Internet Marketing Blog » website development

Eric Schmidt Underlines Importance of Mobile Web Development

John — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 09:00:46 +0000

The Mobile World Conference is in full swing in Barcelona, and current Google chief executive Eric Schmidt sang the praises of mobile technology on Tuesday evening.

“Pretty soon, in a year or two, with the phones many of you have already and the tablets, you will never forget anything. Starting soon it will be possible to remember the hotels you went to, the pictures you took, the friends you met, because computer memories last forever.”

Eric also expressed his disappointment that Nokia haven’t taken up the option to adopt the Android platform on their smartphones, and instead chose a deal with Microsoft. He is confident of a future resolution, though: “We would like them to adopt Android in the future. We’re sorry that they made a different choice. We certainly tried [to persuade them].”

With the chief executive of the world’s largest search engine speaking so positively about the future of mobile phones and platforms (he feels mobile phones are going to be the driving force that connects everybody on the planet), it shows how crucial having a mobile arm of your business is when internet marketing. Those that have invested now in mobile website development and mobile applications are on a solid footing for future success.

Optimising your site and services for mobile phones is a great form of web marketing, to help attract more of those searchers who are on the move and give them everything they need on an instantaneous basis. As smartphone technology improves over the years, so will the relationship between online marketing and mobile search. It’s still a young market, but its growth over the next few years is expected to explode.

Advancing mobile services and technology, as well as recognition from the largest search engine around today, show that getting in on the ground floor early with a mobile platform for your business is an idea worth a lot of consideration.

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A Full House for William Hill

John — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 10:50:34 +0000

A great boost for William Hill as they announced that their annual operating profits are going to be toward the top end of their forecasts. Their final three months of 2010 were especially profitable, with most of the boost being accredited to online betting. In fact, online revenue at William Hill grew by just over a quarter when compared with the previous year.

Good news then, especially considering William Hill are doing away with their telephone services in the UK from next month and moving them over to Gibraltar. Chief executive Ralph Topping says of the figures: “This is strong performance and I am delighted that, in particular, our online business and the gaming machines in our shops continue to see encouraging revenue growth during [the period]. Our continual technological developments in what is a fast-changing industry have underpinned growth.”

It’s easy to see why William Hill holds onto its visitors when they visit the site for a flutter. There’s a wealth of themed games for punters to try their luck on – who could resist a go on the Iron Man slot machine or 3D roulette for that authentic casino experience? The quality of their games keeps people coming back for more, whilst they are complemented on-page by promotions, special offers and deals to encourage people to return.

William Hill’s website development has been very well researched to appease to the most profitable parts of its target market and attract more unique visitors. They’ve converted those games into revenue and are continuing to grow. The betting industry is very competitive in the United Kingdom, but William Hill are proving that investing in a clean, easily-accessible website and taking some time over their internet marketing has given them something of a march over their competitors.

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Breadcrumbs Feed Your Rankings

Richard — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 08:58:12 +0000

The navigation system you use on your website can be the clincher not only for retaining customers on your site but also for luring them to the most lucrative parts. Getting the right balance of functionality and visual appeal is the key to making users feel like they want to explore and you really don’t want them to feel irritated by their mode of travel between pages.

Providing a breadcrumb system gives the user a visual trail through their menu selections in the form of links separated typically by chevron symbols. For example: Jewellery >> Rings >> Gold >> 22 carat, and this allows the user to quickly return to a previous menu – much as the back button does but without having to select from pulldowns. Pages can have more than one breadcrumb trail if they fit into multiple categories – for instance there might be a parallel trail of Jewellery >> Antique >> English.

The breadcrumb trail lends itself well to sites that contain hierarchically-arranged information. In terms of SEO, breadcrumb trails generate backlinks on a sliding scale of potency, where those links closer to the top of the hierarchy score higher. Bear in mind that Google reflects the trails in search results – you need to enter accurate and relevant information in the properties for each breadcrumb so that Google can build up a picture of how your site is structured.

If you want to ensure your website is working for your company, consult us at Click Consult, the professional website development and programming experts. We offer SEO, ecommerce and marketing services tailored to your requirements.

