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5 Steps to Write a UX Design Proposal

Author: Jessica Fender

Given how digital technology became commonplace in our society, users’ expectations from the platforms they use also evolved. According to published data, 94% of people won’t trust a website or app with outdated design, with 75% basing the business’ credibility on design alone. Statistics suggest that 52% of users won’t use a website because of poor aesthetics, with 90% who stopped using apps due to their poor performance.

Your website, app, or online platform may be due for a visual and User Experience (UX) design overhaul. This is where writing a proper UX design proposal comes into play, as it can help you outline your design in great detail. Let’s tackle UX design proposal writing in detail to enable you to build a better platform for your users in 2021.

Reasons to Write a UX Design Proposal

So, what are UX design proposals all about? They are documents that help businesses outline their UX redesign plans for an app, website, or online product. Typically, companies don’t write UX design proposals if everything in said product is working well and their user bases and revenue continue to grow. However, businesses also want to outperform their competitors and position their brands properly on the open market.

According to reports, 80% of users are willing to pay extra for better UX, with 70% of business leaders seeing UX as a competitive differentiator. It’s not enough for a mobile app or a website to simply “work” – it has to be aesthetically pleasing, engaging, affordable, and functionally up-to-date. This is where UX design proposals come to the forefront. Writing such a document before tackling a major UX design overhaul of your product can lead to several benefits, including:

  • Full understanding of your product’s current pros and cons
  • Assurance that the new UX design won’t be worse than the current iteration
  • Making sure that the new UX design has long-term viability
  • Ability to outline the development timeline and budgetary needs properly
  • Freedom to pilot the new UX design with test groups and spruce up defects

Writing a Great UX Design Proposal

  1. Outline the Pressing Issues in Current Design

The first item on your agenda should be to audit the current state of your product. What exactly leads to your writing of a new UX design proposal? Is your website or app underperforming, experiencing technical difficulties, or is lagging on UX design trends?

UX redesign is a major project, one which will take your team months to implement properly. This is why your team will want a clear outline of exactly are the issues with the current build of your product. If your writing skills are lacking, you can order product review writing from a trustworthy service to help in the product review and auditing stages. Use your strengths as a software developer and UX designer to describe what caused you to write a UX design proposal before moving further.

  1. Define the Outcomes of Implementing New UX Design

What would the hypothetical results of implementing a new UX design look like? As we’ve mentioned, rolling back a non-functional UX design to a previous build will take up unnecessary resources. For your UX design proposal to hold under scrutiny, you will need to outline the very objective benefits of its implementation. Depending on the extent and specific areas you want to address with your UX redesign, some outcomes can include:

  • Improved product stability and visual appeal
  • Better user engagement and market acquisition
  • Optimized future updating and development processes
  • Elimination of outdated code and visuals from the UI
  1. Describe the Development Timeline and Budget Needs

Once you’ve outlined the cause of writing a UX design proposal and the benefits of implementing it, you should proceed to describe the development timeline. How long will it take you to test the new UX design and implement it on a live build? Subsequently, what do you need in terms of manpower and resources to develop your UX design?

It’s best to be as objective and critical as possible when writing this section of the proposal since your team will want concrete referential information. Be realistic about how much time and resources you need, and your proposal is more likely to be approved for full production.

  1. Back your Claims with Social Proof and Statistics

You can help your cause by including references and statistical research based on UX design. For example, studies show that 88% of people are unlikely to return to a website after poor UX.

Your colleagues and decision-makers within your company need to be aware of current UX design trends to make an informed decision on UX redesign. You can go a step further and collect user feedback on your app or website and include it in the UX design proposal. Social proof coming from your user base is essential, as it will indicate what works and doesn’t work for your audience.

  1. Create a FAQ Section to Cap Off the UX Design Proposal

Depending on how tech-savvy the decision-makers in your company are, you may want to write an FAQ section into the design proposal. This can serve as a great referential segment for people who are not designers or programmers but still have a say in approving your document. Some questions you should aim to answer include:

  • How do we define a “successful” UX design?
  • Why do we need a UX redesign at this stage?
  • What will we do in case the new UX design doesn’t catch on?
  • What will happen if we go over budget or breach the development deadline?
  • How will we test the new UX design before going live with it?

Answer each of these questions with a short 2-3 sentence paragraph to show foresight and critical thinking. Answering “taboo” questions in a FAQ section will increase the likelihood of your UX design proposal being approved.

