How Better Web Design Helps Increase Conversion Rates

Website design is considered both a science and an art. This term is typically used to define the whole process involved in developing and designing a website by using several different tools and methods. Web design is not only what we see, but also represents the user interface, menu structure and overall layout of the website. This is done with the help of different images, typeface, colours and contrasts. A well designed website not only performs well on a visual and user experience level, it also has a genuine impact on the volume of online company sales generated. 

Importance of web design

In order to promote your business well, and to get in front of your competitors, you have to visually engage and delight your web traffic visitors. Your website creates an initial and lasting impression of your business, so it’s crucial that its quality reflects the professionalism of your company. Consumers and potential clients need to identify with your brand - who you are, what you offer and why they should believe that your product or service is superior to others.

Types of Web Design

There are many types of web design available, and what you choose depends on the purpose for creating it;

Static – A Static website is one which does not have either a database or interactive content and no any server side functionality. This type of design is used for smaller websites that do not require any complicated functions or features. The static design is cheaper, faster, and simpler to design as compared to other designs. 

Dynamic – Dynamic websites use server-side programming and database to stock and distribute the content. This kind of website enables web pages to carry out complicated functions along with displaying complicated data and collaborative content. Dynamic designs are appropriate for larger websites which require a large number of pages. However, this type of design needs more initial work as compared to static websites, therefore it’s typically not recommended for small websites.

Brochure Sites –best for small businesses and for those who are looking for a low budget option. These websites generally have one or two pages, following a basic format, including pages such as Home page, About Us, Services, Contact Us and links.

Content Management System (CMS) – CMS is the best options for those who update their services and products frequently. Even, this is also very effective for those who want complete control over their website. This allows you to add image, page, or content depending on your needs. 

E-commerce - E-commerce websites are preeminent for those who want to sell goods online. You can get e-commerce design according to your business needs by adding payment gateways like PayPal, SagePay, WorldPay, or Checkout by Amazon. E-commerce websites are database driven and dynamic that provides provision to clients to add product descriptions, images, new items and stock levels from a committed admin system. 

How to Increase Conversion rates

The theme, color, menu navigation, layout, graphics, usability and images all play a crucial role in persuading visitors to browse through a website, thereby helping to convert them into buyers. A successful website is one that provides an intuitive user experience – that is to say, one where specific words are made into clickable links that lead the user to where they would expect to go, having seen a particular product or image. 

Here are a few influential ways to help increase conversion rates;

Usability

• Speed - A crucial factor. If a website takes too long to load, you can very quickly lose your hard earned traffic to competitor websites whose load times are significantly quicker. Use GTMetrix.com to check for site speed issues. 
• Readability of the content - The content you create should be easy to read, meaningful, and unique. 
• Information hierarchy – Key information that you want web visitors to read should be placed at the top of the page. Organise your content as per your business goals.

Intuitive web design

• A website is the main means of communication between you and your customers. Imagine turning up in gym gear to a corporate board meeting – it’s not what would be expected. Don’t let clickable key words or phrases lead to a page that does not naturally follow on from what they have just read or seen – it will not help to engender trust, and will diminish the user experience.

• Directional Cues- These are hints via use of hyperlinks, or suggestions such as “If you like this product you may also like…”. These help shepherd user behavior towards specific goals, such as completing a form or making a purchase.

If you want to enhance the appearance, professionalism or intuitive feel of your website, it is important to understand the basics of webpage design. At FiveRivers, we ensure to embed all these elements via our web design services. We can accompany this with unique and fresh content for a fully customised digital marketing strategy.

Request a quote or a free consultation today, by calling 0203 397 7545.

3 Trends for the Future of Web Development

With so many exciting IT fields out there, I believe web development is the most exciting one. When smartphones made their successful debut a few years back, web development had to adapt to the changing needs of the average internet surfer.

2016 is just around the corner, and it’s time to get ready for what web development has in store for us.

