Post pobrano z: Designing a mobile app? These tips will help you

Mobile navigation is one of the essential aspects of mobile application design.  In a time when many of us use mobile phone applications to carry out online tasks, the ability to use an application quickly and efficiently makes all the difference.  A mobile application should work intuitively in a way that provides you with what you need when you need it.

However, designing an effective mobile navigation system for a mobile application can be complex.  Hardware and software are continually changing and evolving. Phones come in different strengths and sizes.

And unlike a desktop or laptop, mobile screens are small, and therefore each area or aspect of a screen becomes increasingly more important.  For this reason, navigation systems should be minimal.

When a user opens up an application, they need to be able to understand where to go, and how to get there.  If they cannot do this, you will lose them.

This means that designing an effective navigation system for a mobile application is crucial.

Get to know your audience

Without understanding who will be using your design, it can often be difficult to gain insight into how to begin designing.

Audience research assists with making better choices when working towards a design.  It will also assist with gaining consensus on how these designs should be implemented.

If you are unsure where to start, get some UI design inspiration by looking at the competition.

Without an effective navigation system, the website or application will suffer.  However, creating an interface which will be effective across different interfaces or screen sizes may not always be easy.

You, as a designer, have to balance business goals with technical constraints, stakeholder strategy, content needs and user behavior.

The Principles of Mobile Navigation

Mobile is different

Although desktop computers are seen to be more powerful than a small screened computer like a mobile phone, smartphones are more powerful than desktops in that they work quickly, are highly personal, and are carried with us.

A smartphone has sensors which can detect location, movement, acceleration, orientation, proximity, traffic conditions and much more.

A mobile phone is very different to a desktop computer.  So, when designing for a mobile phone, take the following points into consideration:

• Go Zen: edit your features carefully, only including those which will assist the app to work intuitively, and with efficiency.
• Be unique: With so many applications to choose from, add a special interface, which will motivate a user to pick yours.
• Be effective: Mobile phones are very personal.  We use and interact with them constantly.  Apps that are fun, efficient, reliable and delightful to use bring pleasure.  People will become attached to the experience.

Mobile devices have their own contexts

It’s important for designers to understand when and why we use mobile phones.  This enables an enjoyable application experience.

Mobile phones are often used to carry out micro-tasks such as banking, checking a location, searching for recipes or booking tickets.  Understanding when people use phones adds to creating a valuable experience.  Most people use phones when they are bored, busy and lost.

Bored

Waiting at an airport, traveling by train or passing time often provide opportunities for phone use.  People may often play games or search for information.  A mobile app can provide a fun or playful experience which a person might become immersed in.  In this context, applications can be geared towards longer time sessions.

Busy

Carrying out tasks while in a rush or during a quick break means they need to be efficient and often might be carried out with only one hand in a busy environment. Bold design is important.

Lost

People in unfamiliar surroundings or who are searching for somewhere new in a familiar surrounding might be considered to use a phone while lost.  Create an application which wouldn’t use too much battery power, and which can be extended to offline support.

Guidelines for creating a Mobile Application

If the interaction between the user and the app is not instant, then the app will not have an audience.  If a user uses the app, there needs to be an instant response, even while the app may process this input.

Style:  An app which is both attractive and intuitive will be extremely valuable.  Place a lot of attention into the finer details of how the app is styled to give it a gorgeous interface.

Thumbs:  Ensure your user will be able to use thumbs to get your app to work.  Even in a two-handed grip, your user will likely use thumbs to get the app to work.

Scrolling:  Try to avoid a scrolling screen, which can be frustrating and unreliable when in a hurry.

Targets:  Thumbs present large areas when working on a small screen.  Consider what this means for the various features or targets of your app.

What size would you need numbers or letters to be?  Where do you space your features?  Planning carefully helps.  It wouldn’t be helpful to place a return and send button close together on an SMS application, for example.

Navigation models

There are many navigation models for mobile apps.  Choose one which will be most effective for your application.

None:  Most helpful for isolated screen utility apps.

Tab Bar:  Three to six content areas.

Drill Down:  Content placed in a hierarchy.

Design interactions to be tappable

With a mobile interface, the user won’t be clicking on options or instructions.  Instead, the user taps a screen.

Therefore, improving the quality of this interaction will improve the user experience.  Ensure that your app doesn’t respond to accidental tapping or touch, as this will frustrate the user.

Create buttons which are large enough, and spaced widely enough to create a usable interface, but not too far apart that they become unreachable.

User-friendly keyboards

Assist your user with typing keyboards which are easy to use, and which is most useful for the information being submitted.

If your application requires a lot of typing, ensure that it can be used in landscape position to enable a larger keyboard.