Making Good Use of your UX Design Proposal (Conclusion)

Once your UX design proposal is greenlit, you should stick to it as much as possible. Don’t deviate from your plans to justify the trust put into your hands. If any changes need to be made to the UX design proposal, you should ask for additional approval before course-correcting. Going into a redesign with a concrete plan is an amazing way to showcase that you are not only a designer but a decision-maker.

Author’s bio. Jessica Fender is a copywriter and blogger with a background in marketing and sales. She enjoys sharing her experience with like-minded professionals who aim to provide customers with high-quality services.

How to Design the Perfect Portfolio Page to Best Represent Your Brand’s Quality

Author: Eleanor Hecks Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn

One of the best ways to attract new clients is showing them your top projects. Your website portfolio page is your chance to highlight your expertise in specific areas. You can use it to stand out from the competition and make a strong impression so they remember you when they are ready to hire someone.

According to Internet Live Stats, there are approximately 1.86 billion websites online. However, not all are active and some park on top of other domains. Still, you’re competing with a lot of noise to get your portfolio page noticed. People have many options on where to spend their time. Make your page interesting enough that they want to devote some of their day there.

What is the secret ingredient that makes one portfolio page stand out from another? You must grab attention, showcase the wide scope of your work and instill the idea your brand is high quality all with a few photos and text. Here are the steps to achieving the perfect online presence.

1. Choose Your Best Work

Selecting only the photos highlighting the top quality work you do might seem like a no-brainer. However, it’s easy to hone in on the project you completed and not realize the photos don’t truly do it justice. Your portfolio is about more than just great projects. It must encompass great pictures to highlight your abilities.

Make sure any photos you use clearly show the before and after of your work. Take the time to invest in photo editing and excellent equipment so your images aren’t filled with shadows and poor lighting. Select only the best images.

Ronald L. Receveur, DDS offers dental implants. They showcase their best work in their “Smile Gallery.” You can scroll through the different images to see the beautiful smiles they’ve created.

Something they add to their portfolio page that works particularly well is a link to patient testimonials. Click on any video to hear more about what their service did for the person and get a glimpse of what their smile looks like in real life.

2. Add Trust Factors

When people land on your page, they have no reason to trust you. Even if a friend or family member referred them, they’ve not done business with you before. You must show them you can be trusted. You can add several trust factors to your portfolio page to show you’re honest.

In addition to reviews and testimonials, make your contact information easy to find. People want to know they can get in touch if something goes wrong after their purchase. Add any organizations you belong to, such as professional trade associations or the Better Business Bureau.

3. Utilize Case Studies

There may be times when you have a particularly challenging task to complete. Highlighting how you were able to overcome difficulties shows clients you don’t stop until you find the right solution. Case studies give you an opportunity to share photos of the finished project, but also dig deeper into the story behind the job.

Illuminated Integration shares the details of a job they did for Otterbein Church. The task was to convert a gymnasium into a church sanctuary. They had to figure out how to create a welcoming atmosphere that suited the needs of a large, modern church. The company worked on lighting, acoustics, audio, video, curtains and atmospheric controls.

4. Tell Them Who You Are

In the midst of sharing stories about your projects, make sure you show potential clients who you are. While telling customer stories, tell your own story. What do you stand for? What is at the core of why you do the work you do?

At a minimum, include a short about section and a link to more details. Your portfolio page is an excellent location to share a video about your brand story.

5. Share the Details

Your portfolio is about more than just the finished product of your hard work. People want to know you understand the steps involved in getting from Point A to Point B. You must tell a story as you share examples of your work. What was particularly challenging about the job? How is it unique from other projects of a similar nature? Show off your expertise.

Walnut Ridge Landscape Design shares their three-dimensional plan for the space next to a photograph of the finished project. By showing site visitors their concept, they prove they can come up with a plan and bring it to life.

6. Include a Call to Action (CTA)

You might not naturally place a CTA button on your portfolio page, but the goal of the page is to seek new leads. When someone views your images, the ideal result will be they want to hire you.

Make your CTA easy to find. Ideally, you’ll include a link near the top of the page offering a free consultation or quote. Some people will click the button right away and others will spend time perusing your portfolio, so you may want to add a second button under your gallery or to the side.

Try different placements until you find the one your users respond best to. Conduct split testing, adjust the wording, try different colors and keep tweaking until you’re satisfied with your conversion rates.

Quality Over Quantity

Your photos are the face of your brand online. It’s better to have a few high-quality images taken by a professional photographer than a ton of pictures with fuzzy focus or dark shadows. Ideally, you’ll choose a wide range of projects so you can showcase your abilities, but don’t be afraid to limit yourself until you have the right ones to prove your worth as a business.

