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Quick Ways to Make a Webpage More Scannable

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In the information age, time is a valuable commodity and something people don’t want to spend too much of. As a result, the average visitor only reads about 20% of the content of a page. 

For web designers and developers, that means a few things: first, you need to ensure that the web pages you create are as engaging as possible; secondly, you need to find a way of making the critical information on any page stand out; thirdly, every modern designer needs to create assets that are easy for today’s fast-paced customers to use. 

Making websites more scannable is how you do your part as a designer to ensure that the customers who come to a page get the quick and convenient experiences they need. 

So, how do designers embrace scannability?

Designing for Scannability: An Introduction

At first glance, the concept of creating a website for scannability is strange. 

Most designers start their projects with the aim of making customers stay on a page for as long as possible. So it’s odd to think that you would want to make it simple for end-users to skip from one page to another on a website in a matter of seconds. 

However, scannability isn’t just about delivering information and getting users off a page. When sites are scannable, they make it quicker and easier for customers to slide down the purchasing funnel. A quicker and more convenient customer journey leads to a stronger user experience and more conversions. 

Look at Netflix, for instance. It doesn’t give interested users a ton of information on its homepage. Instead, the key USPs of the product are laid out bright and bold in the middle of the screen, along with one simple call to action: Get Started.

Designing for scannability means making it easy for users on a page to glance at a screen and instantly access all the information they need to take the next step in their buyer journey. 

There’s no needless scrolling or wondering what to do next. 

According to analyst Jacob Nielsen, scannability is essential because people look for specific things on every page they visit. 

Customers don’t read through web pages word by word. Instead, they scan through the content, plucking information out that serves their requirements. 

Questions to Ask When Designing for Scannability

So, how do you know if your web pages are scannable?

Start by asking the following questions:

  • What’s the intent of the people who arrive on this page?
  • What kind of information needs to be conveyed instantly?
  • Can the visitor see the next step in their journey immediately?

For instance, when someone arrives on the Evernote homepage, you can assume that they want to:

  • Find out about Evernote
  • Learn how to sign up
  • Jump to other pages to find out about features, and contact details

That’s why the designer behind the Evernote website placed an immediate piece of useful information at the top of the page: “Tame your work, organize your life” tells customers exactly what the entire product is all about. The brief paragraph of information underneath can provide a few more details if customers need it, then there’s an immediate call to action: Sign up for free. 

Not only does the call to action tell users what to do next, but it tells them the most important information they need straight away: it’s free. 

Scannable pages like this are useful because:

  • They help users complete their tasks quicker: Whether you want to sign up or learn more about the product, everything you need is available instantly, with no scrolling required. 
  • The bounce rate is reduced. Customers don’t get confused and hit the back button. That’s good for your client’s SEO and their bottom line. 
  • The website looks and feels more credible: Because customers get all the answers to their questions immediately, they’re more likely to trust the website. 

So, what are some of the best things you can do to make your sites as scannable as possible?

Use Visual Hierarchy

Visual hierarchy is a way of organizing the content on your website in a way that adheres to how people use the website. For instance, if you land on a blog page, you expect to see the headline first, maybe some information about the writer, and any other essential information, followed by the body content. 

Although it’s tempting for designers to try and surprise users with new visual strategies, the best way to make your content more scannable is to give end-users precisely what they expect. 

If you’re not sure what a page should look like, try checking out the competition. 

One of the most obvious visual hierarchy rules is that the main navigation should always go at the top of the page. 

Customers will expect to look at the top of the page to find navigation. They don’t want to have to scroll through your website, searching for a way to get to another page. If you want to make it as easy as possible for end-users to jump from one page to another, you can pin the navigation bar to the page so that it stays with users as they scroll. 

Maintain Negative Space

White space, negative space, or whatever you call it – is the part of your design that’s left empty. 

White space is crucial because it gives all of the objects on your page some much-needed breathing room. Without enough negative space on your pages, it’s impossible to embrace scannability because there’s too much information for a customer to take in at once. 

For instance, notice how there are big gaps of space between every element on a Forbes website post. A proper amount of negative space on your site ensures that users can quickly take in chunks of information and use that information to decide what to do next. 

To ensure there’s enough negative space on your website pages, ask yourself what the key elements visitors will notice when they come to a website. The essential items should be:

  • A title or header to confirm that the user is in the right place
  • A CTA that shows your user what to do next
  • A navigation header or menu
  • Critical information includes an introduction to what a page is about or an excerpt from the blog post they’re about to read. 
  • A visual component: A picture or image that gives context to the page. 

Anything else can usually be removed. So, for instance, if Forbes wanted to make the page above more scannable, they could easily remove the ads and social media sharing buttons.

Make the Next Step Obvious

Every page on a website exists in a hierarchy within the customer journey. 

A homepage leads customers to product pages, which leads to a checkout page, which connects to a thank-you page that sends the visitor back to another product page, and so on. 

When designing for scannability, it’s crucial to make the next step in the journey as obvious as possible. Usually, this means placing the call to action “above the fold,” where the customer can see it immediately.

Ideally, scannable pages should have just one CTA. This will stop your audience members from being confused or overwhelmed by choice. 

However, if you’ve got multiple CTAs, think about the average customer’s journey and what they’ll want access to first.

If those buttons don’t appeal to the customer, they can scroll a little further and see other “next step” options, like shopping for “self-isolation essentials” or browsing other popular product categories:

Test Every Page

Testing for scannability means examining every page and making sure that it’s as easy as possible for customers to move through the buying process as fast as they want to. 

Visit each page you design in a buyer journey and ask how quickly it would take end-users to get from point A to point B and beyond. Here are some of the common issues that might slow the customer’s journey and harm scannability:

  • Readability: Is the font legible? Is it large enough to read on all screens, including mobile devices? Legibility in the design world measures how quickly and intuitively your users can distinguish what’s going on any page. Remember that the color of the background, the amount of negative space around copy blocks, and even font pairing can impact the readability of the content. Show your pages to multiple people and time how long it takes for them to grasp the message that you’re trying to convey. 
  • Fluff: Fluff and extra features can make your pages more intriguing, but they can also slow users down. For instance, one picture at the top of a blog page can add context to the article. A slideshow of pictures stops the customer from progressing and keeps them stuck at the top of the page for longer. 
  • Words instead of numbers: According to Nielsen, eye-tracking studies show that numerals often stop the wandering eye. Numbers are compact and more regularly associated with statistics and facts, so they’re more likely to grab attention. If you want to get important points across to end users fast, use numbers, not words. 

Creating Scannable Pages

Scannability is becoming an increasingly important concept in today’s busy landscape. 

Now that more customers are browsing websites from their smartphones or checking out products on the move, designers need to think more carefully about adjusting to this agile environment. 

Scannable pages that move visitors along the buying cycle and into the next stage of the funnel will deliver better results for your clients, and therefore better outcomes for you. 

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The post Quick Ways to Make a Webpage More Scannable first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.


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How to Work for Free Without Wrecking Your Career

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Choosing to work for free, pro bono, gratis, without charge is something that most of us find ourselves doing at one time or another. Whether we’re filling a hole in our portfolio, there’s a friend or relative we feel beholden to, or because there’s an opportunity to aid a cause we value.

Recently, I agreed to take on some work, free of charge, for a charity whose goals I share. Because it’s a cause I believe in, I enjoyed the idea of being able to contribute in a more meaningful way than donating money. But my initial goodwill rapidly diminished as the project spiraled out of control, leaving me resenting the time I spent on it.

No one should feel obliged to give away their time for free, but if you do choose to, there are rules you can apply to ensure that everything runs smoothly and you’re left with a positive experience.

1. Be Specific in What You’re Donating

The most obvious problem with working pro bono is that there is no correlation between cost and value.

Budget reins in project ambitions in a regular designer-client relationship; the more you ask for, the more it costs. Everyone encounters clients who want an ecommerce store “just like Amazon,” only to then rapidly downscale their plans when the actual development cost of a site on that scale is made clear.

working pro bono…there is no correlation between cost and value

But when there is no development budget, ambitions quickly escalate. Clients do not necessarily understand the work involved, and if they’re not footing the bill, there’s no incentive to learn.

As the professional, you need to guide them. Set limits on what you’re expecting to donate, and use that to frame what is reasonably achievable.

