Feb 16, 2023 | web design reno
Web Design Checklist – Things You Need to Get Done Before Launching a New Website
If you’re launching a new website, there are some essential tasks that must be completed before going live. This checklist helps ensure these items are taken care of in an organized and efficient way.
No matter if you’re launching your website yourself or hiring a web design firm, this checklist can help you avoid common errors and guarantee success!
- Create a Wireframe or Mockup
Before you launch a new web design, it’s essential to create either a wireframe or mockup. These tools allow you to visualize the layout and functionality of your site, as well as identify any potential issues that might occur down the line.
Wireframes are invaluable at all stages of a design project, from brainstorming and ideation to testing and iterations. They can assist in planning the user journey and guarantee your website is straightforward to navigate and intuitive for visitors.
A wireframe is intended to visually represent the structure and flow of your product without distracting details like colors or copy. It also gives users and stakeholders an opportunity to provide feedback before the product is too far along.
Wireframes are usually created using digital wireframing tools and offer a great visual of your design before it gets too complex for review. This saves your team time and effort, while creating a wireframe can help prevent errors in judgment or design – leading to an easier, faster process overall.
- Identify Your Goals
Prior to embarking on a new web design project, it is essential to clearly define your objectives. Knowing these will allow you to make informed decisions for your website’s future success and ensure it achieves success quickly.
Many businesses strive to boost their sales. This could be done by increasing online sales or generating more leads for the business.
Another goal is to boost customer satisfaction through exceptional user experiences and tailored content according to your visitors’ needs. For instance, a medical website could provide an in-depth overview of its processes, refund policy, brand values and contact info in order to keep patients contented and satisfied.
Prior to any redesign, identify your goals so you can save time and money by focusing on what matters most for your business. Doing this will guarantee that the new design helps you reach those objectives.
- Do an Analysis of Your Competitors
No matter if you are just starting out or have been around the block a few times, it is essential to analyze your competitors before launching your new website. Doing this will allow you to identify their strengths and weaknesses as well as where you can make an impact in the market for greater advantage.
To do this, create a competitor matrix where you list data points or categories of information about each competitor. Doing this will enable you to compare your findings across competitors and identify larger patterns.
Once you’ve identified your top competitors, conduct an in-depth investigation of their websites and customer experiences. Utilize both quantitative (benchmarks, user testing data, performance metrics) as well as qualitative methods (surveys, focus group interviews, etc.) to assess each company’s UX/CX.
Also, take a look at their social media presence to determine how well they utilize their profiles and which posts garner clicks. This data is invaluable for your ecommerce website design strategy as it will give you insight into what to include on your own profile and how often to post.
- Explore Web Design Trends
Web design is constantly advancing, so it’s essential to stay abreast of trends before launching a new website. Doing this will help ensure your website remains current and attract new visitors.
Trends refer to any style, technique or form that becomes widely popular among a substantial number of people. They should be distinguished from fads, which tend to be short lived and driven by emotional excitement.
One of the top 2022 web design trends is a minimalistic approach, featuring flat designs, straightforward shapes, and fewer distractions. This modern approach works great for businesses that desire a clean, uncluttered website.
Another popular website trend for 2023 is the use of organic shapes. This style draws inspiration from natural elements like hills and the edges of lakes or rivers, which often take on organic forms.
Organic shapes can be utilized for various purposes, such as displaying a product’s shape or size or showing how it fits on real people. For instance, yoga clothing stores utilize micro animations to give customers an interactive vision of how their clothes fit and move on their bodies.
- Create a Content Strategy
A content strategy is an outline of the type of material you wish to create and publish on your website. It focuses on providing value to readers while aiding them in reaching their objectives.
Your content strategy should also be linked to your overall business and marketing objectives. For instance, if you wish to increase sales by providing useful information about your products or services, make sure the strategy is aligned with those targets in order to effectively drive conversions.
To understand your target audience’s problems and provide solutions, utilize data from surveys, interviews, and digital research. Discover what people are searching for and how they engage with your content.