Eleanor Hecks is editor-in-chief at Designerly Magazine. Eleanor was the creative director and occasional blog writer at a prominent digital marketing agency before becoming her own boss in 2018. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and dog, Bear.

How to Approach UX Software and Apps During the COVID Pandemic

Author: Romy Toma-Catauta

It seems that COVID-19 has transformed every part of the world. While that’s true for most markets, the way users and investors approach UX software is just about the same.

It’s part of the reason why markets are bullish on companies that have robust technological platforms. While it’s not all rainbows and butterflies for every tech platform, the strength, stability, and growth of most platforms are undoubtedly signs of things to come.

But how do you approach UX software and apps in the current COVID pandemic, and where’s it all going when the dust settles? The answer might not be as complicated as you think.

It’s Still About Convenience

UX software, especially CRM software and apps took off in the first place because of the convenience factor. It’s everything UX stands for. It needs to look and feel natural, and of course, be extremely useful.

So, in a world where a global pandemic has limited human interactions, it’s no surprise that those with easy to navigate user-friendly software and apps are reaping the rewards.

UX Software and Apps are Taking Off During COVID

Experts tell us that we need to stay apart from people to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. We’re still longing for that connectivity and a way to interact with the world and live our lives. UX software and apps have bridged those gaps and are gaining in popularity by the day.

But why exactly has UX software and apps taken off during COVID? A large part of it has to do with the way that COVID-19 has shifted human behavior. According to Forbes, Covid has increased internet usage by 70%, and online streaming services by over 12%.  Instead of going to stores to shop or the movies for a night out, consumers are shopping online and using apps to stream movies.

It’s about bringing your product to the consumer instead of having the consumer come to you. This is where UX software and apps thrive. They’re not about trying to get a consumer to a specific place. They’re about making everything as easy as possible for the product to come to you.

But it goes beyond that. Consumers are spending significantly more time at home and are using apps like Zoom, Facebook, and Skype to connect with friends and family.

This leads to more consumers on the Internet throughout more of the day and more ways to reach them. Even better from a UX software and apps standpoint, it’s forcing entirely new consumers to the web.

Many of these consumers are technologically illiterate, so the easier it is to navigate the app or software, the better. It’s a golden age for UX software and apps.

How to Hire the Right Specialists

If you’re serious about investing in your UX software or apps, you need to find the right specialists. Hiring the right developers the first time can save you hours of frustration and tons of money.

But where can you find a qualified developer that will take the time to put your product over the top? While there are tons of great choices out there, freelance marketplaces are a choice, according to Taso du Val, CEO of Toptal: “the reason that we are able to do that is that we actually have a lot of process and domain expertise internally to be able to vet those talents, whether it’s in finance or software development, to ensure that that person before we send them to you, is the perfect match.”

Tech is the Future – With or Without COVID

Tech has slowly been taking over just about every industry for years. COVID-19 only hastened the transition. It’s because of this that you don’t have to worry about new UX software or apps going out of style once we’ve finally beaten this pandemic.

COVID-19 is unique because older generations have more of an incentive to switch to mobile apps and software to meet their daily needs.

This benefits UX software and apps in two ways. First, it brings along a market that has long been dragging its feet into the fray. Second, older generations benefit the most from software and apps that are more user-friendly. It’s a win-win for UX software and apps.

The better the UX software and apps, the more likely they will be to succeed. Whether you’re looking to invest in your own business or get into a new career, UX software and apps aren’t going anywhere.

It’s why major corporations have been investing in their mobile apps and software for years, and those that invested more had those dividends pay off sooner than expected once COVID-19 hit.

It is very clear that the new age of social distancing has changed the way business is done, and as the market is connected more than ever, it is time to maximize your social media management to reach out to them.

Invest, Invest, Invest!

If you’ve got a business or product that you’re trying to take to the next level – UX software and apps are undoubtedly the way to go. Even if a vaccine for COVID-19 is right around the corner and solves the pandemic woe, the world has shifted to a tech-centric model for good.

As the older generation learns and realizes how easy it is to use some of these programs and apps, they’re likely never to go back. Even if they do, the younger generation is making up more of the population every day.

If you want to compete for the upcoming generation, you need to do it through software and apps. Of course, the more user friendly the app, the more successful you’ll be! It’s why UX software and apps are the way of the future.

It’s beyond maximizing profits; it’s a necessity to keep afloat in a changing world. The good news is that once you make the transition, you can see profits like never before.

