technique

Like Moths to a Flame: 4 Ways in How to Attract More Customers to Your Website

Posted on by Mario

web development tips

We’ve arrived at an age where quality is actually not a primary concern; it’s discoverability that’s the issue. A couple of months ago, I was looking for a new pair of shoes to wear semi-daily for work. Since I’m going to be abusing this pair of shoes, so to speak, for an extended period of time, I was looking for something that would look good on a meeting while still being rugged enough to handle my commute and cheap enough that I won’t feel guilty when I have to step into a puddle or whatever. Clearly, I was up for quite a challenge.

To my surprise, I actually managed to find a pair that fits most of the above requirements while being somewhat above of my intended price range. Still, I ended up buying that pair of shoes only to later on find another pair from another brand that also meets the above requirements while still being considerably cheaper. Given the amount of things available on the internet, it’s very likely that it has everything you’re looking for, the issue in web development is how to make it so that you’re easier to find in the first place.

Getting some time on the spotlight

Take for example the online dating app Tinder. In the app, there’s a premium feature named ‘Boost’ that would enable your profile to jump ahead of the queue and be instantly displayed on other Tinder users around you. It costs money and since I’m cheap, I’ve never personally used it and I’ve been regularly getting matches anyway but a close friend of mine have a Tinder Plus account and I’ve seen firsthand just how useful this Boost feature can be.

Of course, getting a match is far easier than to land an actual date but you’d be in a much better place compared to those still swiping for matches and the same thing applies to web development. Sure, having a high-quality website, products and contents are definitely important but those are a moot point if you can’t even get people to actually see your website in the first place. There’s so much data floating around the internet that I don’t think anyone has actually come up with an estimate, which is why you should seriously consider these ways in attracting more potential customers to your website.

Blogging

Yep, you read that right. What used to be an outlet for angsty and emotional teenagers to rile against the collective world is now considered one of the primary drivers for traffic. This isn’t much of a surprise, one of the main things people learn to use the internet for is to look up things on Google and when you’re looking for answers to a question that Wikipedia can’t answer, search engines would usually lead you to blog posts. To this day, the majority of websites I visit are blogs.

I regularly visit music blogs like Stereogum and Pitchfork because their website came up when I was looking for reviews on a particular album and that’s just one example. Blogs are a great way of showcasing your knowledge or point of view in your own terms and people are always looking for writings on a topic they care about, making blogging a valuable channel to introduce yourself to people. I found that people are all natural writers when it comes to things they care about so if you haven’t tried blogging yet, now would be a good time to start.

Having a presence on social media

The likes of the Kardashian-Jenner clan managed to build a multi-million dollar empire thanks to their presence on social media. It doesn’t matter where your opinion lies on their existence because you can’t deny just how much social media have helped them to where they are now. For a more conventional example, look at how the watch brand Daniel Wellington became the poster boy for 21st century marketing through their clever use of social media.

Of course, learning to do social media properly can be a bit tricky and even with the amount of time and effort you’re putting into this, it’s actually very possible that you might not hit the target you set out for yourself when it comes to social media. Still, given the outsized success of the examples I’ve mentioned above, social media is definitely something worth trying out and there are a bucketload of tips you could find online you could use to help you with this. It’s not like it’s going to hurt your business anyway.

Use promotions and giveaways

When Epic, the company behind the global video game hit Fortnite decided to open up a digital video game platform of their own, the aptly named Epic Games Store, they did so by offering gamers one free game every two weeks. The free games are decided by Epic and given the still-limited offering available at their stores, it probably won’t be to everybody’s liking but so far, I found the offering to be more than decent. Still, everybody likes free stuffs and if they like what you’re giving, there’s a good chance they’ll come back for a second round.

Leverage the power of YouTube and video marketing

A report from the entertainment publication Variety that came out in 2014 details just how popular YouTube celebrities are among the younger member of the population. Do you even recognize the name Smosh, The Fine Bros., PewDiePie, KSI and Ryan Higa? I’m ashamed to say that I don’t and I have it on good authority that I’m better read than the majority of my peers. I wouldn’t even know who Logan Paul was if it wasn’t for that Aokigahara scandal. My point is, YouTube can feel like a world unto its own and it would be a huge waste for businesses to not try and tap into that world.

Design in Every Aspect: Increase Your Company’s Productivity by Using Design

Posted on by Mario

design tips

My design lecturer once told me something absolute about design. It is the fact that a design is made to make things either more beautiful or more useful or both. If a design is neither one nor both of them, then we might as well leave it. And until now somehow I’m still aware of how true it is. As someone who has been working in a creative agency for almost 2 years, every now and then, I’d watch my co-workers in the web design team communicating with the developers about how the design will make things easier not only for the developers but also for the website visitors. From that, I learned that with so many ideas turned into a full-fledged design, a designer can change many things from every aspect. This is actually what is needed in a business. In the world of business, a good design is what defines a business. If you have a business, you might want everything from every aspect to go according to your plan. However, for some reasons, not everything will go your way sometimes, especially when your office situation lacks productivity. But that’s why design exists in the first place; to change things, and for better or not; it’s up to the design itself. If you want to increase your company’s productivity, you can use design for that. How? Keep reading to find out!

Start with research

When it comes to increasing company’s productivity, it starts with the employees. Conducting a survey on your employees is the right thing to do, because the information you get can be the benchmark in learning what you need in order to increase your employees’ passion and productivity in the office. Are there enough facilities in the office? Are the facilities convenient to the employees? Do they need an extra space somewhere quiet so that they can concentrate?

