Category: Web Tips

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Building Your Own Website | Prescott, AZ

Building a website can be an exciting venture, whether it’s for personal use, a blog, or a business. However, there are several common mistakes that many people make during the process. Avoiding these pitfalls can save you time, money, and frustration, ensuring your website achieves its intended purpose.

1. Lack of Clear Goals and Purpose

One of the most fundamental mistakes is not having a clear purpose or set of goals for your website. Before you start building, define what you want to achieve. Is your website for selling products, sharing information, or building a community? Clear goals will guide your design and content decisions, making your site more effective.

2. Ignoring Mobile Optimization

With the majority of users accessing websites via mobile devices, not optimizing for mobile is a critical error. A website that isn’t mobile-friendly can lead to a poor user experience, high bounce rates, and lost opportunities. Ensure your design is responsive, meaning it adapts seamlessly to different screen sizes and devices.

3. Complicated Navigation

Your website’s navigation should be intuitive and straightforward. Overcomplicated menus and hard-to-find pages can frustrate visitors, causing them to leave your site. Organize your content logically, use clear labels, and include a search function to help users find what they need quickly.

4. Poor Use of SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is essential for driving organic traffic to your website. Neglecting SEO can result in low visibility on search engines, making it difficult for potential visitors to find you. Use relevant keywords, optimize meta tags, and ensure your content is high-quality and valuable to your audience. Regularly update your site to keep it fresh and relevant.

5. Overloading with Features and Plugins

While it’s tempting to add many features and plugins, this can lead to a cluttered and slow-loading website. Focus on functionality that is essential for your site’s purpose. Too many plugins can also increase security risks and maintenance challenges. Prioritize a clean, user-friendly design.

6. Neglecting Security

Website security is paramount, yet often overlooked. Failing to implement basic security measures can leave your site vulnerable to attacks. Use HTTPS, keep your software and plugins updated, and consider additional security plugins to protect your site from malware and hackers.

7. Lack of Quality Content

Content is king, and providing high-quality, relevant content is crucial for engaging your visitors. Avoid the mistake of neglecting your content strategy. Regularly update your site with fresh, valuable information that meets the needs and interests of your audience.

Building a successful website requires careful planning and attention to detail. Save yourself the trouble and get it right the first time by trusting the professionals at Jelly Websites to do it for you.

Interested in learning more about optimizing user experience for your website? Visit us online at jellywebsites.com or call our team at 951.371.9327 today!

Essential Elements For a Great Website | Prescott, AZ

In the digital age, a well-designed website is crucial for business success. It's often the first point of contact between a company and potential customers, making it essential to create a lasting impression. Here are the key elements that contribute to a great website:

1. User-Friendly Design

A great website starts with a user-friendly design. This means intuitive navigation, a clean layout, and a responsive design that works seamlessly across all devices, from desktops to smartphones. Users should be able to find what they're looking for quickly and easily, with clear menus, search functionality, and logical page structures.

2. High-Quality Content

Content is king in the world of websites. Engaging, informative, and relevant content not only keeps visitors on your site longer but also encourages them to return. This includes well-written articles, blog posts, product descriptions, and multimedia elements like images and videos. High-quality content should be regularly updated to keep it fresh and relevant.

3. Fast Loading Speed

Website speed is critical. Slow-loading websites frustrate users and can lead to higher bounce rates. Aim for a loading time of three seconds or less. Optimize images, leverage browser caching, and minimize the use of heavy scripts to ensure your site runs smoothly.

4. Mobile Optimization

With the increasing use of mobile devices, having a mobile-optimized website is non-negotiable. A responsive design ensures your site looks and functions well on all screen sizes. Mobile-friendly websites improve user experience and contribute to better search engine rankings.

5. Clear Call-to-Actions (CTAs)

Effective websites guide visitors towards specific actions, whether it's making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or contacting the business. Clear, compelling CTAs should be strategically placed throughout the site. Use action-oriented language and make the CTAs visually stand out.

6. Strong SEO Practices

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is essential for driving organic traffic to your site. This involves using relevant keywords, optimizing meta tags, creating quality backlinks, and ensuring your site is easily crawlable by search engines. Good SEO practices help improve your site's visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs).

7. Security Features

Trust is paramount for online users, and website security plays a big role in building that trust. Ensure your site uses HTTPS for a secure connection, regularly update software to protect against vulnerabilities, and consider additional security measures like firewalls and secure payment gateways.

8. Aesthetic Appeal

While functionality is crucial, aesthetics also matter. A visually appealing website with a cohesive color scheme, attractive fonts, and high-quality images can create a positive impression and reinforce your brand identity. Avoid clutter and focus on a clean, professional look.