Summary

While COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on just about every industry, those that have learned how to adapt are starting to overcome its worst effects.

Both large and small companies are learning what those in the industry have known for years – UX software and apps will dominate the market in the 21st century. But don’t lose faith if you’re late to the party! Take the time now to catch up and take your business over the top!

 

Why Your Landing Page Needs to Make a Better First Impression

Author: Lexie Lu

You only get one chance to make a first impression — and when it comes to landing pages, visitors make up their minds fast.

According to research from Google, visitors can develop design opinions within just 17 milliseconds of opening a new site.

If there’s something wrong with your landing page design — it isn’t clear, it doesn’t make a good offer or it takes too long to load — you could risk giving those potential customers a bad impression. Using the right design can encourage customers to move forward, no matter where they are in the sales funnel.

This is why your landing page needs to make a great first impression — and how the right design can boost conversions.

1. Consistency Builds Brand Recognition

Consistency can provide a good first impression and also make your landing pages more effective.

Landing pages need to be consistent with the ad campaign they’re attached to. Otherwise, you’ll be passing on a valuable opportunity to build some extra brand recognition.

You may also confuse customers if your landing pages and ads are vastly different. Without consistency, it may not be clear why the link they clicked led to the landing page they’re on.

2. Less Intimidating Forms May Reassure Potential Customers

Your business may need a lot of information from a potential customer to move them along the sales funnel. For example, ride-sharing companies like Lyft and Uber need a driver’s name and contact info, as well as a lot of detailed information on their car and income.

Asking for all of this information at once can create a fairly intimidating lead form.

Simple tricks can break down complicated lead forms without reducing the amount of information they collect. For example, many companies organize their lead forms with multiple columns. This way, no scrolling is necessary, and a visitor can always see the entire lead form at once.

Many sites will also split an overly long questionnaire over several pages or site elements — hiding later parts of the form until the visitor completes the current section or clicks through.

3. Strong Images and Design Can Lead to Conversions

A good first impression can reassure customers and quickly demonstrate what kind of results they can expect if they work with your business.

Continental Door Co., a garage door installation company in Spokane, Washington, provides a good example. Its page is dominated by a high-quality hero image that shows off some of the company’s work. Other page elements are paired with other photos that communicate the services it provides.

The more concrete and literal a product you sell, the better chance you have of taking advantage of this kind of strategy. If you market a physical object, leaning on visual commerce can be a much better strategy than using text, shapes and colors on their own.

4. A Good Impression Can Make a CTA More Appealing

Simple design choices can lead a visitor’s eye, making a CTA much more obvious and appealing.

This landing page from Wistia, a Cambridge-based video software company, shows how effective a simple palette and strong use of color can be in encouraging customers toward a page CTA.

Subtle color choices help the CTA stand out and communicate what kind of service the company is offering. This kind of design is especially important when the service you offer is more abstract and you can’t lean as much on images of the physical product.

A video on the side of the page helps add visual interest and shows off the company’s product — in this case, video hosting software for businesses.

5. Simple Navigation Can Keep Customers on Track

Navigation- and designwise, landing pages are often some of the simplest pages on a business’s website.

This is because a clutter-free, easy-to-navigate page can help keep customers moving through the sales funnel. Effective landing page design makes it clear what your company can offer, as well as how visitors can move forward in the buying process.

The landing page for I Done This, the developer of a collaboration app, features a compelling heading, a subheading that provides some extra explanation and a highly visible CTA with an obvious purpose.

There are also minimal navigation elements at the top of the page, which helps streamline things. The fewer clickable elements there are vying for a visitor’s attention, the less likely they’ll be to get lost.

This is a pretty standard way of structuring a landing page, and it works well for many businesses. The combination of short, compelling copy that doesn’t overexplain your business with an effective CTA and engaging visuals can go a long way in convincing customers.

6. Social Proof Can Make or Break a Sale

Customers are more likely to trust your brand if there’s evidence that other people have been satisfied with the products or services you offer.

Testimonials, reviews and similar evidence can go a long way in convincing customers and creating a positive first impression.

Many landing pages include quotes from satisfied customers or snippets from reviews for this reason.

Effective Landing Pages Make Good First Impressions

Visitors form their opinion about your landing page fast — which means effective design is just as important as your sales pitch or what you’re trying to offer.

These best practices can help you create strong landing pages that take advantage of good design to make a lasting first impression.