“I’m donating 40 hours of my time, which normally costs $3000.” Or, “I’m donating my SEO package, which is enough to meet your initial goals as discussed.” They are both perfectly fine.

The purpose is not to highlight your generosity; it’s to establish clear boundaries to prevent scope creep.

2. They’re Not Doing You a Favour

Any client who suggests that their project will be good for your portfolio or gain you “exposure” knows they’re underpaying you. When you hear it from a pro bono client, walk away immediately.

The client needs to understand you are donating your expertise, not because you need to, not because you’re expecting something in return, but because you’re an awesome human being who wants to make the world a little better.

A client who thinks you’re getting something out of the arrangement does not understand your commercial value and will treat you as a novice. Your evidence will become guesses, your decisions will become suggestions, and the client will have little faith in the project outcome.

Clients, whether paying or not, need guidance. If they don’t respect you and believe in your guidance, they will start to cast around for other opinions to the detriment of the project outcome and your relationship.

This brings us neatly on to…

3. Everyone’s an Expert

Q. What’s the difference between an amateur and a professional? A. Professionals get paid.

You’re not getting paid, so in the client’s eyes, you’re now an amateur. Hey, guess what? Their 12-year-old daughter is an amateur too, and her views are now equally valid.

When you’re working pro bono, you can expect a lot of “help.” You’ll find that someone’s niece is planning to major in graphic design…when she graduates high school…in four years. You’ll find that someone’s partner has a hiking blog, read an SEO article, and is happy to “give it a try.” You may even find that the client themselves fancies a career switch to web design and doesn’t think it looks too hard.

Shut that **** down immediately. Smile, be gracious. Explain that, of course, you’re happy for contributions, and then avoid them like the coronavirus.

You’re donating a professional service that you’ve spent years developing, and you’re donating it to a cause that you value. You’re not there to increase someone’s chance of getting into college or to distract someone from their boring day job. If you do want to mentor people, there are places you can do that.

Everyone Actually Is An Expert

The nature of pro bono work is that more often than not, the people involved actually are experts. The simple truth is that people who aren’t experts in something tend to be in low-paying employment and are too busy trying not to be in low-paying employment to donate their time.

Like you, the people volunteering their time are doing so because they can afford to. For example, you may find that the organization’s head of accounts spends Monday–Friday as a tax advisor; the head of outreach is a project manager at a construction firm; the head of safeguarding is a school teacher.

People bring transferable skills to pro bono roles. Be sensitive to the fact that just as you are an expert in your professional context, so may they be. Simply not being an expert in design does not make them an idiot.

4. Do Not Foot the Bill

It’s tempting to simply donate everything to do with the project: the domain name’s going to cost $10? Well, it’s only $10; hosting’s $5/month? Well, it’s not too arduous to set up a small space on your own server.

imparting your experience sets the organization up for future success

However, when you give everything away, the client doesn’t understand the cost or value they’re receiving. As a professional, it’s part of your job to educate the client on the costs of a project like this; imparting your experience sets the organization up for future success.

Be clear at the start of the project that the client will be responsible for all expenses.

If you wish to — and you should not feel obliged — you are always free to make a financial donation equivalent to the expenses.

5. Stick to Office Hours

When you agree to do pro bono design work, the chances are that you know the person or organization you’re doing the work for. There’s almost always a personal connection of some kind, which means that the person or organization doesn’t see you in the professional context that normal clients see.

All good clients will respect the fact that you don’t answer emails on a Sunday morning. Not so the charity client. Not only will the charity client assume that you’re available outside of office hours, they may even think they are doing you a favor by not disturbing you during your regular office hours.

It’s important that you find some downtime outside of work to live your life. If you don’t want your evening out with friends to descend into an impromptu planning meeting (you don’t), set clear boundaries about when and how you’re prepared to work on the project.

Unless you’re self-employed, you can’t donate time when you should be working; what you can do is append pro bono work to your paid employment — do an hour after work, on weekday evenings, for example.

If you are literally doing this in your spare time, then allocate a specific time slot, such as a Saturday afternoon, and stick to it.

7. Stick to the Plan, and the Deadline

It is a universal truth that projects run better when there’s a structured approach. It doesn’t matter if it’s lean, agile, waterfall, or whatever you want to dub it. What matters is that you have a plan that works for you and is suitable for the project goals.

A structured approach, especially one that includes a timeline, will combat most disruptions. On the project I was working on recently, I was preparing for final sign-off when one volunteer announced it was time to “start thinking about what pages we need on the site.” 🤨

Discipline is crucial in pro bono work because different stakeholders will have different levels of commitment; some people will be full-time volunteers, others will be donating an hour per week. What matters is that the project that you are responsible for runs on your schedule.

8. You Have Zero Availability

Non-profits tend to talk to one another. When your friends and family see what you’ve done for Joe’s startup, they will start having ideas of their own. The client you’re completed the project for will have other projects lined up. When you aren’t charging, there’s no shortage of clients.

be prepared to say, “no,” at some point

Before you agree to do any pro bono work at all, be prepared to say “no,” at some point.

The simplest way out is to say you have zero availability: you’re already booked up with paying work, or your boss has let you know she needs you for overtime next month.

Don’t feel bad about it. It’s probably true. There are only so many hours in the day, and even if you do have some time to spare, doesn’t your partner, dog, or social life deserve some attention?

There’s No Profit In Non-Profits

Working for free is not transactional. It probably won’t benefit your portfolio. It definitely won’t lead to paying work. Any skills or experience you acquire probably won’t be transferable. (It might give you the topic for a blog post.)

If the work were meant to benefit you, it would be called personalis bono.

Nevertheless, many of us will find ourselves agreeing to do pro bono work, either out of obligation or idealism. It’s not something to shy away from; changing the world — whether for a group or an individual — is a noble pursuit.

The key is that while you will not profit, neither should you suffer a loss. Volunteering your time, skills, and experience should be a sustainable process. One that you will not come to regret.

 

Featured image via Unsplash.

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Build Your Site The Easy Way With TagDiv Newspaper

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Ready to take your business online but not sure where to start? It’s a surprisingly simple process, made all the easier by the tagDiv Newspaper theme that can shoulder the burden of code, leaving you to be creative.

Professional web designers normally begin with broad brushstrokes, roughly hewing a site, before finessing on the finer details; that’s exactly what tagDiv’s Newspaper theme lets you do, with innovative tools and a huge selection of pre-built options to choose from.

What is the Newspaper Theme?

Newspaper is the best-selling magazine theme from tagDiv. In constant development over the last twelve years, it’s been used to create world-beating sites for clients as diverse and demanding as United Nations, ShareAmerica, The Rackspace Blog, Bitcoin News, Uber Engineering, and Tech Explorist.

As the name implies, the Newspaper theme is primarily a magazine or blog theme, but you can use it for any kind of site, in any type of industry.

Packed with intuitive features that make personal web development not just possible but enjoyable, it will have your site ready to launch in no time.

It is fully compatible with Gutenberg, WordPress’ drag-n-drop site builder; it also comes with its own WYSIWYG, tagDiv Composer. All the sites built in Newspaper are fully flexible, responsive, mobile-friendly, and retina-ready. Newspaper is even fully integrated with WooCommerce so that you can transform your magazine site into a fully-featured ecommerce store.

Newspaper has been carefully coded to make the most of the upcoming Core Web Vitals update from Google, so your new site will be well-placed to rank highly on search engines.

Now that you know a little about the background of the Newspaper theme let’s look at how we can use it to build a WordPress site.

Pre-Built Websites

Sometimes it’s not just your coding skills but your design skills that are lacking; you know what kind of site that you want, you’re just hazy on the details.

This is where tagDiv’s Newspaper theme comes into its own. With a single click, you can install an entire pre-built website. And the process is so fast and convenient that you can try out as many as you like and pick the one that matches your vision.

You can even import a whole ton of pre-written content for testing the sites out, so you can see how it will look with your content without spending hours typing or copying and pasting text out of a Word doc.

There are 120 different designs covering all kinds of different industries. This means no matter what kind of site you’re building, one click, and you’re ready to go live.

Cloud Library

One step up from a full pre-built website is tagDiv’s Cloud Library. If you’ve installed one of the pre-built websites, this is probably where you want to go next.

