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10 Website Fails Your Business Is Making

alpha — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 10:06:52 +0000

A website for your business is no longer a luxury — it’s a necessity. But, just because you invested in a website doesn’t mean that it’s effective in connecting with your customers and ultimately improving your sales. While there could be numerous reasons why your website isn’t effective, here are 10 of the most common explanations for website fails.

1. It’s not mobile friendly

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to most of us, but for the first time ever mobile and tablet usage surpassed desktop usage. As the mobile revolution continues to grow around the world, this trend toward “on the go digital,” will continue. In other words, internet consumption is moving away desktops and in to the portable devices territory. This means that your business’s website has to be optimized for mobile users.

Unfortunately, there are still lots of websites that aren’t mobile-friendly. This is just bad for business since it can lead to penalties from the Big G (Google), decrease conversation rates and deliver your customers a poor experience.

To make sure that your site is ready for mobile users, make sure that you use a responsive design, have large buttons and due your due-diligence on a/b testing, keep your layout simple and again, test it using tools like Google’s Search Console Mobile Friendly Test.

2. Contains too much jargon

I understand that you’re an expert in your field and that you want to demonstrate your knowledge and authority. But unless you’re talking to directly to your fellow industry experts, your average customer isn’t going to understand the technical language or industry jargon that you use to describe your business throughout your website.

Avoid the jargon and use simple and straight-forward language that your customers can easily understand.

3. Lacks content

Your customers have a problem. And they’re turning to your website to help them solve said-problem. That’s why your website needs to contain fresh and valuable content that answers real-life questions.

Remember, that doesn’t mean that they’re searching for your exact business. For example, our blog contains useful information for freelancers and small business owners. If a person is searching for advice on invoicing and processing payments, they could also land on our site because that’s the type of content we’ve been producing, as well.

In short, start a blog and keep writing awesome content. This will also help boost your SEO and content marketing efforts.

4. Hides essential information

Besides looking for information that will make their lives better, if customers are looking for your specific business, they want to easily locate information like:

The address of your business. If you have a brick and mortar business, include a map link.
Contact information, specifically a phone number and email address.
Social media plugins.
Hours, pricing and an “about us” page.

You’d be surprised at how many businesses still don’t have this information on their websites. And, if you’re like me, you may tend to stay from those types of businesses over security or legitimate concerns.

And, there’s really no excuse for forgetting this information. These additions are easy-to-integrate onto your site and usually free as well.

5. Loads too slowly

Customers expect a website to load quickly. In fact, 47 percent of consumers expect a website to load in just 2 seconds or less. And, that’s important to remember because an astounding 79 percent of shoppers who don’t enjoy their website experience less likely to ever return to that site again, nor buy from that site again.

You can test the speed of your site using tools like Pingdom and GTmetrix. These tools provide insights and advice on how to speed your site-up too.

6. Doesn’t have clear calls-to-action

You don’t want to leave your visitors in the dark by making them guess what you want them to do next on your site. So, give them clear instructions by creating a call to action button or hyperlinked text that is front and center.

HubSpot has 31 call-to-action examples that you should review if you need some inspiration. For instance, Dropbox has a blue “Sign up for free,” call-to-action button that stands out from the rest of the page.

Remember, without these buttons, your potential customers won’t move forward with the services or resources that you’re offering. When that happens, you won’t get those all-important business conversions.

7. It’s outdated

Webpages that are maintained and have a current design build trust and credibility. That doesn’t mean that you need to update your site every month. But, if it’s been years since you’ve had a major website design overhaul, then it’s time to find something more contemporary. The last thing that you want is to have a site that looks like a Geocities page from the late 90s.

8. It’s annoying and cluttered

Believe it or not, that are still businesses that insist on having websites that have music or videos play automatically once your enter the site. Even worse, these sites are also full of banner ads, bright colors and flashy text. These sites are just plain annoying and end-up slowing the page down because it’s so cluttered.

So, how many people are going to ever click on that site again at work — or anywhere else?

Keep in mind that a bulk of your visitors are browsing your site on mobile devices too. This means that you’re site should be clean and organized. Keep information to a minimum and use sub-headings, bullet lists and graphic elements so that visitors can digest this info in smaller chunks.

9. Shopping cart or payment platform is broken

Unless you’re relying on a third party payment gateway or shopping cart, then it’s your responsibility to frequently check to make sure that everything is working properly. You won’t be able to make a sale or receive a payment if your cart or payment processor is busted.

10. You don’t guide users to different pages

A lot of businesses send all their traffic to their website’s homepage, as opposed to relevant links that their customers actually want to land-on. This could be because service pages and other pages of the site are just an afterthought when designing a website. But, the fact of the matter is that the home page isn’t as important to general web traffic and the overall design.

Instead, start creating specific landing pages for the various types of potential customers you encounter and where they are in the sales funnel.

See the full article in Entrepreneur

Graphic Design Trends for 2020

alpha — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 09:53:15 +0000

We have prepared a selection of key trends in graphic design for 2020. From the article you will learn what will be at the peak of the wave, and what goes into the past. So, what will be the graphic design tomorrow:

Templates and textures

Today, there is a noticeable increase in the use of templates and textures, but there is no need to use them like competitors. The trend for 2020 is to combine several patterns in one design, in several parts.

Virtual network users are faced with a deficit of texture and volumetric images. For this reason, the full immersion format is becoming increasingly popular.

Graphic design has picked up trends in recent years. The triumph of gradients is replaced by the triumphant return of realistic textures. Contours and graininess make you want to touch what you see. For this reason, you need to find a really good developer, to convert PSD to HTML. This allows us to speak about the future of this trend, especially in the field of graphic design.