Gestures

If your app enables the use of gestures, such as a screen swipe to turn a page, you might have to decide how to reveal their availability to the user.

Two-handed gestures are often difficult for a user, and not an essential part of your app.  Most apps use controls which can be used with a single finger.

The benefits of designing for mobile

Apart from not being left behind as people use smaller screens to carry out everyday tasks, there are other benefits to embracing a mobile-first approach:

• Mobile users needs are met.
• This allows designers to focus on content, structure and navigation details.
• Web pages become easier to navigate, which improves the overall experience. This assists visitors with wanting to visit a site.
• A mobile first approach produces fresh concepts and clean designs.

Conclusion

In order to create an effective design for a mobile application, a different perspective is needed.  Mobile applications need to be simple, responsive and intuitive.  This is important when designing for clients.

Designing for the small screen can be challenging.  Not all design concepts can be implemented on smaller screens.  Different sizes or technical capabilities of phones means that designs are often complicated.

There is no single solution to designing for mobile apps.  Instead, focusing on what your audience needs, and providing effective and well thought out designs to enable pleasurable user experiences is crucial.

By conducting research and exploring how a mobile app interacts with users, a designer can provide a quality product which offers value and efficiency.

Post pobrano z: Designing for Smartphones? Here’s What you Need to Know

If you are making anything that will be consumed by end users in some way, then you have to be designing for smartphones. Everyone has a smartphone. The government gives out smartphones to welfare recipients. So even people who can’t afford to buy and maintain a data plan for smartphones have a smartphone. Practically everyone you want to read with your product or service will be doing so on a smartphone.

That means that designing for smartphones has to be the priority for whatever you are making. That includes hardware. If you want to build a great sounding speaker for music playback, you have to recognize that most of that music will be coming from a smartphone or streaming service triggered by a smartphone. No one wants to physically tether their phone to a speaker. So you have to consider various wireless standards that are smartphone friendly.

If you are making clothes, you have to consider the smartphone. Do you have a pocket that can comfortably hold the large smartphones that are popular today? Do you have a place that makes routing the wire convenient? Is there a pocket that can hold a charger?

So if you are designing anything, you are designing for smartphones. Here is what you need to know that will pay dividends for the final product:

Design to Minimize Smartphone Weaknesses

As great as smartphones are, they have some built-in weaknesses that are going to present problems to the user. You can be a hero to the end user by designing around those weaknesses and making them less pronounced. One example is the camera bump so prevalent on modern smartphones. While smartphones are getting thinner, cameras are not. They still need physical space to be any good.

The best iPhone X cases are a testimony to this principle. iPhones are among the most egregious examples of camera bumps. But a good case completely eliminates the bump.

That is not the only thing a good case does. Phones are getting more fragile as they are being made with glass on both the front and the back. A good case offers more protection from scratches and impact. Design with smartphone weaknesses in mind. And you will make the world a better place for smartphone users.

Design for Unique Smartphone Distinctives

Although it might look like it from a distance, not all smartphones are the same. The iPhone X is an example of a smartphone with a design distinctive that makes it materially different from other smartphones. The Essential Phone is the same way. They both have notches at the top of the phone instead of traditional bezels.

Immediately following the launch of the iPhone X, the most popular apps were those that were redesigned to fit the new, curved contours of the screen, and used the notch for all it was worth. If some manufacturer completely loses their mind and designs a rounded smartphone, you need to be prepared to design round apps so that you find yourself at the top of the sales charts for the people with that device.

Even people without that device will note that you are a developer that stays on top of the latest trends. They are more likely to trust you over other developers that never update their apps to reflect the newest smartphones.

Design for Humans

Even the biggest smartphone screens are tiny compared to laptops and desktops. So you have to be sure your apps and websites have fonts that are readable on small screens. You also have to account for information density. Humans need a certain amount of information at one time without being overwhelmed. You can’t cram the same amount of information on a smartphone screen as you can on a desktop or laptop screen. You have to design for humans using small screens.

If you are making a case, you have to design for the human hand. The case needs to be right-sized and somewhat grippy, as humans tend to drop phones. If you are making a charging dock, it has to be easy for humans to install the phone and not have to waste time fumbling around.

When designing for smartphones, you have to design for weaknesses of the product. Design for unique distinctions. And design for the people who will be using them.

Post pobrano z: How to Design Your Own Website?

You want to create your own website? Good for you! This article will give you a complete guideline on how you should go about the process, step by step using the latest information. Even if you a beginner, worry not because the information will not be technical, but as easy as A, B, C!

The Steps of Designing a Website

Have a Domain Name

A domain name is the name you will choose to name your website. For example, ‘thepagewizard.com’ . You must pay a fee every year to a registrar to acquire the rights of your name.

