What Makes a Wonderful Website Homepage? | Corona, CA

506932373Many people seem to judge a book by its cover, and it’s no different when visiting your website's homepage. Keep in mind that your homepage is essentially the face of your company, and it’s typically the first page a visitor lands on. There are several aspects that make an interesting homepage, and it typically all comes down to the basics. If you want to make sure that you have an enticing homepage, take a look at the following web tips:

  • Provide clear answers. When a visitor lands on your website, it’s generally because they’re seeking something of interest or because they’re looking for some sort of service. A great website homepage should provide clears answers like, who you are, what you do, and what you can do for the visitor. This assures your visitor that they know they’re in the correct place. Most people often scan a page for bulleted items and/or call-to-actions.
  • Provide a Call-to-Action. If you want to encourage visitors to “dig a little deeper” into your website, you must incorporate a Call-to-Action, also commonly called a CTA. Your Call-to-Action should lead visitors to take the next logical step. For example; “Learn More,” “Free Trial,” or “Buy Now” are great calls to actions you can provide. Your website may need a secondary Call-to-Action or a different placements.
  • Provide a clean design. You may think you have the best web design out there with all flashy photos and music, but in reality this is most likely slowing your website down, while also distracting your visitors from obtaining the information they were searching for in the first place. Be sure to effectively utilize the white space, color scheme, and font accordingly.
  • Provide periodic web changes. When you update your services or products on your website, it can draw customers back, creating loyal customers. Some of the best website homepages change to reflect the visitor’s needs, wants or questions.
  • Provide value. If you want to ensure that your visitors stick around your website, provide them with value while also sharing what makes your business stand out from your competitors. Be sure that you use original content and credible information to help set yourself apart from your competition.

If you’re interested in obtaining a wonderful website with a breathtaking homepage that draws visitors, contact Jelly Websites in Corona, CA at 951-371-9327 today! Or visit www.jellywebsites.com for additional information regarding website design.

Proudly serving Corona, Riverside, Chino, Ontario, Irvine, Tustin, Yorba Linda, Fullerton and all surrounding areas.

How to Increase Traffic To Your Website

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Driving traffic to your website is a vital part of your businesses overall success, as everyone turns to the digital world when seeking certain information or services. If you were to ask a business owner what they want for their company, most would probably tell that they want more customers. A great way to increase traffic and build a good customer base is through your website. There are several ways you can increase traffic on your website, some which include the following:

  • Social media. It is not enough to create good content and expect that people will find it, you have to be proactive. One of the best ways to increase traffic to your website is to use social media platforms to promote your content. Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are all ideal places to post your content.
  • Write irresistible headlines. Headlines are a very important part of your content, without a compelling headline, even the most thorough blog posts will go unread. Most people will write up to twenty headlines before choosing one that will drive the most traffic, so be sure to think carefully before publishing your content.
  • Make sure your site is fast. People typically hit that back button pretty quickly if your page takes longer than 30 seconds to load. If it takes your website forever to load, your bounce back is bound to be high. Make sure that your pages are properly optimized. This includes your image sizes, page structures, and the functionality of third-party plugins. The faster your website loads, the better.
  • Make sure your site is responsive. More people are using their smart phones to browse the internet these days, making it important that your website is mobile-friendly. If your site forces your visitors to pinch and zoom their way around your website, you’re basically telling them to go elsewhere. Ensure that your website is accessible and comfortably viewable across all devices.
  • Get active on social media. It’s not enough to just post your content on social media, you need to actively participate as well. Got a Facebook? Join in the group discussions with relevant hashtags. If your audience is leaving comments, be sure that you are engaging with them. Nothing turns off viewers more that using social media as a broadcast channel. Use social media as it’s meant to be used - to interact with your followers.

As you can see there are many ways you can increase traffic to your website and the list above is only a few of the ways to do so. If you’d like to learn more about how to increase traffic to your website, contact Jelly Websites in Corona, CA at 951-371-9327 or visit www.jellywebsites.com for additional information.

Jelly Websites proudly serves Corona, Riverside, Chino, Ontario, Tustin, Yorba Linda, Fullerton and all surrounding areas.

5 Web Design Mistakes You Must Avoid

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Despite everything that web designers know, several of them are still making the same terrible design mistakes. And I’m not talking about a misspelled word in your content, I’m talking about being able to see this design mistake right when entering the website. While there’s no way for you to go back in time, you can make corrections so your design flawlessly moves forward. The following is a list I’ve complied of the five most common web design mistakes:

No Color or Typography Palette. Designers often think that they can get away with colors that “seem to match” or fonts that are “close”. Web design projects are just like any other when it comes to styles and branding, making consistent color and typography palettes extremely critical. Be sure that you have a great set of colors and type choices that contribute to a simple and professional-looking design.

Complicated Navigation. Don’t get to creative or go over the top when creating your navigation. It’s always best to think of your visitors beforehand. Having a simple and modernized navigation is a crucial design element to any website.

No Contact Information. This a very big problem, though it is rare, there are several websites that don’t have an email or contact form. Don’t make you visitor have to look somewhere other than you website for contact information. If you do have contact information on your website, make sure that it’s easy to find and access. You can try putting your contact information in the websites footer, header or even both the footer and header.