Colour solution 2020

Specialists from the Pantone Color Institute proposed to call the main color of 2020 – a shade of blue. It is listed under the number 19-4052. Its other name is “ClassicBlue”.

According to representatives of Pantone, this shade can be described as “an encouraging presence that can cause confidence, calmness. This blue color will be associated with stability, constancy, which is lacking in the modern world. People are always in a hurry, tired of the excess of information received. They lack trusting communication, honesty. The classic blue color will help to calm down, to gather thoughts.

Specialists of the color institute decided to make a real gift for people. They wanted consumers not only to learn about the main shade of the year but also to experience multi-sensory experience, which will be associated with the classic blue color. Thematic images with soundtracks were created, thematic aroma and special fabric were invented. Cooperation with representatives of world companies allowed inventing even a tea mixture, as well as multimedia installation in honor of the main color of the year.

It is important to mention that the institute of color has been selecting the main shade of the year for 20 years. Experts’ predictions are based on the analysis of many social trends that can have an impact on different industries, including design and fashion.

Isometry

The creation of three-dimensional objects in two-dimensional measurement is a trend that has been actively developed this year. Designers can touch the miracle of making an entire universe in a small space. It will take some time to explore all the details of this universe.

The picture seems clean and simple. It won’t take much time to study it. Specialists note the presence of depth, which can not boast a flat design. The isometry will help to show all possibilities of the general view of the terrain, any program. The isometric design will not conflict with most trends. The picture shows a simple gradient of violet and blue colors. If you add some futuristic elements, the appearance of the structure will change. This picture will attract consumers’ attention.

Conclusion

The most important feature of the trends of 2020 is that they can be combined and you can choose something of your own. This, in turn, makes it possible to create something unique, something new in 2020. The year 2020 is a time of artistry, creativity, and fantasy.

In 2020, we will have to combine heterogeneous aspects from past and future, organic and geometric, artificial and real. Specialists have taken into account the current trends and moods of people. Everything will start with electrification, therefore, this must be remembered.

See the full article in Designer Daily

What designers can learn from Etsy’s minimalist icons

alpha — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 15:47:34 +0000

Did you know TNW Conference has a track fully dedicated to exploring new design trends this year? Check out the full ‘Sprint’ program here.

No joke, I go on Etsy every single day. I browse Instagram as much as any other person, but when that becomes tiresome, I open up Etsy to casually scroll. I think what makes me come back to it repeatedly, without being triggered by a notification or alert, is that there’s a mix of finding what I’m looking for and being surprised and delighted with things I wasn’t expecting.

Nir Eyal talks about the importance of the surprise and delight model (as related to Pinterest) in his book ‘Hooked.’ When users get something extra out of an experience that they weren’t expecting, they come back for more.

That’s how I feel about Etsy. I may start by casually browsing for handmade ceramic mugs, and suddenly find myself in an awesome vintage sweatshirt shop. It’s always fun, and the experience feels seamless.

But the point of this post isn’t to delve into Eyal’s model for stellar product design, or the fun of shopping for homemade trinkets when you’re bored, this post is about iconography

Icons have been around forever. According to some sources, Saint Luke the Evangelist created an icon of the Virgin Mary and popped it on a panel for people to carry around with them. Cavemen and Egyptians used them too. Icons were an easy way to communicate with those around them and created a shared written language for people to use.

Nowadays, icons are arguably more important than ever as we continue to push the boundaries in digital design. We’re trending toward minimalist designs that feature extreme amounts of whitespace, as well as usable products that sit on tiny screens like Apple Watches. We don’t have space for tons of text, so instead, we rely on icons to convey what we want users to do, how to do it, and when.

So what does Esty do well with their icons?

They include text labels. A heart can mean so many things…like, favorite, love, etc. Etsy makes it clear that hearts mean favorites on their site, so the user doesn’t have to piece that together through trial and error.
They alter the state depending on where the user is in the flow. On iOS, the icon becomes a solid shape when the user has pressed it. When you’re on the home screen, the home icon is black, and when you’re on your profile, the profile icon is black. This gives the user tactile feedback that they’ve made a decision and completed a task. It helps reinforce the behavior associated with using that icon.
Their icons are simple. No crazy details, intense drop shadows, wild colors, or extravagant animations. The focus is on assisting the user in completing the task, not distracting them with fluff that doesn’t help them.
They play off conventional shapes. The cart icon looks like a grocery cart, the profile icon like a head and body, and the home like a little house. These are not only reflecting real-life items, but more importantly, the icons users see in other apps and sites they visit daily. This takes the burden off of the user in learning a new design system and helps them upskill quickly.

So what does that mean for the rest of us?

Include text labels. Your interface may not look as sleek and clean as it could, but it will be way easier for the user to engage with. Eventually, you can pull an Instagram and phase out text once users are fully accustomed to how things work.
Keep it simple. Some people are saying that skeuomorphism is back, and I don’t really know if I agree with that. I think a very muted version of skeuomorphism is back…more like skeuflat or flatmorphism if anything. Overcomplicating icons with hyper-realistic shading, color schemes, and highlights just makes them harder to see clearly (particularly from an accessibility POV).
Reduce, reuse, recycle. Icons aren’t the time to get wild and crazy with brand new things no one has ever seen before. Most of the time, it’s best to use symbols that users see elsewhere and feel comfortable with.

This article was originally published on UX Collective by Cara Lamason, a San Francisco based product designer passionate about creating data-driven experiences that make life easier. You can read the original article here.