Lexie is a digital nomad and web designer. When she’s not traveling to various parts of the country, you can find her at the local flea markets or hiking with her goldendoodle. Check out her design blog, Design Roast, and connect with her on Twitter @lexieludesigner.

Effective Use of Fonts in Web Designs

Author: Sofia David

Do you know that sometimes little things make a big difference among professional web designers and incompetent web designers? It is little things that we often ignore and don’t pay any consideration to. If you are a professional designer, then you might know these facts or those little things that are stopping you from becoming a master in your field.

If you have experience in designing a website, then you might know all the little points that make a big difference.

Have you ever tried to make minor changes on your website that resulted in a significant contrast? Yes, this is what I am talking about. Fixing ignored results is a considerable improvement that left us surprised and pleased at the same time.

Okay, if changes are so uncomplicated and easy to make, then why not do it 100%? If you want to give a professional and eye-catchy look to your website, then don’t even try to miss these tiny errors that may create a big problem in the future. Now you might be thinking that what obstacles I am actually referring to? Let’s proceed with the topic.

Effective Use of Fonts in Web Designs

The actual topic that I want you guys to understand is the complexity and significance of fonts or typeface that we use on our websites. The use of fonts in designs referred to as Typography that can impact significantly on your website.

With the right typography, you can make people understand your website in a better way. Now, how true is this? Let’s go in-depth to prove my words.

Why Should You Care About Font Design?

Do you know that Steve Jobs is called as the father of typography? Is it just because he originated ten fonts? No, it is because those ten fonts had made a vast and remarkable significant to our industry. He got this recognition because fonts play an unimaginable role in our website that can’t be contradicted.

Let’s make you more impressed and gratified.

Everyone wants a change in life. We, as human nature, get gloomy while looking at the same thing for a long time. Have you ever wondered that for how long we could look at the same style or design of font? Of course, we can’t. Choosing the right font for your website can do wonders that you can’t imagine.

Let’s come straight; typography reflects the context of your work. If it is done right, then it will have a powerful impact on the users. With the right typography, a user can easily understand the logic of your design. If you haven’t chosen the right fonts for your website, then how come you will be able to make them know your design?

Now, let me elaborate on this topic by mentioning points that will allow you to stop for a while and will force you to think that why you should care about Font design.

1- It Creates a Specific Identity

Believe me or not, but the fact that you can’t deny is that a specific font conveys a particular message to the reader or a visitor. It depends on you that what type of message you let to communicate them. For example, if we use Montserrat font in our graphic designs then its impact will be different on our audience, however instead of this if we use any other font then there will be a big difference. The fonts vary from website to website. You can’t utilize the same style or the same size as the font for every website. Understanding the importance and nature of fonts for your newly created website is a symbol of a professional designer.

2- It Helps You to Grow

Using the right font for your website assists you to flourish your business. Now, how much right is it? Let’s verify this point with a little example. For Instance, you have made a website on a specific niche. If you have selected the right fonts that are easily understandable, then the chances are that people will agree to read the entire context of your website with comfort.

On the other hand, if you haven’t chosen the right nature of font or size of the font, then the user will switch to someone’s else website where he can read the same context with a better font quality. Isn’t it make sense?

3- It Attracts the Audience

Choosing the right font for your website attracts your customers. It let them stay on your website due to good readability, and good readability comes by selecting the readable fonts. If you want that more and more customers visit your site, then be selective and be careful in choosing the font. A perfect font conveys a certain mood or message to the audience, so make sure it won’t be the wrong one.

4- It Develops Conformity

When you use the same font or two fonts repeatedly, then it helps to create harmony or conformity, and the user remained stuck to your website. However, using so many fonts in a single context make people confused, and somehow, they lose their interest, so that’s why fonts have so much importance.

Final Thoughts

So, here are a few points that you should consider before designing a website. As a professional designer, you should never avoid little things that may disturb your entire site. Try to adapt those things that have a positive impact, and try to avoid those mistakes that have a negative effect.

I hope you will find this article useful and informative, and it will help you to make the most excellent website in the future. Consider these points and be a professional web designer.

5 Ways to Build a Powerful Personal Brand as a Designer

Author: Daniela McVicker

Designers are artists. They use their creative energy to turn ideas into realization and share their special vision of things with the rest of the world. However, just like everyone else, designers need to make a living. That means that there needs to be an entrepreneurial side of them, helping them stand out and succeed as a professional. One of the basic things every designer should do is to create a powerful personal brand.

Your brand is the way you represent yourself to clients, customers, employees, and other designers. It tells them who you are, what you stand for and what you can do. It also allows you to climb the business ladder and grow as a professional.