Your content strategy should encompass a range of types and platforms. This helps guarantee you’re reaching your audience in their preferred medium – be it text, video, images or other types of media.
- Create a Content Calendar
A content calendar helps you consistently create and publish quality content for your audience. It also provides insight into what resonates with them most.
To start creating a content calendar, decide what kind of material you will create. This could include blog posts, social media updates, email newsletters or surveys.
Your next step should be deciding when you will publish content on your website or other channels. This decision should be based on both your overall marketing strategy and which platforms you prefer using.
No matter if you plan to post on one channel or multiple ones, creating a content calendar can help organize your time and resources. Additionally, it prevents posting too much or too little content in the wrong places.
Create a content calendar using any tool that meets your needs. You can use either spreadsheets or software programs, but for optimal ease of collaboration among team members, opt for cloud-based software. With this setup, everyone on your team has access to the content calendar from anywhere and can work together more efficiently.
- Test Your Site
Testing your site before launch is critical for increasing confidence that visitors won’t be disappointed by what visitors see, as well as giving you time to make any necessary modifications before going live.
Start by testing your site on desktop and mobile using various browsers to confirm everything is displaying correctly. Doing this helps you save time fixing errors after launch, plus it could potentially boost SEO rankings as well.
Next, you should evaluate your site’s loading speed. Page load speed is an important ranking factor in Google searches and it also affects consumer satisfaction levels.
Finally, ensure all your forms work correctly and store user data securely. This includes lead generation forms, email newsletter forms, and any other forms that collect information from visitors.
A successful website should provide visitors with useful information and add value. It should also be able to convert visitors into customers or prospects through relevant content and an organized layout.
- Optimize Your Site
When designing a new website or refining an existing one, optimization is essential before launch. Doing this will guarantee it is functional, user-friendly and ready to meet your business objectives.
Optimizing your site requires consideration of several areas, such as content, usability, mobile-friendliness, semantics, social media management, analytics and SEO (search engine optimization). All these components must be taken into account before your web design can go live; so make sure to dedicate enough time for each one.
Page speed is an important ranking factor in Google searches, so it’s essential to ensure your site loads quickly. Utilizing an online tool like BrowserStack will enable you to test the performance of your site.
Internal links are another essential element of your website that must be optimized. These links help search engines comprehend the structure of your site and make navigation simpler for users. Furthermore, internal links improve SEO strategies by increasing the chances of displaying relevant content on search engine result pages.
Feb 7, 2023 | AI
How has Artificial Intelligence(AI) influenced Digital Marketing?
Artificial intelligence has widespread use in the digital marketing space. Since its inception, Artificial Intelligence has become increasingly relevant to digital marketing strategy and execution. From making predictions, constructing simulation models, and even customizing the purchasing process by offering suggestions based on previous purchases, the importance of Artificial Intelligence in digital marketing is undeniable. With technology constantly changing ad developing, digital marketing will benefit significantly from using Artificial Intelligence.
What is Artificial Intelligence(AI)?
Artificial Intelligence is the development and theory of computer systems able to perform tasks that require human intelligence like decision-making, translating languages, recognition of speech, visual perception, and problem-solving. The ideal feature of Artificial Intelligence is its ability to identify its environment, analyze the environment, solve problems, and take actions that have the best chance of success.
Types of Artificial Intelligence
Reactive Machines
These are the most basic type of AI. They only react to current situations and cannot create memories, store information, or use past experiences in decision-making.
Limited memory
This type of AI can store previous data and use it to learn, train, and make better predictions.
Theory of mind
This concept of AI can perform the functions of limited memory machines and have the cognitive capacity to understand and respond to human emotions.
Self-aware
These machines are aware of their emotional states and that of others. This AI has human-level intelligence and can process, mimic and respond to human emotion.
What is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing is advertising a brand, product, or service using the internet and other digital channels like email and social media. With the advent of the internet in the 1990s, digital marketing has revolutionized the marketing industry allowing businesses to reach a larger consumer base. Digital marketing campaigns appear on social media, tablets, and computers and can measure their impact throughout the customer journey.