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Literacy Leads To Better Web Design

James — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 08:05:01 +0000

Designers tend to see everything in terms of graphic or visual elements. Text becomes a shape, or block, rather than collections of individual words with meaning. This is not helped by the fact that, during a web development project, content creation is often left until last, with designers accustomed to fitting their pages around columns of dummy text.

It is better if content is there from the beginning, to be read by the designer before work begins. Then visual aspects of a page can be fitted thoughtfully around the sense and tone of the words. Appropriate colours and images may be used to enhance text. Armed with understanding, the designer can compose a page that breaks large columns into more readable sections and brings important phrases to attention. The result is a more coherent and powerful website, with style and content working together harmoniously.

Where the designer has manipulated empty blocks in place of actual content it is a common side-effect that the words in the final version are difficult to read. The background may be too dark, the font too pale, or the combination of colours used might dazzle the reader’s eyes. This can be avoided if content is placed at the forefront of a project to remind the designer that it is more than just a shape on the page. The words have something important to say that, when combined with sympathetic design, could have the ability to move the reader. At Click Consult, we integrate content and web design to produce successful websites for an internet marketing campaign.

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Web Design Is Different From Print Design

James — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 08:05:50 +0000

The similarities between designing for print and design in web marketing may seem obvious, but the differences may be greater. Print designers arrange text and images strikingly on the page, and knowledge of typography and colour are important. This is also true in web design but there are other variables to take into account.

Colours are different on the web, being made from red, green and blue light (or RGB), as opposed to the CMYK (or cyan, magenta, yellow and black) system of printing inks. Web images are necessarily lower in resolution, 72dpi rather than the typical 300dpi used for print, or pages would take an extremely long time to load.

Reading text on screen differs from viewing print on paper, and typography that works well in print may appear less impressive on a web page. As not all computers have every font installed, visitors may even see something completely different. It can be prudent to stick to fonts that are generally found on most computers. Even then, some users’ browser settings may substitute another typeface.

Print design has a fixed size, while a web page may expand or contract to fit the screen. Web pages are not viewed whole. Visitors scroll down, revealing a little at a time, so the design is never seen in its entirety. Web development uses links to navigate from page to page, unlike print where all pages are present at all times. At Click Consult, we recognise the differences between web design and design for print.

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Web Design Across Different Browsers

James — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 08:05:47 +0000

One day it might be possible for web development to take place without worrying about the differences between browsers. Until then, designers will continue to allow for the fact that the pages they design might be displayed in a variety of ways, according to the browser in use.

This could be viewed as a creative challenge, and web designers have methods to ensure that web pages look the same across a range of browsers. These involve the use of CSS, the code that governs how pages look on screen. What are known as CSS hacks involve writing CSS code that, while invalid according to web standards, will force a particular feature to work. CSS filters, on the other hand, are sections of valid code designed to show rules specific to certain browsers.

The disadvantage of using these tricks is that, over time, browsers develop and change the way they implement CSS. In the future, clever workarounds could be useless, or even lead to seriously broken pages. Before using them, it is always wise to check whether simple mistakes in the original code might have been overlooked, as these can easily be fixed.

If a problem is definitely caused by a browser, it might be preferable to tolerate a minor error, such as a slight misalignment, rather than resort to web development using invalid code that may cause future problems. In later versions of the browser, its handling of CSS may improve and the problem might be resolved. At Click Consult, our web design takes browser variation into account in an internet marketing campaign.

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Web Design And Usability Testing

James — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:05:43 +0000

Carrying out usability testing as part of the web marketing and development process is potentially beneficial, but there are a number of pitfalls to avoid. Tests can be unreliable if they are not carefully planned and results can be useless if they are taken in isolation rather than as part of a bigger picture.

One obvious benefit of usability testing is that it can reveal glaring errors made by the web design team. Other more subtle aspects of tests can be easier to miss. Selection of the right participants is crucial. If a user is asked to carry out a task he or she has no interest in, the results will differ from those of a more motivated person. If the aim of a test is to help streamline a site for new visitors, it is no use testing with participants selected from existing users, as they will already have come to terms with the established system and will find it familiar.