Take a look at the 5 steps you need to take in order to build a personal brand as a designer.

  1. Define Yourself as a Designer

We may consider this step to be step zero actually. It is about knowing who you are and what you want to do.

Not every designer is the same and not every person is meant to do everything. Before thinking about building your personal brand, you need to be certain that you’ve found yourself and that you’ve developed a personal style.

That includes knowing:

  • what inspires you
  • what kind of designs you want to focus on
  • what you do best
  • what your style is

Only once you figure all these things out can you actually start thinking about branding your work and taking the next step.

So, how do you achieve this?

It takes self-exploration, time and experience to help you realize where you stand as a designer. The more you work, the faster you’ll figure it all out.

  1. Build Your Platforms

People need to know about you and your brand which means that you need a platform for sharing information with your customers. In other words, you need to give your brand a base.

There are two basic platforms you need to cover:

  1. website
  2. social media

Having a personal website is both practical and efficient. It gives you the chance to share:

  • your portfolio: all your best works in one place to help the customers get to know you as a designer
  • hiring information: if people want to contact you and hire you, you should make it available and simple via your website
  • your story: write about your beginnings and professional journey to help your customers understand who you are

Social media accounts give you a chance to bond with your customers even more personally:

  • write daily posts
  • interact with potential customers
  • gather an audience

In case you need help writing your website’s pages or social media posts, you can use proofreading and editing tools such as Grammarly or find reliable writing service.

Once you set up your platforms, you need to consider building a brand image. Take a look at the next step.

  1. Give Your Brand an Image

As a designer, you’ll have no trouble figuring out what you want your brand to “look like” and what kind of a personality you wish to give it.

It’s simple: you need to create a unique visual representation of your brand and be consistent in using it in every aspect of advertising and communication.

That implies:

  • brand colors
  • fonts
  • shapes
  • complexity

Try figuring out what your brand stands for and how to make it visible in your logo, website design, social media posts and everything else associated with it.

“When you think about Coca-Cola, you’re thinking red, right? That’s what you want to achieve with your brand. Make it recognizable and unique and make sure to nurture the same style in all your marketing materials”.

Be consistent and you’ll ensure people recognize your brand without even reading it’s you.

  1. Share Your Vision

It’s always a great idea to bond with your audience on a more personal level. It evokes special kind of emotions with your customers and creates long-term relationships.

What you need to do in order to achieve that is to define your vision and the story behind your brand.

Your vision answers the following questions:

  • What is your aim as a designer?
  • What do you offer to each customer?
  • Why are you different and special?
  • What makes you the best choice a customer can make?

“Define your strengths, skills, and values and make sure you emphasize them in your brand representation. Tell your customers what to expect from you and follow through on your promises”.

  1. Choose a Tone

When you put together your brand image, target audience, vision, ideas and platforms you use, you are ready to wrap the whole brand building story with one final choice: your voice.

This refers to the level of communication you want to be on with your customers and how you want them to perceive you.

Are you going to be:

  • strictly professional: “Dear Sir/Madam, thank you for contacting us. We’ll make sure to reply as soon as possible.
  • more laid back: “Thanks for messaging. We’ll try to reply ASAP.”

This tone of yours is the final touch to building your brand, and just like everything else, it needs to be consistent throughout your entire business journey.

If you find it all to be a bit too much for you, and you prefer focusing on designing and not branding or writing, you could hire an editor to help you make it all possible.

Final Thoughts

As a designer, you are aware of the importance of branding and representation. It’s what you do for a living. That’s why you have to realize you need to brand yourself and make sure the world knows who you are.

Use the advice we’ve given you and try establishing a strong and powerful personal brand as a designer. Think it through, define all your ideas and start working on building your brand.

Author’s bio. Daniela McVicker is a passionate digital marketer. Daniela is interested in everything related to SEO and blogging. She collaborates with Essayguard where she shares her experience and helps marketers make their names in the online world.

How to Create Brand Equity With Your Business Website

Author: Lexie Lu

Your brand equity is customer perception of your products and services associated with your brand. Why is brand equity so important to companies? If your brand has high irreconcilability and desirability, you can charge more for your products, and people will want them.

Apple is an excellent example of a well-known and admired brand name. While they make tablets, computers and accessories, they are best known for their iPhones. Because their iPhones have brand equity, they have about 20% of the smartphone market share. They also charge premium prices for their products, with the latest models running more than $1,000.

