web designer

A Guide to Website Speed Optimisation You Can Advise Your Web Developers About

Posted on by Mario

web development tips

After years of living, we can’t deny the fact that what’s inside this Earth moves in a very fast pace. As time goes by, almost everything in this world is designed to be fast and easy. Remember when we used to look for a taxi if we don’t have much time to take a bus? I admit, life back then was very difficult, especially for me who lived in a very small village in my hometown. Even though I have a car, if the car is used by my parents, I have no choice but to take other transportation if I need to go somewhere. However, the hardest part of taking other transportation back then was the part where I had to find it. Living in a small village has its advantages and its drawbacks as well. While the air is cool and calm there (no pollution, no big buildings), taxis and buses are rare to find. Imagine if I was in hurry and no transportation passing the area. Sometimes I would call the taxi company but they always told me to wait for their call as they were also looking for the nearest taxi in my area. Thankfully, not long after that, my suffering finally met its end. Online transportation is now available in this world. Calling for a ride has never been this easy and fast before. I can get a ride in no later than 10 minutes. Thinking about this reminds me of my job. As a person who works for a web development, web design and SEO agency, I often have to face difficulties when it comes to website errors. Well, not really me, technically, since I am a content writer, not a web developer, but say, if there was an error in a website speed, I was also indirectly affected because people would get a hard time finding the content I have written, right? Therefore, we need to pay attention to details when it comes to website. Think about the last time you encountered a slow-loading website. You might have closed out the browser tab entirely or felt less inclined to patronise the site once it finally loaded. Don’t worry; if you have a business with a website as well as hiring a web developer, I’ve got a solution for you in this article. Keep reading to find out!

Before we begin this guide, first there is something you should do; find out if your website is really slow. One way to find out if your website is slow is to open a new private browser tab on your computer or mobile device, then type in your URL. Use a stopwatch to find out how quickly (or slowly) it loads. While his isn’t the most scientific approach, it’ll give you a general idea. If your website takes 10 seconds to load by your count, you know you have some work ahead of you. Once you are done with the testing, you have to…

Optimise image loading

Ever seen that circle spinning around when the image is loading? Oh, we all hate that. The easiest website speed optimisation tip for images is to upload the smallest possible version of your image for your site. For example, that your blog pages are 700 pixels wide. You would want to restrict your images to that width for optimal speed. However, make sure the images are not too small either. Test different image sizes on your site first to make sure they render appropriately on all screen sizes. After this step is done, start…

Optimising Javascript

Unless you know how to code, you will need a developer for this process. Javascript can prove fragile, and changing the wrong thing might break your site. Javascript allows you to put interactive elements on your website. For example, many forms work off a combination of Javascript, CSS, and HTML. If the Javascript has too much weight or is not optimised for speed, browsers will struggle to load and render it. That’s why it is important to keep communicating your needs to your web developers so that when you find troubles in your website, you can advise your web developers to fix it especially when it comes to coding and Javascript. Now let’s get to the next part.

Check your plugins

If there are too many plugins on your website, it will likely slow down your website in the long run. The browser has to understand what all those plugins mean and how to assimilate them with your website itself. Too often, business owners and marketers install every plugin that looks like it might do something fancy. Worse, when they deactivate those plugins, they don’t delete them from their WordPress installation. For that reason, communicating this with your web developer is very important.

Page speed is one of the most important considerations when it comes to optimising your website. You want your visitors to get your content quickly and navigate to different pages as easily as possible. Remember, consumers have short attention spans. You don’t want to give them a reason to exit your site before accessing the important content on your website.

A Proper Rethink: Why Businesses Should Revisit Their SEO Strategy From Time to Time

Posted on by Mario

SEO tips

In the business world, some departments have it far easier than others. The HR and the finance department for example is usually static and unchanging, there might be certain periods where they’re much busier than the usual but you’re usually juggling around the same things. Contrast this to those working on the field of marketing, where trends change as often as the pop culture fads. In one moment, you might be making references to the latest Avengers film while in the next; you might be talking about something else entirely.

Marketing has always been about the zeitgeist, searching for something that’s currently dominating our current discourse and if appropriate, using them for our own benefit. This has been the case for decades and will probably remain true for the foreseeable future. As a relatively new branch of marketing, SEO is also bound by the same rules and as we go further into this discussion, I’m going to outline several reasons why it’s a good idea for businesses and SEO services alike to revise their SEO strategy from time to time to keep up with the ever-changing landscape.

Adapting with the latest marketing trends

Before the start of the final season of Game of Thrones, Mountain Dew aired a commercial featuring some of the brand’s usual collaborators humming the series’ theme song. During the Marvel-related euphoria that coincides with the latest Avengers two-parter, Infinity War and Endgame, my social media feed was also filled with so much Avengers-related content that you can’t swing a metaphorical dead cat without hitting Thanos’ absurdly large chin. The same thing also happened during the run-up to Harry and Meghan’s first child.

Taking advantage of the latest pop culture trends has been part of the marketing playbook for as long as that playbook has existed but it’s pretty common for brands to give the same treatment to their whole SEO strategy in general. Making fresh & original contents does help with SEO but that’s far from enough as SEO as a field encompasses a whole lot more than just content. SEO has one foot in technology and the other in marketing and the fact that these two fields never stay rooted in place should be enough to convince you.

