Creating a Website Landing Page That Drives Conversions

In the digital realm, your website’s landing page is the virtual storefront of your business. At Tom&Co, we understand the pivotal role it plays in converting visitors into customers. In this in-depth guide, we’ll unravel the secrets behind crafting a high-converting landing page that not only captures attention but also drives meaningful actions.
Understanding the Purpose of Your Landing Page
A. Defining Clear Goals: Aligning Your Landing Page Objectives with Your Business Goals B. Understanding the Target Audience: Tailoring Your Landing Page to Address Specific Customer Needs C. Aligning with Marketing Campaigns: Ensuring Consistency Across Advertisements and Landing Page Content
Crafting Compelling Headlines and Subheadings
A. Grabbing Attention: Writing Headlines That Intrigue and Compel Visitors to Explore Further B. Conveying Value: Using Subheadings to Clearly Articulate the Benefits of Your Offerings C. Maintaining Relevance: Ensuring Headlines and Subheadings Align with User Expectations
Designing an Engaging and User-Friendly Layout
A. Clean and Minimalist Design: Eliminating Clutter for a Seamless User Experience B. Intuitive Navigation: Guiding Users Through Clear Call-to-Actions (CTAs) and Easy-to-Follow Information Flow C. Mobile Responsiveness: Ensuring Your Landing Page Functions Flawlessly Across Devices
Creating Persuasive Copy and Visuals
A. Compelling Copywriting: Addressing Customer Pain Points and Communicating Unique Selling Points B. High-Quality Visuals: Incorporating Relevant Images and Videos to Enhance User Engagement C. Testimonials and Social Proof: Boosting Credibility with Authentic Customer Testimonials and Trust Badges
Implementing Effective Call-to-Action (CTA)
A. Strategic Placement: Positioning CTAs Strategically to Encourage User Interaction B. Clear and Actionable Language: Using Direct Language to Prompt Users to Take the Desired Action C. Creating Urgency: Incorporating Limited-Time Offers or Exclusive Deals to Drive Immediate Responses
Optimizing for Speed and Performance
A. Fast Loading Times: Optimizing Images and Minimizing Scripts for Speedy Page Load B. Reducing Friction: Streamlining Forms and Checkout Processes to Minimize User Effort C. A/B Testing: Conducting Split Tests to Identify High-Performing Elements for Optimization
Incorporating Trust and Security Elements
A. Privacy Policies and Trust Badges: Displaying Trustworthy Indicators to Ensure User Confidence B. Transparent Pricing and Policies: Providing Clear Information About Pricing, Refunds, and Terms of Service C. Visible Contact Information: Offering Easy Access to Customer Support Enhances Credibility
Analyzing Data and Making Continuous Improvements
A. Analytical Tools: Utilizing Tools Such as Google Analytics to Understand User Behavior B. Interpreting Data: Analyzing Metrics to Identify Patterns and Areas of Improvement C. Iterative Optimization: Making Data-Driven Changes to Enhance Conversion Rates Over Time
Conclusion
A. Recap of Essential Elements: Clear Goals, Compelling Headlines, User-Friendly Design, Persuasive Copy, Effective CTAs, Speed Optimization, Trust Elements, and Data Analysis B. Emphasize the Iterative Nature of Optimization: Continuous Improvement is Key to Long-Term Success C. Call to Action: Invite Readers to Apply the Strategies and Reach Out to Tom&Co for Personalized Guidance

Ready to Elevate Your Online Presence? Contact Tom&Co Today! Our Experts Will Guide You Through Creating a Landing Page That Converts Visitors into Loyal Customers. Start Driving Conversions Now!

When Is It Time to Redesign Your Website?

You only have a few seconds to attract visitors to stay on your website or leave it without exploring further.

One of the reasons is that your website is loading at a snail's pace or your website is poorly designed; no one wants to glance at it again. In comparison, if your web design is awesome and the loading speed is super fast, the traffic will keep coming and keep the readers engaged.

With the ever-changing technology and trends, you need to adopt it as early as possible to avoid being barren. You might ask When Is It Time to Redesign Your Website? When everything is working perfectly and in place.

The answer lies in several factors we will discuss in this post. Before we move forward, let’s take a look at what is a website redesign.