Select a Web Host and Sign Up for an Account

A web host is an organization that has several computers that are connected to the internet. After you select a web host, your web page is placed on any of the company’s computers and this allows everybody to view your website worldwide. Signing up an account with a web host, allows your website to have a home. You have to consider several factors when choosing a web host such as cost, experience and if the host is licensed. Immediately after signing up for a web host, you should then place your domain name on the account of your web host.

Design the Website Pages

You could choose to design your website on your own or hire a web design company in Las Vegas like Platinum Web Marketing, but if you are designing the website page on your own, the following is the procedure you should follow.

1. Find something out on the web.
2. You can use a ‘what you see is what you get’ web editor, because the editor enables you to design your site without dealing with the technical part.
3. These editors are similar to a word processor.
4. There are also commercial editors, for example, Microsoft Expression WEB.
5. This editor is best if you are using windows.
6. It is recommended you design your website to be a mobile friendly site, meaning it can work on desktops, laptops and also mobile phones.

Test The Website

After designing the site, test it on some of the huge browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer. You can get these browsers for free. You can also try the website using your phone.However, testing it directly is the best way since it is the only way you can make sure that the site is working the exact way you want it to, on someone else’s device.

Get The Credit Card Information

In case you are selling products or services, you have to acquire the credit card information. There are several advertisers and integrated programs that can be found in online affiliate programs and sponsors. The companies search for new publishers to showcase their advertisements.

Have Your Site Noticed

After you are done with the above procedures, submit your site to the search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bling. You can also use other ways to promote your site. For example, you can advise your website on newspapers, use press releases using the help of internet companies such as PRWeb. Your website can then be noticed by blogs and news sites.

In cessation, if you follow the procedure above, you will be able to create your own website easily. After creating the website, do not stop there, you should keep on improving it every now and then.

Post pobrano z: Send bulk email the right way with SendPulse

At one point, a few years ago, some Internet marketers predicted that blogs and emails would die. Neither did die, blogs are a well-established communication tool for companies, there are more professional bloggers than ever, it even became a normal job, and email marketing has never been as important as it is now.

It has become so important to communicate by email that everybody is doing it now, which means that it’s getting harder to make your way into your subscriber’s inbox. Sending mass emails from your inbox is a thing of the past, and using an open-source tool to send the emails is also on its way out. In fact, if you are sending many emails from the same server, you are likely to be marked as suspicious.

SendPulse is one of the most professional solutions available nowadays for marketers, bloggers, and online shop owners. The bulk email service gives you easy-to-use tools for efficient online marketing that lands in your subscribers’ inbox.

More than email marketing

Although SendPulse better-known feature is email marketing, this powerful tool goes way beyond it. The technology uses SMTP to allow you to send emails from any application, you can even take more control over the tool by using the Rest API. Going with the Internet users’ habits, SendPulse is also targetting mobile users by giving you web push tools and the possibility to send SMS messages.

On top of all this, this online service also makes you more successful by using artificial intelligence technology that increase the opening rate of emails by up to 50%. These impressive results are achieved by a combination of optimal personalization of the message, an optimization of the delivery time of messages according to the user’s habits, and subject optimization that help you create more catchy messages.

Drag-and-drop template editor

If you are not a web developer, designing HTML emails can be tough. It requires skills that would take too long to learn, and you are primarily interested in marketing anyway. SendPulse makes email design very easy, thanks to its drag-and-drop editor that gives you full control over what you are doing.

You start by choosing a template as basis for your email, then you customize it with the elements available. Probably the simplest tool for email design out there.

And much more features

Unless I missed something, SendPulse has all the necessary features for a professional marketer. They have made everything responsive and mobile-friendly, so you don’t have to worry about that part. It comes with useful marketing automation tools, schedulers, in-depth analytics, and is easy to integrate, so what are you waiting to try it out?

Post pobrano z: Design deals for the week

Every week, we’ll give you an overview of the best deals for designers, make sure you don’t miss any by subscribing to our deals feed. You can also follow the recently launched website Type Deals if you are looking for free fonts or font deals.

TT Berliners

Old meets new in this fabulous font deal that includes both Modern Script and Old Grotesk typefaces. TT Berlinerins combines the best of both worlds with an elegant script exemplifying the modern feel of Berlin, mixed with an old Grotesk font reminiscent of wood-type posters from the early 20th century. Loads of OpenType features, swashes and glyphs offer real flexibility with this pair.

$9 instead of $29 – Get it now!

The Little Font Bundle Vol IV

The Little Font Bundle Volume IV is here and it’s Pay What You Want!

Pay what you want instead of $143 – Get it now!