Change up amenities

Having simple amenities may make life easier, but if your business requires creativity and fun to get the job done, then you need to work on your office environment. You don’t have to build a fancy room with luxurious amenities, like a sound-proof music room or a game room to get your employees passionate with their work. A simple vending machine filled with healthy snacks and healthy drinks can also be something you can invest in so that you can improve your employees’ experience when working for your company. Also, if you have employees who are young parents that need to pick up their children in the childcare, maybe it’s time for you to have on-site childcare services for them. Not only will this help your employees be at ease because they know their children are nearby, they won’t have to worry about their children’s safety and so they can work peacefully knowing that their children are safe and even though something happens, you are not far away from them. Having an on-site clinic is also wise as it helps your employees get their monthly check-ups without having to be absent.

Improve and automate technology

We are living in the world where almost everything is digital. Technology has changed the face of business today. Therefore, you need to make sure that your office tech is up to date and in a good condition and make sure your employees know what they are doing with the devices. Do as much automating of functions as possible, from meeting room software that chooses rooms and times based on employee schedules and presentation requirements, to wireless presentation hardware that talks with employee devices. Technology is improved to make things easier for us, so making use of today’s technology for your business is a good step towards success.

Success may be defined by our efforts, but our efforts are determined by our willingness and passion to be productive and do our best. Therefore, creating a “booster” for your employees in your office is the right way to build more productive atmosphere. Need another booster to improve your business as a whole? Contact or visit us now and let our awesome team help you grow and build your business in a professional way. Our highly experienced team is professional and fun to work with as we always build a nice environment even for our office. I’m sure we can help you do the same too.

Extended Stay: 4 Tips on Reducing your Website’s Bounce Rate

Posted on by Mario

business tips

The first two words of Radiohead’s 2016 masterpiece, A Moon Shaped Pool, is stay in. The last two, don’t leave. Read together, they form a sentence; stay in, don’t leave. It could be simple coincidence but A Moon Shaped Pool came out less than 12 months after lead singer Thom Yorke’s divorce with his wife of 23 years, Rachel Owen, and there are a lot of things on the album that hints at this, especially the closing track, ‘True Love Waits’.

A Moon Shaped Pool came out on a Sunday and even after more than two years, I remember the moment ‘True Love Waits’ hit me. I put that song on repeat as I lie down on my bed crying with that song playing in the background. I used to joke that I never have problems making people fall in love with me, it’s getting them to stay that way that’s tricky and naturally, what’s true in love is also true in web development. I mean, we even have the term bounce rate that basically covers the same concept.

Stay in, don’t leave

In retail, whether traditional or online, we’re familiar with the concept of window shopping, which is an activity where a person browses through a store’s merchandise without any actual intention to buy anything. Even though you’re seeing only an increase in traffic but not sales, window shoppers are usually a good thing since there’s a good chance they would make a purchase at a later date. The wishlist feature available on most e-commerce platforms was meant to facilitate this.

Bounce rate on the other hand is the kind of traffic you’re not necessarily looking for. The term is defined as the ratio of single-page visits against any other traffic. Bouncing is markedly different compared to window shopping because window shoppers usually click through multiple different pages first. Bouncers usually take one look at your website and then immediately head for the exit. Given that almost no one in the internet is actually pressed for time, it can be surmised then that the problem probably lies with your website.

Bouncing is something you want to minimize as much as possible but the problem with bouncing is that there are various possible causes. It could indicate that your website has a horrible first impression, you might simply be attracting the wrong kind of traffic or that your content has terrible presentation. In the following section, we’re going to dissect each of these points and the possible solution you could try.

Didn’t want to leave you with the wrong impression

First thing first, you want to remove any intrusive ads or interstitial pop-ups from your website immediately if there are any. Google hates them, I hate them and that adorable pomeranian I regularly see on my morning run probably hates them too. Trying to shove supposedly great offers down your visitor’s throat right off the bat isn’t attractive and it actually spotlights your lack of faith in your own website. Let your website and its content speak for itself and stop relying on cheap tactics to try and rope more customers.

If your website is free from such distractions but you’re still seeing a relatively high bounce rate, it is possible the fault lies on your website itself. For me personally, amateurish-looking, excessively loud and poorly organized websites are a turn-off and if I saw any of that in any website I visit, my hands instinctively move to close that particular tab. Try to show your website to the people in your life that’s not attached to your business to get some genuine third-party opinions if you’re unsure about how your website would hold up against the general public.

Attracting the wrong kind of attention

One possibility that might affect your bounce rate is that you’re simply getting traffic from all the wrong places and this might indicative of a fault or a misunderstanding in your SEO strategy. It is possible for example that you’re focusing on the wrong kind of keywords or that your PPC ad is being shown to the wrong people. When it comes to SEO and marketing, there are two things you have to focus on, the type of content you’re doing and the channel you use to market them.

The common misconception when it comes to SEO is that people seem to think that far and wide is the best philosophy when a focused and targeted campaign is actually preferable. A campaign netting 1 million in traffic but only 5% conversion brings far less value than a campaign netting merely 250,000 in traffic but a conversion rate of 50%. Do proper market research first and build your marketing campaign around the data you’ve collected instead of simply going for the lowest common denominator.

When it comes to presentation, the devil’s in the details

I’ve had this done to me repeatedly over the years so I think I’m completely in the right when I say that editing matters and this is all the more important when it comes to video and written content, especially written content. It honestly matters little how good of a writer you are if you can’t present that in an easily digestible way. Content writing, usually written with a marketing or sales intention in mind is a whole different ballgame compared to creative writing, where it is usually okay to be indulgent.

In content writing, you need to figure out a way to get your point across as engagingly as possible without using more words than necessary. In a way, content writing can be difficult than creative writing because it requires a different skill set that the typical writer might not be in possession of. Overly long paragraphs and complex sentences, two things that I’m regularly guilty of, are verboten so edit and reedit your writing to trim those fat as much as possible.