If you want to improve the bond between you and your customers, you must enhance your brand’s equity. Many different elements come into play, and lots of them occur on your business website. Here are a few features you can add to enhance your brand’s appearance and desirability via your site.

1. Communicate Your Values

What does your brand mean to you as the owner? What does it mean to the employees? Do consumers see it in the same way? Your first step on your business website is showing site visitors your core values. You might have a purpose, such as donating to a specific charity. Maybe your goal is to make your customers’ lives easier.

You can communicate these values by telling your company story, sharing a mission statement or highlighting the causes you help. Just make sure the message is consistent each time you offer it.

Everlane promises radical transparency, and they follow through by sharing details about their sustainability initiatives and how they make their products ethically. You can rest assured you aren’t buying items made by children in a sweatshop overseas when purchasing something from this brand. They pride themselves on sharing who makes items and how.

2. Own Your Differences

How is your brand different than your competitors? Think about what makes you unique. Consider the benefits you offer to buyers. Once you know what makes you stand out, promote it. However, brand equity goes much deeper than merely communicating who you are.

You must consider if each product you sell matches your integrity as a company. If something doesn’t quite live up to the quality or standards you’ve set, then it’s time to replace it. Every interaction customers have with you or your products must match your core values, or your equity reduces.

3. Choose a Color Palette

The colors you use to showcase your brand say a lot about who you are. There is a psychology to different colors. You can convey excitement, reliability or youth all by the shades you choose for your website.

As with every other aspect of building your brand’s equity, you must be consistent. Once you choose a color palette, include the information in your style guide and use those same hues in all communications with customers.

Armstrong Flooring uses a deep cobalt blue, which reflects reliability and endurance, something users want in flooring. Note the accent colors contrasting beautifully with the blue, such as a splash of yellow or white for accent. The landing page design puts the full focus on the flooring and how it works with different decor. The hero images rotate, showing the variations in floor types and looks.

4. Reshape Negative Views

Every brand stumbles along the way as it finds its footing and learns the ins and outs of doing business. You may have a few anti-fans who enjoy bashing your name. When you can reshape those viewpoints into something more positive, you’ve re-identified yourself as a brand. Start by making a statement about your customer satisfaction guarantees.

Next, search for mentions online of your brand and make sure they are positive reviews and not poor ones. If you find a negative comment, reach out to the person and see what you can do to make it right. While they may or may not amend their harsh words, you’ll still win their respect and show you care about your customers’ opinions.

5. Ask for a Chance

Users may have never heard of you before. You’re asking them to trust you with their hard-earned dollars. Find ways to ask for a chance and offer them a lower investment point. If you sell a service, provide a free trial or a smaller version for a lower price point. If you sell products, have a variety of prices. Look for ways to give free shipping or discounts to first-time customers. Perhaps a money-back guarantee would make them feel more comfortable.

Birds & Blooms lists the benefits of subscribing to their magazine and then offer a 75% discount and free access to the digital version of the publication if you subscribe for two years instead of one. They’re asking you to take a leap of faith and invest in their magazine, but they’re providing a considerable discount when you do so.

6. Highlight Brand Loyalty

Brand equity builds over time as loyal customers tell others about your products. While you can’t completely control how others see your company, you can do things to improve your chances of making a positive impression.

Showcase testimonials on your page. Showing potential customers that others are happy with your brand proves you have excellent customer service. Encourage people to sign up for mailing lists, offer rewards for repeat orders and encourage referrals.

Build Equity Over Time

Building your brand equity isn’t going to happen overnight. It takes months of hard work and consistent effort. As more and more people learn how great your brand is and start to talk it up, you’ll gain traction simply by your name. People judge you based on their experience with your brand and what their friends say. To make your brand equity soar, guarantee each person walks away with a positive impression of your company.

Lexie is a digital nomad and web designer. When she’s not traveling to various parts of the country, you can find her at the local flea markets or hiking with her goldendoodle. Check out her design blog, Design Roast, and connect with her on Twitter @lexieludesigner.

5 Easy Ways to Improve Traffic for Your Business Website

Author: Shaheryar Sadiq

Most brick-and-mortar businesses nowadays are setting up their own websites to expand their audience reach and build an online presence. However, not every website is successful in driving traffic and conversions. It’s not just about putting your business website out there, but there are some strategies to be implemented for it to be considered a good one.
Having a poorly designed and uninviting website design with a tricky user interface is the quickest way to increase your bounce rate and repel relevant traffic. So how do you get people to notice your business in an infinite sea of digital content? Don’t worry. We’re here to help you rise above the noise by following some basic ideologies. These tips will help you gain authority, boost credibility, and drive traffic over time so you can hack your way to onto Google’s top search results.