Art Text App for Mac Turns Text into a Masterpiece

Words can be a beautiful thing, especially when the very letters themselves are in fact artwork. With the Art Text app for mac, that’s exactly what you get. Put together magnificent sophisticated title art for everything from presentations to logos to buttons. With thousands of templates, fill tools, graphic content and more, your words will never look better.

$17 instead of $30 – Get it now!

130+ Clip-art Floral Elements and Frames

Now you can easily change up your website (or your clients’) with this beautiful collection from NexThemes. You’ll get 27 premium WordPress themes and 16 HTML website templates covering a huge array of categories from fashion to fitness to photography. Fully responsive, these beautiful themes are real flexible too, letting you change up colors, fonts and more.

$8 instead of $650 – Get it now!

Fontfabric Font Bundle of 90+ Fonts

If you’re looking for a great set of fonts, this Fontfabric Font Bundle is sure to put a big fat smile on your face! That’s because with just 1 deal, you’ll get yourself more than 90 different fonts! You’ll get yourself some of the greatest Sans and Art fonts around. These 18 unique font families are delivered to you all in an .OTF file format. What’s even more amazing is that thanks to this Mighty Deal, you can save more than 95% off the regular price!

$29 instead of $1298 – Get it now!

Post pobrano z: Use color to make your website look good

When we first look at a design or artwork, we often don’t think about what we see.  Instead, we focus on aspects of the work that grab our attention.

This is called pre-attentive vision.  It begins when a design grabs our attention, but we haven’t yet thought about it.  We scan information, which is recognized by the unconscious.

A designer often aims to attract the eye to the most important aspect of a poster, website or image by organizing information and showing a viewer where to look.  Using line, color, hierarchy, framing, depth, shape, and motion helps aspects of a design to POP out at a viewer.

Color and Semiotics

Capturing user attention with color means recognizing that color sends out messages.

When looking at color, people first respond to light, and levels of color saturation.  They then respond to the emotional message a color brings.

Peirce’s Trichotomy of Signs explains that color has:

• Iconicity: This is the emotional message of color.  Dark colors are often seen to be heavy, while light, fresh colors can be cheerful.  We might also look at what colors resemble, such as the green of grass, or the warmth and passion of fire.
• Indexicality: The link between color and context. A grey sky is seen to represent rain, while a blue one represents a sunny day.
• Symbolicity: This is the abstract meaning behind color and is often more emotional than logical.  This is the language behind color, which connects red to passion or love, blue to spirituality or peace, and yellow to happiness.  This language can be complex and isn’t always easy to understand.

How to design using color:

Use balance and contrast

Picking three colors, and using the dominant color 60% of the time, the secondary color 30% of the time, and the accent color 10% of the time provides balance within a design or color scheme.

As the eye often notices saturated color first, the most saturated color should be used for important content, that which seeks to bring a message.

Using the brightest color as an accent color means that this color will draw our attention not only because it is saturated, but also because it is sparse, and contrasts with the space behind it.  This shows the viewer that the message is important.

Link color to shapes

We do not only form messages in connection with color but also associate color with a shape.  Color, and shape, when combined together, often give off new meaning.

Green and blue may be associated with sky, spirituality, peace or even nature, but place these colors together along with the easily recognizable shape of the globe, and they take on an easily recognizable meaning.  Likewise, a red rose gives a different message to a jagged red line.

When working with color, it is important to determine how this color interacts with shape, and the meanings the combinations evoke.

Use texture

When a texture is contrasted with a simple background, it can be used as a means of attracting attention, causing a message to pop out.  Texture adds depth to a message, and brings it to life, sometimes becoming more prominent than shape or line.

However, when using texture to construct a message, the background cannot compete for attention, otherwise, the textured message will simply add to the noise on the page.

Make use of the Gestalt Principles

Gestalt shares that the whole is more than the sum of its parts.  The human brain looks at the overall design and how this interconnects and takes a message from this, rather than breaking down the individual parts.  The following Gestalt principles are therefore helpful in creating an effective design:

Proximity:  the more closely objects are placed next to one another, the more likely the mind will see them as interconnected.  These objects don’t have to share colors or characteristics to be seen as related.

Similarity:  Objects which share characteristics will be seen to be more similar than those which do not share similarities.  Objects may be seen to be related because of color, shape, size or texture.

Symmetry:  Symmetry helps to create order, and people seek order.  As a result, they often see objects to be symmetrical.  Symmetry does not only rely on shape but may also use color or texture.

Boundary:  Boundary is used to frame or enclose like elements, separating them from others.

Connectedness:  Connectedness is used to show the how different objects relate.