• Responsive web design

With a mobile-first future, new needs for usability are in demand. The introduction of tablets and smartphones means web developers must develop a website for both mobile devices as well as desktops. Since Google announced changes to its algorithm in April 2015, this is fast becoming standard. A mobile friendly web design enhances the user experience, which encourages the user to engage more with the website, ultimately leading to increased profitability for those sites that cater for the mobile market.

• Design Features Will Become More Constant

When designing websites for different screen sizes, there are many common elements web designers can adopt. This has two implications - firstly, that all websites will have similar functionalities, with UI all but standardized; and secondly, web designers will have to look to be more independent, to seek new ways to make their websites look different; more unique.

• Semantic Web

The Semantic Web is an extension to the World Wide Web, and is an idea that it can become more intelligent - intuitive almost - in better identifying a web user’s needs. You can implement this by using Semantic Markup, which allows you to tell search engines via HTML tags, what a specific piece of content is about. This allows search engines to understand more quickly and accurately, thereby caching your content sooner. You’ll also receive a small ranking boost as a thank you of helping making their job easier!

It’s not just optimized Website development that every business needs; in order to establish a strong online identity, you need a considered web design, a customised digital marketing campaign and engaging content - the ideal blend for creating a strong brand and a successful business.

At Five Rivers, we offer all web-related services. Dial 0203 397 7545 for a free consultation, and see how we can help move your business forward.

The Most Effective Tips for Web Content Writing

Content writing has emerged as the most crucial part of any Digital Marketing campaign. The need of finding qualified and experienced content writers has taken on a real urgency for many businesses. Undoubtedly, for one who is less experienced in writing website content, this can be a challenging and repetitive job if not shown the tools required to be effective. Here are a few tips to consider;

• Keyword Research - Your very first port of call. It’s a hugely important aspect when writing web content. Finding the correct phrase or keyword combination that generates the most traffic is critical to a business’ online success. There are many tools available, allowing you to look for the keywords relevant to your services and products – a couple of examples are Google’s Keyword Planner, and keyword.io.

• Write Original Content - Avoid plagiarism like the plague! Word-for-word copying from another website can attract severe penalties from search engines, who will without doubt, identify plagiarism very quickly. Your website could plummet down the search results pages, making it more difficult to be found.

• “Flawless” Writing - When writing web content, ensure that it be creative (either information-rich or a kind of storytelling) and grammatically perfect. This will help to engage your audience, maintain professionalism, and engender trust. Writing should be simple and easy to understand. And remember, it’s quality not quantity that’s important.

• Be precise and clear – don’t deviate from the subject matter – stick to the point or your article theme.

• Add a Call-to -Action (CTA) – Consider the main motive of your writing – you’re looking to attract potential customers to the products and services you are writing about. If you omit a CTA within the content, you’ve lost any momentum gained that might encourage visitors to make a purchase or employ your services.

Remember, a website is the first impression of your business. If it’s equipped with well-written content, and easy to use navigation, there’s an increased likelihood it will generate more business leads or sales.

If you’re looking for help with website content writing, blogs, articles or any copywriting services, ensure to hire professional content writers. At Five Rivers, we’re content experts who can also help with customised digital marketing services, and bespoke web design & development. 

2016 Web Design Predictions

Web design trends are ever changing. 2015 is almost concluded, but we’re perennially hunting for the latest developments. Consideration towards a responsive web design has been the biggest change this year. Here are some predictions for 2016, and what we might expect from leading web design companies;

• Prediction 1- Storytelling websites

The concept of a storytelling website hasn’t taken off as much as first thought when they first appeared in 2011. However, their popularity may soar in 2016, as the type of website featured here - http://www.dangersoffracking.com/ - helps to increase the time a user spends on your website, and customer engagement and interaction. All search engines reward websites with high user engagement by placing them higher up the search results pages. Since this is every business owner’s goal, there’s no reason for this not to take off in a big way.

