Website Design Practices Archives • Page 4 of 11 • TotalWeb Partners

July 5, 2020

The Importance of Investing in Web Development for Your Business

Website Content, Website Design Practices Web Development

According to the Digital 2019 report, a typical person spends 6 hours and 42 minutes online every day. The rise of the internet has revolutionized how we live and communicate and moved most of us to live a digitally-driven lifestyle. This is now exacerbated as we live in a ‘new normal’ because of the COVID-19 pandemic where we are pushed more than ever to rely on the internet for entertainment, education, employment, and livelihood among others.

With everyone depending on the internet for their access to necessities and supplies (i.e., food, appliances, medicines, clothes, among other products and services), website development has become more crucial to any business’ success. Website development is one of the ways to ensure the success of your business by informing people of products and services your business offers, getting to know your (possible) customers better, and understanding how to improve your product and service further.

Website or web development services include building, creating, and maintaining websites. It includes aspects such as web design, web publishing, web programming, web content creation, and database management.

Having an online presence is no longer an option for businesses; it is a requirement! Here are more of the reasons why companies need to invest in web development services:

Increasing Accessibility

It allows businesses to be accessible at any time of the day. It provides space for everyone to access the information they need when they need it. Whenever customers need to know something about the business, having a contact form, a live chat, an option to comment, or a phone number is a step towards them, which increases the possibility of sealing the deal.

Proving Credibility and Reliability

It allows effective communication with customers. Interacting and engaging with customers shows that the business is concerned about their satisfaction and is responsive to their needs. People prefer to transact with a business with their own websites as it gives them security and assurance.

Expanding Reach

It helps businesses to expand their reach by attracting possible customers or leads. Through website development, testimonies about your product/service will be available. These details help earn the trust and confidence of potential customers in the future. A properly designed website can help build an audience, target niche customer bases, and quickly return your investments. Your website conversion rate can multiply by 200-400 percent if your webpage is well-designed and has a functional, responsive interface.

June 3, 2020

by TWP Publisher

3 Tips to Master a Minimalist Web Design

Website Content, Website Design Practices Web Design

The world craves minimalism.

So much so, that whichever aspect of our lives you look at – whether it is the lifestyles we lead, homes we live in, or the products we consume – minimalism is present in every facet.

Even the smartphones in our pocket prove that minimalist design has more than caught on.

Why Minimalism?

Often confused with simplicity, the concept of minimalism entails reducing all elements to only include those that are essential.

This means that while minimalism is simple, simplicity, or using simple forms, does not necessarily translate to minimalism.

In the world of design, minimalism is used to directly convey the message without the unnecessary noise and obstruction of focus due to other distracting elements.

Seeing the benefits of using minimalism to swiftly and effectively convey the message, the minimalist approach has taken root in many branches of design.

From painting and sculptures to digital product design and web design, minimalism has managed to root itself and understandably so.

Designed with minimalism in mind, digital products and web designs are no less impressive.

Apple’s brand is one of the best examples of having a minimalist approach in mind when designing products.

The design itself is clean and sleek, and it puts an accent on every aspect of customer experience – from the first moment you hold an iPhone packaging in your hand, peeling off the foil of your screen, to finally using the smartphone.

Minimalist designs are visually appealing and user-friendly, so it’s really not surprising that so many businesses prefer to have a minimalist web design, as it helps them boost their company’s bottom line.

Taking Minimalist Approach to Web Design
Your company’s website is the best business card you have.

It tells your customers all they need to know about your business – from where to find you to what the business is all about.

May 12, 2020

by TWP Publisher

Building a Career Around WordPress Web Development With Chris Burgess

Website Content, Website Design Practices Web Development

Part of my day job was to look after networks and servers, as well as web applications and websites. I could see the potential for web technology (and the move towards cloud/SaaS) in business and thought WordPress had a place as a powerful publishing platform far beyond blogging. The DevOps movement was also in full swing, and I saw how important it was to break down silos and barriers between different tech disciplines. I also had a number of my own personal websites that I ran in my spare time and found WordPress was the logical choice.

The light bulb moment for me was when I saw my colleagues using the websites that I had built. There were people without much experience using the web, that we’re able to publish and manage content after a few basic lessons. I liked the power it could bring to everyday users, not just web developers. The WordPress mission of “democratizing publishing” really struck a chord with me.

I also saw the community start to grow and gain momentum and I was inspired by the work that was being done in the space.

