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We live in a multi-screen world, smart phones, iPads, iPods, MacBooks, etc. — every single one is capable of browsing the internet. Add that to the fact each one has a different resolution. As a result, many of the modern web designers and marketers are not sure what to do.
Statistics suggest mobile traffic is going to continue to increase: 56% of American adults are now Smartphone owners. 75% of Americans bring their phones to the bathroom. Retailers’ apps with store mode gather five times more engagement. By the end of 2013, there were more mobile devices on Earth than people. 80% of Smartphone owners want more mobile-optimized product information while they’re shopping in stores. 40% of shoppers consult three or more channels before purchase, compared to 10% in 2002. Within five years, half of today’s Smartphone users will be using mobile wallets as their preferred payments method. Consumers are spending 127 minutes per day on mobile apps. Cyber Monday sales are up 30% and mobile sales up 96% since 2011. Mobile searches related to restaurants have a conversion rate of 90% with 64% converting within the hour. 4 out of 5 consumers use Smartphones to shop. More than 25 percent of consumers engage in online shopping only via mobile. More than 57 percent of consumers will not recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile site. Similarly, more than 40 percent of consumers will go to a competitor’s site after a bad mobile experience. |
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What are we supposed to do with all of these options available for Internet enabled devices? The idea of targeting specific devices and resolutions today is absurd. There are more resolutions, phones, and platforms then you can list. By the time you finish designing and coding for each device, your website is out of date. Here are some quick/simple fixes you should consider: Avoid Flash, QuickTime, or any other plug-in that might not be available to a mobile user. Do not exceed 960px wide or people will be scrolling forever. Do not use fonts smaller then 11px. Make sure primary site navigation is large. Here are some long-term solutions to adopt: Responsive Design is a viable solution. The idea to build a single web property that has the ability to dynamically change its display based on the device. This applies to low-resolution devices and high-resolution devices. Remember when you are viewing a Responsive Designed site it is still the same website, but no matter what device your end customer is using the site is optimized. Responsive Design is the idea of having a single website that renders well on a multitude of devices. Responsive design begins with your website, but becomes a part of your marketing strategy. How? The first step when contemplating a redesign of your website using responsive design is to look at your analytics. What types of devices are your visitors using to access your site? If your traffic has changed and they are now using tablets and mobile devices to access your site, you will benefit from a responsive website. Here are six positive effects: increased conversions, lower bounce rates, increased page rank, a stronger online presence, decreased development costs, and a competitive advantage. The worst thing you can do is absolutely nothing.This might sound obvious, but less than 10% of the ‘Top Million Websites’ were mobile ready less than two years ago. As Smartphones, tablets, etc. continue to proliferate, the failure to provide for these visitors will mean you risk alienating a significant portion of your target market. Also do not make assumptions about the behavior of mobile users; or that mobile users are ‘on the move’. Did you know that 40% of mobile searches have local intent? Google showed that almost 80% of mobile searches occur at home or work. Make sure your decisions about how to treat mobile visitors are based on actual data; in other words Test and Track. You cannot figure out how your mobile visitors are behaving if you do not track them separately from desktop visitors. You need to segment out the mobile visit data in order to make informed decisions.
Did You Know? Taken individually, spending on tablets increased 87.6% from the end of 2012 compared to the end of 2013, while the increase on Smartphones was 118.1% in the same period. |
Another new year means more change, and 2014 promises to be a year of transformation for website design.