Results must be analysed with caution. If a person visits lots of pages, does that show extreme interest or could it mean that the information that was sought for could not be found? Alternatively, a user lingering on one spot could be a good sign, and mean that the page was engaging, or it could be that the visitor was unsure how to proceed. Awareness of such possibilities makes it more likely that testing a web design will prove fruitful. At Click Consult, our web development professionals fully understand the pros and cons of usability testing.

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The Use Of JavaScript In Web Design

James — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:05:15 +0000

JavaScript is a programming language which is often used in web development. When present in web pages it enables the addition of a range of features. Users surfing the internet will already be familiar with the effects of JavaScript, as it is responsible for the appearance of pop-up windows, and interactive events such as those that occur when visitors move the cursor over an image. JavaScript also causes the alerts that appear if the wrong details are typed into an online form.

In more subtle ways, JavaScript is employed to collect information about a user’s operating system, browser type, screen size and resolution. Similarly, details of the time and date can be gathered from a visitor’s computer. JavaScript can also be used to carry out calculations and for text manipulation, including putting new text into an existing document.

All of these simple options can be combined to powerful effect. For example, JavaScript could check in detail whether a form was correctly completed, including filling in all the boxes, supplying a valid email address, and making any appropriate selections. It would then be used to warn the user if they had made any omissions or mistakes.

It should be remembered that JavaScript can only work if it is enabled in a user’s browser. For this reason, it can be risky to rely on JavaScript for vitally important parts of a website to function. Our web design experts at Click Consult know how to make full and proper use of JavaScript in web development and web marketing.

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Web Design to Back You Up

Dan — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:08:09 +0000

Web design must be competitive. All your competitor websites will try to out-do you with their web design and, likewise, you will need to try to surpass theirs. However, this competition does not give you licence to lose focus. Often, professional web design companies will point out the flaws in your web design plan for you when you approach them with a project.

But to save yourself the trouble, it is worthwhile knowing basic web design before you even start dreaming. Remember that a website is a functional piece of cyber equipment and it needs to cater to your customers and not your own whims. A commercial website is a money-making machine and not your personal social poster.

Keeping track of your backgrounds

Backgrounds are sometimes the most striking features of a website and they can make a huge impression on every site visitor. However, your backgrounds need to cater to your target audience – their likes and dislikes. A huge mistake to make is trying to have a different background for each page on your site. This becomes confusing and disorienting to site traffic, not to mention the fact that it does not look uniform and like it belongs to the same website.

Artistic websites and those of musicians have artistic licence with their websites that commercial website do not have. Keep your backgrounds as a supporting act; don’t make them too busy or distracting.

They will steal the show and take attention away from the purpose of the website. Keep colours matching and complimentary. If they clash they will not be easy on the eye for visitors. A darker script on a lighter background is often far easier and more comfortable to read than a lighter script on a dark background.

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Start by developing a plan

Dan — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:12:11 +0000

So many of our customers approach us and say that they need a website and they need it fast. They are so excited to get it up and running because they think that once they have a website, the rest will take care of itself. This is where our professional services come into play. We take a step back and consult with our clients about the specifics of what they are seeking to achieve.

The old saying goes that failing to plan is planning to fail and the same applies to web development. If a client approaches us excited at the prospect of setting up a website and has no further plan regarding traffic generation, then we sit our customers down, give them a cup of coffee and discuss the details.

Web development in today’s business world incorporates many newer technologies that previously were not used. This forms a great part of our consultation as we seek to understand the kind of website our client is essentially looking for. What sort of website does our client want and what sort of interactivity would they like to have on the website?

Plan before you plan

The whole process begins with a plan. How do you want to present yourself to the world? It is true that while you may operate out of the UK, the entire world is able to view your website. That is the great benefit of the internet. What sort of website do you want to present to the world, knowing that there are millions upon millions of websites on the internet?

These are all the questions that we discuss with our customers prior to developing and launching a website for them. For a better feel of our consultation process call us today to discuss your website requirements.

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