May 7, 2020

by TWP Publisher

Outsourcing Web Development – Tips for Successful Cooperation

Website Content, Website Design Practices Web Development

Outsourcing is contracting work outside one’s place of business. This could be down the street to a local web development firm or offshore to hire people who are expert at various IT domains. Whether it is building a mobile web application, website, blockchain solutions, AI solutions, chatbot, business intelligence application, and many other items you might be interested in. You just need to pick a platform and an outsourced professional will transform your idea into reality. Web development outsourcing can alleviate many responsibilities that might currently fall on your shoulders, which makes this solution particularly attractive to startuppers. Not only can an offshore expert put together a decent website serving your business needs, but also help you scale your venture. Factor in the ability to cut your business costs and enhance service quality, which are other notable benefits of outsourcing, and you’ll definitely want to outsource, too. But how to outsource web development in the most effective way? Below are some tips you want to follow to ensure your cooperation with outsourced IT guys is a success.

Secrets to Outsourcing Web Development Successfully

Everything usually starts out awesome. You have a great vision for your website, you hire a seemingly amazing web developer, and things work out well for you and your project. But eventually something starts to feel off and things that seemed so bright at the initial stage get more frustrating. Suddenly, totally amazing people have been reduced to lobbying insults over email or completely avoiding each other.

Above is a common scenario experienced by lots of businesspeople. So, what can you do so that your web development outsourcing experience won’t become your bitter disappointment?

#1 Set Expectations and Allow for Technical Difficulties
First, you need to make your expectations known to an outsourced specialist and make sure you understand technical difficulties. Things tend to fall apart quickly in your website building process, because there’s a mismatch of expectations and misunderstanding of what is a technical difficulty for different people. So, during your initial consultation with a web developer, you might say you’re looking for a simple website. In your web designer’s mind that means something very specific, while you may envision this “simple website” abstractly, vaguely, or completely differently. So, the solution is to be clear about what functionality you want for your website. At the same time, try to be open to feedback and suggestions from the web specialist.

March 19, 2020

by TWP Publisher

How To Think About Web Design To Market Any Kind Of Business In 2020

Website Content, Website Design Practices Web Design

If you’ve ever grown your own plants, you know that they tend to grow toward the sun. This makes sense; they rely on the sunlight for sustenance, so they’re going to do everything in their power to make sure that they get as much of it as possible. To use an analogy, the same thing goes for online marketing. Companies want to be able to go in the direction of where their prospective customers are. They’re doing it for the same reason as the plants: sustenance.

Over the years of running an online marketing company, I’ve found that there are some often overlooked marketing techniques that have helped businesses, even niche businesses, to grow. Perhaps foremost among these, web design is a bigger deal than many people realize.

There’s More To Web Design Than Looking Good

So many small business owners often think that the only goal of a website is that it looks great. They want something flashy, eye-catching and attractive. That’s all well and good; it’s even important. However, good web design has many benefits beyond that, too. Quality web design should be easy to navigate in practically every way possible.

Website = Online Storefront

A good analogy is to think of your website as a store. For many small businesses that don’t have physical storefronts, it is, for all intents and purposes, an actual store. When you walk into a store, you want to be able to move around. You want to be able to check all of the wares out — easy access to what you came for, as well as exposure to some items that you might not have realized exist. That’s a well-laid-out store in practically any industry.

March 13, 2020

by TWP Publisher

Website Design Trends for 2020

Website Content, Website Design Practices Web Design, Website Design Trends

2020 is moving quickly. Already 2 months in and business is not slowing down.

It is time to begin updating your website to meet demands. As the year goes on, new announcements will spike interest amongst new and prospective customers. Be ready to have a high volume of customers browsing through your website at any given moment.

Since it is the turn of a new decade, why not spice things up and revitalize your existing website? Change is always good, especially if it can benefit the flow of traffic your business receives. With that being said, there are plenty of ways you can revitalize the look of your website to keep customers interested in your page.

Maybe it’s time for a new look! No, we are not talking about rebranding, just changing up the interface of your website. You wouldn’t want it looking 2019, that was last year’s trend. It is now time to add a more meat to the bone and keep users and visitors interested with an eyecatching new look.

What new interface will help revitalize my website?

We have the trendiest website looks that you can pull inspiration from!

Website Trends:

1. The 3D Look:

People are attracted to anything that pops out on a website. Through the right 3D animation, you can help potential and returning customers visualize your product or better understand what your company does.

February 11, 2020

by TWP Publisher

What Is Web Design?