What is a Website Redesign?

Website redesign is revamping your website by changing structure, colors, content, elements, visuals, and navigation.

The better the website redesign, the chances of increasing traffic to the website increases. Furthermore, it will help reduce the bounce rate, which is

Without further ado, let’s dive straight into why redesign your website.

Why Should I Redesign My Website?

As we mentioned earlier, designing a website depends on several factors and is not limited to poor layout or a high bounce rate.

Here are a few reasons to redesign your website.

Unresponsive Website Leads to Losing Traffic

The majority of website traffic is driven from mobile devices instead of laptops or desktops.

In the fast-paced era, everything is done on the go.

From shopping to sending emails and video conferences to doing research, you won’t bother opening your laptop to do petty tasks.

Smartphone helps you research, manage short video calls, and edit documents on the go. So if your website is unresponsive, you are losing a major chunk of traffic.

Have you ever accessed a website on your smartphone with buttons and navigation overlapping, images hovering over text, and popups that appear out of nowhere?

We assume you may have visited such a website for once.

If you want to give your visitors such an experience, don’t bother redesigning your website. However, to avoid losing traffic and poor user experience, make sure to redesign your website as early as possible.

Look at the statistics below if you are in the state of delusion.

Redesign Website to Improve Navigation

Redesigning your website is just not for the sake of improving the looks and feel of your website.

It has a lot to do with the seamless user experience and offering ease to visitors in finding pages, links, and other related elements. For instance, if a new user accesses your website for the first time, he/she might be looking for the “About Us” page to learn more about the company.

But what if the visitor has to navigate the website completely to find the desired page - would it not be frustrating for him/her? If important pages and other elements are hard to navigate, you must seriously consider redesigning your website.

Visitors come to your website for specific purposes and reasons. And if you fail to deliver what they are looking for, they might head to your competitor.

Moreover, one of the reasons to improve site navigation is that Google also finds it challenging to crawl your website. It heavily relies on the structure of your website and evaluates how it fulfills its purpose.

The easier it is to navigate your website, the better Google will crawl your web pages.

Poor Web Design Affects SEO

Several factors affect SEO and the ranking of your website.

One of them is a poor design which ultimately leads to a high bounce rate, website speed, readability, unresponsive, and poor user experience.

If your website is not getting traffic even after writing well-optimized blog posts, creating high-quality backlinks, and applying on-page SEO, you must redesign your website.

Make sure to redesign a website in such a way that is not only responsive but also a structure that helps Google and visitors to navigate with ease.

In addition, you also need to fix broken and missing elements such as 404 pages, non-functioning buttons, proper URL structure, and heavy images that take too much time to load.

Website Takes Time to Load

Website loading time will make or break your visitors.

Here’s what statistics tell about website loading time.

 It is believed that the attention span of the human brain is about 8 seconds.

Whether it be images, text, or videos, you can never grab visitors' attention if the time is wasted in loading.

They might head to some other websites loading faster and prefer purchasing from them.

A slow website leads to poor user experience, and one of the reasons for slow site speed is the non-optimization of images. Make sure when redesigning your website, to start optimizing images from the beginning. Also, optimize your images when you put fresh content on your website.

And if you want to display a video on your website, upload it on a third-party website like YouTube and embed the code on it.

You must be vigilant about not leaving blank spaces or extra code when redesigning your website.

After you have redesigned your website, head on to Google PageSpeed Insights to check the speed.

Enter the URL of your website, and if the results are under 3 seconds, you have successfully achieved your goal.

Remember, website speed is one of the biggest Google ranking factors.

Don’t miss the opportunity and redesign your website to make it load faster.

Low Conversions

Up till now, you have learned much about when to redesign your website.

But what if everything on your website is perfect according to the scenarios discussed above, but there is a low conversion on your website?

For instance, Google Analytics shows visitors coming to your website, but the conversion rate is zero or negligible.

Visitors come to your website for a reason, and if they don’t take the desired action, there might be some reason behind it.

That is where redesigning becomes necessary and why good web design should be part of your marketing strategy.

When redesigning your website, put yourself in the shoes of visitors.

The best approach is to make use of Heat Maps to know the behavior of visitors on your website.