Ultimately, a great website combines user-friendly design, high-quality content, fast loading speed, mobile optimization, clear CTAs, strong SEO practices, robust security features, and aesthetic appeal. By focusing on these elements, you can create a website that not only attracts and retains visitors but also drives business success in the competitive online landscape.

Interested in learning more about optimizing user experience for your website? Visit us online at jellywebsites.com or call our team at 951.371.9327 today!

The Importance of a Google Profile for Your Business | Prescott, AZ

Establishing a strong online presence is crucial for business success. Among various digital tools, a Google Profile stands out as an essential asset for enhancing visibility and credibility. Whether you're a small local business or a large corporation, leveraging a Google Profile can significantly impact your growth and customer engagement.

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How To Keep Your Website Visitor’s Attention | Prescott, AZ

You’ve finally decided to invest in a website for your business. It is all designed to your specifications and has gone live. The problem is, attracting visitors to your website is one thing, but getting your visitors to stick around is another. You don’t only want visitors to take a look at your website and leave, you want your visitors to stick around and take a certain action. If you’ve noticed that your visitors are clicking that “back button” quite often, then maybe it’s time you realize there may be a problem with your website.  The follow list includes five reasons why your visitors may be leaving your website:

Poor first impression. Your homepage is essentially the face of your business to the online world. When designing your website, make sure your home page is attractive, provides useful information, and of course has eye pleasing graphics.

Difficult navigation. We have all had a tough time figuring out how to navigate through a poorly designed website – keep it simple and organized.

Pop-ups. When it comes to marketing your business, a website is key to generating leads, but forcing visitor information as they click on your site is off-putting. Set these pop-ups should be at an appropriate time.

Auto-play videos. If you do have a video on your site, give your visitors the freedom to press play and watch it on their own time.

Confusing content. The font, text color and background will affect how well your visitors will be able to read and retain the content on your website.

Interested in learning more about how to optimize user experience for your website? Visit us online at jellywebsites,com or call our team at 951.371.9327 today!

The Importance Of A Memorable Website Domain Name | Prescott, AZ

When we start a business, one of the most important items to decide about is a company name. Not only is it going to represent you, but it needs to be something that will represent your business for as long as is in existence. It’s a big deal! And when you go to design your website, a domain name is just as important. One false move and you have a really awkward or impossible website to remember.

We all want to have our domain name be the name of our business, but there are times that it could be taken. If this is the case, you may need to rethink your brand. One of the biggest errors people make is naming their business something very similar to someone else’s, making it very difficult for potential clients to distinguish who you are. Instead, brainstorm keywords for your business and what you’d like to focus on with your website. Be creative and catchy – the more individual you can become, the easier it will be to catch the eye of your future clients.

Once you have found something you think is perfect, type it into a URL address bar. If it has an error message, you’re in luck! It seems that no one has it and it is possible it is available to purchase.

The point of a unique domain name is that it is easy to remember, especially if they don’t need to write it down. Don’t over-complicate things, you got this, and if its still intimidating, our team is ready and happy to help you decide on one.

Interested in learning more about how to optimize user experience for your website? Visit us online at jellywebsites,com or call our team at 951.371.9327 today!

How To Protect Your WordPress Website | Prescott, AZ

In this day and age, it is important to realize that hackers are always going to be a threat to you and your personal information. You may not think you’d ever become a victim, but people are being hacked every day. So, in order to protect yourself, you need to stay on top of your information. If you have a WordPress-built website, make sure that you take the necessary steps in order to keep your website safe. Don’t worry – it isn’t all that complicated.

Ditch the “admin” username. When creating your WordPress website, your default name will be admin. And for the most part, it never changes. Change this name in order to make it more difficult for hackers to guess.

Strong passwords are key. Your password is the electronic key into your website and hackers use software that can test every word in Wikipedia against your password. When creating your passwords, don’t use actual words, like your child’s name, first car or anything that makes sense. The best passwords contain random lowercase and uppercase letters, as well as numbers and symbols.

Keep updated. WordPress sites can become insecure only when not kept updated. So, make sure all updates are in place so hackers cannot gain access.

Limit your logins. You should install a plugin in your WordPress website that limits logins. Hackers use software that runs Wikipedia words and names against your password until they can gain access. Limiting logins will prevent this from happening.

Interested in learning more about how to optimize user experience for your website? Visit us online at jellywebsites,com or call our team at 951.371.9327 today!

