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How Offline Visual Trends Impact Web Design

Author: Eleanor Hecks Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn

Design has always been impacted by other trends, such as fashion, interior design and what’s popular with people at any given time. Some styles stand out more than others, but everything eventually circles back around to one art movement or another.

An older design style, such as minimalism, might get a fresh face but still be highly recognizable to those who’ve seen it before. Knowing what the trends are of today, as well as yesterday, gives you a wide range of options from which to choose for your next project.

Are Trends Important in Design?

Statista estimates there are around five billion internet users in the world. With so many cultures, ages and individuals browsing the world wide web, you can assume they all have differing tastes. Keeping up with the trends may not matter as much as coming up with a web design that functions well for the majority of people.

Understanding current trends, however, helps you gather ideas for what might work best for your audience. It shows your company understands the times and what users want. Being aware of offline visual trends can impact your web design in a variety of ways–here are a few ways to incorporate real world examples into your digital presence.

1. Be Alert

One of the best ways to add offline trends to your web designs is by paying attention to the world around you. Did a new ice cream shop go in around the corner? What colors and fonts did they use? What does the interior look like?

Pay attention to billboards, print promotions and even vehicle wraps and tee shirts employees wear. What’s unique about each look, and does it apply to your industry?

2. Include Trendy Colors

Interior design is known for embracing new color palettes every season. If you’re struggling to come up with the best combination of colors, turn to paint stores to find out what the top hues of the season are.

Interior design magazines can also offer a bit of inspiration. You can also combine more than one palette for a unique look. You’ll find that paint swatches often complement one another.

3. Turn to Nature

Natural hues and earthy tones never really go out of style. When you’re feeling stuck in your designs, head to the great outdoors and take in the vibrant sunsets, beautiful blooms on flowers and shades of shrubs.

You can always start with nature-inspired tones and then add a pop or two of color to grab attention. If you sell something that makes one think of the earth, even better. For example, a company selling organic coffee might use browns and a hint of green.

4. Grab a Weather Mood

Weather can set the tone for a mood. Icy days may remind one of warm memories by the fireplace with the family. A gloomy, cloud-filled, gray sky might put a somber tone on the day. Think about what the weather is doing and if it can apply to your design. Sunny yellows, bright blue skies and fluffy clouds brighten anyone’s mood.

What is the emotion you most want to invoke in your viewers? Can you accomplish that through weather? You could add in some images of weather moments to your design. Use a rainy day hero shot or share a beautiful sunrise.

5. Revisit Your Favorite Art Movement

Modern web design gathers a lot of inspiration from art movements of the past. Favorites such as minimalism show up over and over in today’s designs. Find your favorite style and apply it to your current designs. For example, if you love art deco, you might add some ornate flourishes to your website.

Does your industry lean more toward realism or the abstract? Can you add an abstract background to set your design apart from other sites in your industry? Become familiar with the different art movements, so you can apply them as it makes sense to your web designs. Head to a museum to gather even more inspiration.

6. Study Marketing Materials

People in advertising come up with unique takes on design. With 32.5 million small businesses in the United States alone, advertisers have to grab user attention and keep it. They have a way of thinking outside the box and coming up with fresh concepts.

When a postcard arrives in your mail, take the time to study the color choices, layout and any unique features. Watch television ads to get an idea for tone and mood. Look at every piece of advertising you see, break it down and try to learn from it. You may find you only apply an idea or two here and there, but you’ll add to your artist tool box.

Talk to Other Designers

Spend time chatting with designers more experienced than you. What do they use for inspiration? Taking a walk, visiting an art gallery or going to a trendy store can all serve as inspiration for your next design.

Author Bio:

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 the Right Display Greatly Impacts a Customer’s Experience

Author: Eleanor Hecks Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn

Have you ever walked into a store and been instantly drawn into the overall feel and experience of being there? Various displays set the tone and create an experience. Perhaps the theme is a beach one or maybe it is futuristic. Whatever the case, you walk away feeling as though that’s your store and your style and you can’t wait to return and shop again.

How Can You Positively Impact the Customer’s Experience?

In the COVID-19: the CX Impact Report, researchers looked at the changes in consumer attitudes since the pandemic. Approximately 73% of respondents said a single negative experience would make them cut ties with a brand. That’s a lot of pressure for businesses to perform to user expectations.

When it comes to creating positive experiences, customer experience (CX) is everything. You have to ensure your customers have an excellent time from the minute they start engaging with you and even after the purchase.

An excellent display is just the start, but it’s important to ensure you get the first impression right. Here are some ways to ensure your display is top-notch.

1. Know Your Audience

Who is your typical buyer and what speaks to them? The only way you can figure this out is by digging deep into your customer databases and doing some analytical research. What is the average age of your buyer? What do you know about that demographic in general?

You also must survey your customers and find out what they want. Ask them what you’re doing well and what you can improve. Provide them with three options for displays and see which they like best.

2. Offer Ready-to-Go Gifts

People care about the presentation of the gifts they buy for others. Around 84% of people put a gift card into something else before giving it to a loved one or friend. Make this easy by adding a beautiful box or a book they can place the gift card in.