• Prediction 2- High Quality moving images/Cinemagraph

If you are unsure whether to use video or images on your website, then prepare to experience “moving images”. These high quality images, also known as Cinemagraph, is a still image which uses less bandwidth when compared to videos. Here are some examples - http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/cinemagraph/

• Prediction 3- Quirky Illustrations

In comparison with hand-drawn illustrations, few design components can add character to your website more than Quirky Illustrations. These give a friendly edge to your business, adding personality, and can’t be replicated easily. We predict that they will appear more frequently in websites in 2016, and even more so within social media campaigns. This Pinterest board features plenty of them - https://uk.pinterest.com/nanettebratton/quirky-illustrations/

We’ll be sure to keep our finger on the digital pulse in 2016 and beyond. At Five Rivers, our focus on technological advancements helps us to make our clients the talking point within their industry.

For more about our services, feel free to visit us at http://www.fiverivers.net/ or call us on 0203 397 7545.

Digital Marketing vs SEO – What’s the Difference?

Digital Marketing is a broad term that brings together all types of marketing that can function both online and offline, and as such, has transcended the original term, SEO, which now comes under the Digital Marketing umbrella. Over the last few years, Digital has become a staple requirement for many businesses, and will continue to do so. This marketing technique blends many different elements, such as SEO, On Page, Off Page, and Social Media, email newsletters, and pay per click (PPC) advertising via Google and Bing.

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - You can either call it a science or an art, SEO can help your website to gain visibility on the search engines. This can be done by increasing the volume of quality keywords on a page, or ranking for a particular keyword. There are different kinds of SEO techniques available, such as, outreach, blogging, link building, on-site technical analysis and improvement.
• On-page- This is one of the most important processes and should therefore be the bedrock of your online marketing campaign. On-page goes far beyond specifying Meta tags and keyword densities. It determines the success or failure of your overall internet marketing campaign. Optimising the URL structure, the menu navigation, and internal linking improve the ranking of your website will make it easy for search engines to crawl through and file your web pages. And don’t forget to add a sitemap!
• Off-Page- Done properly, this technique can be used to improve your website’s position in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Off-page SEO includes, link building via social media accounts, directory listings and social bookmarking.
•  Social Media- A social media strategy is the process of gaining the attention of the visitors using “click bait” (a sentence that persuades the reader to click on your website link, such as a sales offer) and bringing them to your website through the varying social media channels. The main focal part of this marketing strategy is therefore content, as you are looking to encourage users to share your posts amongst their friends and family.

If you are looking for Digital Marketing services, get in touch with the team at Five Rivers today. In addition to customised marketing campaigns, we offer many web services, including, web development and design, software development, and IT Support. 

What to Consider when Choosing a Web Development Company?

Choosing the right web development company can be time consuming. How do you know which is the right fit for your business, who has the most experience, or who keeps up with the latest in website technology? A good website can either make or break a business, so it is crucial to choose one that can help define and deliver your business goals. Before you settle on a website development company, it is important to understand how they approach a project, their methodology, and their accreditations.

It’s also important to spend time identifying your real business aims, in order to be able to create a website that reflects your brand’s personality, and your business culture. Here are 3 areas where the choosing the right web designers will allow your website to stand out for all the right reasons;

• Strong Brand Identity

If you want a unique brand identity, think about what logo would best represent your business – such as colour, font, size and image (if applicable). It should also reflect the personality of your business. (Think of brands such as Innocent, Crusha and Pepsi Max).

• Engaging web design

Web design is the first thing that grabs the user’s attention. The website will be representing the professionalism of your business, and will be acting as your senior salesperson, based on the fact it is created to engender trust, be informative, and encourage customer growth and retention.

• Enhance Search Engine Visibility

Any website should have the basics of search engine optimisation (SEO) actioned. For example, Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools should be set up, and some keyword research should have been conducted to help identify the most searched words for that product or service. Two sitemaps – both html and xml – should have been created, in order to be read by search engine spiders. This ensures that it boosts traffic to the website from the outset.

If you are seeking to increase your customer base and enhance your online presence, Five Rivers can help. We’re an IT Consultancy that offers a range of services including software development, website design and development, digital marketing and IT Support services - without burning a hole in your pocket, nor compromising on quality standards. Contact us today for a free consultation to see how we can benefit you. Dial 0203 397 7545.

