Tips and Tools – Page 126 – Business Plus Baby

December 14, 2015

Easy ways to simplify your web design

Any professional web designer will tell you that their number one priority is simplicity. The cleaner, and more simple your website, the better your sales and conversions. It’s that simple. As web users, we’re looking for simple, speedy information. Unfortunately, not a lot of website owners got the memo! Many are still running fussy, complicated websites. They’re not appealing to the eye, and they’re tricky to navigate. Remember, you’re looking for the best possible user experience. Here are five low-hanging fruits you can easily implement to simplify your web design.

Highlight the essential elements. Lose the rest!

Your website is designed for a purpose, right? Your goal is to sell products or attract signups. Highlight that goal, and make sure everything leads straight to it. The crucial elements of your site are as follows. First, the logo and branding. Make sure they are prominent, and powerful. Second, your value proposition. That’s the part that tells people exactly what you do, and why they should trust you. Thirdly, your call to action. That’s what people should do next. It could be signing up to the mailing list or downloading a trial version. It’s hard to make the cut, but lose anything that doesn’t serve a purpose!

Speed up your checkout process

One of the most complicated aspects of any website is the checkout process. Websites always ask us 100 questions before we make it to the end. This process is so convoluted that more than half of people abandon their cart along the way. That’s a huge loss of profit! You need to direct people through this process quickly. Ask for as little information as possible, and help them along the way. You can do this with a postcode address finder API. That will find your customer’s full address from the postcode. It’s little things like this that make your site simple.

Put more above the fold

‘Above the fold’ refers to everything you can see before you scroll down. A large portion of your visitors won’t even bother to scroll below the fold. With that in mind, put all the useful information at the top of the page. Make sure all the useful information is right there in front of your visitor’s eyes!

Simplify the colour scheme

Every designer has an internal battle going on inside. Part of them wants to create something artistic and colourful. The other half wants to make sure the design is simple and user friendly! It’s all about finding a balance between creative and practical. A simple colour scheme is the best way to stay on the right side of that balance. Choose a simple colour palette, and try to stay within it.

Reduce the number of pages

The last thing you want is your visitors clicking through lots of pages to get where they want to go. Try to keep all your information on just a few web pages. Remove any pages that take the visitor away from your ultimate goal.

That’s all for today, folks! Check back soon for more web design advice.

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December 12, 2015

What do the highest converting websites do differently to everyone else?

Every self-respecting company has a website. The Internet has become such a big part of a firm’s success that there isn’t a firm who can afford not to have an online presence. The problem is that there are so many websites out there now. That’s why yours needs to be different to stand out from the crowd, otherwise, your conversion rates will suffer. Conversions are essential to your sales and your reputation, so you really do need to take your conversion rate seriously.

Let’s look at what your website could learn from the highest converting websites:

Test Before It Goes On The Site

Everything that goes on your site needs to lead to a conversion, even if this takes several visits. Because you cannot read minds, you don’t know for sure whether a new technique is going to be a hit, or whether it is going to flop. Where you and the top sites may differ is that you take the risk while they do their research. Before it goes live, the test whether the new function adds value to the site. If it doesn’t, the function doesn’t go anywhere near the site. Cluttering up your website with useless add-ons will only annoy users.

Ask The Pros For Advice

So, how do you test a new idea before it goes live? The first way, and the least expensive way, it is to talk to your customers. Thanks to social media, you can converse and interact with your customer base much more easily than before. However, the best of the best go to the pros for help. They understand that paying for a conversion optimisation service is money well spent as they have the tools to turn leads into sales. Their expertise and experience are just two reasons that businesses turn to them to transform their websites.

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Shorter Is Better

If an expert is not within your budget, you can tackle the things yourself. The first thing you need to take care of is the sign-up forms. When a consumer comes to register to make a sale or for more news, they don’t want to see lots of boxes in front of their eyes. The boxes suddenly make signing up to your site seem like a big task, which is something they would prefer not to waste their time with. Instead, make the forms smaller by only asking for the necessary information. That way, the process will seem far less daunting.