2013 had some website design advancements. However, this year promises to be more active. Here are some web design trends for 2014: Flat Design –Flat designs are straightforward and cleaner. Flat design includes blocks of colors, strong lines, tiles, and imaginative typography. Flat screen web design offers a simpler user experience. The concept behind this is enhancing the 2D screen so you avoid the website from looking three dimensional. The flat design eschews 3D and shading techniques for flat colors, simple layouts, and a less cluttered look. The effect of this design is a sleek interface. When we reduce the amount of visual encumbrance, websites provide a better experience for site viewers. By simplifying the experience, the customer’s mind is free to think about purchase decisions or valuable content, which means improved revenue and brand impact. If you have not thought about flat design – you should. |
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Typography –During the embryonic phase of the internet, text was rendered almost entirely in the system default font. Then designs were limited to the fonts available on personal computers. In time, solutions were developed to load fonts for users. With this greater flexibility in design came a greater responsibility on the part of designers to use the resources available to them. Today, designers are recognizing the importance of typography in conveying brand message and improving usability. Websites and web applications will have to continue to adapt to mobile screen sizes. Tablets and other such devices have comparably different reading experiences and navigation than standard personal computers. One of the major issues with websites and web applications viewed via mobile, stems from the difficulty of reading text. To help solve this challenge in 2014, web developers will begin experimenting with the size, location, and layout of type-based content. One page websites – A single page website is simpler to use and navigate. They are the latest trend many are considering. The fact remains simpler websites with higher resolution images can attract the attention of the users and convert visitors into your consumers. Less Content – Those who visit your website (most likely) only read a few lines on a page. Leading web designers are eliminating content on their sites. The first couple of paragraphs on the pages should be enticing, well-laid out, and convey your message effectively and efficiently. However, do not go overboard and inundate your visitors with text-heavy pages – you will lose them. Scrolling to Sections –Web developers have given a gift to users who are sick and tired of incessant scrolling – visitors wanting information without scrolling can simply click on links that move the page down to the desired section. This creates an easy-to-use and overall pleasant experience, for the browser. Photography –Now that we have better displays and high-resolution mobile devices controlling the market, website designers are employing alluring, large-format photographic backgrounds. However, remember the devices which these are viewed necessitate accommodations in order to optimize effectiveness. An image, presented in one format on a desktop should present in a comparable style on mobile sites, for brand identity. Keep in mind a well-designed website is worthless if it is not well-developed – S.E.O., S.M.O., mobile, responsive, etc. Responsive design was one of the leading trends in web and mobile development during the past two years. Designing and coding for mobile, as well as personal computers is familiar to all in the industry now; however, the line between mobile and desktop experiences still is not clearly defined. Experts say as a result of this ambiguity, throughout 2014, we can expect websites to seem much more like applications. *Did You Know? Online shoppers in the United States will spend more than $327 billion in 2016. |
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These days, the possibility of a cyber attack affecting your files – whether they are on a remote network or a local workstation – is no longer a matter of IF, but WHEN. You can keep your OS and softwares perfectly up to date and install the best anti-malware available, but you’re still not safe from hardware crashes and physical media corruption. If you really value your data, you need to have a regularly updated backup of your sensitive and mission-critical data.
However, regular backups can be time consuming especially if you have gigabytes of data to back up, which is especially made worse by the fact that large organizations will have accumulated terabytes of data throughout the years. With conventional methods of backing up files, the backup you have created will already be obsolete by the time you have finished, as new sets of data has probably already appeared. In order to solve this conundrum, there are so-called “smart” backups that save both time and disk space by only backing up modified and new files. There are currently two types of smart backups – Differential and Incremental.
The fundamental difference between differential and incremental backup strategies lie not in their overall efficiencies, as they are both viable strategies, but in their respective strengths and weaknesses. Choosing one over the other will depend on your needs and requirements as an organization, as well as your capabilities. But first, let us define the two backup strategies.
Click here to learn more about Prestige Technologies’ redundant security system. (more…)
It is that time of year again – the holiday season is almost upon us – beginning with Black Friday and Cyber Monday! Are you prepared?