Finding Time to Market your Business

Online advertising is a necessary evil for many business owners, many of whom are just too busy looking after their day to day operation. Ordering stock, invoicing, posting products, customer contact, dealing with company finances – just when should you find the time to do your marketing as well? Advertising your business online takes time and consideration, and an effective digital marketing campaign needs you to spend time learning about the many facets that can be applied, and the best ways in which to approach it. Failure to do this means that you could be wasting your time.

It’s no surprise therefore, that many businesses owners turn to professional Marketing companies to do this for them. Typically, the equivalent of an hour a day would propel your business up the search rankings, thereby improving your online profile and increasing your visibility. This in turn, will provide more website traffic and, potentially, more customers.

However – it doesn’t just stop there. Marketing only drives visitors to your website. It is then up to the website to act as your senior salesperson. Take a minute to look at your site and ask yourself –

• Is it user friendly?
• Is your key information easily found?
• Are there links within the written content to other pages of the site?
• Is the website mobile friendly? That is to say, does it resize to fit a smartphone or tablet, and allow for a good mobile user experience?

If the answer to any of these is “No”, then you need to be looking into the possibility of redesigning your whole website. The good news is that most Marketing companies also offer Web Design services.

Five Rivers is currently offering a FREE one hour consultation – whether to discuss digital marketing, website development, or mobile app development.

Dial 0203 397 7545 or visit http://www.fiverivers.net/our-solutions.aspx to find out more.

How to increase traffic to your website or blog using YouTube

If images are meant to speak a 1000 words, then imagine the power of videos. Writing great content about your business will generate good traffic to your website, but combining it with a video marketing strategy will boost your visitor engagement further.

One of the main reasons why YouTube is such a powerful medium, is because over 3 billion people watch videos on YouTube every day. This presents a fantastic opportunity, whereby your message has the potential to reach a significant amount of prospective clients.

How to Promote your Content

• Once your video is uploaded to YouTube, ask a web developer to embed it into your website. This is especially useful if the video is a “How To” guide, as it helps to promote you as an authority figure in your industry.
• Promote your video through all other social networks – give your video the best possible opportunity of being viewed, liked, and shared

Engage with other YouTube users

• Build a following - Liking and subscribing to other YouTube accounts will persuade others to follow your account
• Respond to any comments posted, making sure to answer questions in detail to give the impression that you are approachable – they may be willing to engage further, or even employ your services

With the scope that YouTube provides for businesses, it should really form an integral part of any business’ strategy.

Don’t forget to check Google Analytics to review the traffic obtained from this source – you may find the user behaviour is different to other methods of driving web traffic to your site, and you can then evolve your overall strategy accordingly.

If you’re looking to implement this strategy into your online marketing campaign, contact Five Rivers at http://www.fiverivers.net/. We can also create an animated video which can help to increase engagement further.

To discuss your ideas, dial 0203 397 7545 today to find out how we can drive traffic to your website.

Mobile App Development - Bring the World to Your Fingertips

Are you looking to build your own mobile app at an affordable price? We have a qualified team of software developers who are equipped with the latest technologies, enabling them to provide intuitive software solutions.

If you’re planning to hire a mobile app development company for your project, here are a few key pointers to consider before you make an approach;

• Get a clear idea about your app. Why do you need it? For example, do you want to improve web traffic or do you want to enhance your customer experience.
• One you have decided the relevancy of your idea, prepare a blueprint. Understand the application's navigation, flow and features.
• Keep your app clean and easy, so review your entire plan and remove all unnecessary features. Users want their app to be as easy as possible to understand and use.
• Your app should not be dull or uninspiring. It should be simple but engaging. Make it eye-catching with attractive colours and designs, to match the theme and concept.
• Hire a mobile app development company such as http://www.fiverivers.net
• Once your app has been developed, register a developer account in the respective app stores.
• You can track the quantity of downloads, retention, user behaviour and engagement for your mobile app with an analytic tool.
• Gather feedback from app users, because it will inform you about how well your app is being received, and whether there could be improvements to their experience.