Make The Benefits Clear

Sometimes, website visitors need encouragement to make a conversion. When it comes to spending their time and money on a service, they need to know it really is worth it. Until you show them that you are the one for them, they will avoid ‘being converted’. What you need to do is show them why your product or business is the best choice. Tell them what you do and promote your good points, but don’t go overboard.

Security

The Internet is great, but it is also dangerous. You know it, I know it, and the customer knows it too. So, when it comes to sale time, they want to know that everything is safe and secure. By displaying the ‘HTTPS’ sign at the start of your URL, you are showing them that your online transactions are encrypted.

As a result, security should not be an issue.

December 9, 2015

7 Golden tips to running a better business in 2016

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January is fast approaching. While others are making their resolutions to improve their personal lives, your aim in 2016 is simple: build a better business.

It doesn’t matter how experienced or successful you are, the business can always improve. As a great entrepreneur, you should always have eyes peeled for ways to make this a reality. Failure to do this will only allow competitors to edge ahead of you in the fierce battle for customers.

Here is a seven-step plan to follow in 2016 and beyond. Get these items tied down, and the business should reach greater heights than ever before. Continue reading “7 Golden tips to running a better business in 2016”

December 6, 2015December 4, 2015

Can you change your mindset? Yes you can!

Sometimes, the main obstacle between where we are and success is our mindset. Yet many of us think it’s impossible to change the way we feel. You may even think that by changing your mind you’re being weak or indecisive.

From childhood, there are many stories we tell ourselves as we absorb everything around us. For example, we might believe that our siblings are older, wiser, and smarter, and that we simply cannot match up with their intelligence. Or there may be a mindset of ‘thinking small’ because we think that people like us don’t achieve big things.

We all want our children to succeed, but with the best will in the world we can pass on our limiting beliefs about the world and out place in it. By working on our growth mindset, we can move beyond some of the beliefs and habits we have accumulated in our lives so far and prevent our less positive habits from being passed on to our kids. Continue reading “Can you change your mindset? Yes you can!”

December 5, 2015

Grow your business with international shipping

If you want to grow your business, allowing for international orders is one of the best things you can do. Many people think it’s going to be very complicated. But it’s not too hard to expand into global delivery. If it’s something you want to do, you have to be prepared to make things easy for your customers. They need to be able to pay for their orders and receive them in a timely fashion. Start with the steps below to help you begin offering international when you take orders online.

Make International Payments Easy

If you want to allow for people to place orders all over the world, you need to think about payments. You won’t be able to offer the service if you can’t take international credit cards, for example. You need to find a system to make it easy for customers to pay for their orders by their preferred method. You might choose to use PayPal, allowing people to use their PayPal account or to input their card details. There are other tools you can use too so that your customers can pay quickly and easily. It also helps to include the ability to view product prices in different currencies.

Organize Your Shipping

Shipping internationally can seem difficult. But it shouldn’t be that hard to add to your usual mail. You can make it easier if you can deal with everything yourself, without having to take it all to the post office. You can look at the range of services offered by USPS or consider using a courier for some deliveries. Find out how to buy stamps online by going to http://www.onlinestamp.net/how-to-print-stamps-online/. It’s easier to attach postage to all your orders if you can print stamps whenever you need them. Don’t forget to consider customs, as well as delivery times. Your customers need to know how long they’ll have to wait for their orders.

Photo credit: VFS Digital Design

Consider Offering Other Languages

Using languages other than English on your website isn’t a necessity. Many people from around the world are happy to place their order in English. However, offering other languages could help to boost your sales. If you do decide to have the ability to translate your site, you’ll have to think about SEO too. A global SEO campaign can be difficult to master, but it will help people find your site. Look at where your orders are coming from to determine which languages you should offer.

Provide Excellent Customer Service

If you’re going to expand your delivery locations, you need to offer great customer service. People from all over the world could be asking about your website and their order. As with your site, you might need to consider offering customer service in more than one language. Dealing with time zones can present a challenge, so you might consider using email support as one of your primary methods.

Think carefully about offering international shipping before you implement it. It will be more successful if you take the time to plan and organize.