#it was a simplified language too like it used visual buttons instead of the standard line coding

[marukissnack]

I attempted coding today and now my brain is legitimately fried I have no function left

[fyntix]

How Do You Optimize for Conversions?

Optimizing for conversions is more critical than ever. With countless businesses vying for attention online, turning visitors into customers requires a strategic approach. This article will explore various methods to optimize your conversions effectively, ensuring that every visitor has a higher chance of becoming a loyal customer.

Understanding Conversions

Before diving into optimization techniques, it’s essential to grasp what conversions are. In a digital marketing context, a conversion occurs when a visitor completes a desired action on your website—be it making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or filling out a contact form. The ultimate goal of any online business is to increase these conversions, as they directly impact revenue and growth.

Analyze Your Current Performance

The first step in optimizing for conversions is to analyze your current performance. Tools like Google Analytics provide insights into user behavior on your website. Look for metrics such as the conversion rate, bounce rate, and average session duration. Understanding these metrics will help identify areas needing improvement.

Key Metrics to Monitor:

Conversion Rate: The percentage of visitors who complete the desired action.

Bounce Rate: The percentage of visitors who leave the site after viewing only one page.

Average Session Duration: How long visitors stay on your site, which can indicate engagement levels.

Improve User Experience (UX)

A seamless user experience is crucial for boosting conversions. If visitors find navigating your site challenging or the loading times too slow, they’re likely to abandon their journey before converting. Here are some ways to enhance UX:

1. Simplify Navigation

Ensure that your website’s navigation is intuitive. Visitors should easily find the information they need without feeling overwhelmed. Organize content logically, using clear headings and subheadings.

2. Optimize Loading Speed

Fast loading times are essential. Research shows that even a one-second delay can lead to significant drops in conversion rates. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to analyze and improve loading speeds.

3. Mobile Responsiveness

With more users accessing websites via mobile devices, ensuring your site is mobile-friendly is vital. A responsive design adjusts content based on the device used, providing an optimal viewing experience across all platforms.

Craft Compelling Content

Content plays a crucial role in conversion optimization. Engaging and relevant content not only attracts visitors but also encourages them to take action.

1. Clear Value Proposition

Your value proposition should be prominently displayed on your homepage and landing pages. Clearly explain what makes your product or service unique and why visitors should choose you over competitors.

2. Persuasive Call-to-Action (CTA)

A strong CTA guides visitors toward taking the desired action. Use action-oriented language and make your CTAs stand out visually. For instance, instead of saying “Submit,” you might say “Get Your Free Quote Now!”

3. Use Social Proof

Incorporating testimonials, case studies, or user reviews can significantly influence potential customers. Social proof builds trust and can alleviate concerns about making a purchase.

A/B Testing

A/B testing, or split testing, involves comparing two versions of a webpage to see which one performs better regarding conversions. This method allows you to test various elements like headlines, CTA buttons, and images to determine what resonates most with your audience.

Steps for Effective A/B Testing:

Identify Variables: Choose one element to test at a time (e.g., button color).

Create Variations: Develop two versions of the webpage—Version A and Version B.

Analyze Results: Use analytics tools to measure which version achieved better conversions.

Implement Changes: Use the winning version as the new standard.

Leverage Email Marketing

Email marketing is an effective tool for nurturing leads and driving conversions. By collecting email addresses through sign-up forms or lead magnets, you can keep your audience engaged.

1. Personalized Campaigns

Sending personalized emails based on user behavior can significantly increase engagement rates. For example, if a visitor abandoned their shopping cart, sending a follow-up email with a reminder or discount might encourage them to complete the purchase.

2. Segment Your Audience

Segmenting your email list allows you to tailor messages based on specific group characteristics or behaviors. This targeted approach increases the likelihood of conversions.

Utilize Retargeting Ads

Retargeting ads are an effective way to bring back visitors who didn’t convert on their first visit. By displaying ads to these users while they browse other sites, you remind them of your offerings and encourage them to return.

Implementing Retargeting Strategies:

Create Custom Audiences: Use pixel tracking to identify visitors who engaged with specific pages.

Ad Personalization: Tailor ads based on user behavior—for instance, showing different products based on what they viewed.