How to grab the attention of site visitors

Site visitors are always potential customers.  Holding their attention long enough to show what is on offer is therefore crucial.  The following factors assist with grabbing a visitor’s attention:

Our brains can be quite selective when it comes to focus.  This is because without filtering out a great deal of irrelevant information, we would often feel overwhelmed.  Therefore, designing a website which grabs attention would need to take into account how the brain focuses.

We know that the brain will pay attention to physical needs when we are hungry, recognize the names of those close to us, pays attention to areas we have chosen to focus on and can be captured by emotion.  Our brains also pay attention to novelty and contrast.

Use novelty

When designing it is helpful to be different, bringing in something which is weird or unusual in order to attract attention.

This is because our brain screens out everyday background noise, or that which is overly familiar.  People will, however, pay attention to contrast or difference.  Be quirky when designing a site.  Use CSS text effects, illustrations, and clever animations for that.

Inspire emotion

Use color effectively, be visual, aim for warmth and friendliness in your copy, and your visitors will feel welcome.

They will also feel an emotional connection, meaning that they will pay more attention to your site.

The language of color

Color can be very effective in creating emotion in visitors.  This is because colors have a language, and visitors relate to them on an emotional level.  Used effectively, a color will create the effects you need.  Here are common messages perceived behind 10 popular colors:

Red

Red is the color of passion, power, and warmth.  It is attention-grabbing but should be used in small doses.

Blue

Blue is seen to be calm, cool and trustworthy.  It is often very effective when mixed with orange.

Pink

This is the color loved by girls.  Fun, romantic and feminine, this is the color aimed at a young female audience.

Yellow

Yellow is a strong, bright and sunny color which can be used to capture your audience’s attention.  It lets them know you are confident.

Green

Green is warm and inviting, and links to goodwill, environmental awareness, and health.  It is also the color of money and may represent wealth.

Gold

Gold is another elegant, prestigious color, symbolizing wealth and pedigree or achievement.

Orange

Orange represents warmth or energy.  This is a powerful and attention-grabbing color which feels cutting edge.

Purple

Purple is the color of luxury and has been associated with royalty.  It will add a sense of prestige and even decadence to your designs.

Brown

Brown is warm, earthy and homely, and brings a feeling of ease.

Black

Black is extremely versatile and can be used in many different contexts.

It can be modern or traditional, exciting or relaxing, and it is up to the designer to choose how best to use it.  Black can add drama or depth to a design.

Post pobrano z: How Web Designers can Turn Talent into Recurring Revenue

Working as a freelance web designer has some serious perks: you meet a variety of interesting people, you (mostly) choose your own hours, and you can apply both your artistic side and your technical skills to helping clients get the most out of their web presence. At the same time, it has one major drawback: you can only bill for the actual work you do, and there are only so many hours in a day. Wouldn’t it be nice to set up a passive income stream or two that allows you to keep earning even while you sleep? Here, we present some proven techniques to do just that.

Start Blogging

People browsing the web are generally either looking for entertainment or trying to learn something. If you can share some of your skills in a way that will prove helpful to the latter kind, you can easily start a blog on your area of expertise. Once you have consistent traffic, repeat visitors and a mailing list, you can either use it to promote your personal brand or treat it as a money-making asset in its own right.

This isn’t to say that blogging successfully will be an instant payday for little work. Earning money this way requires at least six months of regularly posting interesting, informative content and not everybody is cut out for doing this. On the other hand, some people love to write and teach others. If this describes you, you can get an idea of what’s already out there by clicking here.

Design CMS Themes, Plugins and Templates

If you still use Wix or Jimbo to design sites for your clients, this won’t be for you just yet. If, however, you have a strong grasp of CSS, PHP and other lower level tools, there’s nothing stopping you from creating something once and selling it over and over again.

Be aware that users will be reviewing your product thoroughly and publicly, so make sure to test it and (especially) provide adequate documentation that even amateurs can understand. Themeforest and Template Monster are two of the marketplaces on which you can market your product.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing has developed something of a bad rep. Some people who saw it as a get-rich-quick opportunity were inevitably disappointed, while others use all kinds of user-hateful, black hat tactics to bait clicks. On the other side of the coin, some affiliate programs seem to have a little trouble calculating percentages, or allow vendors to market products without applying any kind of quality control.

Even so, there’s nothing wrong with the business model itself: Amazon and other online retailers allow you to do marketing on their behalf and pay you depending on the amount of success you achieve. Assuming some basic rules are followed, the customer’s interests aren’t compromised at any point.

Some people do make a living out of AM and even a good one. Don’t limit yourself to only the well-known affiliate programs: approach individual companies directly, or focus on specialized services that pay real money for qualified leads. The best payday loan affiliate program, for instance, pays as much as $230 per action.