With the help of heat maps, you can;

Rebranding Your Website

Do you find inconsistency in your design across pages, or you want to rebrand your website from scratch (logos, banners, taglines, mission, and vision)

If you have an inconsistent look and feel on different website sections, you must fix it as early as possible.

Visitors might get confused if they are redirected to another website or some malicious page.

Design inconsistencies are commonly found on websites that have scaled up over the years.

If your website is also one of them, you must implement brand styles and guidelines to give your site a unified look.

It includes fonts, icons, color palettes, button styles, and more.

One of example of website redesigning is MailChimp, which completely changed in 2018.

The email marketing website was redesigned by adding a new logo, changing the brand color, and including a stylish serif typeface.  

If you are considering rebranding your website from scratch, just like MailChimp did, redesign your website now. 

Your Website is Rich on Text

Have you ever visited a website with all text and no visuals?

Wasn’t it looking outdated and muddled, leaving no clue what it is all about and how to navigate to different sections?

Plus, the strain it had on your eyes. 

If your website is also one of its types, it’s time to consider redesigning your website.

We live in a world where videos, images, and infographics are highly impactful, especially when taking action.

Rich text websites are not easy on the eyes, and getting lost in the buzz of words would be normal for any visitor.

Moreover, without including graphics would result in misreading the text.

One of the reasons to revamp your rich text website is that visitors might find it challenging to find call-to-action buttons.

For instance, it may block visitors from clicking the button to purchase a product, fill out the form to receive freebies, or download an eBook to learn more about your product/service.

No matter what action you wish your visitors to take, it may take longer on a rich-text website compared to a graphic website.

As mentioned earlier, the average attention span is 8 seconds.

Make sure to grab the attention as soon as the visitors access your website and help them to take the desired action.

Adding Functionality to Your Website

Your website should be easy to navigate, user-friendly, and easy to understand.

As time passes, your website traffic grows, and you need to scale it up by adding extra features and functionalities.

For instance, if you want to add content in different languages or integrate a chatbot for better customer support, you need to redesign your website to make it easy for visitors to navigate.

Updating Your Website is Hard

In today’s digital age, you need to keep your website fresh and updated with content.

At least if you are solely relying on organic traffic, updating blogs and resources should be a breeze.

However, if you find it difficult to update your website frequently, you need to redesign it with a professional web design agency without further waiting.

Some of the popular Content Management Systems like WordPress have made it easier to update the website frequently.

You need to make things easier by shifting to a content management system and designing it according to your requirements.

Or simply let your developers and designers take charge and make it easier for everyone to update content from the backend

How Often to Redesign Website?

The question how often should you redesign your website might be mocking you because it takes loads of effort, time, and money to revamp it.

It is not a hard and fast rule, but generally speaking, redesigning your website should be done at least after every two to three years.

The reason is that most of the design trends change over time and need to be updated to stay competitive.

In addition, many website elements like images, content, videos, buttons, call to action, colors, and branding must be changed over time.

Staying competitive and up to the standards of Google as well as visitors/customers is why website redesigning must be done after every two to three years.

When Is It Time to Redesign Your Website? Final Thoughts

In this post, we have discussed what website redesigning is, why redesign your website, and how often to redesign your website.

Don’t be reluctant to take a step toward redesigning your website.

Yes, it indeed requires a lot of time, effort, and money, but the output is fruitful.

But website redesigning will have a huge impact in terms of revenue, traffic, and building credibility among the target audience.

You can also find plenty of tools online to evaluate your website’s design and give recommendations.

Once you have redesigned your website, it is important to check the performance of your website regularly.

Not only will it help in improving traffic and rankings, but it will also save you money from fixing the issues and resolving problems. 

How to Choose Your Web Design Agency

If you're a business that has decided to go online, you must need a well-designed website. And for your website, it is best to hire a professional web design agency. Why go through so much trouble on your own when you have experts to take care of the job, right! 😉

But do you know how to choose your web design agency?

This is quite an important decision to make because a website is your business's and brand's online face. It is a one-stop destination for your customers to know more about you and your business. A user-friendly and informative website makes an everlasting impression of your brand. We’re sure now you understand the significance of knowing how to choose your web design agency.

In this article, we will furnish you with practical tips on the different things you should keep in mind on how to pick your web design agency.

