Our President, John Enright, shared on Entreprenuer.com last month why he thinks the changing tides of the online landscape present a perfect opportunity to start a new business.
To read the full piece on Entreprenuer.com, click here.
Here's a few highlights from the piece!
Today’s entrepreneur has access to a wider variety of tools and technologies than ever before —typically more cost effective and easier to use than they’ve ever been. Previously, people with a marketable idea often faced a lockout based on a lack of access to technological knowledge. Because, of course, getting a business rolling often requires basic programming knowledge, setting up a website, an email system, a mailing list, sales integration software and more. If you did not have that know-how, you had to invest in hired services, which is a significant investment.
Today, the tables have turned. Mobile web, social media, instant ecommerce solutions and automation technology have emerged in ways that put previously unheard-of power in the hands of a single individual or small group. Now, you can launch a basic site in an afternoon, and have the broad strokes of ecommerce and shipping logistics figured out in a day. You can launch a page on Facebook and begin running ads to bring in customers in under an hour, and go to Google to get a simple ad campaign going in the same amount of time. You can even farm out logo design, hire an app builder, order business cards, set up virtual phone systems and enlist workers from the comfort of a living room couch, at a price that was impossible just five years ago. It’s an environment in which dreamers can create rapid, cycled experiments, and to try, fix, and iterate elements like price, message, model, feature, etc… developing solutions and adaptations faster than ever.
When epochal changes crash over markets and societies, such as the Covid pandemic, it’s vital to recognize that you can be in a unique position to provide new-company solutions, keeping in mind the following questions:
-Is there a value that needs repairing?
-Can we do this cheaper, easier or faster?
-Are there customers that are not getting the message?
-Is there a solution to a problem that has not really found its way out there?If you have affirmative answers to any of those, you are on the right track.
To read the rest of the piece on Entreprenuer.com, click here.
Have a new business idea and need a website?
We now offer Website Design Services. With this service, you can now get a professional, modern, and elegant website for your business – all created for you.
Visit our Website Design Services page and schedule a free consultation with us to see if our website design service makes sense for you.
Let’s not kid ourselves. We’re two decades into the 21st century, people were already online before Covid.
What changed was the sheer volume and intensity of online traffic during the pandemic – if online activity was a “10” on a scale of 1 to 10 at the beginning of COVID, the pandemic jacked it up to something like a “15" as we stand here in 2022.
The numbers don’t lie:
Out of all the data we sifted through, by far our favorite data point was this one, courtesy of GlobalWebIndex:
What’s it all mean? It means with the pandemic’s end on the horizon, there’s likely never been a more important time in the history of online for your business to upgrade its website.
If you’re thinking a website refresh could be on the horizon, make sure it has these 4 essential features:
The 1990s had a lot of great things – Michael Jordan, Seinfeld, Friends, The Titanic, and Super Nintendo – what it’s not known for is its website design.
If your website looks like a time capsule from the 1990s (think overt use of bevels, hit counters, vertical menu bars, too much text, flash animations, and awkward background patterns) – it could mean you’re due for a refreshed look.
Simply put, what you’re able to achieve through design in 2022 is quantum leaps ahead of where we were in the 1990s. It’s akin to the leap from the light bulb’s invention in 1879 to putting a man on the moon less than a century later. Quantum. Leaps.
Just look at how the world’s most famous brands have evolved since the 1990s:
As of 2022, 55.565% of all web traffic comes from mobile – compared to 6.09% in 2011, according to StatCounter.com
In 2022, ensuring your website is mobile optimized isn’t simply a “nice-to-have” but more of a Darwinian requirement.
Think about it. In what other areas of your business would you willfully choose to present your business in a manner that inhibits 55% of all viewers from being able to engage effectively with your organization?
Long gone are the days of inflexible content edits and requiring a developer to make every little change request on your site.
Today’s popular website management tools, like WordPress, make refining, deleting, and adding onto your website a breeze – without requiring the services of a developer or agency.
In 2022, you should easily be able to do any of these activities without the help of an agency:
If you can’t easily execute any of these activities yourself in 2021, then it’s a clear tell-tale sign you’re in need of a new website.
A key evolution in website design over the past few years has been the emergence of lead conversion centric design principles - especially for service-oriented businesses that live on leads, like roofing companies or plumbers.
What defines a lead? A lead is basically anyone who expresses any interest in your product or service – whether they’re bursting at the seams ready to make a purchase, or have a passing interest.
The key is knowing who your leads are and capturing their contact information - so that you can then follow up with them and drive home a sale.
Critical conversion focused features all lead-centric websites should have, include:
While not customer facing and more of a backend feature, all lead-centric websites should have Google Analytics hooked to your site - providing you with an intuitive dashboard to track what visitors are doing once they land on your page.
Fair or not, we live in a world where a website is the first impression most customers have of a business.
Fear not if you feel your website doesn't give the greatest first impression - we’re here to help.
Hostway now offers Website Design Services. With this service, you can now get a professional, modern, and elegant website for your business – all created for you.
Visit our Website Design Services page and schedule a free consultation with us to see if our website design service makes sense for you.
There are many reasons why a potential customer won’t convert. You could be missing out on countless conversions due to seemingly insignificant oversights on your website.