Again, this kind of business requires time and effort to get off the ground. To learn a little more, spend a few minutes browsing around this site.

Become a Hosting Reseller

If you’re already selling website designs, you might as well up-sell hosting solutions to clients looking for a no-fuss, turnkey option. In fact, a little thought will show you a number of additional services you can offer your existing clients, from advising them on software choices to training their staff in digital marketing.

If you’re technically savvy and willing to spend a bit on the necessary hardware, you can set up your own server, or you can re-sell hosting services from one of the established providers. Hostgator offers good support, but there are literally hundreds of hosting companies that will be happy to have you market their products.

Vending Stock Images

People, including web users, are visual creatures. The choice of feature photograph can easily make or break a web page’s performance, and savvy digital marketers know this.

If you have a huge pool of photographs you own the licenses to, either from having taken them yourself or purchased the rights, it might be worth your while going through your collection and adding tags to each. They can then either be sold on websites such as Shutterstock, or you can charge for the service of searching for the “perfect” image on your clients’ behalf.

Write an Ebook

Even if you’re very familiar with the subject, writing an ebook of 10,000+ words is a non-trivial task. The good news: you only have to do it once for it to (potentially) keep earning money for years to come.

Self-publishing is often done in conjunction with running a blog: the blog can be used to market the book, the book increases the credibility of the blog, and both help to establish the author as an expert that people are happy to consult. One key thing to remember is that a narrow focus is often best. A book called “What Makes a Website Great” will be buried under hundreds of similar titles, but “5 Steps to Creating Great Websites for Restaurants” will appeal to at least some readers.

Write an App

If you know how to code, writing an app that solves whatever problem bugs you from time to time represents another potential source of passive income.

Realistically, though, most apps tank rather than take off. Unless it’s something really simple, you’ll be investing a huge amount of time and money in building one, so do your market research beforehand and consider teaming up with somebody who has skills that complement your own.

Coffee Mugs and T-Shirts

If you’re occasionally struck by an idea for a visual design that’s bold, quirky and engaging, consider spending half an hour perfecting it in Photoshop and submitting it to one of the various fulfillment sites that are always hungry for new content. Success isn’t guaranteed, of course, but a couple of people have made good money in this way, and trying costs nothing.

Post pobrano z: Improve your SEO With These Web Design Tips

You can achieve better search engine optimization via better web design. Whether you currently have a site or plan on launching one, you’ll want to know what you can do. With that said, below are a few tips to get you off to a good start.

Web Design That’s Responsive

Your site needs to have a responsive design, because it allows your site to run smoothly on various devices, including iPads, Smartphones and so forth. A responsive website has a URL for its main site, as well as one for its mobile site. Don’t worry though because doing this is relatively easy and you will increase your external back-link count when you do it.

Fast Navigation

Your site needs to be easy and fast to navigate. As soon as your website’s users land on your site, they should have no issues finding what they’re looking for. Make sure the search bar is placed on the left top part of the page or in the middle of it. This makes it easy to find and use.

Semantic Layout

You want to have a semantic layout that is clean. The good news is this is easy to do, and it can improve your SEO. When you use certain HTML5 elements, then you will make it easier for Google to tell which content is not valuable and which content is valuable. This is really a minor thing, but you should still consider doing it.

Don’t Overdo It With JavaScript

When you design your site, you should don’t overdo it with JavaScript. Crawling issues can occur when you use too much JavaScript. Not only that, but many people don’t really like using a website that has JavaScript, especially if they are using their mobile phones. The best thing to do is to not use it at all, but if you do, then sparingly use it.

Variations Of Meta Tags

Meta tags are used to notify Google and other search engines of a site’s keywords, title and index rate. Before a website is ranked by Google, it will read the meta tags. Long tailed keywords tend to rank very well because of how specific and unique they are. A website has a good chance of ranking if it is specific.

Here’s a tip, look at your site to see if meta tags are missing. All pages should have meta tags. If tags are missing, then add them right away.

Remove Double Sidebar

The double sidebar is not in style and it just weighs down SEO efforts. Your website can work very slowly when you use double sidebars because they increase media files on a web page, as well as increase links. When a site has too many external links or images, then it will work slowly. Not only that, but most mobile devices don’t view sites too well when those sites use a double sidebar.

Either remove the sidebar or reduce it. There’s nothing wrong with having white space in the area after you remove it. So, go ahead and get rid of the double sidebar.

Keep Design Minimal

You can boost SEO by keeping your website design minimal. This is because the design is easier to understand and it is more straightforward. In short, if you want an SEO friendly website and an attractive design, then keep things minimal.

Here’s a useful tip, place your site’s menu in a visible place. This is the main source your users will use to navigate content. Keep things simple and don’t go overboard with your site’s design.