Not Mobile-Friendly at All. When you’re designing a website you must think of content in terms of mobile. Think about considering a “mobile-first” approach during the planning, copywriting, design, review, and testing. Do this all the way to the release and revisions to ensure your site is mobile-friendly. If you site isn’t mobile friendly, I assure you that you are going to lose business. Be sure your website adapts to any size screen. It results to a bad first impression when visitors have to pinch and pull to enlarge text and imagery.

Entire Flash Website. I may have mentioned that going back in time is impossible, however it turns out that it is: An all-flash website takes us back to 2006! But on a serious note, there a huge impact on the number of visitors who can access your all-flash website. Flash isn’t compatible with iOS, meaning anyone with an iPhone or iPad will not be able to view your website, which kills your mobile reach.

The website mistakes above and more happen when you don’t think of your users enough during the design process. Your website is the first impression for your business, so be sure to take the time to invest time into its quality.

If you’d like to improve your websites online appearance, contact Jelly Websites in Corona, CA at 951-371-9327 or visit www.jellywebsites.com for additional information regarding web design.

Jelly Websites proudly serves Corona, Riverside, Chino, Ontario, Tustin, Yorba Linda, Fullerton and all surrounding areas.

5 Signs Your Web Design Style is Outdated

web designI’m sure we’ve all come across a business buildings that look like they haven’t been worked on in decades due to chipping paint or sad landscaping. As you notice them though, you walk or drive right past them eyeing other establishments.

The same applies to your website, considering it’s essentially your business’s storefront. Having an exceptional website will build your credibility and also help establish your presence in your industry, while having an outdated website do the exact opposite.

Potential customers associate an outdated website with outdated or poor quality products or services, which is why I’ve compiled a list of the top 5 sign your website design is outdated:

  • Outdated Fonts and Graphic Elements- For those who don’t know, icons, images and graphic content play a big part in defining ones websites design style. Good news is, this is quite an easy update. Most web designers are moving towards flat design, vector-based elements, clean design for better usability on little screens and simple communication.
  • Irrelevant Content- Many websites tend to acquire all sorts of articles and features over time. However, even with good information architecture, a great web designer and regular maintenance, your website can lose all of its original organization it once had. You can improve this problem by redesign, but you must first have a strategic plan to separate the relevant information from the junk.
  • Not Mobile Friendly- Your website should be compatible and scale to fit on all screen sizes. You can wither with a completely separate mobile website or choose to have a responsive website. A responsive website will adapt to any device, no matter what size screen.
  • Built with Flash- While Flash is a great tool to create rich multimedia experiences, it isn’t compatible to IOS. This means that a website built with Flash will not work on an iPad or iPhone, making Flash websites a bad idea. Thankfully, there’s the help of HTLM and CSS3 that work on all modern browsers, while also giving better search results in Google.
  • To Many Images- While having photos, video and sound files can be an asset, however, it can drive your visitors to click that back button if your website is overwhelmed with graphic elements. Additional problems with graphics include things such as outdated logos that appear funny on a newer display screen, images instead of text in menu line or on buttons and using images in the footer rather than text.

If you feel your website design is out of date and needs some sprucing up or a whole new look, contact Jelly Websites in Corona, CA at 951-371-9327 or visit www.jellywebsites.com for additional information regarding web design.

Jelly Websites proudly serves Corona, Riverside, Chino, Ontario, Tustin, Yorba Linda, Fullerton and all surrounding areas.

Is Infinite Scrolling Right for Your Website? | Web Design

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Infinite scrolling has become an increasingly popular trend in web design. The design of infinite scrolling is as simple as it sounds, it displays your content and allows your viewers to keep scrolling without having to stop. So is this a trend that you see working for your website or does is sound like something you would like to avoid?

Like any trend, infinite scrolling had its pros and cons. But that all depends on the type and goals of your website. Infinite scrolling is a type of web interaction technique that continuously loads content as your visitor scrolls though your site rather than having to click on links. Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest are the best examples of infinite scrolling. However, many other sites have taken notice to this trend and implemented the design into their sites as well. Infinite scrolling isn’t for every website, so before you decide to join in on this trend I would implore you to inform yourself of the pros and cons listed below:

PROS:

  • Great for Touch Screen Devices- Today most mobile devise and tablets are made with touch technology and it’s can be difficult to tap those tiny page links, which is why infinite scrolling solves this problem.
  • Great for Visuals- One of the best way to display high quality images and image content is by implementing infinite scrolling into your web design. Great examples of how visual oriented websites benefits from infinite scrolling include Pinterest and Flickr.
  • Quick and Simple Browsing- Infinite pages are typically faster than regular webpages. The reason for this is because as the user scrolls down the webpage more content automatically loads on the same page which eliminates the need for clicking on links and reloading new pages every time.
  • Keeps Users Engaged and Curious- Infinite scrolling tends to trigger automatic responses based on curiosity and ease which keeps the users engaged while waiting for new content to load. People are wanting to be constantly entertain and not disrupted by having to click a “load more’ button and then having to wait. Infinite scrolling takes advantage of that.