  1. Implement Powerful Search Engine Optimization

    Optimizing your website for search engines has results that can be worthwhile in the long run. There’s no point in having a website if it doesn’t show up in search results; therefore, employing a strong SEO strategy is crucial for the success of your business website. To stand out amongst other competitors in the market, customers must be able to recognize you as a credible source of information. To make this happen, you must follow on-page SEO guidelines that help your website rank higher on search engines and direct more organic traffic. Other techniques include attaching quality backlinks, optimizing long-tail keywords, and local SEO.

  2. Leverage Social Media Platforms

    Today’s consumers always turn to social media to verify a brand’s credibility and check for any online presence. This means if you’re not on social media, now is the time to jump in on the trend and drive traffic to your website from these various channels. Social media networks like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter are widely-popular amongst marketers as a tool for advertising and promotion of businesses. Now, Snapchat and the most-recent sensation, TikTok, have also become popular. Include your website link on all social media handles to drive traffic.
    Brands can share a variety of content on their social media pages and gauge the reactions and behaviors of followers to track the number of click-through rates. Social media is also a great way to connect and establish relationships with customers, so they know you value your followers and care for their opinion. Remember not to spam your audience; it’s all about strategically spreading out your posts, so you don’t appear pushy.

  3. Publish High-Quality Content

    The content you share on your website is what’s going to attract prospects to learn more about your brand. However, to attract the right customers, you must understand who your audience is and then create the kind of content they can’t resist clicking on. After a deep-dive into the background of your target customers and their search behaviors, you can get working on the content that goes on your website.

    A major contributing factor to any successful digital marketing strategy is publishing valuable content to turn visitors to customers. Focus on posting high-quality, keyword-rich, and relevant content on your website, so potential customers are persuaded to take action. When the content you post educates and informs visitors about something, they’re more inclined to return your website and spread the good word about your business. Posting quality content leads to a higher Google search result ranking, which in turn means more visibility for your business.

  4. Optimize Website for Mobile Users

    Gone are the days when people turned on their desktops to access the internet, now we can easily browse the web on our smartphones at any time. This is why businesses must ensure their websites are mobile-friendly. If you wish to drive unparalleled levels of traffic, then you need to prioritize mobile consumers and optimize your website for their usability. Create a mobile-friendly layout that appropriately displays content without having the user to pinch or zoom in to adjust the screen. Prospects that arrive at your website on a mobile device and have a positive user experience will consider your brand as a credible source of information and return regularly. Essentially, mobile-friendly websites result in higher conversion rates and more engagement.

  5. Improve User Interface

    Most website owners neglect the significance of user experience when developing their site. However, if your website ends up looking unattractive and faulty, it will only cause you to lose potential customers. When creating a website, appearance, and usability are one of the most important factors to take into consideration. One must place themselves in their audience’s shoes to acknowledge the kind of experience they wish to have when they land on a website.

    A website that is easy to use and visually appealing will lead to a lower bounce rate and generate abundant positive impressions. The easier it is for visitors to navigate and find valuable information, the higher the likelihood of them staying on your website and exploring other pages. Some other elements that are responsible for ensuring good experience include:

    • Loading time

      The last thing a user needs is to wait 10 seconds for a website to load. There is nothing more frustrating than slow-loading pages, and most visitors leave after a 5-second time-window frame. Make sure that your webpages are optimized for speed. The faster the sites, the happier the users and higher the chances of them browsing more pages on your site. Google’s search algorithm is also more likely to direct users to websites that load instantly, so work on speeding up your business website to drive traffic.

    • Responsiveness

      Nowadays, people use different devices to browse the web. Ensure that your website is responsive regardless of the device your visitors are using. If they have to excessively scroll or adjust the screen size to fit their screen, then they’re more likely to leave than stick around.

In Summary

Running a good website requires constant maintenance, optimization, and patience, but once you’ve set up a strong foundation, it does all the work for you. It’s not about going big, even small yet significant changes can make all the difference in ROI and bring more exposure to your business. As more and more organizations make the shift towards digital marketing, the requirement for improved strategies to drive elevated organic traffic has increased.

Author Bio:
Shaheryar provides ghostwriting and copywriting services. His educational background in the technical field and business studies helps him in tackling topics ranging from career and business productivity to web development and digital marketing. He occasionally writes articles for Dynamologic Solutions.