Google’s algorithm are constantly updated

Search engine algorithms are constantly tweaked based on the data they’re getting from queries submitted by their public. Most of the time, these tweaks are minor but every now and again, Google rolls out one major update or two that should definitely prompt a proper rethink on your part. These major updates are usually announced beforehand and while the technical details of what the update would change is kept strictly confidential, some general information revolving around the update would typically be published to keep businesses from being caught off-guard.

To keep you abreast of what’s cooking at Google, it’s a good idea for business owners to subscribe to the Google Webmaster blog as that’s where news around Google’s search technology is published. Even if you aren’t fully in control of your SEO strategy, you have a contract with an SEO services company that does the heavy lifting for you, say, it’s still a good idea to at least keep yourself informed so you could tell when they’re doing the job you paid them to.

The world of web development are constantly updated with new technologies

SEO is broadly divided into two categories, on-page SEO and off-page SEO. The latter refers to things you do outside your webpage for the purpose of generating traffic such as posting on social media platforms while including a link to your website. Meanwhile, the former relates to the things you do inside your website such as uploading blog posts to your website and optimizing how your website is displayed and loaded, which directly revolves around the world of web design & development.

A decade ago, when a webmaster wants to optimize their website for mobile devices, they have to go through the painstaking process of stripping the more sophisticated elements of their website and adapting the size of the remaining elements to small screens and a portrait landscape. Eventually, with the advances made in mobile devices and web development, the concept of responsive web design becomes the new normal with websites now simply adapting to the size and orientation of the screen they’re displayed on.

Responsive web design is just one example in how web development practically changes the world of SEO as Google at the moment considers responsive web design to be the model for mobile optimization. However, this could change in the future as companies experiment with new display models such as folding phones and VR, which is why it’s important for business to adapt their on-page SEO strategy with the latest news in web development. What is considered a best practice now might turn obsolete in just a couple of years.

Being on the first page is good, being first period is better

Another reason why businesses might want to take a second look at their SEO strategy is simply because there might be a better way of doing things or because your current strategy just isn’t working. Comfort is the enemy of progress and thanks to the somewhat esoteric nature of SEO, there’s always something you could do in order to achieve a better result. It’s possible for example that the keywords you’re optimizing for is slightly too generic and your effort is practically being bulldozed by bigger brands with considerably more brand recognition. It’s also possible that your contents just aren’t relevant enough to be given top billing on search engine results.

The business of optimization is akin to a true friend’s work; it’s never done. There’s always something you could to increase efficiency, either by getting more results using the same amount of resource or getting the same amount of results by using less resource. Even if you feel your current SEO strategy is working well enough, it’s never a bad idea to take a second look as there are probably a couple of things to try out that you might’ve previously missed.

Feelings of Miracle: How You Can Change Your Audience’s Mood with Design

Posted on by Mario

I’m not the type to get moody. If I want to eat, I eat. If I want to sing, I sing. I never make it difficult for me and for everyone around me. That’s why I am never fond of those who make things difficult because of their moodiness. However, when it comes to business, we can’t help but adjust to customers’ mood. I have been working at a creative agency that provides web design and web development services for business, I was taught to never underestimate the power of our audience’s mood. A mood can even determine people’s buying behaviour and action. When I was conducting a research on audience’s mood, I found that a design is the most effective factor that can change someone’s mood from being uninterested to being excited. If you are a business owner, it is important to know how to impress your audience to increase the chance of them being your real paying customers. So, how does design affect your audience’s mood? Keep reading to find out!

Establishing a mood

Let me be honest with you, I’m not the type for a long walk. I simply have no mood for it and it’s too troublesome for me. I would never bother walking through some complicated route to get to a store just to buy few things even though I am walking with my friends. I prefer to use car instead. However, when I went for a vacation a while ago to a private island, I was so excited that I walked around the whole island for hours without getting tired and not even complaining. Why? Why was I so willing to take a long walk, something I am not fond of, during my vacation, but didn’t want to take even a short walk on regular days? Yes, there is something about the vacation that made me interested in it! The same can be said to your audience. They need something to encourage that lazy part inside them that makes them willing to do anything (even do something they don’t like) to get it. Yes, the design in your content should be attractive and able to encourage them to take action. Interactive content can establish your audience’s mood and make them excited to engage with your content to the point of purchasing your products or services.

Colour design has different effects on mood

It is no surprising fact that colour has a psychological impact on audiences. Certain colours can affect different kinds of people and evoke different kinds of emotions and reactions from them. Blue, for example, is a colour of tranquillity, love, trust and even loyalty. This should be good for B2B companies that provide supports and reliability for other businesses. Green is the symbol of healing, growth, money, freshness and fertility; therefore, it should be suitable for companies that engage in the field of accounting, finance, green energy, or environment-friendly companies. That being said, the colour meanings I have mentioned only act as references to inspire you for your business’ main colour. Therefore, make sure you adjust the colour to your brand values – the colour that holds values for your brand. Let me tell you some real example, a few months ago, I was having a very bad headache when I was working. However, when I went to this unique café near my office, my headache suddenly disappeared because I was so amazed by the unique place that I took many pictures of it and forgot my headache. The unique place has a perfect combination of dark purple and a gradient of light purple with a little bit of pinkish colour as well as some fading blue. So, from this story, can you see that the perfect combination of colours can hold such a powerful impact on my condition at that moment? Not only did that boost my mood, it also made my headache slowly fade away.

That’s how design can make or break someone’s mood. If you have a business, you have to read your target audience first and conduct a research on them too. When you’re done observing, you can use the information you have gathered to design for your audience and make them interested in your products or services. When you understand your target audience better, you will also produce better and well-designed products or services, social media content as well as website design.