The Cloud Library is a collection of 1600 different design elements that can be mixed and matched with live-editing to fast-track your site creation. You’ll find content blocks like headers, footers, testimonials, banners, and featured items. You can mix-n-match them however you please to create the site of your dreams.

Putting the “Cloud” into the Cloud Library are tagDiv’s servers, storing the code for each of these elements, so your installation only needs to load the code you actually use. This provides a huge boost in performance.

Composer

Lastly, the Newspaper theme provides tagDiv Composer, a specialist WordPress builder — like Gutenberg — that allows you to customize your website with absolutely no coding skills whatsoever. It’s a powerful yet simple-to-use tool that allows you to edit the elements of the Cloud Library and adapt them to your own purposes.

With Composer, you can create your own headers, footers, banners, text blocks, and more without any of the limitations of cookie-cutter design.

tagDiv Composer gives you the ultimate control over your site. You’ll find all the essential elements you need, from text and buttons to images and videos. All you have to do is drag and drop them into place.

Building a Site With tagDiv Newspaper Theme

As you can see that the fastest way to an engaging and original website is, to begin with, a pre-built site, then add the different blocks of code you want from the Cloud Library, and finally customize them with the Composer.

To make this possible, tagDiv has brought together experts from multiple disciplines, including brand strategy, project management, and web development.

It’s a slick system for quickly publishing high-quality sites that are unique to you and your business. Trusted by more than 130,000 customers worldwide, the Newspaper has earned tagDiv the status of Power Elite Author on ThemeForest and Top Author on Envato.

The Newspaper theme costs just $59, which includes six months of support from tagDiv, but for just $17.63, you can extend support to 12 months for added peace of mind.

tagDiv Newspaper is the simplest way for you to take your business online using WordPress.

 

[— This is a sponsored post on behalf of tagDiv —]

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Apache Kafka in the Insurance Industry

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The rise of data in motion in the insurance industry is visible across all lines of business, including life, healthcare, travel, vehicle, and others. Apache Kafka changes how enterprises rethink data. This blog post explores use cases and architectures for event streaming. Real-world examples from Generali, Centene, Humana, and Tesla show innovative insurance-related data integration and stream processing in real-time.

Digital Transformation in the Insurance Industry

Most insurance companies have similar challenges:

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9 Must-Install Craft CMS Plugins

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Craft CMS is increasing in popularity, and as it does, the previously relatively scant range of plugins is growing rapidly.

There are plugins for Craft ranging from simple field utilities to the full ecommerce solution provided by Pixel & Tonic — the makers of Craft.

An early decision that has borne fruit for Craft has been the plugin licensing model. Paid plugins for Craft charge an initial license fee and then a reduced annual renewal price for updates. This ongoing payment structure ensures plugin maintenance is economically viable for developers, and as a result, Craft plugins tend to be updated more often and are abandoned less.

The best plugins depend very much on the site you’re developing and what you’re trying to achieve. However, some are so universally useful that I install them on virtually every site I build; here’s a list.

1. Redactor

Installing Redactor is a no-brainer when it comes to picking your plugins. Maintained by Pixel & Tonic, it’s a rich text field that extends Craft‘s basic text input. It’s so useful it may as well be part of the core Craft code.

One of the best features is the ease with which Redactor can be customized. Just duplicate the settings file inside the config directory and edit its contents to alter what editing options are available; it’s simple to create anything from a field with a bold option to a full rich text editor. In addition, each Redactor field can be set to use any of the settings files.

Free

2. Retcon

When you’re outputting code from a rich text field like Redactor, you’ll get clean HTML output — which most of the time is what you want. However, if you’re using something like Tailwind, those classes are non-negotiable. I’m not a fan of Tailwind, but I am a fan of using classes in my CSS selectors instead of element names.

Retcon is an invaluable plugin that extends Twig filters to supply a host of options when you’re outputting content. It can add classes to elements, insert attributes, modify the element type, and tons more.

Free

3. Venveo Bulk Edit

During the life of a site, there’s a good chance that you’re going to have to alter fields and sections after the content is in. It’s a common problem if you’re importing data from another platform using FeedMe, or if you have an indecisive client, or even if the site is simply growing.

Venveo Bulk Edit is a plugin that integrates closely with the Craft UI and allows you to edit the contents of multiple entries at once. This plugin has saved me hundreds of hours that would otherwise have been spent painstakingly editing entries one at a time.

Free

4. Super Table

At some point, you’re going to need a configurable list of inputs. Maybe you’re creating a list of documents to download, building a directory, or even your site navigation. You could create a new channel and then add the entries as an entry field, or even set it up with a matrix field, but this is awkward to edit even with Craft 3.7’s new editing experience.

I’m a big fan of opting for the simplest solution, and in this case, the simplest option is a table field. Unfortunately, Craft’s built-in table field has limited field type support. Super Table, on the other hand, supports almost anything, giving you a powerful, orderable set of fields.

Free

5. No-Cache

Craft has a really powerful caching system. It allows you to cache whole or partial templates, and it‘s intelligent enough to know when you’ve edited content that has been cached so that it can be re-cached.

Understanding Craft’s caching is vital; as a very general guide, dynamic content benefits from caching, but static content does not.

However, you will regularly encounter situations where you want to opt out of the caching. A blog post, for example, could be cached, but the time since it was posted must not be, or every post would appear to have been published “today” until the cache is refreshed.

The No-Cache plugin adds a couple of Twig tags that allow you to temporarily opt-out of the cache. This means that you can cache larger sections of your templates, simplifying your caching decisions considerably while still being able to fine-tune what is cached.

Free

6. Retour

Sooner or later, you’re going to have users hitting 404 errors. If you’re restructuring a site and changing the architecture, it will be sooner. To avoid breaking the UX and SEO, you need to add redirects.

Retour is a helpful plugin that sits in your dashboard side menu. Anytime a user triggers a 404, Retour will flag it up, so you can decide how to redirect the URL in the future.

$59 for the first year; $29/year for updates after that

7. Sherlock

One of Craft’s big strengths is its security. A lot of attention has gone into making sure that the core installation uses best practices. However, as with any CMS, potential security vulnerabilities start to creep in as soon as you introduce 3rd-party code (WordPress’ biggest vulnerability by far is its plugins).

You only need to look at the size of the vendor directory in your installation to see how many 3rd-party dependencies your site has. Even a small site is a house of cards.

Sherlock is a security scanner that performs a number of different tasks to help you stay secure, from checking on security threats in 3rd-party scripts to checking directory permissions. The paid version will even let you limit IP addresses if your site comes under attack — although your hosting company may well do this for you.

Lite: Free
Plus: $199 for the first year; $99/year for updates after that
Pro: $299 for the first year; $149/year for updates after that

8. Imager X

Craft’s built-in image transforms are a little limited. For example, they only work with actual assets, not remote images.

Imager X is an excellent plugin that, among many benefits, allows you to transform remote images. In addition, its refined syntax is perfect for coding complex art direction.

Imager X isn’t cheap, but considering the enormous importance of image optimization, unless you have a straightforward set of images to manipulate, it’s an investment you’ll be glad you made.

Lite: $49 for the first year; $29/year for updates after that
Pro: $99 for the first year; $59/year for updates after that

9. SEOMatic

SEOMatic is the SEO solution most Craft developers default to, including Pixel & Tonic themselves.

You’ll need to define the basics in its settings, and you may find yourself creating extra fields specifically for it to pull data from, but the handy progress bars on its dashboard page will give you an overview of what’s set and what needs to be done.

SEOMatic is another premium plugin, but implementing it is far simpler and cost-effective than digging through all those meta tags and XML files yourself.

$99 for the first year; $49/year for updates after that

Must-Install Craft CMS Plugins

The Craft ecosystem is rapidly growing, and the diversity of the plugins available increases as Craft is utilized for more and more sites.

But despite the lure of shiny new plugins, there are some tools that I return to again and again either because they elegantly fill a gap in the core Craft feature set or because I’ve tried them, and I trust them to be robust.

These are the plugins that I have found most useful in the last couple of years, and installing them is the first thing I do when I set up a new Craft installation.

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10 Homepage Design Comparisons to Inspire Your Business in 2022

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Looking to give your homepage a well-needed design update in late 2021 or 2022? Not a bad idea; first impressions are crucial when it comes to business websites. But, fixing your homepage and website design is no easy feat.