Five Rivers is committed to building innovative, feature-rich applications which can help you become a part of the mobile revolution.

For detailed information about our software solutions, visit – http://www.fiverivers.net/software-development.aspx . Alternatively, you can call us on 0203 397 7545.

SEO in 2015: How to Prepare for Google’s Upcoming "Mobilegeddon" Update

Mobilegeddon — another iteration of Google’s algorithm made to make websites more mobile-friendly — will hit on April 21st 2015. On this day, a Google mobile algorithm update will increase the ranking of sites that are mobile-friendly. All websites which fail to perform well on mobile devices will be more difficult to find on those devices in the search results. However, they have stated that it will take a week to be fully rolled out.

How to Prepare for the Update

To prepare, you can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to check your site’s mobile compatibility. It also provides suggestions on how the site could be further optimised. Google Webmaster Tools also contains a convenient Mobile Usability Report where you get a detailed report of the mobile user experience. If you find any errors or discrepancies in your report, you have roughly two weeks from now to get them fixed.

If your site is already mobile-friendly, you won’t have much to worry about with this upcoming algorithm. However, if you’ve not yet optimised your site, now is the right time to get it done. Some recommended actions to prepare for upcoming algorithm update are;

• Be mobile ready – contact a web developer such as http://www.fiverivers.net to make the site responsive. Also make sure Google’s mobile bots can crawl your website correctly.
• Understand your mobile traffic - use Google Analytics to evaluate mobile traffic volume and quality. It will help to understand the proportion of traffic comes from mobile.
• Review behaviour metrics - analyse how your mobile traffic performs. Understand which pages need improvement using segments in Google Analytics e.g Bounce rate and time spent on the website.

To learn more about how to get your site optimised for upcoming Google's update, read this more in depth report - http://fiveriversdigital.co.uk/2015/04/is-your-website-mobile-ready/ - or contact us at – http://www.fiverivers.net/contact-us

How to Create a User-Friendly Website that will generate Loyal Customers

If you’re looking to hire a web design company to create a website for a new business venture, or are refreshing an existing website, your input into the design is key. A well-planned and well-designed website will ensure its relevancy and longevity in a market where web technologies are constantly pushing new boundaries. A poorly constructed site that doesn’t have the end user at the forefront of its planning will not only drive visitors away – you will have wasted your money from the outset. However, it’s not just about visual styling - site content is of equal importance. If your skills lie away from content writing, it’s worth paying a professional to do it for you. Bad grammar or a mixed message can make your site appear untrustworthy and confusing.

To help your potential customers navigate through your site more easily, here are some guidelines to follow:

• Style - The style of a website plays an important role in conveying the company message. For example, using clear flash animation will help attract users and make it visually engaging. Flash is most often used on the homepage, however, it should be used minimally as to ensure the key message is not lost.
• SEO Friendly - Search Engine Optimisation describes a strategy that helps websites to be found more easily on all search engines. The inclusion of relevant keywords into the text and images of a website, will ensure your site achieves greater visibility when people search for your services.
• Navigation – This is a crucial element of web design. As a rule of thumb, any visitor should be able to find all pages on a website within three clicks from their landing page. Navigation describes how the website content is divided into different sections, and the flow from page to page – this includes the menu and its associated drop-down menus, buttons and hyperlinks. Think about what you would expect when visiting a site, and what page would make sense to link to, based on the information on that page.
• Compatibility – Regardless as to how good the graphics or content of a website, if the web pages are not compatible with the main web browsers, the website will not achieve its true potential. Ensure that it will be fully compatible with Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari.

As a leading London website development agency, we design and build websites to reflect your brand and core values. We understand the importance of a friendly UX (user experience), and this is reflected in our work. For more information, visit http://www.fiverivers.net , or to see examples of our work, visit http://www.fiveriversdigital.co.uk/2014/10/web-ui-designs