Aligning Your Business And Website Goals

No one knows your business more than you do. Your desired website design depends upon the nature of your business,  whether you are an e-commerce business, business-to-business seller, or service-intensive business. An agency specializing in your relevant business area will be ideal for meeting your business objectives.

You must also be very clear about what goals you want to achieve through your website and how they should be aligned with your broad business goals. Thus, you should list your website requirements and translate those into SMART goals.

Some of your website  goals can be:

Your website must have a few  specific features  to achieve the goals mentioned above:

Documenting your goals and website requirements helps in how to choose your web design agency. You may interview a few of them to find the best match for your business and website goals.

Finding An Array Of Services

It would be best to look for an agency that offers an array of inter-related services to save you time and hassle. Services that you may require include product photography, copywriting, digital marketing, email handling, and social media management. This way, you will deal with a single web design agency instead of multiple ones.

Budget And Timeline

Budget is an important constraint that affects how you choose your web design agency. You must know and mention your expected price range to get realistic price quotes from potential web design partners. Timeline is also a key factor that you should consider. If you want to see your website live immediately, you must look for a currently available agency.

Relevant Industry Experience

Now that you know your goals, budget, and timeline, you have covered the basics of how to choose your web design agency. What’s next? Start looking for a web design partner with relevant experience in your specific industry. You can search some on Google, ask industry gurus or search local directories to find the best web design agency.

Three important parameters that help you choose your web design agency are the following:

You will get an insight into your expectations and results by looking at these three. It will be easier to judge whether they can meet your goals and fulfill your requirements.

Let's look at each of these to have a better understanding of how to choose your web design agency.

Experience

Experience refers to how long they have been working as an agency and do they have previously worked in your relevant industry. An experienced web design agency has well-developed processes, a competent team, and the highest service quality standards.

Website design is not a one-time job. You will require ongoing support for your website once it goes live. An agency partner offering complimentary marketing services to raise your business should be your preference.

Portfolio

How you choose your web design agency depends greatly on their existing portfolio. A portfolio is the best tool to evaluate the skills and competence of any agency. Most web design companies have a separate portfolio section on their website.

But before you go through their portfolio, you must pay attention to assess their own website. A well-designed, easy-to-navigate, and fully informational website speaks volumes about its agency's capability to handle your project.

While reviewing the websites they have already delivered to clients, you must keep these questions in mind.

If you like an agency's portfolio but do not have any experience in your industry, you may ask them whether they can meet your requirements.

Organizational Culture

An agency's culture plays a key role in determining how you choose the web design agency. You must know the people you choose to work with. It would be best to look for an agency whose culture is similar to your organization's culture. This way, you have better communication and collaboration throughout the web design process.

A few of the questions that you should consider are:

  1. Do they appreciate their team's talent and skills?
  2. Do they have a  welcoming environment?
  3. Do they consider your ideas?
  4. Do they feel excited about your website?

You must also look for if your chosen agency has international exposure and experience. It is a plus point if they have. Another important question is: do they have an in-house marketing department? A web design agency with a designated marketing team brings specialized knowledge and fresh ideas for your project.

Testimonials & Online Reviews

Testimonials and online reviews are great sources to give information about a particular web design agency. The reviews give insight into how many happy customers they have, how good is their customer service and how they treat their employees.

It is not difficult nowadays to find online reviews on sites like Google, Facebook, and Yelp. You can also see testimonials on their own website that help you in choosing your web design agency.

Questions To Ask From Your Potential Web Design Agency

Do prepare a list of questions to ask your potential web design agency before you hire them. We have compiled a list of these questions to help you choose your web design partner.

1. What services do you offer other than web design?

An agency that offers multiple services should be your first choice.

2. Do you have proper research about our business?

If your web agency knows well about your business and your clients, they will do a better job.

3. Can you design a website in my budget range?

You must communicate your budget beforehand to avoid any misunderstanding afterward.

4. Will I have a designated project manager to contact?

You must know who will be the person responsible for communicating with you.

5. What is your design process?

You should see the design process flow chart and SOPs of your potential web agency.

6. Which content management system do you use?

A CMS allows you to update, edit and manage website content on your own. The most popular CMS are WordPress, Joomla, SquareSpace, etc.