Accelerated Mobile Pages

Having a mobile website is not enough these days. AMP, short for accelerated mobile pages, is designed to enhance a site’s performance and it’s designed to make the mobile web better. Users are accessing content from various sources, therefore delivering content efficiently is important. This is why Google is now delivering content using AMP.

If a site adopts AMP, then Google will likely give it preference. Take advantage of this. You might be surprised at how much better your site will rank.

Images

According to this SEO blog don’t forget about your images because images come up in Google search results. Optimize your images by doing this such as using alt-tags, which describe what the photo is. You might be surprised at the results you get when you use alt-tags, but make sure the tags are relevant.

Another thing you can do is create a title for the image, as this shows up when the user hovers the cursor over it. Also, name the image file instead of keeping it generic. Include a keyword or two in the filename and separate words with a hyphen.

Color Scheme

The brand identity of a company should match the color scheme of its website. Colors can invoke feelings, so make sure you pay close attention to your site’s color scheme. The theme will be made up by up to three different shades of colors. However, even less is better.

Mint green, orange, purple, red and blue are trending colors this year. It’s easy to create your own color scheme with some of those colors. All you have to do is download a tool and you’re good to go.

Page Load Time

Internet users want to browse sites quickly and they do not want to wait around for pages to loan. On average, five seconds is the time mobile users will wait before they move on. Desktop users wait an average of two seconds less. You can do things to speed up load time, such as not using JavaScript, using smaller images and enabling compression, as well as doing browser caching.

Do you want better SEO? The better your SEO is, the more traffic you will get. Keep the above web design tips in mind and before you know it, you will get better results with your SEO efforts.

Post pobrano z: Tips to make sure your app stays popular after launching

Your app is already on the market and it seems that users really accepted it. Your effort was worthwhile and you ensured some excellent feedback from customers who spare no words to recommend you. The next question is: How to keep this momentum and make sure popularity will be rising in future?

We’ve summarized some practical advice and methods that can maintain users’ interest in your app. The tactics are very diverse-from establishing a direct communication with the users to improving the first impression and the manner in which you’re using the benefits of different operating systems.

Launch Day is The Day

 

Day 1 is not simply introduction day – it is the highlight of your “marketing crescendo”.

Unless you decided to opt for a ‘soft launch’ or to introduce the app in a different country, this is the moment to rise and shine as much as possible.

This is when users open ‘four’ eyes to look at your app and when all bloggers/journalists ought to be writing about you. Make sure they know the essential information, such as location, advantages, and main functions.

Enable interested parties to give feedback and to attract new customers: make it possible through social media, blogs, forums, and hopefully real-life friendships.

Inspire other developers and make sure they throw in a comment or two on your side. Long story short. You need everyone to approve your design!

Still, you’re not expected to create the biggest buzz ever. Quality remains your strongest criterion.

Have a re-engaging plan

 

The initial aim of your marketing strategy, namely to promote your app in a way which will bring you many downloads, was successful. However, this is not enough to keep customers engaged. You have to improve usage and to motivate users to stay where they are.

As long as they are happy and satisfied, customers will repurchase your product and they will give you brilliant reviews. Basically, it means that your most important asset for attracting new customers are the ones you already have.

How could you do it? The best way to start is customer-orientated campaigns-you can address them with discounts, limited offers, and promotions through their emails, phones, or messages inserted within the app.

You can also make the app more personal/automatic-you can insert common keywords, individual messages, and action triggers so that the customer will feel you really care about his personal interests.

Communicate with your users

Google and Ipsos MediaCT conducted a research and concluded that the three main reasons why users choose to ignore an app are needs modification, lack of interest, and uselessness.

However, all of these problems change and can disappear with time. It is even questionable whether you can estimate the real needs and interests of customers at the beginning. That is why you need to communicate with them.

The best way to ‘extract’ information from your customers is to foster the so-called ‘VIP’ beta-testing community. These communities do not just need indicators – they track changes in users’ behavior and they help designers adapt to them. In addition, they can help you improve your app so that it will adapt to the new market conditions.

Creating your personal ‘VIP’ community is not complicated. Firstly, you need to select few users who rated the app lower than the others, and they had a specific attitude towards the design (made a comment, participated in a dialogue, etc).

Consider their comments and try to estimate how much time they spent using your application. Invite them to participate in the testing community and make sure your specific requests match their concerns. Remember to tell them that you appreciate their help, and soon you’ll discover you’re working with the best critics you can find.

Value depends on optimization

Insight into the functionality of your application is even better once it is officially launched. Take advantage of it!

Analyze the screen flows and the movement through your conversion funnels and you will discover new ways to expand your app and to increase its values. Is users’ behavior indicating that you need some UX/UI changes? Well, not that you know it, start working on it!