Create displays for their “gift giving needs” to make shopping as easy as picking up an item and signing your name.

3. Focus on Bright Colors

You want to draw people’s attention when they enter your store or are walking past in a shopping center or mall. Bright colors will grab them and bring them toward the display. If the item you’re displaying isn’t brightly colored, add other elements that are.

4. Improve Signage

The overall look of your signs can draw people in or cause them to overlook your store. There are four types of fonts you can use on your signs. Understanding what they are and the tone they set can improve your display signage.

Consider the distance people view the signs from. Go out in front of your store and see if the signs are viewable. Do they grab attention? Are they short and to the point? View the signage from various angles and distances to see how it appears. Keep in mind things such as contrast. Black letters on a white background will pop the most.

5. Create an Experience

Experiential marketing is a current buzzword in marketing. In a nutshell, you create an experience for your viewers that takes them into a new setting or lets them try an item. Look to new technologies for ways to ramp up your displays. Add sound so it transports them to the seaside.

Use an app and let them put themselves in the middle of a beach as they try on various pieces of clothing or otherwise interact virtually with your products. If you’re on a tight budget, you can add visuals to help create the feel of being in an actual setting.

Look at Things Through Your Customer’s Eyes

Take a step back from your display and picture it through the eyes of your average buyer. What are their needs and does your display show how the product might solve a pain point for them?

Not every display is going to hit the high notes every time. Do your best to try new things, see what your audience responds to and create the best CX possible.

How to Get More Engagement for Your Infographic

Author: Eleanor Hecks Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn

The purpose behind creating infographics is to present complex information in fun and interesting ways. The entire nature of visualizations is meant to draw users in and turn them into leads. However, what if your infographics aren’t getting the attention you desire?

Creating successful images as part of your content marketing strategy requires attention to several components. Not only must you make the infographic visually appealing, but you have to think about the focus of the topic, the reliability of any facts and how you’ll get people to look at the finished product.

How Do I Make My Infographic Stand Out?

A quick Google search for the term “infographic” turns up more than three billion results. Filter those down to images and you still have more options than you could possibly choose from. Figuring out ways to grab attention in a sea of other content isn’t an easy task.

Researchers at Ball State University in Indiana conducted a look at the effects of colors on cognition and emotions. They grouped students and found those with instructions and visuals were around 15% more productive than those with text alone.

The importance of visualizations can’t be overstated when presenting complex data about your industry or customer needs. How do you manage to not only drive home your main points but keep the user engaged? Here are our favorite tips to ensure your infographic gets the attention it deserves and pulls users in.

1. Choose a Single Topic

Don’t try to create an infographic that is so lengthy it covers several things at once. It’s far better to create three separate infographics instead. Narrow your focus as much as possible. Remember the essays you wrote in middle school? Your teacher likely kept telling you to narrow your focus, and infographic creation is much the same way.

2. Be Authentic

One major issue with some infographics is that they misuse information to sway the user to their way of thinking. Today’s consumers are savvy. Once they realize you’ve misled them, they won’t trust anything else you have to say.

Mapping software is helpful in coming up with the facts and figures to support your points. Unfortunately, it also gives the user some wiggle room to manipulate the data and misrepresent elements.

Make sure you gather details without your own personal bias. If you aren’t sure, pull in some advice from others with differing viewpoints. If you must include something and it is a little biased, also include information from the opposite viewpoint. You have to really take yourself out of the equation and just look at facts without any emotion.

3. Study Other Infographics

Pull up infographics on the topic you’re covering. What details do your competitors cover? Are there any gaps in the information that you can fill with your own infographic?

What do you love about the other visualizations? What can you do better than they did? With a little research, your infographic will easily stand out from the others on the topic. Even a change in font or heading sizes can make a difference.

4. Tell a Story

Since the days when the first caveman painted on the walls of his dwelling, people have told stories to one another as a form of entertainment. Sometimes it’s hard to see the story in an infographic, particularly if the topic is a dry one filled with facts and figures. However, there is always a tale behind every subject. You just may have to work a little harder to find what it is for some things.

Look at the outline for your infographic. Does it follow a linear form starting with Point A and ending with Point Z? Do you need to rearrange the order to make it more understandable?

If your infographic doesn’t move smoothly from one point to the next, the reader may bounce away without finishing it. Your goal is to build on each element through to the end. The user should feel that the first topic ties to the next and so on. Books can give you an idea of how to build a plot. You then should apply the concepts to shorter pieces, such as infographics and articles on your site.

5.Use Vivid Colors

Xerox conducted a study about the impact of color. They found color made a huge difference in reader cognition and engagement. When details were highlighted in color, people remembered them 39% more frequently, and brand recognition improved by 80% or more.

Not only should you include bright pops of color in your infographics, but you must understand the psychology behind colors and which ones your demographic responds best to. You should also ensure the background and colors contrast sharply so text remains readable and images pop.

6. Make Sharing Easy

The more people share your infographic, the more engagement you’ll get. Make sharing as simple as copying some code or hitting a social media share link. As long as the person sharing somehow credits the infographic to you, and hopefully links back to your site, allow widespread use of the visualization.