7. Are your web designs responsive?

A responsive website is one whose design adjusts according to the screen size of the device, be it desktop, laptop, tablet, or mobile. This is quite a substantial factor to analyze when deciding how to choose your web design agency.

8. Do you have a quality assurance team?

The quality assurance team ensures that the design process is smooth and your requirements are truly met.

9. What kind of after-sales services will you provide after the website launch?

You will need the ongoing support of your web design agency even after it goes live.

10. Will you provide training to my team?

Your web design agency should provide one-to-one training sessions, website lessons, and video tutorials to IT experts of your business.

The decision of how to choose your web design agency cannot be taken all of a sudden. It is essential to spend enough time searching and shortlisting potential web design firms for your business. Your website makes the first impression on potential customers of your brand and business. Thus the time and effort you spend finding an ideal fit for your business needs are worth it.

The more due diligence you do before signing your contract, the happier you will be with your decision. Your satisfaction greatly depends on your relationship with your agency, the entire web design procedure, and the outcome of your project after completion.

Always remember that a good-looking website is not the only thing you are looking for. A website that isn't easy to use will not generate traffic and sales for your business. Do keep in mind all the different elements we discussed in this article regarding how to choose your web design agency, and you’ll surely find a good one. While we are on that topic, Tom & Co is quite an expert in that area.

 

5 Easy Ways to Increase Cyber Security for Your Small Business

Many small business owners often make the mistake of overlooking business cybersecurity, thinking they are not at risk due to their relatively small size. However, reports from the Better Business Bureau shows that there is an annual loss of $80,000 due to negligence from business owner.

As a business owner, you’re just at risk of cyber attacks as giant businesses. Without proper security measures, you’re risking your customers' data to attackers. These data could be credit cards information, names, and addresses.

It is important to tighten security irrespective of how small your business is. By making cybersecurity a top priority, you save yourself from the hassles that come with a security breach. So, here are some of the ways to improve your small business cybersecurity.

  1. Change your passwords

You will be shocked to learn that your email accounts have been illegally accessed and released to the public domain. The least you can do to avert the worst from happening is to change your passwords.

Data breaches are rampant, and a simple thing such as changing your passwords could be all you need to protect your business.

  1. Use a trusted password manager

To up your password game, you should consider using a password manager with a track record of trust. There are some tools you can consider, like Sticky Password, Dashland, and LastPass. With these tools, you don’t need to stress yourself when it comes to keeping track of your passwords.

They offer the same benefits of regularly changing your passwords, without having to make it hard for your employees. If you ever need someone to access your accounts, these tools can help you share passwords sets.

  1. Turn on two-factor authentication

To add an extra layer of security to your accounts, you need to enable two-factor authentication. It isn't a techy process since it is as easy as registering a new phone number or installing an app. With this feature, you make it pretty hard for attackers to gain access to your accounts.

  1. Always update your software

Software updates sometimes come with security patches that help protect your small business from detected vulnerabilities. Attackers are always out to explore vulnerabilities, while your software companies are always on the lookout to detect and prevent you from being bugged.

  1. Have a backup

In the event of an attack that might lead to data loss, having a backup can be what determine if you go out of business or not. With a reliable backup in place, viruses or other infections will not be the end of your business as you can always restore and be running in no time.

If this sounds like hard work, perhaps your best bet is to work with an expert who understands the needs of your business. Feel free to give us a call or fill our contact form.

Seo Strategies That Will Help You Win

SEO, which is the acronym for Search Engine Optimization, is a very critical element in marketing. It involves employing strategic efforts to make a website more visible on internet search engines like Google. 

SEO has evolved into an indispensable aspect in digital marketing, which every organization, whether small or big, must adopt if they must stay ahead of competitors and remain sustainable in the current economic system. 

Although it sometimes appears difficult or elusive due to the frequent changes in search engine algorithms. Still, the good thing is that the basic rules remain the same and are very easy to understand and follow. 

The tips outlined below provide effective SEO strategies to help you stay ahead of the curve and emerge victoriously.

  1. Know your keywords

Perfect knowledge of your keywords shows you which words people are searching for, and when these words are in your titles, you have a high chance of ranking on Google's SERP. This calls for a lot of research and hard work because it is the most crucial if you must get your target audience on board.