Website Content, Website Design Practices Web Design

Quite often, web design is used interchangeably with web development, but are the two synonymous? In this article, I take a look at what web design entails in a bid to enlighten those who would like to pursue a career in web development and those who just want to satisfy their curiosity on the subject.

Web development and its 3 heads

The web development process generally involves three main phases. These are web designing, front-end development, and back-end development. Each stage is normally done by a person who specializes in that particular phase of development, although there are some web developers with more than one skill. A person with skills in web design, front-end, and back-end development is known as a full-stack web developer.

Not all developers end up as full-stack developers. If you identify with the philosophy that a jack of all trades is a master of none, then you should be content with specializing in one aspect of web development- like web designing.

A web designer plays a crucial role in the creation of webpages. A webpage is a document you access when you visit a website. The two words-webpage and website- are sometimes used interchangeably, but that is a story for another day. So what does a web designer do?

Designing the web…
The web designer creates a layout of elements that appear on a web page. The elements range from text, images to videos.

A logo and favourite icon (favicon), are among images that can be found on a webpage. The logo and favicon are part of a brand. Sometimes the web designer is tasked to design the brand or to ensure that existing images are in a certain format and size for the best user experience(UX). The logo typically appears on the navigation panel of a webpage while the favicon is visible in a web browser’s history and it may also appear on home screens of mobile devices.

Fonts and colours on a webpage are also chosen by a web designer and they usually resonate with the brand. The web designer comes up with colour scheme codes for use by developers later in the development process since colours are rarely referred with their names in web development. The web designer also makes sure that the correct fonts are used. Now you might be wondering what skills should a web designer possess?

5 Ways SEO & Web Design Go Together

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Website Content, Website Design Practices Search Engine Optimization, Web Design

When you’re trying to improve your website’s performance, it’s important to remember that you have to focus on numerous factors simultaneously.

In both life and digital marketing, we tend to give all of our attention to one or two important elements while neglecting something else that can turn out to be equally as important.

If you want to do better in the SERPs, it takes more than just SEO.

Your website also needs to be designed well, or you risk squandering all of that organic equity you have been building.

SEO and web design work together more seamlessly than many people might realize.

Their components mingle and flow together so well that, when executed correctly, your website visitors should not actually notice anything about what you have created; they should simply start navigating through your site.

So, what are those elements where SEO and web design collaborate? Check out these five ways they are used together.

January 15, 2020

by TWP Publisher

4 Secrets of Website Design Project Success

Website Content, Website Design Practices 4 Secrets of Website Design Project Success

The internet has “democratized” many aspects of modern life and business. For example, anyone or any business can easily have a website today. That’s a good thing.

This means that anyone or any business can design or supervise the design of a website. That’s not always a good thing.

Unless they’ve received some training, most people aren’t good designers when they first start out and you know the old saying: You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

If you’re designing your own site using WordPress, WIX, Square, or any of the tools provided by the various web hosts, or if you’re hiring a freelancer to design your site, you need to have some command of what’s important for your site and how you should approach the project.

Let’s start looking at our four secrets of successful website design and project management from what may be an unexpected point of view: your mobile website.

1. Start with the little screen

I think most website owners still consider their mobile site a secondary consideration, but it should be at the top of your list for two solid reasons:

· Mobile is rapidly catching up to desktop for website viewing, and

· Designing for mobile forces you to seriously consider what you want your website to accomplish.

The second point above is the one I want you to focus on. Experienced creators know that creation is easy, editing is hard. And, this is especially dangerous when creating a website, because you aren’t limited by space.

January 8, 2020

by TWP Publisher

10 web design trends that will dominate your screen in 2020

Website Content, Website Design Practices 10 web design trends

The end of the year is coming up fast, and we’re already looking towards what next year will bring. For designers like myself, the end of the year is an inspiring time. What trends and design aesthetics will be popularized in 2020? What trends will likely be on their way out?

“The 10,000 foot-view of these trends makes it clear that ‘web’ design looks more like traditional ‘graphic’ or ‘print’ design than ever. The amount of flexibility that designers in being expressive and creatively nimble is astonishing compared to just five or ten years ago,” states Khoi Vinh, Senior Director of Product Design at Adobe XD.

Vinh couldn’t be more right. Having done this look ahead in design trends for several years now, I can completely agree that these trends show just how creative designers have become with making the web feel more like other types of media, such as graphic design and print design.

If you’re a designer, or a fan of great design, you’re in luck. I’ve done most of the heavy lifting for you, and pulled together the top web design trends that will likely grace your screens in 2020.

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