However, sales start far ahead of Black Friday (Thanksgiving or before), while Cyber Monday is a little more defined, as people get back to work. Research indicates that social media drove .34% of online sales during Black Friday; on Cyber Monday, social drove .41% of online sales. This means four of every one-thousand transactions were attributable to social media. However, businesses should not solely rely on social media to drive holiday sales. Mobile accounted for 24% of all e-commerce purchases on Black Friday and 18% of all e-commerce purchases on Cyber Monday. This validates the growing amount of computing that takes place on mobile devices. Mobile optimization of e-commerce sites and emails should be an important consideration for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Of course, this should be the case in general. You need to make sure that a customer can purchase using their mobile device as easily as they could buy stuff on their PC. |
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Consumers were most likely to purchase in response to two things in 2012 — discounts and free shipping. All businesses need to consider promoting these and additional deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, on their website and through email marketing. You should be accumulating a database of email addresses through your website, and you should definitely be sending email newsletter campaigns and offers to advertise Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals on a weekly, if not daily basis. Online press releases are also a tool you can employ to increase your website’s exposure. You can send a press release for Black Friday and additional holiday promotions. Never underestimate word of mouth marketing –asking people to visit your website for quality deals should not be undervalued. Having a website URL that can be emailed, posted on social sites, or otherwise communicated is a simple, but effective strategy. The goal should be to use your holiday season activity to acquire consent and information you will transform into sales in 2014. The easier you make it for your customers and prospects to achieve their objectives, the more they will be loyal to your business. They will remember the positive experiences when things settle down after the holidays. Do not forget to capture email addresses and permissions by offering a free gift, discount, or bonus for people to opt in to your email programs. The email obtained today can become future profit. Use Black Friday and Cyber Monday to bring people back for more. Create triggered email messages that do more than provide status updates. Educating customers about your products and services improves their experience and your revenue. Plan your follow-up, so you do not neglect your customers, which is paramount just like good service. Create customized follow-up website and email strategies targeting specific customers. So here are some things to consider for this holiday season. The mobile focus will intensify during the holidays. The National Retail Federation is forecasting mobile to drive e-commerce sales gains of between 13 and 15%. Last year, e-commerce sales increased 15.5%. They are predicting retail sales to gain only 3.9% as the United States economy continues to improve, however, online sales across-the-board, and mobile sales more specifically, should be very positive. Did You Know? According to data published by the National Retail Federation, more than 35 million Americans visited retailers’ stores and websites during Thanksgiving, 2012 – up from 29 million in 2011. |
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Do not listen to the naysayers — one website should be able to address the needs of mobile and desktop users.
And please remember – responsive design is not mobile design. While responsive design is a strong technique for rendering content on mobile devices, it is not mobile design. The best responsive websites can be viewed as intended on desktops at a variety of resolutions. Those same sites also look good on tablets, smartphones, etc.
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If a developer considers responsiveness only in relation to mobile, there is an entire web experience opportunity which has been missed. Many designers and developers find it easier and less time-consuming to expand visuals than to shrink them. Mobile browsers are good at rearranging content without being told how to by a developer. At the user’s request they zoom, reformat a page, remove images, and much more.
So keep in mind, you have to code well but you do not have to do anything special for mobile. Using correct alternative text on images helps, as well as ensuring good contrast between foreground and background.
Let us examine more closely what mobile entails.
Research shows a mobile site usually takes the form of
m.example.com , and has the same site structure as the full website. However, despite the increasing importance of mobile devices for traffic and sales, fewer than half of businesses are able to accurately measure the behavioral differences between mobile and desktop visitors.In regard to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) mobile users requirements are different. Remember your users (and major search engines) are using the mobile web in different ways and for different purposes. Mobile users most likely are accessing the web using a smaller keypad and most likely in a rushed state (in other words users on the move). This makes a difference as far as the users’ patience level, and makes SEO, usability critical to your mobile marketing efforts.
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Remember, users are now viewing your site through a different screen via a different browser. This alters how much content they are able to view and how much of it can be rendered as you would like it to be. It also increases your production efforts since debugging the user experience becomes more than complex.
Companies are conceiving their mobile properties in a variety of technical ways, using an assortment of implementation techniques, and some are choosing to ignore the mobile web altogether. This creates a difficult environment for the search engines to deliver a high quality, standardized service.