CONS:

  • Navigation Problems- One of the basic UX principles states that users need to always know where they are on your website. This is key for website usability. In the case of having an infinite scrolling page it can be quite difficult to understand where you are on the webpage at a certain point. In addition, when clicking on a certain link and then wanting to return to where you left off, you are brought back to the top of the webpage.
  • No Skipping- A huge advantage of paginated content is when you need to skip the first 10 pages and go the 11th page you can do so. This is impossible with infinite scrolling. You just have to scroll down to find something that interests you.
  • Footer Problem- This is a big issues with ecommerce websites. If you’ve made an online purchase before you know exactly where the important links are located: in the footer. Now imagine you want to visit the “shipping information” on an infinite scrolling page. This can be a big hassle when a link could be just a quick click away.
  • Overwhelming Content- It’s great to have a lot of quality information on your website. But when there’s infinite content loading every second users may start to feel overwhelmed and out of control.

Infinite scrolling isn’t for every website. So before choosing to implement this web design trend into your website make sure it’s the right choice for you. For more information on web design, contact Jelly Websites in Corona, CA at 951-371-9327 or visit our website at www.jellywebsites.com to learn about the services we offer.

Proudly serving Corona, Riverside, Chino, Ontario, Anaheim, Irvine, Tustin, Yorba Linda, Fullerton and all surrounding areas.

3 Reasons to Redesign Your Website | Web Design Corona, CA

Web design trends are changing every single day and they’re changing quickly, so it’s extremely important for your website to stay current and up to date with all of the changes going on in the world of web design. In this day of age your website is the face of your business and most of the time it’s your visitor’s first impression of you as well. From a bias opinion you might think your website is spectacular which will make it tough knowing when it’s time for a redesign. It’s important to keep in mind that redesigning your website could only require a few changes to produce the results you’re expecting.

The following are a few reasons your company may be in need of a redesign:

  • Brand Has Changed- If your businesses services, products, or purpose have changed over the years, so should your branding. You site should reflect what your business offers whether you’ve increased or reduced what you’re offering. Don’t let your website mislead a potential customer.
  • Outdated Website- Like I mentioned above, your website is your visitor’s first impression of your business. There has been research that has shown that it only takes about 8 seconds for a person to judge your site, and if you have a terrible and unsightly design I guarantee visitors won’t be returning.
  • Not Mobile Friendly- Now that mobile devices have become increasing popular for everyday use to browse the internet, it’s extremely important that you either have a responsive or separate mobile site. It’s almost impossible to make a website compatible across all devices, but if you have no compatibility it will be a large disadvantage.

For more information regarding website design, contact Jelly Websites in Corona, CA at 951-371-9327 or visit our website at www.jellywebsites.com.

Proudly serving Corona, Riverside, Chino Ontario, Irvine, Tustin, Yorba Linda, Fullerton, and all surrounding areas.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Building Your Own Website| Website Design Corona, CA

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There are millions of people who browse the internet in search for certain products or services, so having a website can be crucial for your business, but should you build it yourself or hire a professional? Building a functional website that includes useful information and eye catching images sounds pretty easy, right? Before you even answer any of those questions, take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of building a website on your own.

Advantages of building a website on your own

  • Learn Something New- If you’ve never taken on the task of building a website you’re in for a lot of learning. If you have the time and interest, you would need to learn how to master HTLM, CSS, JavaScript and possibly Flash, while also learning graphic software such as Photoshop.
  • Money Saver- This usually being the number one motivator for some people. If the task is successfully accomplished and the site is running with no bugs or broken links, it could save you money.
  • Sense of Accomplishment- Creating and building website that’s effective and attractive gives you a sense of accomplishment.

Disadvantages of building a website on your own

  • Time Consuming- Gaining all of the skills the build a website takes time, as well as actually building the site. You must constantly maintain a website by keeping it up to date to create more traffic.
  • May Look Unprofessional- If your page is bombarded with text and various photos thrown all over, it will look unprofessional and may actually be too distracting for visitors causing them to leave your website. Studies have shown visitors are more likely to stay on a clean and attractive site. Remember, appearance does matter.
  • Look a Likes- There are many free templates out there and you may have a very attractive site, but so will the hundreds of other companies or individuals using the same template. You want your business to stand out as unique on your website so you can appeal to your target audience.
  • Won’t Work Properly- This a very common issue that arises when building your own website. Just like any other trade, sometimes some knowledge is acquired through experience. Even the best web designer can be stumped at some points. When problems arise it can create irritation and a lot of hair pulling, trying to resolve the problem. Hiring a professional can help for a hassle free website.

As you see above these are a few pros and cons of building your own website, seeking expert help to help build you a clean functioning website is ultimately up to you. Be sure to weigh the pros and cons and make the right decision for you and your company.

If you are interested in obtaining more information about our custom websites, call Jelly Websites in Corona, CA today at 951-371-9327 or visit our website at www.jellywebsites.com.

Proudly serving Corona, Riverside, Chino, Ontario, Anaheim, Irvine, Tustin, Yorba Linda, Fullerton and all surrounding areas.