Web design trends are evolving faster. Blame the ever-decreasing user’s attention span. The average visitor now spends just 0.5 seconds scanning your homepage to form an opinion about your brand and decide whether to click through or bounce.

Increased user expectations and uncertainty in the user’s response, which is highly impacted by the site’s first impression, are other reasons to consider. This is why the designs which were trending in 2019 are no longer viable in 2021 or 2022.

We have curated the ten best examples of homepage designs to inspire your business in 2022, including a rundown of the best strategies and tips.

Let’s start by highlighting why homepage optimization is necessary for 2022:

Why Your Homepage Will Be So Important in 2022

Your website — especially your homepage — is your brand’s first chance to attract, build trust with, and connect with visitors.

According to recent statistics on why website design is important:

  1. 38% of visitors will stop interacting with a website if they think the layout isn’t visually appealing or intuitive. This creates a higher bounce rate and fewer conversions.
  2. 94% of a visitor’s first impression is based on website design (including colors, fonts, layout, navigation menus, etc.).
  3. 46% of people base a business’s credibility on the aesthetics of its website. Brands with less-than-stellar homepage designs are seen as less trustworthy than companies investing in the visitor experience.

Think of it the same way as walking into a brick-and-mortar store. Visitors are more enticed by a carefully curated ambiance of neatly stocked shelves and welcoming employees than a store that’s dark, messy, or seemingly unfriendly.

Using this logic, your homepage’s above-the-fold section is where you’ll greet visitors and reel them in for more.

10 Homepage Design Comparisons (2019 vs. 2021) To Inspire Your Business Website Design in 2022

Homepage design has come a long way since 2019. In this section, you will explore how.

These homepage designs crush it above the fold. Take just a few of these tips to heart, and your website will be poised to attract leads and conversions — no matter which industry you’re in.

1. Netflix – Crafting The Perfect Call To Action That Reduces Friction With An Additional FAQs Section

Most businesses make the mistake of adding a CTA button that first persuades the user to click on it and then asks for the visitor’s email address.

Netflix also did the same in its 2019 design.

However, Netflix combined both steps in its 2021 homepage design.

The new, improved 2021 homepage design asks for the user email address right up front along with the CTA button.

Here is a good comparison of both the designs:

2019 homepage design

vs.

2021 homepage design

Key Takeaways:

  • The design encourages visitors to enter their email address right when they land on the homepage. As a result, form submission is much easier when the user has started the process. Hence, Netflix makes it easier for visitors to move along their conversion funnel nicely by reducing the friction.
  • The 2021 design also has a nice FAQ section that provides quick information about the company’s services and improves the overall user experience.
  • FAQs also help increase the organic presence of the website in the search engines because Google presents snippets from the FAQ section in the form of an answer box in the search results.

2. Spotify – Revamped Color Combinations For Improved CTA Visibility And Using The ‘Rule of Three’ For Heading Text

The older 2019 Spotify homepage design used light pink and orange colors in its home page main area. The CTA color was green, but if you look closely, the CTA lacks visibility.

The new 2021 design uses blue and green colors with a much larger font size for the main heading. The colors are attractive, and the CTA is visible clearly.

Here is the comparison of the Spotify homepage 2019 design vs. 2020 design:

2019 homepage design

Vs.

2021 homepage design

Key Takeaways:

  • Blue is the most versatile color, and green is the perfect choice for the CTA button. Spotify used universally accepted color combinations to redesign its homepage and made the CTA more visible.
  • The main heading is also made larger than it was in the 2019 design, and it follows the rule of three in writing which is effective and satisfying. It uses just three words in the main heading to allow the human brain to process information as a pattern that is more memorable.

3. Hulu – Give Priority To Your Brand Name And Hide Pricing

If you compare the Hulu 2019 vs. 2021 Hulu homepage, the brand name has been prioritized and shown as the main heading.

Moreover, the older homepage had pricing information everywhere, which has been reduced intelligently in the new design.

2019 homepage design

vs.

2021 homepage design

Key Takeaways:

  • The brand name ‘Hulu’ is displayed as the main heading of the homepage, which helps to build audience trust.
  • The older design persuaded the users to pick a paid plan even though they had a free trial option—this discouraged users from trying their service. The new 2021 design encourages users to try the platform for free. In addition, the packages have prominent CTAs that mention “try for $0”. This design move improves conversions on the website.
  • The new design makes it easier for the visitors to select a viewing plan with easy comparison of the three available plans. The best part is, customers can start all the plans for $0. It’s a win-win situation for the users, and they can quickly pick a plan to start watching Hulu.

4. Nextiva – Reduce Visual Noise And Add Pictures In Menu To Improve UX

Nextiva realized the importance of reducing visual noise in its newly designed 2021 homepage. Visual noise happens when you use too many colors to attract user attention. Different colors compete with each other resulting in diluted customer observation.

In the old 2019 homepage, Nextiva used orange, blue, and green as the primary colors, while in the 2021 revamped design, they have used blue as the main color.

Here is a comparison of the two designs:

2019 homepage design

vs.

2021 homepage design

Moreover, the older homepage didn’t have an image in the product menu, but the new 2021 homepage improves the UX further.

Below is a comparison:

2019 homepage design

vs.

2021 homepage design

Key Takeaways:

  • Nextiva used blue as their base color for the homepage design and removed orange and green colors to reduce visual complexity. This is an excellent change to keep the user’s attention focused. Notice the green colored bar at the top of the homepage in the 2019 version now replaced with blue.
  • The 2021 design has a clean look compared to the 2019 design, which looks scattered with too many different elements, including CTAs that confuse the users.
  • The product menu does an excellent job of linking intelligently to service pages such as phone systems and video meetings. The image of a smiling lady attracts users to click on Nextiva’s products to learn more about them. Improving UX is an impressive way to reduce bounce rates and increase time on site.

5. GoToMeeting – Avoid Lengthy Sign Up Form, Educate Users About Your Products, and Add Images That Depict The Current Needs of The Audience

GoToMeeting does a great job educating the users about their product by adding more content on the homepage that comprehensively explains their product features.

Moreover, they have replaced the older hero image with a new picture that portrays the changing needs of their audiences. Nowadays, there is a rise in work from home culture due to Covid-19. Hence, the photo and the heading text clearly target the needs of their users.

Here is a comparison of the 2019 vs. 2020 homepage of GoToMeeting:

2019 homepage design

vs.

2021 homepage design

Key Takeaways:

  • The 2019 homepage design had a sign-up form on the homepage, which GoToMeeting removed in the 2021 design. People hate to fill in so much information right when they land on the home page. Hence, GoToMeeting did the right thing by removing the signup form from their homepage.
  • The hero image steals the show of the 2021 redesign because the picture of a working mom with her kid playing studying in front of her is a great way to portray the current needs of the society when over 60% of the employees are working from home. Audiences can quickly relate their working environment with the hero image leading to more sign-ups.
  • The older 2019 design was confusing, and it made little effort to help the users understand the different features of the product. The new 2021 homepage design has a product features section that explains the different features of the software. When users are educated about the product, they earn the confidence to try the product.

6. Zillow – Apply Hick’s Law To Allow Visitors To Take Faster Decisions

Zillow does an impressive job of applying Hick’s Law in allowing visitors to make faster decisions. Hick’s law states that the more options you present to the users, the faster they will decide. Therefore, it is a major factor in improving website usability.

The old 2019 homepage design of Zillow offered too many options to the users, like they want to buy, rent, or sell a property. The users first select either one of the three options and then enter the zip code to start their search.

The new 2021 homepage design changed that. Now, Zillow offers users a single option. They only need to enter the zip code to get started.

By reducing the number of actions that users need to take to just one, the homepage design eases the overall decision-making process of the site visitors.

2019 homepage design

vs.

2021 homepage design

Key Takeaways:

  • The new homepage design has a simple search bar that persuades visitors to take prompt action.
  • The Hero image is placed smartly behind the search bar to depict the needs of the users accurately.
  • The homepage does have three different panels for buying, renting, or selling a home when the users scroll below. The old design is missing that. The new design removed so many options above the fold and kept just a single option for the users to encourage more users to search properties on the site.