The entire idea behind an infographic is to teach others something about your industry or how to use your products, etc. Distribute your design to as many people as possible for the most traction.

Run A/B Tests

Once your infographic is ready to go, run some split tests and refine it. For example, if you have some data visualizations in red, test what happens if you add the color blue. Rearrange things and do some more testing. Split and multivariate testing is your best friend to ensure your infographic gets the most engagement possible.

How to Optimize Images for SEO

Author: Ivy Attie

Search Engine Optimization is a critical part of designing a website. With a great SEO strategy, your website will attract organic traffic and position well on the search engine rankings. 

But do you know that there is more to a stellar SEO strategy than just working on the content? While they are often ignored, images also play an essential role in creating a sound SEO strategy. And leveraging the power of images and other visual content while designing your website’s SEO strategy will help you stay ahead of the competition.

This article talks about some excellent image optimization suggestions that you can use to increase your website’s speed and searchability.

Let’s get started!

  1. Resize Your Images

Image size refers to the resolution and dimensions of the images. The greater the resolution and the bigger the dimensions, the slower your page’s loading speed will be. And we already know that Google considers page speed while deciding SEO rankings. 

Here are some ways to ensure your images are the right size and don’t weigh your website down:

Choose The Correct Format!

Images are presumably the heaviest content on a page and add the most load to a website. Ultimately, this can lead to an increase in bounce rates and lower SEO rankings. By choosing the right format of images for different purposes on your website, you can achieve optimal loading speed. 

There are three primary formats for digital pictures: JPEG, PNG, and GIF. Each type uses a distinct compression method, which means the file size for these three types can differ astronomically. 

So, which type to use? Well, there is no one answer for this. 

For example, JPEGs take the least space and are great for photographic images. In contrast, PNGs are a good option for illustrations, screenshots, images with textual information, etc. One downside to PNGs is they are heavier in size, compared to JPEG. As for GIFs, they are suitable for animated images.

Decide Your Compression Rate

Compressing too much can lower the file size, but it will also impact your image quality. Whereas not compressing enough, your image file size will remain big. 

One of the best ways to compress a picture is through Photoshop. Select the ‘Save for Web’ option for a copy that is the ideal size and color for web use. TinyPnG, JPEG Optimizer, and many WordPress plugins are also helpful for this purpose.

  1. Never Use Sloppy Filenames For Your Images!

When it comes to image optimization, filenames are not to be taken lightly. 

Google has integrated a machine-learning image identification tool into its platform that can identify the content of the media file. But understanding an image is not always so easy. 

For example, if you have uploaded an image of a basketball-inspired birthday cake and simply named it “Image_101.jpeg“, chances are Google may identify it as a basketball only.

This is because Google is still a machine, and you have to help it as much as you can to comprehend what your image is all about. 

How? 

For starters, use a more descriptive filename. In this case, a better and more helpful name would be “basketball-birthday-cake.jpeg.” This name will help Google identify your image and rank it among birthday cakes and not basketballs.

  1. Don’t Underestimate The Power of a Good Alt Tag

Alt tags appear when the picture is unable to load on the browser for some reason. Search engine algorithms look for alternative tags to comprehend the image’s content and show them in place of the photo. 

The alt tags also allow people with visual difficulty better understand the picture when they are reading through a screen reader. 

Add precise alt tags along with your pictures. Aim to be as descriptive as possible by integrating relevant keywords in the alt tags. However, avoid keyword stuffing as Google can figure ‘over optimization’ and penalize your page for trying to trick their algorithms. 

Again, take the example of a basketball-inspired birthday cake and see what a lousy alt tag looks like and how you can make it better.

<img src= “basketball-birthday-cake.jpeg” alt= “basketball birthday cake birthday cakes happy birthday cake“/>

The above alt tag is an example of keyword stuffing. It also fails to explain what the image is actually about. 

To make the alt tag more readable, you should try something like:

<img src= “basketball-birthday-cake.jpeg” alt= “basketball-inspired birthday cake“/>

  1. Pick Unique Images For Your Website

Whether you choose to acquire images from an online source or click original ones, they mustn’t appear to be cliche. Just as textual content is supposed to be unique and not plagiarized for good SEO rankings, your visual content must also be novel. 

However, uniqueness can be an issue when using stock photos because they are readily available to almost everyone. What you can do to minimize the problem is add a hint of your own creativeness to them before you put them up on your website. 

Stock pictures are open for modification, so you are free to edit, crop, and even change the background to incorporate that tinge of uniqueness into the images. 

  1. Come up With Great Image Captions

Image captions don’t directly contribute to great SEO rankings, but they definitely improve the user experience on your website. Image captions are the writings that appear underneath your visual content. Unlike alt tags or image names, they are visible to the readers on your website. 

Putting a creative caption under your images gives users a complete feeling about the visual content. It tells them the purpose of the image, which they might not comprehend without the caption. Good image captions decrease your website’s bounce rate and boost your online reputation.

  1. Make an Image Site Map

According to Google, a sitemap is “a database where you give information about the pages, videos, and other files on your site and their relationships.”

