a website as the domain name should be the same as your business name. Research will be essential to ensure that domain name is available.

Minimalism in Web Design

September 19, 2016

The ‘less is more’ mentality is all the rage among web designers these days, and it seems as if all web design service providers have declared a crusade against clutter. The clean and clutter free designs are a welcome change from some of the horrendous displays we have seen in the past, and it seems the trend will continue throughout 2013.

The increasing number of smartphone and tablet users has also contributed to this trend, because usability and clarity of message takes precedence when it comes to smaller screens.

Whether fixing a previous design or creating a new one from scratch, a web designer has to:

Determine a Focus

Minimalistic designs have a clear focus that is highlighted through the content. The whole point of creating a slick and clean web design is to put the spot light on the content, and to make the design play a secondary role to enhance the effect of the web content. The focus of the website is influenced by the goal of the company/person for whom the website is being created. Usually, a website focuses on:

Create an Ecommerce Website in 5 Stages

April 16, 2016

If you had a mind-set that building an ecommerce website on your own is hard then read on to change your mind.

5 step by step process to build an ecommerce website –

Select a domain name and choose a hosting provider

Domain name selection plays a vital role especially with regards to digital marketing & online advertising such as text links and banners. Brand building requires a name that is uncommon, a name that will stick in the public minds when they come across it in your online/offline marketing campaigns.

At the onset, there isn’t the requirement of a huge web server or hosting account. Just go about with a shared web hosting account. Make sure there is the potential to develop the bandwidth and web space for the hosting services.

External shopping cart or complete web shop?

Depending on the number of items you have decided to sell consider your website accordingly.

You should opt for a standard website in case you are going to sell below 10 items. However, the website must contain some link that advances to an external shopping cart application. This set-up is convenient but when customers re-visit your website their shopping carts will be empty which may lead to sales loss.

In case you have a huge product catalogue then it is right to opt for full-featured ecommerce solutions. Three superb open source projects to run a website shopping portal for free or at a cheap rate are- Zen Cart, Magento, and osCommerce.

Optimized Micro-sites: Take your Business to the Next Level with Interactive Web Design

October 28, 2015

It’s time to make some noise! The Internet is a jumbled place. Just when you believe there is no room for another crazy dog video from BuzzFeed, another one makes it to the market and goes viral.

The sheer clutter and noise of the Internet creates a predicament for businesses looking to gain a leg up on competition; it’s quite challenging to design a corporate website that generates the same sort of Buzz that BuzzFeed videos do, but that doesn’t mean you should simply abandon the Internet to crazy videos. Instead, you may want to seriously consider getting a micro site designed to drive traffic to your main website and to create some noise of your own out there.

Optimizing Micro-sites for Conversion: Gear up your Online Presence

If you’re looking to generate new leads, attract new customers, market your offerings better or recruit qualified talent, micro-sites can help you achieve your goals while creating a positive impact on your bottom-line.

The Internet facilitates you in reaching out to billions of people across the globe, but if you’re like most small businesses out there, dominating the global marketplace might not really be on your list of priorities. What keeps your business running smoothly and successfully is your local market.

Optimized Micro-sites are an efficient and engaging way for businesses to connect with new audiences and wow their current audience. Additionally, these also allow your business to experiment with a new campaign. Even better, if you don’t like the end result, these can be easily taken down since these are not part of your main website anyway – it is quite painless and easy to bid farewell.

Untold Secrets Revealed: Stand out Online with an Interactive Web Design

October 25, 2015

The concept of interactive web design has become indispensable over the past decade!

The rapidly evolving global economic landscape has made it challenging for businesses to keep up with the latest trends. With new businesses entering the market with innovative products and old players revamping their products, everything seems to be fleeting.

So what is the best way to cope with the changing consumer preferences, trends and technology? What are some things you can use to retain your customers/users? The answer is human psychology! But how can you use human psychology to improve website engagement? Let’s figure it out.

Can human psychology be used to improve website engagement?

1. Visual Appeal – Make a Lasting Impression with Eye Catching and Innovative Designs

A well designed and professional looking website not only creates a visual appeal but also encourages your web visitors to stay longer and prompts them to suggest your business to their friends. Through creativity, you can create the magical pull to attract more traffic to your website without putting in great deal of effort.

In the eyes of your customer, your business’s mobile website is a reflection of your business. Professional web design works two ways when you think of Internet interactivity on retail. It not only helps your customers to buy from you but also offers them enhanced experience when they visit your online store.

Your customers feel the website is a trustworthy place to shop and they feel safe to give out their personal information and purchase from you. This can dramatically increase your sales figures and give your business an instant boost.

Does your Business Need a New, Interactive Web Design?

October 20, 2015

A responsive business website plays an important role in keeping your website traffic and your conversion high! Business owners are often seen complaining about how their website rankings nosedived over time. Despite heavy investments in terms of time and money, the return is far from proportionate. If this sounds familiar to you, chances are that you have an outdated website.

While old may be gold in age old maxims, it turns into a lost treasure that is difficult to discover. Some of the top ranking websites are the ones that are regularly updated with fresher content, are more engaging have more interactive design and have strategically been optimized.

It may be that your website is a just a couple of months old or you may have invested heavy resources on updating it few years back, how do you know if you still need a newer and better one? Continue reading to learn the most obvious signs that may show that your business needs a new more professional, responsive website.

Web Design Principles your Business Needs to Know

October 16, 2015

You only have a few seconds to grab attention and your time starts NOW!

The pace of novel experiences in our modern digitalized world has changed drastically. The human brain, today, is bombarded with information overload. Rather than new opportunities every few days, weeks, or months, in today’s digitalized world, novelty is presented to us in microseconds.

To make sure your business website attracts the attention of your target audience, you need to have a good understanding of web design principles so that you may assess your business website and see whether it has all the elements of a compelling website or not.

1. Insights

You have 8 seconds to impress your audience!

According to a research conducted by the National Centre for Biotechnology Information, U.S National Library of Medicine, “the average attention span of humans is 8.25 seconds compared to 9 seconds for a goldfish.”

The human attention span — which is an essential resource for the healthy functioning of our brain — is shrinking day by day. Just five years ago, humans had an attention span of 12 seconds – which means we could concentrate easily on a single thing for about 12 seconds. The age of smartphones has reduced our attention span to an extent that even a goldfish can concentrate better than us

When it comes to designing interactive websites, well-planned strategy can help you meet your objectives, adding a little fun element to your website blended well with information won’t hurt.