Can’t figure out what works and what doesn’t? Try experimenting. Follow some trends and use what others are using. If it doesn’t work, change the strategy.

Keep in mind that customer lifetime value optimization is your ultimate aim. The lifetime value is an essential metric for calculating the app’s ROI.

Lifetime value also indicates whether your app is worth to be used ‘forever’ and gives you incentives to improve it. Still, apps are different and they leave certain space for ROI improvement. Whatever your app looks like, try to increase its value to the highest extent possible.

Do your own research

App Stores may be an excellent choice, but they are not the only means you have. Try to do your own Google research and believe us – the results will be incredibly surprising.

For instance, let’s assume you have a music-related app. Google ‘best music apps’ and you will get a lot of interesting results.

The initial five results you’ll get are proven quality blogs you could contact to feature your application. If you manage to bring them on your side, you have nothing to worry about anymore. App featuring will ensure you’ll have the following lasting benefits:

• Exposure
• Target Traffic
• Mighty link building
• Excellent rating and reviews

Don’t forget the importance of first impressions

Statistics are not on developers’ side – more than 23% of users abandon apps after just one use. What you need is the opposite-you need a popular app that will keep them engaged. The best way to do that is to provide a long-lasting, brilliant first impression.

Experienced developers make users aware of the importance and usefulness of an app from the very first moment. Users need to know the app is functional and it serves a specific purpose. Real use examples or factual data is a very good approach in the case.

We understand this can be tricky and challenging (especially if the app is a pay-per-view one, or if it requires a specific action in order to run). However, you can still think of an original solution to keep users engaged. 

Be prepared for modifications

As good as it is at the beginning; don’t expect an app to stay static and to keep its success. Regardless of the type/purpose, your app has to follow the evolution of users’ behavior.

It can be very challenging. You may be requested to expand audiences, value paths, or to redefine the purpose of your app.

Some of the modifications may happen unexpectedly and you will be forced to act very fast. Therefore, don’t lose focus. Track changes and expect the unexpected. The more careful you are, the more ideas and plans will come to your mind.

You’re not done with marketing

Marketing is essential before launching an app, but that doesn’t mean you have to forget about it once the app is released. You need to have a clear overview on how the app is working and to continue promoting it. Your customers need to be aware of improvements, and they should never stop discussing and sharing your work.

We summarized the most important tips and long-term methods for maximizing retention, increasing daily usage, and attracting loyal customers; and we highlighted that they don’t happen simultaneously.

You are the one who has to employ them in the service of your final goal so that customers will know you care about them and their ever-changing needs and demands.

Post pobrano z: Design deals for the week

Every week, we’ll give you an overview of the best deals for designers, make sure you don’t miss any by subscribing to our deals feed. You can also follow the recently launched website Type Deals if you are looking for free fonts or font deals.

Delicious Bundle of 29 Fabulous Handwritten Fonts

Your typeface toolbox is going to need a serious expansion with this delicious Mighty Deal packed with a mix of 29 Fabulous Handwritten Fonts! You’ll get a wide range of styles from calligraphy to modern to wavy, not to mention a slew of OpenType Features to increase your font flexibility even more!

$9 instead of $456 – Get it now!

The Tremendous Font Bundle

This massive bundle includes 60 fonts from 30 different font families with a huge 95% off the RRP

$24 instead of $438 – Get it now!

MEGA Bundle of Bundles – Includes 105 Design Products

You might want to sit down for this one. This Mega Bundle is a mighty collection of 7 bundles, from Inventicons, packed with creative collections featuring Photoshop Brushes, Vector Icons, Fonts, Seamless Patterns, Presentations and Actions. It sports more than 4,000 unique elements to not only massively beef up your artistic toolbox, but arm you with everything you need to create just about any project under the sun.

$19 instead of $705 – Get it now!

57 Premium Fonts from Mellow Design Lab

It’s time to expand your already fabulous font collection! With this Mighty Deal from Mellow Design Lab, you’ll get 57 high-quality, professional fonts for 1 ridiculously low price. With styles ranging from Script to Display, you’ll also get plenty of OpenType features and an extended license to ensure you’re set to design away til your heart’s content!

$9 instead of $956 – Get it now!

75+ Breathtaking Watercolor and Floral Elements

The true magic in this deal is how incredibly easy it is to add magnificent beauty to your latest project. With the Magic Ombre set from Julia Dreams, you’ll get an astonishing collection of watercolor elements and individual florals. Frames, wreaths, patterns, ombres and more combine into a colorful and floral extravaganza just perfect for everything from wedding invitations to wrapping paper.

$9 instead of $15 – Get it now!