7. Plex – Placement of Prominent Calls-to-Action On Homepage

The CTA is a key element of every website. It helps the users decide on their next action and helps to convert the visitors into leads.

Plex lacked an optimized CTA placement in its 2019 home page design. Hence, the 2021 design received an uplift to better place the CTA for increased visitor engagement.

Take a look at the home page designs of Plex from two different years. If you compare the two home pages of 2019 vs. 2021, the primary difference that will grab your attention is the CTA.

2019 homepage design

vs.

2021 homepage design

Key Takeaways:

  • The call-to-action buttons are more prominent and have actionable texts.
  • The number of CTA buttons is increased to two to encourage users to take action.
  • The additional CTA button is wisely placed at the center to get immediate attention.
  • Note that the color choice for the button is also bright and highly contrasts with the background yet matches the color theme.
  • The old heading text ‘Stream Smarter’ was confusing because it didn’t help the users understand what Plex does. Hence it is now revised to ‘Watch Free Movies and TV on Plex.’ The new text is easy to understand and has the word ‘Free’ to increase the number of visitors clicking on the CTA.

8. Dropbox – More Above The Fold Content And Change of Fonts

Dropbox has significantly worked on its main content, which is clearly visible in the comparison homepage design images of 2019 vs. 2021.

The 2021 homepage is seen fixing faded, minimalistic, and less engaging content in the older homepage.

2019 homepage design

vs.

2021 homepage design

Key Takeaways:

  • Sans serifs, with their clean readability, are included for longer bouts of the homepage.
  • Bold sans text is doing the job of drawing user attention effortlessly.
  • The color contrast of the text with the background is increased, which improves the visibility.
  • The right side image of a laptop is replaced with a screenshot of the software, which intrigues users to know more.

9. Cisco – Moving Blocks To Outsmart Competitor Websites

The homepage design of American technology company Cisco has seen a drastic change in 2021; it deserves to appear on this list. The company website smartly represents an appeal for future development through its killer homepage design.

Here is a comparison of the old 2019 homepage design vs. the new moving block design of 2021:

2019 homepage design

vs.

2021 homepage design

Key Takeaways

  • The home page contains moving blocks with news from the blog. As you hover over the image, it widens up, and a CTA button appears. The blocks represent a design of the future which the competitors might find hard to replicate.
  • Every block has a CTA, which was missing in the 2019 design. Each block represents a specific Cisco service and caters to the different needs of the visitors.
  • The new design is elegant and cleaner with lots of information.

10. Slack – Product Video On Home Page For More Conversions

Slack has made it easier for the users to understand the product well by using a video on the homepage.

The 2019 design has an image, while the 2021 design has a video that helps the visitors understand how the product works.

Here is a comparison of the 2019 design vs. 2021 design:

2019 homepage design

vs.

2021 homepage design

Key Takeaways

  • The inclusion of a product video leaves a great impression in the minds of the visitors and shows them what your product does.
  • Video helps Slack to make its value proposition clear and super fast.
  • Video has a strong correlation to conversions, and they work well as compared to hero images. Slack used a hero image on the homepage in 2019, but they replaced it with a video in 2021.

Final Thoughts on Using These Homepage Designs for Inspiration in 2021

By making it to this point in our guide, you now have plenty of inspiration to run with when upgrading your homepage. You should also have a better understanding of how powerful this tool may become for your brand.

So now it’s time to brainstorm how to use these ideas for your own 2021 homepage design. First, jot down the key points from this guide and honestly assess how your website currently compares.

Accomplish this task, and your brand might see an uptick in website traffic and conversions. It may even earn a spot in a roundup of killer website designs just like this one.

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10 Cool WordPress Plugins You Should Check Out

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If you have a WordPress website, you’re obviously aware of the benefits this premier open-source website-building platform brings to the table.

But are you aware of the legion of website and business enhancement tools lying in wait among the thousands of cool WordPress plugins currently on the market; one or more of which could easily take your site or business to the next level?

What’s out there? Quite a bit, obviously. 

Which useful WordPress plugins are “must-haves” for me? It could take you a ton of time to find the answer to that one. 

That’s what we’re here for.

10 essential WordPress plugins are admittedly a small sample size. But these are 10 of the very best, and we’re guessing that one or more of them could be just what you’ve been looking for.

1. Amelia WordPress Booking Plugin

This game-changing booking plugin fully automates your business’s interaction with existing and potential clients and allows you to focus on key business operations instead of having to constantly interrupt your workflow to manage appointments.

  • Installing and configuring Amelia can be done with just a few clicks. You don’t have to know anything about coding.
  • Amelia can manage an unlimited number of appointments for an unlimited number of clients, an unlimited number of employees, and at multiple locations.
  • Clients can book appointments 24/7 and manage their own appointments as well as their profiles from the front end.
  • Amelia accepts deposit payments, sends out appointment reminders, and can charge different rates for different appointments.
  • If you have a global clientele, Amelia takes into account customer time zones as well as manages translated notifications if you have a multilingual site.
  • Amelia also manages event bookings, whether they are recurring or one-time.

In the unlikely event you encounter a problem with Amelia, the customer support team stands ready to help.

2. wpDataTables

The wpDataTables WordPress plugin allows users to quickly and easily create responsive, interactive, and highly customizable tables and charts from large amounts of data.

Key features include:

  • The ability to create tables that allow front-end editing, whether they are created manually or are MySQL-based
  • Advanced filtering capabilities that enable front-end users to filter table data by single or multiple column values
  • Automatic syncing of created and published Google Sheets
  • Simple wpDataTables wizards to access the HighCharts, Chart.js, and Google free charts libraries

wpDataTables’ many other features include:

  • Connection support to MySQL, MS SQL, and PostgreSQL databases
  • Responsive design from any data source
  • Creating tables from CSV, JSON, MySQL, and Excel and Google spreadsheet data
  • Formidable Forms plugin support
  • Sorting by single or multiple columns
  • Data color-coding using conditional formatting

More than 50,000 companies and individuals have placed their trust in wpDataTables.

3. Visual Composer Website Builder

Visual Composer is a new, ReactJS-based intuitive drag and drop website builder that enables you to create a website quickly, easily, and hassle-free.

This website-building popular plugin:

  • Enables business owners to showcase their brand online with its drag and drop editor and professional templates.
  • Its feature-rich design controls enable designers to achieve pixel-perfect perfection as they bring their projects to life.
  • Its top-of-the-line marketing content elements give its users the ability to create high-conversion landing pages, integrate with social platforms, and more.
  • Makes building a beautiful WooCommerce-based online store a piece of cake.
  • Features a library of 500+ content elements and templates that is downloadable from the cloud
  • Offers free and premium versions for business owners to start easily and scale their online presence

Your site will be SEO-friendly, fast, and responsive, and the support is terrific. Free and Premium versions (Starting at $49) are available.

4. Slider Revolution

Slider Revolution can do more than create sliders. A lot more.

  • It can add impressive (read that WOW) effects to an already notable website design.
  • It can give you new and unusual visual editing capabilities without requiring any coding on your part.
  • With its collection of hero blocks, sliders, WooCommerce carousels, and more, it brings beauty to any WordPress website.

5. Logic Hop

Logic Hop lets you customize your site’s content for individual customers or customer types.

  • Logic Hop supports personalizing your site in response to dozens of criteria so you can tailor your content to address a unique audience.
  • Logic Hop works with Gutenberg, Divi, Elementor, Beaver Builder, and every other page builder.

Any design or content element you can customize in WordPress can be customized in Logic Hop in minutes.

6. Stacks

The Stacks drag and drop native mobile app builder offers a full package of features to help you design your website or mobile app without coding.

  • Stacks works perfectly with WooCommerce and WordPress
  • Certificates required for Google Play Store or Apple Appstore are automatically generated
  • It takes but a single click to generate and upload the Android & iOS Application Package (APK & IPA)
  • Notifications to customers are easy to generate and send, and Stacks utilizes WooCommerce payment gateways.

7. Heroic Inbox

The Heroic Inbox plugin enables a business to manage all of its emails in shared inboxes right inside WordPress.

  • Customer data is presented on the sidebar next to your ongoing chat or message.
  • Key performance metrics are tracked so the team and overall company performance can be assessed.
  • Zero Inbox status can be quickly achieved and maintained.