Conversely, research shows responsive design improves search engine optimization. For anyone building a website with branding, sales, or visibility in mind, this benefit alone is enough reason to consider using a responsive design scheme. Because a responsive web design all lives in one place with one URL, as opposed to multiple pages targeting mobile formats, linking remains simple. Redirects do not take away from the main site and advertising campaigns all point to one location.
Having a single website destination with a standard set of language, metadata, and keywords also is important. There is no worry if updates have been made in one place but not another or that links redirect improperly. Another advantage is for analytics and data collection, you do not need to track multiple URLs and redirects in addition to the main site or URL. The single responsive page can collect analytics regardless of the user’s device.
Did You Know? By the end of 2013, there will be more mobile devices on Earth than people & that 75 percent of Americans bring their phones to the bathroom.
I recently read an article which said SEO (Search Engine Optimization) was a victim of its own success. Let us examine this more closely and consider various schools of thought.
There is internal and external SEO. Internal means to design your website so it follows the best practices proven to rank high on Google. External SEO used to mean writing articles, press releases, blogs, comments, and content with embedded keyword “backlinks” to your website. It has changed, (and this rapid transformation continues at a furious pace), to include social media strategies. |
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Many believe the goal of Google and every other search engine is to have quality rise to the top; so their advice is to “write great content.” However, the search engines cannot truly identify quality. What they do is associate the quality of the content with the place it appears, (example – you are more likely to come up with quality on the New York Times than on a lesser known and read publication); and they also try to predict quality based upon mechanically identifiable characteristics of the content, (example – it may be true that 500-word stories are more likely to be of higher quality that 250 word items).
But what does Google want? They want relevant, real content on the internet that people want to read and tell other people about. If Google does not bring you the most relevant content when you search they are not doing their job. Google used to think if you linked to someone on the Internet they must have valuable content. Now Google seems to believe if you promote content with social media it is more indicative of relevant content and less likely to be false. Though many point out social can be phony as well. The bottom line is all external SEO efforts are bogus other than one — writing, designing, or recording, real and relevant content that benefits those who search. It is about social “shares”. With recent policy changes, Google knows who everyone is once they open themselves up on the social realm. They will be able to tell the fake people. Social signals are a much bigger part of the Google algorithm. |
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For your internal SEO – make sure it is found and sees the light of day. Take the time to make it compelling so people talk about it and share it.
Look to real social media community support, compelling PR, and real content, that is where true SEO practitioners are turning.
If you believe we are living in a Post-SEO world, then you need to learn how to optimize in a Post-SEO world and here are some tips I found on how to do that:
Did You Know? A recent report from McKinsey showed that a majority of the estimated $1.3 trillion in untapped value from social technologies lies in “improved communications and collaboration within and across enterprises.” In other words, social media is poised to become an office productivity tool.
Since mobile use is increasing daily, it is important you address the need for mobile search engine optimization, (SEO). The same rules that apply to strong website content – focusing on your target audience; building your brand; creating substance that targets keywords your audience is searching for; etc. – apply to online mobile content.
Do not use a mobile template for your website. This could result in content that is not visible. The result could be a low quality user experience. If your content is clear, you should fully optimize your website so all content that is accessible to desktop users is available to mobile users. |
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Even though there is controversy about the effectiveness of content, keywords, and SEO, one thing is certain – understanding how and why users are accessing your site will help you adapt to fit the needs of all users, on all devices.
Keep in mind mobile web searches are usually more focused, so since the mobile user’s search is more practical, they will probably insert shorter keywords and be prone to select the auto-suggestion the engine provides. Mobile websites have to be quick. Even if you have strong content, no mobile user will stay on your site if it is difficult to navigate or slow. |
Here are some suggestions: What is the most important thing about mobile optimization right now? Responsive website design – responsive web design helps to make sure your website changes size and moves images so information is easy to read and does not involve scrolling to find relevant text. This also helps search engines crawl your content faster. Mobile devices typically have touchscreens, and pressing a navigation link can be cumbersome. |
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It is important to streamline the navigation so users focus on the most important and most popular pages of a site. Web developers can consider vertical menus. These are typically easier for users to maneuver when deciding which link to click on, so yes size does matter.