Alt Text: Digital marketing is essential when reaching out to potential customers on social media platforms.
Digital Marketing channels
Digital marketing is conducted through a variety of channels.
- Affiliate marketing: affiliates earn a commission for marketing a company’s product. Commission can be from traffic generated or purchases made.
- Social media marketing: marketing on social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube.
- SMS marketing: sending promotional messages via SMS.
- Content marketing: the creation of written material that will engage, attract and retain an audience to create a customer base.
- Video Marketing: using videos to promote and create awareness of a product or service.
- Email marketing: sending customized content to your subscribers. The content can include discounts or information on new products.
- Pay-per-click advertising: the advertiser pays every time their ads are clicked.
- Website marketing: promoting a company’s website to increase traffic.
- Search engine optimization: making your website page rank higher on search engines.
Impact of Digital Marketing on Business
In a world that is constantly moving towards the digital space, digital marketing has become essential to most businesses. Over 3 million people in the world use social media channels daily and a majority are more likely to follow brands than celebrities. Good digital marketers utilize the digital space to promote brands and increase awareness of the products or services that they offer.
Here is how digital marketing has impacted businesses that use it:
Leads are generated when customers show interest in a product. Social media marketing allows users to show interest in your product without having to purchase it; this generates more leads for your business.
Digital marketing exposes your brand or product to a large audience maximizing the purchasing potential. This increases your sales volume.
- Increase in brand awareness
More than half of the world’s population is on social media today; making it the perfect tool to connect with potential customers and increase your brand awareness. More than 50% of social media users get to know about new brands through this platform.
- Connecting with customers one-on-one
Unlike traditional forms of marketing which involve one-way communication, digital marketing is a dialogue. The audience can directly interact with the brand or business. Customers can give reviews on products and services directly to the business.
- Improves customer service
Customer service in digital marketing can be automated making responses to queries quicker. Fast answers to questions about your products will help you retain and grow your customer base.
- Cuts down on marketing expenses
Digital marketing is cheaper than traditional forms of marketing. This is because most processes are personalized and automated.
- Variety of marketing outlets
Digital marketing opens up marketing opportunities that would otherwise be unavailable with traditional forms of marketing. There is a wide variety of marketing outlets to choose from. Businesses can pick the outlets that best suit their needs and use them. They can even decide to optimize their results by using all the marketing outlets available.
Traditional forms of marketing are usually limited to a specific geographical zone/region. However, digital marketing has a global reach; it delivers your marketing message to a worldwide audience. Global exposure to your brand increases sales volume.
How has Artificial Intelligence changed digital marketing for the better?
Automated and personalized marketing
Automated marketing is great but most of the time it is not personalized; this could be the difference between making a sale or not. AI and machine learning can collect customer data by analyzing their preferences and sending personalized messages and emails.
AI also can predict what type of content will appeal to a specific customer at a specific time and create an attractive message persuading them to buy. AI can automate social media marketing, email marketing, search engine optimization, and pay-per-click advertising. In a world where businesses are competing to get to clients first, personalized marketing gives a company an upper hand over its competitors.
Targeted marketing
Convincing someone you do not know to purchase your product or service can be difficult. This is a hurdle that traditional forms of marketing have not been able to overcome. However, AI can create customer segments based on the occurrence of behaviors and future events. This technique is known as predictive consumer segmentation and is usually automated. Using the data from predictive consumer segmentation, marketers can estimate whether the consumers will be interested in their products before asking them to buy, saving time and increasing sales.
Boosting customer relationship management(CRM)
A customer relationship management system allows a business to maintain a good relationship with customers and increase sales.
AI-based customer relationship management gives companies insights into how their customers interact. It can also monitor customer data and predict who is likely to make a purchase. AI can also, study different sales scenarios where deals were rejected or closed and provide useful information that can assist the sales rep to take the right steps to close a deal. AI can also identify which customer has the intention of purchasing the product or service thereby quickening the sales process. Chatbots also offer knowledge that is critical to expanding your client base. With AI-based CRM, businesses close more deals and lose less money.