8. Tablesome

This powerful WordPress table plugin allows you to quickly create a table and embed it in a post or page.

  • Tables can be imported from CSV and XLSX files.
  • Types of tables that can be created include large data tables, product catalogs, comparison tables, sports statistics, and more.
  • A shortcode builder for table and table element customizing is included

Tablesome is performance-optimized and SEO friendly and works smoothly with any WordPress theme.

9. Ads Pro Plugin – Multi-Purpose WordPress Advertising Manager

Ads Pro is the best ad manager for WordPress you are likely to come across.

Ads Pro features:

  • An intuitive backend Admin Panel that allows you to manage an unlimited number of ad spaces
  • A frontend User’s Panel from which you can control access to manage ads
  • 25+ user-friendly and responsive Ad Templates in 8 categories
  • 20 ad display options
  • 3 Billing Models (CPC, CPM, CPD) and 4 Payment Methods (PayPal, Stripe, Bank Transfer, WooCommerce)

10. Static Pages

Static pages/sites do not require any web programming or database design.

  • The Static Pages plugin allows you to publish any static page on a WordPress website in a matter of seconds.
  • You can improve sales by adding a beautiful landing page to your existing shop or blog or add a page with a Mailchimp subscribe form.
  • Or use Static Pages as an easy way to test something quickly and easily.

Have you been searching for a top-of-the-line WordPress plugin that will help you take your business to the next level?

There are 58,000+ useful WordPress plugins for you to choose from. That would be good news, except you could easily be overwhelmed trying to find just the right plugin for your website.

This post features a collection of top plugins for WordPress websites. Chances are good, you’ll find something here that will make your day.

 

[– This is a sponsored post on behalf of BAW media –]

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Exciting New Tools for Designers, July 2021

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The dog days of summer are here. From vacations to pool time, you might not be thinking about work that much. But there are still plenty of new tools and resources popping up to help you become a better or more efficient designer.

Here’s what new for designers this month.

Haikei

Haikei is a web app that you can use to generate SVG shapes, backgrounds, and patterns in a web-based editor that you can use with any design tool or workflow process. Everything is customizable and it is free with access to 15 generator functions. (Additional templates and generators will be available when the pro plan is released later.)

Pixelhunter

Pixelhunter is a smart image resizer for social media platforms. It recognizes objects and crops pictures automatically. It supports 102 sizes and is free to use.

Compo

Compo is an Apple app that allows you to play with shapes and colors and create compositions on your own. You can see shapes and colors like the Bauhaus masters, creating from a blank canvas or shuffling in more creative ways. You can move, rotate, copy, overlap, and adjust shapes and colors to suit your style. Available for iPad and iPhone.

Backlight

Backlight is an all-in-one design system platform that allows you to build code and reference sites in a space where designers and developers can work together. It has a series of “starter kits” to help you with the technology you use from React to Chakra to Tailwindcss. It’s designed to be collaborative with everything in one place and integrates into your workflows. The tool is just launching and you can request early access to learn more.

Multi Color Text With CSS

Multi Color Text With CSS is pure fun. Check out the pen by Shireen Taj.

Mega Creator

Mega Creator is an online graphic design tool that helps you create images, icons, illustrations, backgrounds, and more for a number of uses. It has templates that are sized for common uses such as social media. You can upload your own elements to work with (free) or use including graphic assets for a fee.

Noloco

Noloco is a no-code solution for designers to build web apps. You can start building for free and design almost anything you can dream up from a set of drag-and-drop ready-made blocks. (And it will work across all screen sizes.)

Tinter

Tinter is a tiny web tool to generate color variations of images. The tool also generates monochrome colors of images with multiple variants, without hampering the quality of the image.

Radix Colors

Radix Colors is an accessible, open-source color system for designing gorgeous websites and apps. It includes 28 color scales with 12 steps each and includes support for dark mode as well as matching transparencies.

WP Cost Calculator

WP Cost Calculator is a smart, simple tool that allows you to easily create price estimation forms. It’s perfect for a number of industries that use online pricing.

TraveledMap

TraveledMap allows you to create customizable maps thanks to the use of markers, routes, and photos, which you can share or add to your website or blog. This tool is made for travelers and tourism pros.

Glyph Neue Icons

Glyph Neue Icons is a collection of 1,500 icons in SVG and PNG format. (They are free with a link.) Icons come in plenty of categories and styles for all types of use.

Streamline Icons

Streamline Icons is a set of thousands of icons in 12 different styles and themes that you can use for projects. They work through the Streamline app or a plugin for Figma, Sketch, or Adobe XD.

Health Icons

Health Icons is a set of free, open-source health icons for personal or commercial projects. They include filled and outline styles that are editable. There are more than 800 icons in the collection.

OMG, SVG Favicons FTW!

OMG, SVG Favicons FTW! Is a look at the benefits of using SVG favicons in web projects. It also examines some of the challenges – such as browsers support – with code snippets to help you get started.

Aspect Ratio in CSS

Aspect Ratio in CSS explores a design concept we talk about a lot in other places, but not so much with CSS. This piece by Ahmad Shadeed takes a look at how you can go beyond the “padding hack” and use native aspect ratio support in CSS to maintain image height and width ratios in responsive design.

Fight Kick

Fight Kick is a bold font with a lot of personality. The free demo version has 249 characters and is for personal use only.

Glow Better

Glow Better is a beautiful premium typeface with a pair of options – a serif and script. Both contain letterforms with swashes and tails that are delightful.

Huggable Hedgehogs

Huggable Hedgehogs is a playful font that’s perfect for children’s projects. Everything has a mono-height in the all uppercase typeface.

Monice

Monice is a rounded sans serif with thick lines and high readability. It includes bold, regular, and italic styles with free (demo, personal) and commercial options.

Rustica

Rustica is a robust premium typeface with 20 styles and family options. It has slim curves and an easy-to-read character set that would work for almost any use. It also supports 219 languages.

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17 Things You Can Do To Improve Your SEO Ranking In 2021

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There’s no shortcut to success when it comes to Google search results. That is unless you count pay-per-click advertising.

While pay-to-play will shoot your site to the top of the SERP immediately, it’s not a sustainable strategy for maintaining your position there. So, you’re going to have to get serious about SEO.

This guide will show you what to do to improve your SEO ranking and start seeing results this year:

  1. Use Google Analytics to track metrics
  2. Get an SSL certificate
  3. Improve mobile page speed
  4. Design a mobile-first UI
  5. Make your site accessible
  6. Optimize your images
  7. Create great content
  8. Structure your content for scannability and readability
  9. Create click-worthy title tags and meta descriptions
  10. Choose one focus keyword per page
  11. Improve your internal link strategy
  12. Use only trustworthy external links
  13. Get your site listed as a featured snippet
  14. Get high-quality backlinks
  15. Create a Google My Business page
  16. Refresh Your Content
  17. Regularly monitor Google Search Console

How to Increase Your Website’s SEO Ranking

If you can improve your SEO ranking — and get your pages closer to, if not on the highly coveted top SERP — you will:

  • Boost your site’s overall visibility as its authority in search grows;
  • Bring high-quality traffic to your pages;
  • Drive-up your conversion rate.

That said, search engine optimization is most effective when it’s an ongoing strategy as opposed to something you set up and forget about. So, some of the suggestions below will only need to be implemented once, while others you’ll have to return to every six months or so to make sure your site is on track.

Let’s get started.

1. Use Google Analytics to Track Metrics

If you haven’t yet begun tracking your website’s activity with Google Analytics, it’s the very first thing you need to do.

While Google Analytics alone can’t tell you how well or poorly your website ranks, there’s valuable data in there about what happens to the traffic that arrives from Google. Or any search engine your visitors use.

You can find this information under Acquisition > Source/Medium:

What you want to see here is that (1) you’re getting lots of visitors from organic search results (as opposed to paid) and (2) that they’re highly engaged. So, that means:

  • Longer times on site;
  • Multiple pages visited;
  • Lower bounce rates.

And if you configure Google Analytics to track different conversions on your site, you can see how well those organic visits convert.

Obviously, there’s a lot more you can track here. But you must understand if your SEO efforts are working in the first place, and that’s where you’ll get your confirmation.