While most webmasters add every textual information of their website on the site map, it is important to mention every visual asset on your website too. From the smallest thumbnail to the largest video – every element of your website should be part of the sitemap. 

It will help SEO spiders consider all the content on your website while deciding the rankings.

Conclusion

Search Engine Optimization is the present and the future of online marketing. And as said before, your SEO strategy will be incomplete without an excellent image optimization plan. 

Give these tips a try. We are sure they will increase your online credibility and rate you high in the SEO rankings. Good Luck!

Author Bio:

Ivy Attie is a content manager, researcher, and author in various media-oriented publications. She is a passionate communicator with a love for visual imagery and an inexhaustible thirst for knowledge. Her background is in communication and journalism, and she also loves literature and performing arts.

What Are Some Simple Ways to Showcase Your Business’s Work?

Author: Eleanor Hecks Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn

The best online marketing can convince customers that the product or service you are selling is high-quality or likely to solve their problem.

Showcasing these offerings effectively can be a challenge, however, especially if you want a simple online solution that’s easy to implement or add to an existing business site.

These are 5 strategies for showcasing work online that businesses of all kinds use to show off previous wins, current offerings and future deals.

1. The Customer Testimonial

When shopping online, almost every consumer relies on recommendations and reviews from others. While most Americans are more likely to trust recommendations from friends and family, consumer research shows that people also value testimonials from other consumers that they don’t know.

Many businesses include reviews sections on their online storefronts. These sections are a good way to both gather customer feedback and collect positive reviews of your business’s product in a public place.

Testimonials and highlighted reviews can provide even more benefits.

A testimonial from a previous customer, for example, allows you to use a real-world experience with your business to show off a product or service.

These testimonials can tell visitors more about your business, the services you provide and how your products work in practice. This information is great at helping to assuage consumer worries and doubts.

Reaching out to previous customers to solicit testimonials and reviews can be a great way to highlight previous wins and take advantage of the positive feedback your business has received.

2. The Product Catalog

Catalogs are one of the best ways to show off physical products and services — especially if your products’ aesthetics are a major selling point.

Organizing catalogs that encourage customers to learn more about your business can be a challenge, however. A combination of high-quality images and smart web design will help you build a product catalog that drives engagement and conversions.

For example, see this page from design-and-build lighting manufacturer WAC Lighting.

The page features a number of large, descriptive elements that show off different product categories offered by WAC Lighting using high-resolution and visually appealing product images.

Each of these elements links to a category page that includes a number of sub-categories, which all have their own high-quality product images.

The combination of product name and brief descriptive copy helps to explain what the categories are, while the product images show off how the business’s products look in real-life settings.

Creating a catalog like this for your website can help you both show off products to potential customers and make different products easier to find. Combining descriptive copy, high-quality images and links is one of the best ways to encourage customers to consider a purchase.

3. The Case Study

For businesses that offer services, more conventional product catalogs may not work. It can be difficult to represent a service like an office redesign, construction or accounting with a simple image.

Case studies are one of the best tools for businesses wanting to showcase their services. These studies break down a previous success your business has had, introducing visitors to a client, the problem they had and how your business rose to the challenge.

This page, from marketing firm Amp Agency, provides an excellent example of case studies in action:

The page breaks down a previous Amp Agency campaign, a partnership with Patagonia. The case study tells the story of how Amp Agency used a cross-country road trip to spread the word about Patagonia’s “Worn Wear” program, which encourages the reuse and repair of clothes.

Included in the case study is a description of the road trip itself, why the business decided on the road trip idea and how the campaign helped to grow the Patagonia brand.

Information like this can tell consumers a lot about a business — like how the brand approaches problem-solving.

Using similar studies on your business website can help you show off previous wins and intrigue potential customers.

4. The Short Video

When an image isn’t enough, many brands turn to video content to show off their products. Videos allow these companies to stage demonstrations, explain a product in-depth or show off a new offering from multiple angles.

Short videos, like this one from assemble-it-yourself furniture retailer IKEA, are more expensive to produce than still images, but can provide serious value:

The video, which is less than a minute long, quickly breaks down IKEA Place, an app that uses augmented reality to help customers visualize how furniture will look in their home.

Narration helps to explain how the app works, while the video shows off what customers can expect when using the app.

Videos like these can help you show customers how to use a product or demonstrate what the product looks like in action.

5. The Social Media Post

Social media is a great place to show off products using bite-sized pieces of content.

Even brief posts on platforms like Instagram can reach massive audiences when successful, helping your brand to show off products to as many consumers as possible.

As with other product showcase techniques, you’ll have the most success in marketing with social media when you have high-quality product images and effective post copy.

Best Strategies for Showcasing Your Brand’s Work Online

With the right strategy, you can show off your business’s work in a way that drives traffic, builds your brand and encourages conversions.

Testimonials, product catalogs, case studies and short videos are all powerful tools for businesses wanting to showcase their work online. Implementing these strategies can help you put your products or services in the best light possible.

What Is the Impact of Design on Web Development?