  1. Create high-Quality content

The key to winning the hearts of users is posting content that resonates with them. Dishing out valued, trusted, and high-quality information should be your purpose. Always employ the services of good content creators who can do a perfect job for a bit of cost because, generally, where each customer loves to visit is where they would find enough information and high-quality content.

  1. Use keywords in your website page URLs

Always use relevant keywords when creating URLs for your content. It is best to go for the highly-rated terms, which everyone Is looking for to help you beat the algorithm in your favour.

Apps like Google Ads Keyword Planner or google trends can help you uncover keywords worth going after. So instead of using complex or choice words, use relevant terms that will channel traffic unto your favour.

  1. Use attractive page titles, images, and videos

You rank better in SERP when you include elements like images, videos, academics, news, and trending economic issues in your content. It might interest you to know that SEO often targets unpaid traffic (i.e., natural results from a search engine) rather than direct searches or paid traffic. 

This formula beats the working setup of any search engine because once the algorithm from your webpage rhymes with the data on demand, your webpage will be flooded with visitors coming to view and interact with your web page, making a lot of income for yourself and adding value to your website.

As the search engine algorithms continue to be dynamic with more advanced technologies, the SEO principles remain the same. If that sounds like a lot of work, you're not alone. That's why most organisations and individuals hire experts to handle their site's SEO. Go ahead and give us a call, or perhaps fill the contact form to begin.

How To Protect Your Business From Negative Seo

Negative SEO is a sneaky move where a company or business owner tries to steal the rankings of other businesses by using their keywords so that their competitors' sites won't pop up when a person searches for information concerning their business.

It is the process of hijacking other sites to get them penalized or bringing them to ruin.

There are different forms of negative SEO, such as bad reviews, aimed at tearing down companies or businesses, duplicating content and putting them on numerous sites, hacking into sites, and much more.

So, how do you protect your business from these malicious attacks?

Monitor Your Backlinks

Backlinks are links in pages other than your business page that lead to your connection. For example, when you browse the best stores in your neighborhood, that page is likely to have links that lead to each store's private page; those are backlinks.

Most times, your site is attacked by negative SEO when they create weak or lousy quality links leading to your site, or they make redirects. While these redirects and links are forming, you may be unaware of it, which is very dangerous to your business site; you need to be aware of the links that direct to your website.

You can use online tools to check your backlinks daily, and some send information about the activities revolving around your backlinks directly to your inbox.

Shield Your Most Effective Backlinks

Your attackers carry out a successful negative SEO attack when they eliminate your most effective backlinks. They do this by impersonating you and informing the webmaster of that backlink to delete it. To prevent this from happening, you should monitor your backlinks using online tools.

Another preventive measure is to constantly communicate with the webmaster using an email address with your domain; instead of using any of the email apps, use an email with your domain on it so the webmaster can distinguish your messages from ones sent by imposters.

Secure Your Site From Hackers 

Hackers slip into an insecure or poorly-secured website easily and wreak havoc while you watch helplessly. To prevent that from happening, you need to secure your website from spammers and hackers by:

Look For Replicas On The Internet

Duplicating your content all over the internet is a way to get your search engine's attention and a way to get your site taken down. It would be best if you were wary of duplications. Various sites help you detect repeated content coming from your site to be on track and combat negative SEO.

If you believe you’ve been a victim of negative SEO, do well to contact an expert by calling or filling our contact form. We’ll ensure that every bad SEO targeted at your business website is rendered void and null, without you having to break the bank.

Is Coding the Next Blue Collar Job?

A blue collar job is one that is considered the more common hourly wage position in the work force. For decades, blue collar jobs were in construction, manufacturing, maintenance, retail, and other professions where their labor force dominated the employment environment. But as the United States watches its economy transition from manufacturing to information, some people are starting to wonder if website coding is becoming the next blue collar job.

The Growth Of Website Coders

The blue collar workforce does what is considered the daily grind work for the entire economy. These are people who are respected for "packing a lunch" and "doing a hard day's work." It is estimated that the web coding workforce will grow 15 percent between 2016 and 2026, which is faster than any other occupation in the United States. That will put the total number of website coders in the United States at around 190,000 by 2026, and that is a big percentage of the workforce.