Monitor and Adjust Strategies

Conversion optimization is not a one-time effort; it requires continuous monitoring and adjustment of strategies. Regularly assess your metrics and the effectiveness of your tactics. Stay informed about industry trends and be willing to adapt as necessary.

Collaborate with Digital Marketing Agencies

Many companies find that working with digital marketing agencies like FYNTIX can significantly boost their conversion optimization efforts. These agencies bring expertise in data analysis, user experience design, and targeted marketing strategies that can help you achieve better results more efficiently.

Conclusion

Optimizing for conversions is an ongoing process that involves understanding your audience, improving user experience, crafting compelling content, and continuously testing strategies. By implementing these techniques, you’ll be well on your way to increasing your conversion rates and driving growth for your business. Remember, every visitor represents an opportunity—make sure you’re ready to turn those opportunities into success!

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New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/12-web-design-best-practices-to-elevate-user-experience/

12 Web Design Best Practices To Elevate User Experience

  According to a survey conducted by British researchers on the users’ trust in health, websites showed how vital web design is. It was revealed that 94% of the feedback was based on the first impression participants had about the website’s design.  

When you decide to buy a house, would you go for an abandoned one built decades earlier, or will you buy a recently renovated one with practical design and updated features? Indeed, you would go for the latter. Undoubtedly, design matters whether in architecture, automobiles, mobile phones, or a kitchen gadget.

Andrew Kucheriavy, founder and CEO of Intechnic, says that Good UX is good business. Escalation of a business is highly dependent on its web design.

UX and Web Design

User experience (UX) of a business website is all about pleasure, ease of use, and a clear understanding. It will display the right solution at the right time to the right user. How would a customer trust you enough to buy from you if your website seems complicated to him?

On the other hand, if your website enables him to thoroughly understand your product and has simplified navigation, there is a much higher chance of him getting converted into a lead.

If you ask him to subscribe to your email list or follow your social media handles, he will most likely obey. This is because he doesn’t have to put much effort or go through any obstacles on the way to purchase the product.

According to Blue Corona, 48% of users see web design as an indication of a business’s credibility.

Below, we have shared the best web design practices that will help you upscale the user experience assuredly.

Responsive Website For An Unmatched User Experience

UX statistics from Finance Online state that 85% of people think a website’s mobile version should match its desktop version‘s quality.

People use multiple devices these days for browsing purposes. Blue Corona suggests that at least 90% of users sequentially use more than one screens. They expect your brand to care about whatever device they intend to use and want a delightful experience regardless of screen size.

Make sure that your website is fast and responsive. Understand that the smaller screens need optimized navigation and call-to-action buttons. The design may differ in tablet and desktop versions, but you can easily create a consistent format with the mobile version.

Seamless Navigation

The navigation on your website needs to be easy, but it must also be predictable to give the user a coherent experience throughout your website. Just browsing through a page or two will provide them with an idea about finding the elements they need.

Effortless navigation is made possible by a structure that is both fast and uncomplicated. Scott Belsky, Chief Product Officer at Adobe, sums it up by saying, “Rule of thumb for UX: The more the options, the more problems will occur.”

Harmonious navigation also provides a pleasant visual experience to the user, which adds another possibility of him turning into a recurrent visitor or lead.

For some inspiration in excellent navigation, take the official website of Citizen Watch as an example. With all the necessary elements in the right place, the website is on point with its navigation design.

Source https://www.citizenwatch.com/

  Seo Optimization

SEO and User Experience go hand in hand. Who knows better than the search engine, what is the best possible result for a user? It will only show websites that nail their SEO to reach the top position.

The best SEO tip for web designers is not to use any design element that will hinder the Search engine from indexing your website.

Use relevant keywords in your web copy, alt attributes, and file names to optimize it for a better ranking.

Fast Loading Webpages for Swift User Experience

The majority of the website visitors have very little patience. The benchmark data analyzed by Google showed that  53% of visitors abandon a webpage that takes longer than 3 seconds to load.

You certainly don’t want a high bounce rate just because of a slow loading website, an issue that can easily be tackled.

Use a reliable hosting service to ensure a high page load speed. A CDN network is also instrumental in improving visitors’ loading speed from any part of the world.