Author: Hermit Chawla

Web configuration is the visual look and usefulness according to a client’s viewpoint. It is one of the main pieces of any Internet advertising methodology. It immensely affects advanced client experience in more ways than one. In this post, we’ll investigate a few significant parts of web configuration and how can it affect web development?

  1. Standardization

It alludes to the impression you make on your site’s guests before they at any point begin perusing your site. When somebody comes to visit your site, you need them to comprehend that you’re a cutting-edge, decent business. To a great extent, this impression depends on how your web configuration addresses you. An awesome website designing company takes care of all these little things.

A few web design components add to the impressive skill.

  • A culture page is essential for your site solely devoted to discussing your company’s way of dealing with everyday tasks. Do you commend anything special? For the most part, these are incredible increases to a culture page since they show what your company accomplishes other than work. Indeed, even your clients will be intrigued to see that your workers are cheerful.
  • Photographs of staff can likewise go quite far in supporting incredible skill. Whether you decide to show them together at a party or work diligently depends on you. Regardless, you’re adding appearances to your business that shows guests you’re over a brand name.
  • Exhibit client results. If you are qualified for your work in any capacity — regardless of whether it’s the number of climate control systems you fixed (like for a warming and cooling website) last year — you can feature that data on your webpage.
  1. Load time

Load time alludes to how long somebody needs to sit tight for a page on your site to show on their devices. Load time is a significant Google positioning element, and it’s become critical to online accomplishment as more shoppers advance toward utilizing the Internet on cell phones. The cutting-edge Internet client is worried about websites that heap in a matter of seconds and — all the more critically — utilize negligible information.

How might you lessen your site’s stacking time?

  • Upgrade picture sizes on your website to ensure your webpage loads as fast as expected. To do that, utilization .jpg records for your pictures. This is the ideal way to show high-goal photographs or designs while limiting the size of the record.
  • Eliminate auto-play mixed media like video and sound. That implies your clients won’t utilize enormous lumps of their portable information when they visit your site on their cell phones. Also, auto-play interactive media is an aggravating method for advancing substance in any case. Most clients will leave your page if they arrive, and there’s naturally a video in their face.
  • Utilize blank areas all the more often to diminish information interest. A void area is any unused space on your pages: no text, no pictures, no recordings — nothing.
  1. Appearance

Web configuration most clearly impacts your web page’s appearance. You pick how your webpage looks, which assumes an enormous part in your company’s initial feeling on new web-based guests. Frequently, you’ll hear advertising specialists (counting us) talk about web designs in different limits.

  • A responsive website implies utilizing code on your website that makes it appear identical, paying little heed to the gadget somebody uses to get to it. So regardless of whether somebody comes to your site from a cell phone or a workstation, they’ll get an incredible encounter and observe the data they need.
  • Parallax looking over implies overlaying two visual components on a page and moving them at different rates as somebody scrolls. Then, at that point, when somebody glances through a page on your site, they’ll get a state-of-the-art visual experience that keeps them connected with and perusing.
  • Sight and sound allude to pictures, recordings, interactives, and other visual components that assist break with increasing text and teaching your guests. Media is a reasonable game for pretty much any page on your webpage, from a blog entry to a 100-page downloadable aide. You make your substance significantly more searchable, connecting with, and charming for perusers when you incorporate it.

However, this all has to do with your site’s appearance. Web configuration impacts significantly something other than how a website looks.

  1. Simplicity and Clearness

Clearness implies designing your website so guests can observe what they need as fast as expected. Most frequently, this implies further developing your route. Natural and recognizable route styles permit your guests to rapidly observe the data they need.

Today, the route arrives in a couple of notable styles:

  • The Breadcrumb route is motivated by the account of Hansel and Gretel. When somebody snaps to another page, your site naturally adds their past page to a route bar. Then, at that point, a client can click back to that page in a moment if they need.
  • A drop-down menu allows somebody to drift their cursor over a menu title and see the classification pages.

  1. V. Conversions

Conversions are seemingly the main piece of web design. Your business will not flourish online without them. Web configuration can affect conversions in 1,000 different ways, and they’re exceedingly significant.

These three are probably the most significant:

  • Shading sounds general, yet in the web design, it alludes to a shading design that brilliantly utilizes differences to feature selling recommendations.
  • KISS rule is an abbreviation for “Keep It Simple, Stupid.” The thought is that fewer complex designs are better designs.
  • Countenances might sound somewhat odd as a web design standard. However, the thought is that human faces assist guests with connecting with your business.

Wrapping up

Websites designing is one of the most important things to consider while developing a website. We have taken care of all the reasons that impact web development, and we also discussed how you could get the solutions for those issues. If you are still confused and looking for some awesome website designing company, click right here. You will get all the help regarding website designing.

Author Bio:

Hermit Chawla is a Marketing Manager at Sprak Design. He would love to share thoughts on Best Website Designing Company, Lifestyle Design, Branding Firm, Exhibition design etc..

Do Your Brand Colors Help or Hinder Your Web Design?