AI-based content marketing
Alt Text: Artificial intelligence conducts content research allowing content marketers to deliver customized content to potential buyers.
Marketing largely relies on getting the right message to consumers at the right time. This requires market research to identify consumer trends and craft the right content to persuade consumers to buy.
AI has already started revolutionizing content marketing. A lot of work usually goes into content marketing; content writing, search engine optimization, trends, and analytic and keyword research. With chatbots, predictive analysis, and custom feed algorithms, AI can perform content research and development allowing content marketers to focus on the writing. It also assists in predicting topics that will be of interest in the future providing content marketers with a head start in the content writing process.
In addition to conducting content suggestions and research, Artificial Intelligence can integrate data from its predictive analytics into content like blogs and articles creating content that can generate leads and increase sales.
Identifying micro-influencers
Influencers are currently playing a huge role in the marketing industry. With their large number of followers and subscribers, they are one of the best options to use in social media marketing. The majority of influencers are usually celebrities; they are quite expensive to hire. However, there are smaller influencers(micro-influencers) who have created an audience of people who value their opinions. They are also cheaper than celebrities.
AI algorithms enable marketers to identify a micro-influencer who will best promote their products or services by analyzing their audiences and the content they post. AI will also assist the marketer in deciding whether it’s best to hire an influencer or several micro-influencers. Choosing the right influencer using AI is better and more efficient than the marketer deciding on their own which influencer is best.
Customer service chatbots
A chatbot is a computer program that uses AI and natural language processing to simulate human conservation. It can understand customer questions and send automated responses to them.
Many customers prefer to communicate with companies via messaging apps like WhatsApp, direct messaging, and Facebook messenger. It is difficult and expensive to maintain customer care staff on these platforms. Some businesses use chatbots to respond to customer inquiries decreasing the workload and providing instant responses. Chatbots can also be programmed to give predetermined answers to frequently asked questions. In addition to this, they can also forward complex queries to a human operator.
Enhanced security
Transferring large amounts of data securely were previously seen as difficult to achieve. However, with biometric authentication that uses AI technology, it is now possible to gather and transfer data securely. Digital marketing data is paramount in customizing customer experiences, and safeguarding it will ensure that you maintain your customer base. Customers are also more likely to purchase if the safety of their data is guaranteed.
Predictive analytics and behavioral analysis
Data on the behavioral patterns of customers can easily be found on the internet. Analyzing these huge amounts of data is impossible for humans. Artificial intelligence, on the other hand, uses machine learning and large data analysis to analyze customer data and give information on the current and future behavior of customers. This information can be used in future marketing campaigns.
Alt Text: Predictive analytics can predict future customer behavior and purchasing patterns.
Why use Artificial Intelligence in Digital Marketing
- It identifies market trends and opportunities.
- Makes marketing more effective in driving revenue.
- Provides in-depth and precise analysis of campaigns.
- Helps to pinpoint potential customers.
- Helps to identify new marketing opportunities.
- Identifies current and future marketing opportunities.
Benefits of using AI in digital marketing
- It saves on costs.
- Personalization of the digital marketing processes to fit customer behavior.
- Understanding your customers better.
- Increase in sales
- Reduced human error.
- It has enhanced user experience.
- Improvement of recommendations and suggestions of future trends and personalization of the marketing strategy.
- Search Engine Optimization.
- Optimization of pay-per-click advertising.
- Content curation and creation.
Will AI take over digital marketing?
There has been a lot of debate on the future of AI in digital marketing with some marketers thinking that Artificial Intelligence will end up replacing them. However, AI adds value to marketing teams by helping to analyze large data sets, enabling personalized marketing, and using predictive analysis to assist in future campaigns. AI is a co-partner, not a replacement.
Artificial Intelligence and Digital Marketing
Artificial Intelligence assists in several tasks in digital marketing like optimizing campaigns(email and social media), analyzing customer data, and predicting future trends and consumer behaviors. It can also automate tasks like customer service(using chatbots) and email marketing campaigns. Incorporate Artificial Intelligence into your digital marketing strategy to enjoy the above benefits and more!