2. Get an SSL Certificate

HTTPS has long been one of Google’s SEO ranking factors. Yet, of the two billion-plus websites that are online today, BuiltWith data shows that only 155 million have an SSL certificate installed:

Security and privacy are major concerns for consumers. So if you want to increase their confidence in your website, installing an SSL certificate is an easy thing to do. And it’ll put you in Google’s good graces, too.

If you don’t have one already, get one for free from Zero SSL.

3. Improve Mobile Page Speeds

Mobile loading speeds became a Google ranking signal in July 2018.

It was something we saw coming ever since smartphones overtook the desktop as the primary device people used to access the Internet. Once it became a ranking factor, though, mobile page speed was something we could no longer treat as a “nice to have.” It became a must.

And with Google’s most recent Core Web Vitals algorithm update, there’s no ignoring how big of a role your site’s mobile loading speeds (i.e., performance) play in ranking it.

To ensure that your site meets Google’s expectations for speed, bookmark the Core Web Vitals tool. It’ll tell you how your site performs across all four of the major ranking categories.

You’ll find your speed-related issues at the bottom of the page, along with resources to help you resolve them.

Most of those tips will have to do with optimizing your code. However, there are other things you can do to make your site load quickly:

  • Use well-coded themes and plugins;
  • Remove unused themes, plugins, media, pages, comments, backups, and so on from your database and server;
  • Install a caching plugin that’ll minify, compress, and otherwise make your site lightweight and fast.

It’s also not a bad idea to review your web hosting plan. You might not have the right amount of server power or resources to keep up with your existing activity.

4. Design a Mobile-First UI

On a related note, a mobile-first design can also improve your site’s loading speeds. Rebekah Carter wrote a really helpful guide on how to do this last year.

In addition to speeding things up — since you won’t be trying to jam a bunch of desktop-first design and content into a smartphone screen — it’s going to help your site rank better.

Just be careful when you do this. A mobile-first design doesn’t mean creating a scaled-back version of the larger site for smartphone users.

In fact, Google explicitly tells us not to do that and why:

“If it’s your intention that the mobile page should have less content than the desktop page, you can expect some traffic loss when your site is enabled mobile-first indexing, since Google can’t get as much information from your page as before.”

And if your response is that the content on desktop-only doesn’t matter, then it really shouldn’t be there. Don’t waste your visitors’ time with useless or repetitive content, as it’ll only give them more reason to abandon your site.

5. Make Your Site Accessible

Accessibility has come to the forefront of the SEO discussion thanks to Core Web Vitals.

Now, running your site through the tool will tell you if there are any inaccessibility issues that Google will ping you for. But that doesn’t make your site completely accessible.

Considering the rise in website accessibility-related lawsuits, you’ll want to take this seriously.

Because a bad experience due to inaccessibility won’t just cost you visitors and a lower search ranking, it’ll cost you a lot of money, too.

Here are some things you can do to ensure that your site and all its content is accessible.

6. Optimize Your Images

Technically, image optimization falls under the page speed tip. However, that’s not the only way you should be optimizing your images, which is why I wanted to address this separately.

According to HTTP Archive, the average weight of a mobile web page these days is 1917.5 KB. Images take up a sizable chunk of that weight:

Because of this, bloated image sizes are often to blame for slow pages.

You can do several things to optimize your images for speed, like using lightweight formats, resizing them, and compressing them. You’ll find 6 other image optimization tips here.

While those tips will help you speed up your site and, consequently, improve your SEO ranking, there’s something else you need to do:

Add alt text to your most important images.

One reason to do this is to improve accessibility. Another is so your web page can rank in both the regular Google search results and image results as this search for “WordPress by the numbers” does:

If you can write alt text that perfectly describes your graphic and matches the image searchers’ intent, you can create another ranking opportunity for your page.

7. Create Great Content

There are many technical ranking factors you have to pay attention to if you want to create a good experience for your visitors and rank well as a result. However, none of that will matter if your content sucks.

So, how do you make great content? It really depends.

Think about the difference between a page describing your web design services and a product page for a blender.

Your web design services page would need to:

  • Explain why hiring a web designer is a must;
  • What your design services entail;
  • What they can expect in terms of results;
  • Include some proof in the form of testimonials or portfolio samples;
  • Have information on next steps or how to get in touch.

That would be a comprehensive and useful page. If business owners searched for “hire a web designer near me” or “should I hire a web designer?”, that page would sufficiently answer their query.

A product page, however, would need to:

  • Provide a brief summary of the blender;
  • Show photos of the blender, different angles of it, as well as different variations of the product;
  • Display the price;
  • Allow customers to Add to Cart or Save for later;
  • Include technical specs of the blender;
  • Recommend related products;
  • Display sortable customer testimonials and ratings.

The last thing a shopper would want is to be directed to a product page that reads like one of your services pages.

So, great content not only needs to be well-written and error-free, but it needs to match the searcher’s intent and expectations. If you can do that, your visitors will stay as long as they need to read through everything, which will help strengthen the page’s ranking.

8. Structure Your Content for Scannability and Readability

Including necessary details and in the right format is an important part of making a page’s content valuable to the visitor. The structure is going to help, too.

For starters, you want to make sure every page is human-readable. So, that involves:

  • Shorter sentences and paragraphs;
  • Linkable table of contents for longer pages;
  • Header tags every few hundred words;
  • Descriptive and supportive imagery throughout;
  • Text callouts like blockquotes and bolded phrases.

By making a page less intimidating to read and easier to scan for a quick summary of what it is, you’ll find that more visitors are willing to read it and follow your calls to action.

You can use a tool like Hemingway to improve your page’s readability. Quickly pop the text of each page into the editor and follow the recommended suggestions:

You’re also going to have to think about how well Google’s indexing bots can read your page. They’re smart enough to pick up on cues but not smart enough to sit down and read your article on the benefits of Vitamin D or how to install a new showerhead.

So, you’ll need to use HTML meta tags as well as hierarchical header tags to tell the bots what the page is about.

If you’re building a WordPress site, you can use the Yoast SEO plugin to analyze how scannable and readable each page of your site is (among other things):

9. Create Click-Worthy Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

To get eyeballs on your really great content, the brief preview users see of it in search results needs to be able to lure them in. Get more clicks to your site from search, and Google will take notice.

But they can’t just be superficial clicks. If Google notices that your page is getting a ton of traffic that almost immediately drops off once they see the content on the page, your page will not fare well in search results.

So, your goal is to stay away from clickbait-y title tags and meta descriptions and make them click-worthy.

The first thing to focus on is the length. Google only gives you a certain amount of space to make your pitch.

There are many tools you can use for this, but I prefer Mangools’s SERP Simulator:

It allows you to play around with your URL, title tag, and meta description and to watch in real-time as it fits the allotted space. You can also compare it to the pages that currently rank for the keyword you’re going after, which can be a really useful reference point. After all, if those sites have made it to the first SERP, then they’re doing something right.

Another thing to think about when writing click-worthy titles is how engaging they are.

The tool I recommend for this is CoSchedule’s Headline Studio:

I don’t find this useful so much for basic web pages. You don’t need to get creative with something like your About or Contact pages. But for content marketing? If you want to beat out competing articles for attention in Google, this tool will be very useful.

10. Choose One Focus Keyword Per Page

It’s not as though you can add a keyword tag to your page, and Google will automatically rank your site for it. That’s not what keyword optimization is.

Instead, what you do is select one unique keyword per page and write the content around it. So, it’s really more about creating a clear focus for yourself and then comprehensively unpacking the subject matter on the page.

Keep in mind, though, that if you want to improve your chances of ranking for the keyword, it needs to be relevant to your brand, useful for your audience, and your site needs to actually be able to compete for it.

You can use the Google Keyword Planner to find keywords that fit those criteria:

Ultimately, you should choose a keyword that:

  • Has a decent amount of monthly searches — over 1,000 is what I aim for;
  • Have “Low” to “Medium” amount of competition, but the lower, the better;
  • Matches the user intent. So take that keyword, put it into Google and see what you find. Then, look at the sites on that first page of search results. Do they match what your own page will address? If so, then you’ve found a keyword that aligns with your users’ search intent.

Now, if you’re writing great content that addresses your visitors’ questions and concerns, then optimizing for your focus keywords will happen naturally. The same goes for related keywords you might want to target. As you write the content for each page, the keywords will organically appear.