Author: Eleanor Hecks Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn

If you’re like most brands, you’ve probably spent a lot of time studying who your customers are and what they prefer. Your brand colors are ones you’ve tested thoroughly and used as you built your company’s image. Those colors have an emotional impact and people expect to see them aligned with everything you do.  

One older study conducted by Kissmetrics found 92.6% of people feel visual affects their purchase decisions more than any other sense. Around 90% of their assessment is based on color. Colors have a powerful emotional influence on people. Depending on your target audience, they can make or break your conversion rates. 

What happens when your brand colors hinder your web design instead of helping it? For example, you established your business and embraced a color palette in the early days, only to find those colors don’t translate well online. Perhaps you chose yellow and lime green and the colors just wash out your pages. 

Fortunately, there are many things you can do to use your brand colors for recognition while still giving your site excellent user experience (UX). Here are some of our favorites along with a few examples so you can see how other brands embrace the effort. 

1. Limit Bright Hues

If your brand colors embrace eye-catching shades of red, orange, fuschia or some other vivid hue, limit how much you use it. Perhaps your logo is an explosion of color, so you need to tone down your background a bit.

Think of your website in terms of layers. If you plan to have a bright logo on top, you’ll want a layer under that offers some contrast, such as white or pastel. You may also want to limit the number of colors on your page and combine complementary shades for your calls to action (CTA) and accents. 

Source: https://www.stoov.com

Stoov uses a bright orange for their logo. Instead of adding in too much orange and overwhelming the viewer, they use it in their logo, in the tags on the products showcased and for the CTA. Note how they used a very muted and soft green background to allow the orange to pop. Green is complementary to orange, giving the page a fun appeal. 

2. Be Consistent

Whatever layout you choose, make sure you’re consistent throughout your site for an excellent UX. You don’t want to use a color logo on the home page and then swap to a black and white logo on other pages. Of course, rules are made to be broken, but it’s important not to confuse your customers. 

3. Add Neutrals

One of the easiest ways to implement your color scheme on your website is to use it as accents and implement neutral shades to give the eye a break from all the pops of color. Note how big brands use whites, blacks, grays and tans to showcase content without overwhelming the user.

Think of your neutrals as part of your negative space on your site. Tap into a white background and high contrast black text for your body paragraphs. Use your brand colors for images, headings or CTAs. 

Source: https://www.nevsink.com

Nev’s Ink has brand colors in blue and a deep purple-pink. Note how they use a white background to make their clickable links pop. The blue draws the user’s eye. The entire site has a navigational hierarchy the user comes to rely on. CTAs are fuschia. Descriptive icons are blue. Headlines might be either.

4. Tap Into Emotions

Understand the psychology behind the colors you choose. Each hue elicits different emotions in the user. These can vary based on personal life experiences, though. While one person might love the color red and feel excitement, another may associate it with blood or a bad experience and shy away from the shade. 

Take the time to survey your customers. Conduct split testing to see if slight variations in tone make a difference. How well do the shades contrast with other elements on your page? Can you adjust your brand color palette slightly so it appears similar to your actual colors but contrasts better or pops on your website?

5. Consider Gender

Different genders prefer some colors over others. For example, both sexes love the color blue. However, men are more drawn to browns and greens. Approximately 33% of women dislike orange and 20% dislike brown. 

If you sell products better suited to one demographic than another, it is wise to choose colors the audience best relates to. 

Source: https://thrivecausemetics.com

Thrive uses blues and a pop of different shades of pink. The site caters mainly to women, so it makes sense they’d tap into the colors most beloved by their audience. The combination gives the site a festive, uplifting feel. 

6. Use Color Palette Tools

Still unsure of which colors might look best in your design? There are dozens of free color palette tools available on the world wide web. Punch in the main color or two for your brand and see what complements your brand’s look.

You may find some combinations look better than others. Ideally, you’ll use your choices on your website, social media and in newsletters you send out via email. You want to create a consistent look across all mediums, so don’t be afraid to try different combinations until you land on the one that works best for your users. 

Get Feedback

If you still aren’t sure how well your brand colors are converting site visitors into customers, ask for feedback. Talk to your regular customers about what they like and don’t like. If someone abandons their cart, send them an email and ask for feedback. Try different colors and designs until you hit on the ones getting the results you want for your site. 

Simple Ways to Make Your E-Commerce Site Festive

Author: Eleanor Hecks Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn

Even if you sell the same products year-round, during the holiday season, you want your site to appear more festive than normal. You’ll attract site visitors doing Christmas shopping or buying something special for themselves. Decking the halls of your e-commerce store only makes sense.

McKinsey recently forecast a strong demand for consumer products this holiday season thanks to high confidence. Around 40% of survey respondents said they planned to shop earlier due to concerns with supply shortages and longer shipping times. Don’t wait until the last minute to change the look of your store. Focus on the holidays now, as most people are already checking off their shopping lists.

How can you make your e-commerce store look festive without drastic changes? There are several ways to embrace the season and send emotional signals to your users that it’s time to order gifts now.

1. Add a Header Message

A ticker at the top of your landing page grabs user attention and is the perfect way to add in some holiday vibe without too much interference with the overall aesthetic of your site. You can offer a special holiday discount, update folks on upcoming sales or share other holiday news. Just keep it short and to the point.