How has AI changed digital marketing for the better?
Jan 13, 2023 | Lucky Business
Some would say that a lucky break made all the difference, but those who have been on the front lines of fast-growing businesses would say that hard work, dedication, and eagerness to learn from past mistakes, is the fastest way to becoming a lucky business.
I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.” – Thomas Jefferson
After decades of working with thousands of website clients and SEO projects, one thing stands out amongst the companies that make it in the business world, luck, or rather, true grit is a common trait amongst the leading businesses we studied.
Illustration by Viktoriya Belinio from Ouch!
Those who venture out into the unchartered seas of entrepreneurship must ready themselves for the ride of a lifetime.
“Bad shit is coming. It always is in a startup. The odds of getting from launch to liquidity without some kind of disaster happening are one in a thousand. So don’t get demoralized.”–Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator
Super highs and painful lows initiate new startups within the first few years of opening the doors to the public.
Common traits of those who stay the course:
- Having an attitude of firm dedication and reasonably calm responses to the challenges that lay ahead will help most weather the storm.
- Mental toughness and a mindset of “what’s the lesson here?” can help a new venture and in their personal endeavors.
- Meditation, counseling, physical activity, and all the wise choices one would make in order to thrive in the world, also hold true with a successful business venture.
Building an encouraging network of entrepreneurs, most certainly increased the overall happiness factor for many a weary entrepreneurs. Thankful for the helpful advice, and someone who “gets it” helped warm the frozen tundra of most new business enterprises. This knowing that the particular challenge you are facing is not unique to you, (or that the universe is a bully) can be comforting enough to ease the all-consuming anxieties that riddle most young businesses. Simply learning how others overcame those similar situations, can smooth out the road ahead for those willing to learn.
Illustration by Polina G from Ouch!
Owning a business can get lonely at times. Having another business owner who understands and shares ideas on how to improve on them can help ease the loneliness most business-minded souls face.
Business networking groups allow the businessperson to learn from others in a relaxed atmosphere while also practicing their networking and sales techniques.
Reno Business Group is run by local Web Designer & Marketing Pro, Sandy Rowley. The group meets once, sometimes twice a month for the last 5 years.
Some topics discussed at each event are relevant to most businesses. Important topics can cover, how to do digital marketing correctly, how to find a local business that compliments your own to network with and an overall safe place to vent if needed.
The group has about 780 local business members, who regularly attend the workshops online. Each sharing resources and help when needed. A friendly group of successful business folks who enjoy networking.
Business-minded people are avid learners and savvy resourceful characters. They work hard to be the best in their chosen fields and are always looking for the next opportunity to innovate.
Most are reading at least one book a month, taking courses to improve some area that is lacking in their skill set, and are kind of obsessed with the idea of total freedom that owning a business brings.
“You can’t be successful by quitting your way to the top. You must persevere your way to the top! Perseverance allows you and me to get where we want to go. Talent provides hope for accomplishment, but perseverance guarantees it.” John C. Maxwell
Leadership Expert
Businesses that encourage these mindsets often are the leaders in their industry.
Except for the lucky few, I suspect that most businesses that win big, have had hardships, stressors, and struggles to manage along the way.
Failing is one part of that journey. How you overcome each obstacle will determine the success achieved and with each lesson learned your luck increases.
Jason Roberts’ Model for Luck Surface Area shares…
The amount of serendipity that will occur in your life, your Luck Surface Area, is directly proportional to the degree to which you do something you’re passionate about combined with the total number of people to whom this is effectively communicated.
To summarize:
- Improve your skill sets, daily.
- Network with like-minded and/or individuals who have experience in the business.
- Mind your mindset and mental health.
- Persistence is always key.
- Learn from your mistakes.
- Finding meaning is the daily duties of running your business.
- Read books that inspire, educate and build up your vocabulary.
- Implement a solid digital marketing strategy and follow through on the plan.
Sandy Rowley SEO Expert 775-870-0488.
Reno SEO, Marketing & Web Design
www.RenoWebDesigner.com
775-870-0488
