When Designing a Website . . .

When a business is creating a website for their company they want to make sure they include all the important details - of course. Also all the creative content has to be there, which includes the companies products, services, contact information, testimonials, social media networks etc. After all this information is included into the website, the design aspect comes into play.


When designing a website you want to make sure you are using the latest software. So using HTML 5 instead of Flash is definitely preferred. You also want to make sure that your website is designed for a variety of computers and programs. This does cost more money, but you will have happy consumers as an end result. Make sure that you website is compatible with both Mac's, and PC's as well as Chrome and Firefox.

The 2013 design colour of the year is called PANTONE, emerald 17-5641. This would look great as a background or boarder colour around your companies photos. Large photo back drops is a huge trend in 2013, having an transparent image over a pantone emerald backdrop would look great! Flat design is also a huge trend this year. Everything should look crisp, concise, and flat lined.


A really neat tool that is taking off this year is having a fixed header bar. So when you scroll down the page the header still stays at the top of the page. Which is extremely convenient because if a website has a continuous scroll down the page then going back to the top of the page may take a while. On that note the next trend of the year is having a continuos scroll, clicking is out and scrolling is in.

If you follow these design steps your website will look great, and it will follow all the awesome trends for 2013 !

What is Remarketing?

Remarketing

Remarketing is when a company or business takes action on reintroducing a product or service to the market in responses to declining sales. In order to positively remarket the product or service it has to be advertised as something that has been improved upon to regain the consumers interest.

ALSO. . .

  

eCommerce Remarketing refer to strategies, techniques and the automated email systems that are used by online merchants and marketers. These automated emails allow you to follow up with website visitors who do not make a desired action on the website. This usually happens when consumers are shopping online and they leave the site or abandon their shopping carts.

For example,  a computer company may market its computer with a new software or new features to improve its sales after a newer or better system has been introduced into the same market. 

Here is a great article on Remarketing

Panda, Cute but Mean ?

Google's Panda was first released in February 2011. Google Panda was designed to change Google's search results and rankings process. Google wants to bump out the rank of "low-quality sites" and make sure that higher-quality sites are at the top of the organic sites pages, (right under the paid results).

Panda was created using an algorithm update that used artificial intelligence in an advanced and innovative way then ever before. These website rankings are based on trustworthiness, design, speed, quality, and return rates to the website. The new Panda was then used to look at the contrasting similarities that were found between websites that were either high quality and low quality.

So whats so wrong with this you ask? Well, many news websites, social media sites, and sites with a higher amount of advertising, had a huge drop in their popularity rankings. Panda has reportedly affected the rankings of almost 12% of all search results, which is a huge impact for these sites.

A successful website needs in depth content, and great quality, but an exception to one of Panda's rules is, if you are a recognizable brand like LuluLemon you don't automatically need to have in depth, high quality content.

Well, this seems kinda hypocritical if you ask me!

So whats the best way to tell if your website is going to be a hit or not, there really isn't one perfect way to do this. So your best bet, the old school traditional way... show it to people who have a critical eye. Whether they are your friends, family, or colleges, ask them to look at your website and to give you critical feedback.

P.S I still love pandas.

Search Engine Man

Who uses search engines the most?

Well we wanted to find out.
Both of these pictures show and describe the particular person or people who tend to use search engines the most. The picture on the left shows that 93% of male adults use search engines, which is 2% more than women. These men and women vary between the ages of 18-29. Most of these search engine users are college students, and college graduates. The picture on the right, is a home made drawing which shows both of those people (in one).  In one hand he is holding a textbook for school, and in the other hand he is holding a briefcase. This shows that both of these type of people are constantly using search engines to help them find the information that they need, whether it is for a school assignment or a business task.