Having social media on a mobile device is important, because people use their phones for entertainment. People are connected to social media when they are on their mobile phones because social apps are so easy to use, so helping users share your content should be made simple. As previously mentioned, you must consider shorter keywords because people are not interested in typing much on their small keyboards. You should not target long keyword phrases people are not going to use. Think about geography. Mobile users are more likely to perform local searches because they are usually on the go. This means you should optimize your site for local search. A large reason local search engine optimization is replacing the yellow pages is because they offer easier, faster, and better results for users as well as businesses. Many businesses are unaware there are mobile analytics available. Google has a mobile section in their web analytics. You can use these analytics to help track the keywords you are targeting, monitor the traffic you are getting and where you are getting it from, on mobile devices. Reducing your click-through rate, (CTR), is a good thing when it comes to a mobile device. People do not want to be clicking deep into a desktop website, and they will do it even less on a mobile device. Mobile continues to become all about the apps. More users are using apps to get information quickly through a medium specifically designed for mobile phones. This means you should strongly consider creating an app for your website if you really want visibility. Did You Know? The first mobile phone with Internet connectivity was the Nokia 9000 Communicator, launched in Finland in 1996. |
Responsive design is the process of creating a single website that has the ability to dynamically reconfigure its layout, navigation, content, and images based on the size and orientation of the user’s display and the browser on which it is presented.
A responsive website achieves this flexibility by using a single HTML codebase that is presented differently at predetermined breakpoints – boundaries that correspond to the displays of various devices and browsers – through the use of CSS (cascading style sheets) media queries, a fluid grid, and flexible images. |
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A user visiting a responsive website on a typical desktop browser might see a three-column layout with navigation in the left column, page content in the center, and calls-to-action on the right. |
Another user visiting the same site on a smartphone might see a single column layout where the navigation has been re-configured into a list below the header, page content, and scaled-down images below it, and no calls-to-action displayed.
Likewise, if a breakpoint has been established for a tablet device, tablet users would be presented with yet another configuration of the same elements. |
Click here to be one step closer to a professionally designed website. |
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The goal of responsive design is to build web pages that detect the visitor’s screen size and orientation and change the layout accordingly.
Responsive design is a somewhat retro approach to website design that solves a lot of design problems caused by the proliferation of new types of mobile devices. Responsive design pages use x and y coordinates on a grid for layout and mathematical percentages for images instead of fixed-width parameters. Using percentages instead of fixed-width parameters and a grid layout creates a more fluid layout that will resize itself to fit the size of the display. |
Media queries, a feature of cascading style sheets (CSS), allow the developer to specify when a certain style takes effect. With CSS2, for example, a media query will serve printer-friendly style sheets if requested. CSS3 has expanded query capabilities that allow style sheets to be targeted to a device’s display and serve a desktop, tablet, or smartphone style sheet depending on the query response. |
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This capacity means that instead of having to build a special mobile version of a website — which often requires writing new code from scratch — developers can simply build multiple style sheets for the same web page and perhaps even associate different images with each of the style sheets. As a result, HTML code can be repurposed instead of having to be rewritten, which saves considerable development time. |
“The approach to any website solution should still begin with a solid strategic foundation.“ |
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The idea of building a single website that can provide quality user experiences across multiple platforms is very attractive. This is particularly true of sites that deliver a poor or seriously degraded experience in many non-desktop browsers or, worse, offer none at all. More than half of U.S. mobile users are predicted to own smartphones by the end of 2013, and the use of tablets is not far behind. Tablet sales are expected to exceed 100 million this year. For those of us who create websites and services, all this leads to a singular conclusion: A million screens have bloomed, and we need to build for all of them. |
So then the benefits of responsive design are obvious: You build a website once, and it works seamlessly across thousands of different screens. Responsive web design also gives you as an owner of the website to be able to collect all social sharing links with a single URL. This will allow you to make positive contributions for better and user friendly website. |