But remember how I said Google’s indexing bots need certain HTML and header tags to “read” the content on the page? This means you’ll need to include the focus keyword in some of those areas, so there is no question about what the page is about.

Here’s where your focus keyword should show up:

  • Title tag (H1);
  • Meta description;
  • Slug (hyperlink);
  • Within the intro;
  • The first H2 header tag;
  • Alt text for the most important image on the page;
  • Within the conclusion.

It should also appear throughout the page, along with variations of the keyword that people might search for.

You can use the Yoast SEO plugin to analyze this as well.

11. Improve Your Internal Link Strategy

Okay, so here’s where we start to get into SEO strategies that Google might not directly care about, but that can still drastically improve how well your site ranks.

Internal links, in particular, are valuable because they create an interconnected structure for your site. Here’s a basic example of why that’s important:

Let’s say these are the pages on your website. Each of them can be accessed from the home page and main navigation. This structure tells us that each page is related to the overall message and mission of the company, but they are not related to one another. And that doesn’t make sense, right?

When you’re educating visitors on your Web Design services, it’s naturally going to come up that you also happen to specialize in WordPress and eCommerce design. So, those internal links should appear on your Web Design page. And vice versa.

In addition, your Portfolio and Contact Us pages are likely going to be the most common CTAs on the site. Your prospective clients shouldn’t be forced to backtrack to the homepage or scroll up to the navigation to take action. By including these internal links or buttons within the content of the services pages, you’re giving them a quick and direct line to the next steps.

The more intuitive you make the user journey, the easier it will be for them to convert.

This is one reason why websites with a strong internal linking structure perform well in search results. Another reason is that internal links help Google’s bots find all of the content on your site and better understand how they relate to one another.

12. Use Only Trustworthy External Links

Link juice is one of the reasons why business owners are obsessed with getting backlinks. We’ll get to that shortly.

But it’s also something that comes into play when choosing external links to include on your site.

Link juice is the idea that one site can pass its authority to another through a dofollow link. So, by linking out to authoritative and trustworthy sources, your site may raise its own clout with the search engines because of that connection.

However, it works both ways. If you create external links to websites with misinformation that pose a security threat to visitors or are otherwise untrustworthy, that bad reputation can do your website harm.

So, make sure that every external link you use is necessary and reliable. If not, get rid of it.

13. Get Your Site Listed As a Featured Snippet

I said earlier in this post that pay-per-click advertising is the only way to shortcut the SEO process and get on the first page of Google. That’s not entirely true.

We’ve already seen how optimizing your images for Google Images search can shoot your site to the top of results. Another way to get ahead is by optimizing your page using structured data to land a spot as a featured snippet.

Like this page from Bankrate that answers the question “how do you get a loan”:

Remember that structured data alone won’t instantly move your web page into the featured snippet space. The content needs to be the best it can be, and the structured data needs to be well written.

Schema.org was created to help you pick the right category and write the structured data for it:

Use this to write up the relevant microdata for the pages to make the most sense to do so. For instance, an About page probably wouldn’t benefit from having structured data attached to it. However, a lengthy blog post that explains a step-by-step process would.

There are WordPress plugins (Yoast is one of them) that will help you insert this code into your pages if you prefer.

14. Get High-Quality Backlinks

Backlinks pointing to your website are a huge indicator to Google that your site is share-worthy and authoritative.

However, like everything else in SEO, you can’t cheat your way into a bunch of backlinks. They need to come from authoritative sources, and they need to be relevant. That’s why paying or bartering for backlinks isn’t usually effective. If your web page’s backlink doesn’t organically fit within the content on their site, visitors aren’t going to click on it.

There are lots of ways to go about building up a repository of backlinks that do generate authority for you and improve your SEO ranking in the process:

Get active on social media and become an authority there: The rule is generally that 80% of your posts need to be non-promotional. By sharing content from all kinds of sources that are relevant to your audience, you’re going to get more meaningful engagement. And this’ll eventually put the spotlight on your own content and get people to share it on social media, too.

This is something that Google will look at when ranking your site: What sort of social signals are coming from your brand?

Get featured as an expert: You don’t need to become an influencer for people to view you as an expert in your field. It’s all about your reputation.

By leveraging your reputation to get speaking gigs, you’ll grow your authority even more. Just make sure they’re relevant to what you do. So, look for podcasts, webinars, and conferences in your field that are looking for experts.

Become a guest blogger: If public speaking isn’t your forte, that’s okay. Turn your attention instead to lining up guest blogging gigs.

By writing high-quality content for authoritative websites (whether you get paid or not), you’ll bring more attention to your own brand. And Google will pass that authority onto your site.

15. Create a Google My Business Page

Any business can create a Google My Business page. There are a number of SEO-related benefits to doing this.

The first is that local businesses can literally put themselves on the map with Google My Business. Here’s what a Google search for “restaurants near me” looks like:

Even if your site doesn’t appear on the first SERP, the map that sits at the top of search results can give you a front seat anyway.

Another reason to create a My Business page is that you get to control your knowledge graph sidebar, like Ford’s Garage does here:

By including high-quality graphics, pertinent details about the business, and collecting positive customer reviews, this knowledge graph could do your brand’s reputation a lot of good in the eyes of Google and your prospects.

16. Refresh Your Content

This is useful for all of the content on your site, even your most high-performing pages.

If your site is starting to gain traction, take a close look at your Google Analytics data. You may find a few pages that no one seems to be paying attention to or, worse, that they always seem to bounce from.

In Google Analytics, go to Behavior > Site Content to figure out which pages are underperforming.

Then, ask yourself:

  1. Is this page even a necessary part of the user journey? If not, you can probably scrap it and have one less distraction on your site.
  2. If this page is necessary, what do you need to do to make it more valuable and relevant to your audience?

With the most popular pages on your site, it’s not unreasonable to expect that at least part of what you originally wrote will go stale or become irrelevant within a year or two. So, it’s a good idea to refresh these as well.

To do that, it’s simple. Do a search in Google for your focus keyword. Read through the top five results and see what sort of information your post is missing. Then update it accordingly.

Anything outdated or irrelevant should also be stripped out.

17. Regularly Monitor Google Search Console

Last but not least, you should keep your eyes on Google Search Console.

There’s a lot of valuable information in here that will tell you why your site might not be ranking as well as it could. You’ll find issues related to:

  • Indexing
  • Mobile usability
  • Security
  • Core Web Vitals

You’ll also find data on how well your site is ranking in general. You’ll find this under the Performance tab:

Use this to identify:

  • Which keywords you’re ranking for and are driving traffic to your site;
  • Which keywords you’re getting the most impressions from but not getting clicks from;
  • Which keywords you’re getting the most clicks from but not a lot of impressions;
  • Which keywords you rank low for and could stand to improve upon.

You can learn a lot about how strong your SEO strategy is. Just use the Clicks, Impressions, and Position tabs to sort your data so you can better understand what’s going on.

Then, prioritize fixing the pages that can and should be bringing your site highly qualified traffic but aren’t.

Wrap-Up

If you’re wondering how long it’ll take before you see an improvement in your SEO ranking, it depends. If your domain’s current authority is low, it can realistically take about six months to see major changes. That said, if you implement all of the suggestions above, you can certainly expedite that.

Just remember that there are no real shortcuts in SEO. You need to have an authoritative and trustworthy website and brand before anything else. So, take the time to build your credibility online so that these SEO tactics can really work.

Source

The post 17 Things You Can Do To Improve Your SEO Ranking In 2021 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.


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Monitoring Kubernetes cert-manager Certificates With BotKube

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The monitoring and alerting stack is a crucial part of the SRE practices. That’s where BotKube helps you monitor your Kubernetes cluster and send notifications to your messaging platform or any other configured sink. In this blog post, we will be configuring BotKube to watch the Kubernetes cert-manager certificates CustomResources.

What is BotKube?

BotKube is a messaging tool for monitoring and debugging Kubernetes clusters. BotKube can be integrated with multiple messaging platforms like – Slack, Mattermost, or Microsoft Teams to help you monitor your Kubernetes cluster(s), debug critical deployments, and gives recommendations for standard practices by running checks on the Kubernetes resources.

Source de l’article sur DZONE

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