Doing The Grind Work

One of the big reasons for the growth in website coding positions is the rapid growth in mobile computing. It is estimated that in 2017 the percentage of people accessing the Internet through their phones was 50 percent. That number steadily grows year after year, and that is fueling the need for more mobile websites. As the number of people accessing the Internet through smartphones grows, so will the number of website coders.

Specialists

Just like construction companies have engineers who run the cranes and plumbers, the blue collar website coding workforce also has its specialists. Website coding requires experts in ecommerce, security, data gathering, language translation, and a variety of other fields that are all essential in keeping the Internet going. These are the people who are making website coding into blue collar work, and their numbers keep growing.

High Pay

One of the reasons blue collar work was so popular during the industrial revolution and beyond is because it offered high pay to people who had limited educations. Anyone with an aptitude for computers can learn to code, but the median pay in 2017 was $67,990.00 per year, which is a pay rate similar to that of the other blue collar positions.

The Big Difference

The biggest difference between website coders and other blue collar workers is that coders need a college degree of some kind to attract clients. Construction workers can rise through the ranks from the laborer position and get the specific training they need to get promoted. But most customers expect their website coders to be college educated, which is not something that is required of the other blue collar positions.

As the website coder workforce grows, so does its prominence in the American economy. One of the reasons website coding attracts so many workers is that it can be a high-paying job that can be done from home. A large number of coders work for companies as remote offices, and the ability to work from home is causing a lot of people to start taking up website coding.

With the new economy comes the new types of grinding jobs that are done for hours every day by a dedicated workforce. The website coder is quickly becoming part of the blue collar workforce, and there is a chance that coders could be the premier blue collar workers in the not-too-distant future.

The Importance Of Mobile Optimization

When mobile websites were first launched, they were considered a novelty. The most effort anyone ever put into their mobile website was to create a piece of software that converted their desktop website to a text-only mobile website without any other conversions. But as mobile technology has developed, so has mobile websites. These types of websites are no longer novelties, they are essential marketing tools, and they are getting the same kind of attention that desktop websites have been getting for years.

How Do You Optimize Your Mobile Website?

Creating a program that converts your desktop website to a text-only site for mobile devices no longer cuts it when it comes to mobile website optimization. Today, companies must focus on developing a completely different mobile website that optimizes the experience for users. The content must fit perfectly on the mobile screen, and the navigation must be smooth and seamless.

Most website developers have created completely different ways to design and implement mobile websites. These differ from desktop layouts in terms of utilizing the front page, how ecommerce is laid out, a less intrusive navigation system, and smaller file sizes for images. These methods have been developed rapidly over the years, and have become the standard for mobile website development.

Google's Mobile Movement

In 2015, Google unleashed what industry insiders called "Mobile Armageddon." Any mobile website that did not meet the basic design criteria that Google laid out previously would not show up on mobile search results. Companies scrambled to get their mobile websites up to date, and a new age in mobile web development was born.

Google demanded that all mobile websites be optimized to improve user experience, and this move helped to solidify the new mobile web development guidelines as the gold standard in the industry. If you want your mobile website to be seen on Google's mobile search results, then your site has to be brought up to the new standards.

The Move Towards Mobile

For the past several years, there has been a move away from desktop and laptop computers and towards mobile computing devices. In 2016, it was estimated that the number of mobile users on the Internet finally outnumbered the number of desktop and laptop users. At that point, the idea of having a mobile website was not only a good idea, it became mandatory for any business that wanted to grow.

Millions of potential customers every day are on their smartphones or tablets looking up products and making purchases. Business professionals are taking out their smartphones to look up businesses they can partner with, and investors are scanning mobile websites for their next investment projects. The best frame of reference to use to get business owners to understand the importance of mobile optimization is to say that it is even more important to have a mobile website now than it was to have a desktop website in the 1990s.

Times are changing and your business needs to change with them. If you do not have a properly developed mobile website, then you are missing out on millions of potential web hits and millions of potential customers. As more and more people shift to accessing the Internet through mobile devices, optimizing your mobile website becomes more important than ever.