Your images should be optimized for which you can use any of the image optimization plugin available on WordPress. Larger images are the top reason for a slow-loading webpage.

Also, use caching versions to improve your website speed.

Personalizations

Prioritizing the user is the right approach towards web design that allows a remarkable user experience. In fact, MarketingProfs revealed that Businesses that personalize web design get at least a 19% increase in sales.

A few tips on how to integrate personalized features on your website are:

Each buyer’s persona should be shown testimonials relatable to them—a freelancer’s testimonial shown to freelancer and an agency owner’s testimonial to a company’s CEO.

Show content customized according to their location and time zone. Relevancy will boost conversions.

An adaptive website that can be translated into native languages will surely win the race with its competitors.

Customize CTA’s according to what funnel stage the customer is passing through. Learn moreis a good option for a visitor who is looking for valuable information. Whereas Buy now will target the last stage leads who have probably decided to purchase.

Powerful Yet Simple Copywriting

Copywriting has a humungous role to play in enhancing the experience of the user. You can be a winner with words that you use on your website.

Complex vocabulary, intense jargon, long paragraphs, and sentences are no longer for seamless user experience. Instead, viewers should be able to interpret the core idea behind a copy if you want them to convert.

Be it your chatboxes, notifications, or landing page, be crystal clear about what you are trying to convey. Blo’s website designed by Logo Design Valley is one example where the headline “Giving Future to Your Investment” gives the reader a clear concept about what they do and powerful enough to convince them to invest simultaneously.

Adding Elements That Allow Effortlessness For The Users

Design elements that make a user experience speedy and effortless can certainly increase sales. See how Airbnb does it. It offers a feature known as search as you move map, which allows the visitors to search for accommodations around an area without starting over the search process again and again.

  Source https://www.airbnb.com/

  Another idea is to make sure that if you have any forms to be filled, they should be quickly filled via social accounts of the users like Facebook. It will ease the lead conversion process as users don’t have to make a separate new account and can log in to their respective social networks to fill the form. SocPub states that visitors leave quickly if the forms on your website take too long to fill.

Smart Use Of Branding

Users are humans, and humans pay way more attention to visual elements than text. Keeping this in mind, incorporate branding on your website that establishes your identity but doesn’t feel like in-your-face.

You can use branding elements like your logo, brand slogan, and colors to positively build an association with the user. Once they understand your brand and feel good about it, they will happily purchase from you.

Clear and Concise CTAs

For exceptional user experience, the role of CTAs cannot be denied. They act as a catalyst in increasing sales when done the right way. And what is the right way? Customization!

Customize your Call to actions according to the visitor’s preference. Give him the exact thing for which he came. Hubspot reports that customized CTA’s which are also called smart CTAs, perform 202% better than regular ones.

Source: sproutsocial.com

Sitemap Creation

Creating a sitemap is one of the best web design practices that will aid UX. It is the website’s architecture explained through categorizing the information present on the domain. It is used to develop a site’s hierarchy in the development stage.

You can compare a sitemap to a blueprint while designing a house. You certainly can’t do a better job without having one.

The sitemap will list all the webpages, giving users accessibility and relevance and setting up a clear conversion path.

Sticky Headers

Implementing fixed elements as sticky headers add to the user’s accessibility, giving him ease of use. A sticky header is a header that remains on the screen even when the user scrolls down. Lately, it has become a standard practice that can be seen on the majority of websites.

The primary purpose of fixed elements, such as the sticky header, is to let the user access essential elements no matter how far he has scrolled down a page.

The element is a best practice until you add unnecessary features to the header, which takes up a lot of screen space, especially mobile. Add an option to hide the header on the mobile screen unless the user starts scrolling back up.

Use Of White Space

The use of white space in your web design effectively puts the spotlight where you want it to be. It’s up to you if you wish to go for a minimalist design or not, but white space is worth integrating into your web design to add clarity and highlight important elements. The balance it creates is essential for a smooth user experience.

It’s A Wrap

The Forrester Research recently concluded that a frictionless UX in web design could raise customer conversion rate by 400%. This shows that to hook the visitors, impeccable web design is vital.

If you implement the above-mentioned best practices in your web design, the user experience will definitely improve, bringing you abundant sales.