SEO-Enhancing Website Additions | Prescott, AZ

Whenever a web designer or copywriter discusses the importance of incorporating Search Engine Optimization (SEO), they are basically referring to the ability of Google to find your business online. Essentially, their goal is to build and write your website in a way that uses as many relevant tags, both in the background and on landing pages, as possible. If they are able to do that, it kicks off a positive cycle of events that help grow your business.

Here’s a brief description of how it works:

When someone types something into a search engine, tags and keywords work to drive your website up the URL results hierarchy. The higher up you are, the more clicks your website receives and the more a search engine will associate you with those keywords; over time, enhanced SEO works together with organic website traffic to keep you there. The more discoverable your business is, the more potential you have to generate new clients or consumers. Here are some easy ways to update your SEO:

Blogs

Blogs are a great way to add or increase your ability to get found by search engines. They are usually between 350- 500 words and offer readers a variety of information from the latest updates on a given topic to insight into your business or field of expertise. A blog writer’s goal is to create structured content in a way that allows for the greatest volume of keyword use within that length parameter. A succinct, single-topic, in-depth blog can say a lot in 350- 500 words, both to the reader and search engines.

Meta Data

Metadata refers to the “unseen HTML elements that directly communicate and clarify website information for search engines” according to bigcommerce.com. Image information, titles, tags, structured data, and code all fall into this category of HTML elements. Metadata is embedded into what is referred to as the “back end” of a website; the space in which website developers work, and can even pull information from image tags.

Landing Page Copy

Landing pages are simply where visitors to your website “land” when they click on a given element of your website. A website can have any number of pages on it, but it’s important that those pages are information about your business or service. When a website is written, the person writing it uses the same technique as the blogger, it’s just disseminated differently. Ideally, the two work to complement one another providing a seamless experience for viewers and search engines.

We are proud to offer clients the SEO services they need to get found online. Visit us online at jellywebsites,com or call our team at 951.371.9327 today!

Loading Time and Overall Website Performance | Prescott, AZ

The amount of time that it takes for your website to load can truly impact SEO. Your website's speed depends on many different factors. This can range from host design and optimization. As a matter of fact, loading time matters for both users and search engines. It’s a fact that many users are less likely to stay on a site that has a slow loading time and I assure you that Google will penalize your site for loading too slowly.

Page Speed Matters to Google- Google wants to provide its users with the best experience possible, and if your site loads slowly it will affect your rating with Google. Google has been focusing on delivering the best user experience possible. Chances are that if your site loads faster, your business has better chances that viewers will remain on your page.

Page Speed Matters to Viewers- While page speed is important to Google, other search engines, and for your rankings, it also impacts user experience. It is not a secret that a positive user experience often leads to better conversions overall. There are many ways that a fast-loading website creates a good user experience.

  • If your business sells a product, having a fast-loading page helps your visitors quickly understand what your company has to offer and complete the order forms.
  • If your website generates revenue due to the advertising of your content, a fast-loading site can ensure that your visitors navigate through all of your web pages and can increase the total page views.

Efficient page speed relies on many different optimizations. If you’re ready to improve your overall website speed, contact Jelly Websites in Prescott, AZ today at 951-371-9327 or visit www.jellywebsites.com today!

DIY Website Platforms: A Guide | Prescott, AZ

Websites are advantageous investments in your business. They communicate to existing and potential clients that you either run a legitimate enterprise or are a serious sole proprietor. For many just starting out in their career or seeking to level up their business, it’s useful to understand which of the many website platforms will suit your needs the best. Here is a rundown of the various DIY website options and their best use cases.

Shopify: This is a platform for e-commerce-based businesses. As your business grows, it offers add-ons and upgrades that allow the site to scale with you. It also integrates other management tools to keep tabs on several aspects of your business.

WordPress: It may be the most recognized website-building tool; it's certainly one of the longest-standing DIY platforms. WordPress allows users to completely customize their website and often relies on code to get the details just right.

Wix: A website built on Wix can be crafted from a variety of templates to highlight anything from services to a portfolio or built out to support e-commerce. It’s a fairly simple and intuitive program to use, making it a popular way to easily create an online presence for your enterprise.

Squarespace: Another e-commerce-specific platform, Squarespace is a user-friendly website-building tool. If your business is mobile, the accessories they offer are an added bonus, and a large reason it has become a popular option.

Having any online presence is better than none, so if you are considering the next steps for your enterprise, it’s important to analyze what you offer, and the platform that may best suit your needs. Of course, none of these options is going to provide a customized experience for your clients the way crafting your presence with a designer will.

If you are interested in curating or improving your online presence, contact Jelly Websites at 951-371-9327 or visit www.jellywebsites.com today!