Design Mester | Web Design

Web Design & Development

Category: Website Design

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

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.

Continue reading

Ecommerce Activities – Are They Important for a Startup?

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.

Continue reading

Building Blocks for Great (Website) First Impressions

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.

Continue reading

New Ways to Brand Yourself in Web Design: Top Tips

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.

Continue reading

The Evolution Of Web Design

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.

Continue reading

Minimalism in Web Design

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:

Continue reading

Create an Ecommerce Website in 5 Stages

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 –

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

Continue reading

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

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.

Continue reading

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

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.

Continue reading

Does your Business Need a New, Interactive Web Design?

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.

Continue reading

Web Design Principles your Business Needs to Know

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.

Continue reading

Elements of a Good Web Design

Because often you do not get a second chance to make a first good impression!

With billions of active internet users out there, it is critical to have a visually appealing website that keeps visitors long enough. With instant access to the internet, most people get their first impression of your business from your website before they make a purchasing decision.

According to a research study conducted in 2006, it takes only 50 milliseconds for a website visitor to form an opinion about your website and your business. This means you have only 0.05 seconds to convince a website visitor that you’re worth their time, however, many businesses drop the ball and miss the window entirely.

First Impression Matters: What does your business website say about you?

What is the first thing that catches the attention of people when they visit your website? Does your website tell people what you are selling? It seems obvious, but there are thousands of websites out there – many of them creatively designed – which don’t mention explicitly, what they sell right off the bat.

Even if your website has a streamlined design and you have a decent navigation to your product pages, it won’t be of any help if website visitors are unable to understand your business or what you are selling them. This is the most important piece of information that needs to be conveyed in a fraction of a second.

Continue reading

Web Design and Development – The key to improving the Visibility of your Business

Does your business website make a great first impression of your business? Never thought a professionally designed website is an important part of your internet marketing strategy? If not, then it is about time your website received a creative makeover!

Conversion, customer involvement and acquisition are surely very important components of your digital presence and the reason for your brand existence, but in their strict schedules and busy lifestyles, they do not have enough time to go through lengthy details even if you have a very interesting story to share.

For yesterday’s marketer, digital marketing was aimed at bringing out the big guns. Nevertheless, today, it constitutes an integral part of any good branding campaign.  The concept is all about being relatable and innovative. If you fail to make a connection with your target audience, all your promotional campaigns are going to go down the drain.

Web Design: Interplay of Uniqueness, Creativity and Innovation

A creatively designed website can be used as a powerful tool and can go a long way in helping you improve your bottom line. A visually appealing and engaging website can give your business a leg up on competition.  Following is a list of some things that need to be taken into consideration when designing websites.

·         The Power of Visuals

Create  Magical Appeal with Engaging Graphics and Visuals!

We have been hardwired from a young age to believe in what we see. Visually appealing graphics and engaging visuals not only convey your message in an efficient manner, they have a great impact on the human brain compared to reading plain texts.

Sensory marketing has been used for centuries to attract attention. A striking website with the right blend of imagery and creativity is all that is needed to carve up a niche for your business and help you attract more customers.

Continue reading