Google Will Start Favoring HTTPS Pages

All websites have HTTP pages, and then some have HTTPS pages with the same exact content on them. This usually occurs because many websites like to offer certain types of content on HTTP pages instead of HTTPS pages because of the slight performance degradation offered by HTTPS pages. But the website still wants the option of being able to use secure pages when necessary, which is why they have both HTTP and HTTPS pages.

Google has been doing a lot of thinking about Internet security lately, and has been dropping hints that it may start to favor HTTPS pages. To get ahead of any type of action by Google, most social media pages switched to HTTPS pages to offer better security. But now other websites may want to consider using HTTPS pages for more than just their ecommerce pages if they want to bring in traffic.

Why Isn't Everyone Just Using HTTPS?

Google wouldn't have to make these changes if every website simply used HTTPS pages instead of unsecured HTTP pages. There are two reasons why websites try to use HTTP pages as much as possible in lieu of HTTPS pages. The first is that websites cannot be cached with HTTPS pages, and that can affect international web traffic. A web server that is on a different continent from the user will take much longer to access with HTTPS pages because the user's browser is not allowed to cache the site.

The other reason websites attempt to bypass using HTTPS pages is the slower loading times. Retail websites know that every millisecond of website lag means the loss of more revenue, and they would rather not slow their sites down. But as the need for security increases, most of the major retail websites have turned all of their pages into HTTPS pages.

What Is Google Doing?

If Google sees that you have an HTTP page that has the same identical content as an HTTPS page, then it is going to index the HTTPS page first. But, as with any rule, there are exceptions. Google will not index the HTTPS page first if it:

In these instances, Google will index the HTTP page first, and it may not index the HTTPS page at all.

What Does This Mean?

Website owners should pay attention whenever Google says it will favor one type of web page over another for any reason. If you have a site that is utilizing all HTTPS pages and your site has a valid security certificate, then you could find your site ranked ahead of the competition. Google is being vague on details right now, so understanding the exact effects of this are difficult.

The best approach is to team up with an experienced Internet marketing company and have them evaluate your website for you. If there is an advantage to making all of your pages HTTPS pages, then your marketing expert can make that call for you. As Google continues to alter the search landscape, you need a professional organization that can keep up with the changes and keep your company competitive.

5 Ways To Improve Your Website

We tend to get involved in the details about SEO and changes in technology, but there are plenty of basic pieces of advice that need to be given if you are going to have a successful website. When it comes to your desktop or mobile website, there are things you can do that will help you to improve your site and get a bigger return on your investment. The best part is that not all of the ways to improve your website require a degree in computer science.

Listen To Your Customers

It is important to invite and encourage feedback from your customers on how you can improve your website, because those are the people most immediately affected by your website changes. There are plenty of ways to get feedback from customers, but being interactive on the company blog tends to be the best way. When you instigate conversation with your clients, you will get valuable information about your website.

The most important pieces of information you will get often involve features your competition's website does not have that your customers insist they need. If you really want to bring in the web traffic, then start offering your customers the ability to do things they cannot do with the competition and you will be way ahead of the game.

Watch The Competition

If the competition is rolling out new features on its website, then you should consider doing the same thing. Monitoring the competition allows you to not fall behind in the race to win the hearts and minds of web traffic. When you combine monitoring the competition with enacting changes recommended by clients, then you will see your retention rate soar.

Watch Television And Movies

Have you ever noticed how much cellular flip phones look like communicators from the television show "Star Trek?" Some of the most significant advances in the world of technology have come from copying the things that engineers have seen on television shows and movies. If you see something on television or in a movie that you feel would improve your website, then talk to your Internet marketing partner about making it a reality.

Go Outside Your Industry

Companies that sell sporting goods tend to monitor other sporting goods websites to find the inspiration for new ideas. But there may be some very cool things going on with online greeting card websites that could make your sporting goods website better for your customers. When you are looking for ideas, always branch out and take in inspiration wherever you can get it.

Listen To Children

There is nothing more interesting than listening to the unfiltered imagination of a child. Get your kids to look at your company website and ask them what types of features they would like to see. Once you get past the need for more puppy pictures, you may be surprised at the real ideas you find.

Developing and maintaining a website is a creative process. Inspiration for creativity comes from all around you. While your Internet marketing partner is working diligently to keep your website competitive within your industry, you can provide some good ideas for new features by looking for inspiration in your everyday life.