[onlinemarketingcourses]

10 principles of digital accessibility for modern marketers

When we talk about digital accessibility as marketers, we’re talking about the intentional creation of an experience that can be accessed by as many people as possible.

Designing for digital accessibility means many things. It means designing for individuals with sensory or cognitive impairments. It means designing for people with physical limitations. It means designing for individuals who rely on adaptive and assistive technologies like screen readers or magnifiers to view digital content.

The key is building accessibility into your digital experience from the very start rather than bolting it on like an afterthought. Below, I’ve outlined some key accessibility principles to consider when creating your digital marketing materials.

Principles for developers

1.  Apply standard HTML semantics

Accessible design begins with standard HTML semantics. Standard HTML enables screen readers to announce elements on page so that the user will know how to interact with the contents. When HTML tags without semantical information are used–such as <div> and <span> for visual styling – the browser will display the elements as the developer intended, which unfortunately, may not be very helpful for the user.

Keep in mind that the user’s experience with a screen reader can vary greatly. For instance, using <div class=”h1”>Introduction to Semantics</div> or custom coding to override default browser styles will produce something that resembles a header. However, a screen reader will not understand or announce that the element as a header.

Key takeaways

Use standard HTML whenever possible so that screen readers will maintain the structure and content when reading aloud.

Use structural elements to group elements and to create separate regions on a page, such as header, navigation, main and footer. Screen readers recognize these structural elements and announce them to the user and allow for additional navigation between elements.

2. Enable keyboard navigation

All websites should be keyboard accessible because not all consumers can use a mouse or view a screen. In fact, according to WebAIM Low Vision, 60.4% of survey respondents always or often use a keyboard for web page navigation. Additionally, individuals with permanent or temporary loss of their hands or fine muscle control may also use a keyboard or modified keyboards for navigation.

For keyboard navigation to work, a user must be able to navigate through a page by moving from focus item to focus item. A user typically follows the visual flow, going from left to right and top to bottom, from headers to main navigation, to page navigation and lastly to the footer. When using a keyboard for navigation, enter activates a focused link, and the space bar activates a focused form element. Tab facilitates navigation between elements. Escape allows the user to close an element.

Knowing this, it’s important to consider the actions a user might take. The rule of thumb is that if you can interact with a focusable element using a mouse, make sure that you can interact using a keyboard. These elements might include links, buttons, form fields or a calendar date picker.

Key takeaways

Ensure users can navigate with the keyboard to all interaction components of the website. List all your site’s focusable elements and create easy-to-use focus indicators.

Structure underlying source code to correctly order the content and navigation. Use CSS to control visual aspects of the elements.

Allow users to bypass navigation windows if there are too many links in drop downs.

3. Use attributes

When it comes to linking text and descriptions for URLs, screen readers can skip from link to link within an article. If vague link text like “Click Here” or “Read More” is used, it provides very little context or meaning for someone to interpret on a screen reader.

Be specific and descriptive with your link text and include meaningful phrases that describe the content that the link is connecting to. Instead of “Contact us” use more specific language like “Contact our sales team.” For images and videos, assign ALT attributes and use descriptive file names.

Key takeaways

Banish extraneous and non-descriptive words in your links like “Click Here,” “Here,” and “Read More.” “10 Principles of Accessibility” reads better than “Click here to read the 10 principles of accessibility.”

Optimize file names and URL names and use both open and closed captioning for video content. Consider adding accurate video transcripts.

4. Use the ARIA label attribute

In some cases, the buttons or other interactive elements on your website may not include all the information needed for assistive technology. The ARIA label attribute enables assistive technology to override the HTML labels to allow the website owner to provide additional context to the element on a page.

In the following link example, a screen reader will announce “Bing Ads. Link.”

<a href=”…”> Bing Ads </a>

However, if the button itself is a call-to-action button, the site owner can use the ARIA label to allow the screen reader to speak the call-to-action text visible on the button. In this example, the screen reader will announce, “Sign Up for a Bing Ads Account. Link.”

<a href=”…” aria-label=”Sign Up for a Bing Ads Account”>Bing Ads</A>

Key takeaway

Use the ARIA label attribute within elements like forms and call-to-action buttons to define the visible text that a screen reader should read aloud.