Glossier added a note to the very top of its website. The background is a different color than the rest of the page, and draws the user’s eye. The note lets visitors know they’re prepping for the Black Friday sale and invites them to sign up for a mailing list to get early access to the event.

2. Add Some Greenery

A touch of holiday whimsey goes a long way toward making your site more festive. Add some greenery or holly to the edge of an image. Tuck a red bow behind a product you’re featuring. Look for ways to add the holiday spirit here and there.

Your page doesn’t need to look like Santa’s workshop exploded on it, but a few elements or adding in red and green helps put people in a holiday shopping mood.

3. Highlight Seasonal Products

If your e-commerce store offers seasonal products, feature them in your hero image and featured products sections. People visiting your site during the holidays may not have considered your site for gifts, but will when they see you offer specific items geared to gift-giving.

Mary Maxim grabs a number of home decor items geared to the holidays and features them on its landing page. At the top of the page, they mention they have a wide selection of holiday craft items and offer a link to shop for those things very specifically.

As you scroll down, you see displays of decor on a mantel, a wreath and a present. They also highlight items such as winter puzzles.

4. Change Up Your Logo

You’ve likely noticed Google changes their logo frequently. They use the same wordmark but add a background, tuck an illustration between the letters or even make the logo actionable. Depending upon how complex your logo is, you can easily top it with a bow, have a cartoon reindeer peek from behind a letter or add some greenery.

Adding holiday elements to your logo is a small change that is easy to implement but adds a festive touch to your site. Users tend to look at your logo before other elements on the page, so it sets the entire tone.

5. Offer a Gift Guide

A gift guide helps show people you’re ready to join in the festivities without putting the entire focus on the holidays. You may have regular customers who order year-round and aren’t interested in gifts. However, those who are can click on the link and see what you have for different types of recipients.

West Elm features a holiday lookbook on its website. Rather than just collect all holiday items into a group, they choose six distinct looks and share how the products look in your home.

E-commerce store owners can also offer gift-giving guides by category, such as for women, men or children. You can separate gifts into monetary categories as well. Use filters and let your site visitors search for the exact right item for their needs.

6. Create Holiday-Themed Content

Another way you can deck out your site is by adding some holiday-themed content. Headlines with words such as “Christmas,” “Thanksgiving” and “Hanukkah” go a long way toward adding some holiday spirit to your site.

Additionally, you can use the content for social media posts and drive traffic to your site. Your regular visitors may be used to typical content and seeing a holiday guide helps them remember you for their gift giving needs.

You can even create a video and showcase some items people might be most interested in purchasing for the holidays.

7. Add Beautiful Images

There are some scenes that scream Norman Rockwell, even with a modern touch. Look for beautiful images you can add to your hero header and your product pages. A family scene, a wintry white coating and holiday-themed items say a lot without any words.

Petsmart utilizes its hero slider to showcase beautiful holiday shots of pets and their owners. Note how the setting features green and red and there are festive touches within the photograph, such as a Christmas tree, red collar on the dog, red headband on mom and even some presents tucked in the background.

Add Little Touches

You don’t have to do a complete theme redesign to get your site in holiday mode. Add small touches and ask for feedback from your visitors. Take a step back and look at your site through fresh eyes. If anything seems bland, you can dress it up with small graphics or snazzy headlines.

While it’s a good idea to add some festivity to the mix, you also don’t want to add so many items that it’s hard to revert your site back in the new year. Add a few things but don’t go overboard.

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.

Tips for Creating a Great Website for Your Small Business

Author: Eva Benoit

Do you run a small business or want to start one? If so, you might be thinking about creating a website to help market your company and increase sales. But before you start building a website, it’s important to make sure you’re not wasting your time and money by creating a site that won’t help you achieve your goals. To create a great website for your business, check out these tips presented by Designweb Louisville.

Tips on Designing Your Site

Designing your website is important. Even if your site gets 10,000 hits per day — if people don’t like the design they won’t come back. A successful business website needs to be clean and uncluttered so visitors can find what they want quickly and easily. Here are some simple steps you can take to design your website successfully:

  • Have clear calls to action (CTA)
  • Use consistent styling and colors
  • Make navigating your website easy
  • Make forms clear and easy to fill in
  • Making it accessible to those with disabilities
  • Provide a search function

Optimizing for Search Engines

The most important secret of all is search engine optimization (SEO), particularly if you’re running an e-commerce site or your business depends on traffic via search engines. Optimizing involves spending some time working out what keywords people are typing into Google to find products like yours, and making sure those keywords are used within your website. Search engines look at these words as signals of relevance, so they’ll send more visitors your way if they pick up on them.

Tracking Your Progress With Analytics

Once you’ve created your website, make sure you’re tracking its progress with analytics. If people aren’t coming back to your site and you don’t know why, then it will be almost impossible to make improvements. Using analytics allows you to focus on results that matter rather than guessing at what those results might be.