Contact us today to speak with an Account Manager | |
CONCLUSION Given the rapid adoption of tablets and smartphones — and the fact that users currently seem to prefer reading their news on the mobile web – it is inevitable that 2013 will be the year that responsive design takes off. For publishers, it offers the simplest way to reach readers across multiple devices. For users, it ensures a great experience on every screen. So are there any negatives? It should be noted a responsive website does not guarantee a one-website-fits-all solution. A user visiting a website with a desktop computer often has different needs and expectations than a user with a mobile phone. A desktop user is more likely to read detailed information about a condition or treatment, whereas a mobile user is more likely to want quick access to a tool. Ultimately, a responsive website may not be able to adequately address the needs of every user with a single strategy, especially if those needs are significantly different. The approach to any website solution should still begin with a solid strategic foundation that identifies key objectives and how those objectives may differ across platforms. *Did You Know? If your responsive website is based only on mobile-content, it will affect your Google ranking because Google does not support such websites and it will not index your website. |
Should you be focusing on keywords for your SEO (Search Engine Optimization)? No, you should be concentrating on your keyword phrases.
A keyword phrase is a significant phrase in the title, subject headings, contents notes, abstract, or text of a record in an online catalogue or database which can be used as a search term in a free-text search to retrieve all the records containing it.
A keyword phrase describes keywords that consist of multiple words. All terms used in the search engines are referred to as keywords; however in most instances the keyword is made up of more than one word and therefore it should be referred to as a keyword phrase.
Keyword and keyword phrase are used as synonyms, because most searchers use more than one keyword to search. As the search engines index continues to grow the searchers ability to specify what they are looking for by using lager keyword phrases increases.
When it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SMO), the term keyword is extremely misleading. You are not (or you should not be) focusing on a word. In the interest of accuracy, what you should be doing is determining what keyword phrase or phrases will be most effective. The strategy when doing keyword research and selection should not be about a word.
More specific keyword phrases are going to have a significantly higher conversion rate to purchases on your website. You want to focus on the hundreds or even thousands of specific keyword phrases that closely match the services, products, brands, and locations you sell or serve.
Take notice of how long the keyword phrases you are using and the length of your keyword phrases that gives the best results when you search.
So how do you find the long keyword phrases people are using? You need to develop a large seed keyword list and put it into the search engines to get related keyword and keyword phrases that searchers have used.
It makes good sense to target long keyword phrases that search precisely for what you provide. Search engines are building the search results on user interaction. You can therefore get the search engine to send you more searchers if you can get the people to stay on your website longer, bookmark it, buy your product, return to your website, etc. With todays search engines it is difficult to compete with the big websites if you have a small website, because quality and quantity means a great deal. One of the ways to get an advantage on a larger competitor is to work more efficiently by optimizing for the long keyword phrases that bring potential customers who are ready to buy.
Is it beneficial or harmful to repeat keyword phrases? The answer is repetition is fine, as long as the meaning of the phrase as a whole is sufficiently varied. The more important concept to keep in mind is you want to choose keyword phrases that best relate to the content present on a web page and on a website. If you do not have a comparison matrix, then do not bother including comparison-related keyword phrases. This is misleading your users, and it is not fooling the search engines.
Keyword phrases should guide your overall content strategy. When you think about strategy think about a process. Your keyword phrases should reflect what users are seeking and the way the search engines “think” about keyword phrases. This should drive your content strategy. Know your keyword phrases then you search and then you optimize your website. Make it your primary focus to optimize for long target keyword phrases.
Here are the places you should be using your keyword phrases:
*Did You Know? Webmasters and content providers began optimizing sites for search engines in the mid-1990s, as the first search engines were cataloging the early Web. Initially, all webmasters needed to do was to submit the address of a page or URL, to the various engines which would send a “spider” to “crawl” that page, extract links to other pages from it, and return information found on the page to be indexed.