5. Properly label and format forms

Make sure forms are intuitive and logically organized, with clearly identified instructions and labels. To ensure that users load the right keyboard format for all forms, use labels that are always visible and avoid putting placeholder text within form prompts.

From a formatting perspective, take advantage of borders for text fields and drop-down menus, and put forms in a single-column format. Also, use HTML input types, so users do not have to switch across types of virtual keyboards. For example, fields for phone numbers should pull up the numeric keyboard vs. a regular keyboard format.

Key takeaways

Be careful when using JavaScript in forms, which can make the form difficult to complete using a keyboard.

6. Use tables for data

There are two basic uses for tables online: data tables with row and column headers that display tabular data and tables for page layout. The intended use of HTML tables is for tabular data. Layout tables don’t typically have logical headers or information that can be mapped to cells within the table, so screen readers must guess the purpose of the table. For this reason, it’s important to use CSS for layout and reserve tables for data. Using CSS results in cleaner and more simplified HTML code.

Key takeaways

Use the appropriate mark-up for data tables and always include table headers. Always choose CSS over tables for page layout.

Principles for writers and graphic designers

7. Write content in a structured way

The structure and flow of your content are especially important for individuals who have a visual impairment and rely on screen readers. It’s also important for folks with cognitive and learning disabilities, as well as anyone scanning through content on a mobile screen. When writing for accessibility, summon your inner high-school English teacher and organize content clearly with descriptive headings for each section.

Key takeaways

Make text easy to read and logically structured. Be sure to use semantic markup for headings paragraphs, lists, and quotes.

8. Align to the left

Text alignment impacts readability, according to UX Movement. Centered text makes the viewer work harder because without the left straight edge, there is no consistent path for the eyes to follow when continuing to the next line of text. Use left-aligned text for a straight edge that makes it easier for the eyes to scan content and find breaks in the writing structure.

Key takeaways

Only use centered text headlines and short lines of text such as quotes and call outs. Avoid mixing text alignment.

9. Choose fonts judiciously

I love beautiful, artistic fonts. But the fact is that some fonts are easier to read than others. Which is why it’s important to use basic fonts. Sans-serif fonts are easier to read for people with visual or cognitive disabilities – even temporary, visual disabilities like reading a screen in bright sunlight.

Size also matters. Avoid font sizes smaller than 12 and choose absolute units (pixels or points) vs relative units (%) to define font size. Limit the number of fonts to make content easier to read. Don’t rely on the appearance of fonts (color, shape or placement) to convey the meaning of the text. Finally, avoid blinking or moving text – no user wants to chase a message around a screen.

Key takeaways

Choose simple fonts with plain, sans-serif endings, which make it easier for eyes to recognize letters.

Limit the use of font variations and sizes.

10. Put color to work

The application of color also impacts accessibility. According to a 2018 survey of users with Low Vision by WebAIM, 75% of respondents report multiple types of visual impairment, including 61% with light or glare sensitivity and 46% with contrast sensitivity.

Think about your color scheme and the contrast of colors to ensure that text is easily discernable from the background color. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) recommend using a 4.5:1 contrast ratio for normal text. To put this into perspective, black text on a white background is 21:1 whereas gray text on a white background is 4.5:1.

Using color alone to convey information may not be accessible to those with visual impairments. For example, websites often use green to signal something positive and red to signal something negative, which can be difficult to discern for someone with a visual impairment. Instead, consider combining shapes or icons with color.

Key takeaways

Ensure your colors have ample contrast and combine color with graphics or symbols to help convey meaning.

Designing for accessibility does not need to be complex or costly. It just takes planning and the intentional application of accessibility principles to ensure a more inclusive experience for everyone.

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.

About The Author

​Christi Olson is a Search Evangelist at Microsoft in Seattle, Washington. For over a decade Christi has been a student and practitioner of SEM. Prior to joining the Bing Ads team within Microsoft, Christi worked in marketing both in-house and at agencies at Point It, Expedia, Harry & David, and Microsoft (MSN, Bing, Windows). When she’s not geeking out about search and digital marketing she can be found with her husband at ACUO crossfit and running races across the PacificNW, brewing and trying to find the perfect beer, and going for lots of walks with their two schnauzers and pug.

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