User Experience and Customer-Focused Content

A website doesn’t need to be flashy or complicated. In fact, you’ll get more traffic and more conversions if your site is uncomplicated and easy to use. The best way to optimize for user experience is to create customer-focused content: short, powerful descriptions of what you do and how you can help customers. When possible, include examples of work you’ve done so prospects can see your creativity in action.

Different Professionals You Can Hire

The right web development company can develop or redesign a website with branding colors and styles consistent with your identity. They can also ensure your website is fast, secure, and optimized. Finding an expert is as easy as using a good job board. If you need help with marketing your business in Crestwood, KY, there are professionals who can handle everything from content creation to social media management. If you do a search for “average cost freelance web developer,” you’ll find that they cost between $15 and $30 per hour, but you can expect to pay more depending on their skills and experience.

Knowledge is Power

Knowledge is power when creating a great website, and knowing what steps have worked for other small businesses in your industry can help point you in the right direction. Be sure to visit Designweb Louisville for help with business website development.

Author Bio

Eva Benoit specializes in helping professionals with stress and anxiety but welcomes working with people from all walks of life. She works with her clients to discover and explore avenues that will bring them balance, peace, and improved overall well-being that can last a lifetime. 

How to Showcase Your Clearance Sales

Author: Eleanor Hecks Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn

Running regular sales allows you to move inventory you’d otherwise take a loss on, bring in customers seeking a bargain and drive traffic to your site via smart marketing methods. However, if you don’t showcase your clearance sales in the right way, you may impact your overall revenue.

Statista reports quarterly on U.S. e-commerce sales. In the second quarter of 2021, online retailers drew in an estimated $222.5 million in revenue. This was an increase from Q1 and an overall increase from 2020. One reason for the increases includes small business owners becoming smarter about their marketing and inventory management.

If you need to clear out old merchandise or offer loss leaders to bring new customers to your site, here are the best ways to showcase your clearance sales.

1. Put Sales Front and Center

One way to highlight your sales is in your hero image. Add a banner telling what’s on sale, sharing an image and a link to the clearance items. This is a great way to encourage impulse sales and move inventory that would otherwise sit stagnant.

Marie Nicole children’s clothing boutique features their current sale in their hero shot, with an image of a little girl wearing an outfit on sale and a note about how long the promotion runs. Note how they also run a narrow banner across the top of the page announcing the current clearance sale.

2. Know Your Audience

Start by knowing who your target audience is and then use language they’ll respond to. If you send out a note about the clearance items, you need to choose words encouraging buyers to take action. Think about what’s worked in the past, run surveys and look at analytics to figure out the best approach.

3. Highlight the Savings

People love a good bargain. Go ahead and advertise just how much they can save by buying the discounted items. Will they save 20% or maybe more? You might use a percentage, or you might use a dollar amount.

Be upfront about how much items are discounted. Ideally, you’ll break even after handling fees, but you may not make a profit on clearance items. The goal is to keep cash flowing through your enterprise and not get stuck with things that never sell. Seasonal items, in particular, can be hard to move as the holiday approaches. A discount can move them out so you aren’t stuck with them for 12 months.

Neway Packaging does an excellent job of highlighting the latest things to hit their clearance aisles. They use an image reading “Up to 50% Off” to grab attention and let users know just how much they can potentially save by ordering from the clearance section.

The headline reading “new items on clearance” indicates additional things get added to the clearance category from time to time, so even those who’ve visited before are likely to check out the page.

4. Use Social Media

According to Worldometer, there are approximately 5 billion internet users with the number growing constantly. Social media is also growing by leaps and bounds.

You can reach your target audience through a social media page, taking out targeted advertising and getting your current customers to share your posts and talk about your brand.

Give them a reward if someone new buys from you, even if it is a clearance item. Points or other perks will encourage your fans to share.

5. Host a Buy a Bag Event

One way to increase sales of clearance items is by bundling them or offering a perk when people buy. For example, some brands team up with companies offering incentives toward a cause and run sales at the same time.

You can also offer a certain percentage off for anything in a category people can fit in a bag. So, if you go to a hobby supply and craft store, you might see a 20% off all fall-themed items back. Or you might use a certain color tag for clearance items.

Look for ways to promote the bag and use it for more than one season. If you run a fully digital store, then the bag is a virtual one, while a brick-and-mortar store might offer a physical bag for sale items.

Ben Franklin Crafts & Framing offers a bag sale on the last Thursday of each month. The discount applies to the lowest price, so people can even get an additional savings on clearance items. They also offer online specials for those who prefer to shop from the comfort of their couch.

6. Time It Right

Moving seasonal merchandise requires perfect timing. You want people to still be interested in whatever season it is. If you try to clear out winter coats, you might have some luck in early January, but you aren’t going to sell many come April or May.

Think about how people use the item and when the right time is to push to clear the last of them out. Some things get used year-round, so may not have a time crunch on them. However, you may have ordered too many and need to make way for more inventory, so can offer a discount to move things out and create space or increase cash flow.

Reach Out in Multiple Ways

When you run a clearance sale, you must let your users know in a variety of ways. Send them a postcard, shoot off an email, post on social media and update your website. The more signs and info pointing to the sale, the more likely people will buy your discounted products.

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.