Little hiccups on your website can add up to big untapped revenue for your business. A few fixes can improve your bounce rates (the rate at which users leave your website) and facilitate more conversions. Read on to find out about our top 7 tips to easily generate more leads and grow your business by optimizing your website.
Think about how your customer can reach you. Making your phone number visible worked for print ads in the past, but now not so much. A customer browsing your website from their computer will have to go to another device, their phone, to call you.
If they are browsing from their phone, is your phone number clickable to dial on your website? Do they have to copy and paste your phone number to call you? Are you always available to answer their call? Adding a simple contact form to your website lets customers reach you outside of business hours from any device, and lets you spend less time on unnecessary phone calls.
Is your website eye-catching? Is content visible against your brand colors? Is it easy to navigate through your website? If your website isn’t easy to use and appealing to the eye, it can deter around 38% of your visitors. That’s 38% of your customer base lost to your competitors with more modern websites. Make sure the graphics and visuals on your website are accessible and attractive so you can capture the attention of users within seconds.
1 in 4 visitors will abandon your website if it takes longer than four seconds to load. If it takes more than 10 seconds, visitors are unlikely to return to the webpage again. The ideal pace at which your website should load is within two to three seconds. A fast-loading website builds customer trust and increases the likelihood of repeat customers. Optimize your website content and file sizes so that they can load quickly and open the door to more conversions.
62% of visitors are less likely to purchase from a website in the future after an unpleasant mobile experience. The internet is no longer confined to the desktop PC. Now we can access a whole host of services and information from the palm of our hands, which is why ensuring your website is mobile-friendly will boost your sales and customer loyalty. A mobile-friendly website allows users to seamlessly visit your website, browse your products and services, and convert in a cinch.
>>> Let Us Make Your Website Mobile Friendly.Visitors need a nudge here and there to inspire action. There’s a fine balance between too few and too many calls-to-action on a page. Too few and customers won’t know how, when, or where to convert. Too many and you risk irritating your customers. Make sure the buttons on your website are clearly visible and point to the correct page where visitors can take the next course of action in the conversion funnel.
A website without conversion rate optimization is like a car with no wheels — it will take you nowhere.
- Jeremy Abel
When was the last time you wrote a blog article? Are all the pages on your website relevant? Can customers easily glean why they should purchase from you over your competitors? Optimizing the content on your pages can improve your overall SEO, making your website easier to find on search engines, and ultimately bringing in more leads. Establishing what sets your products and services apart on your website will further encourage users to convert. Industry-relevant website content adds another layer of trust that will have customers coming back for more.
You don’t have to be restricted to the Contact Us page to capture leads. If you’re offering visitors downloadable content such as whitepapers, video content, or instruction sheets, you can sprinkle smaller forms on other pages across your website to gather leads. Sometimes all you’ll need from these forms are a name and email address to be able to slot these leads into your marketing and sales flows.
These extra content-driven forms are microconversions, or opportunities to gather leads outside of the main Contact Us form. Requests for contact information in exchange for valuable content present more beneficial website experiences for visitors.
The bottom line is your website needs to be in tip-top shape to stay competitive and to guide users through the sales funnel with as little friction as possible. These adjustments are make-or-break for businesses looking to stay ahead of the curve.
If you’re looking to streamline your website upgrades and transform your website into a lead-generating hub for your business without any of the fuss of building it yourself, explore our custom Website Design Services. A dedicated Account Manager and Web Designer will help you take your website to the next level so you can reap the rewards of more leads and conversions for your business.
Discover the freedom of Website Design Services here or schedule a Website Redesign Consultation below:
Change is a constant force in nature and a natural law of the universe. The world of web design is no different.
As tech evolves and the impossible becomes "possible," the standard of what constitutes "good" web design evolves.
Giving your website a refresh to match with modern standards is not a matter of preference, but rather, a must-have (if you hope to keep up with competitors and meet consumers' expectations).
Just think about your favorite restaurant - there's a really good chance its interior looked a whole lot different in the year 2011, and an almost certainty it looked extremely different in 2001. Times change and consumers' expectations evolve - it's no different online.
Today we’re going to look at a few different design qualities all modern websites should have. Look through these and ask yourself if your website has these or if it falls a little short.
Today's consumers' interact with apps like Facebook, Amazon, and Netflix all-the-time, almost 24/7. Consumers' are trained to expect, and demand, a simple, intuitive design interface that makes navigation easy.
If your website is out-of-touch, hard to navigate, and out-of-date, consumers will notice and look elsewhere. Web users (especially millennials and younger) are savvy and quick to recognize and harshly critique dated online presences.
Many users regularly or exclusively use smart phones to get online. This means your website must be mobile-friendly and responsive.
What’s more, Google heavily favors websites that are mobile web optimized in its search rankings and penalizes websites that aren’t.
Less is more in 2021.
Minimalistic designs showcase information where users can find it - delivering a far better user experience than cluttered interfaces with distracting elements.
This means it may be time to consider retiring those shadows, reflections, 3D renderings and other elements that defined websites of yesteryear.
Websites shouldn’t complicate things and leave your visitors thinking if they should contact your business at all.
This one's simple enough - long load times are a bad thing. You don't like it, your site visitors don't like it, and search engines don’t like it either (Google penalizes slow-loading sites).
A lot of load time issues are due to dated site design principles baked into old websites.
In a world where instant-gratification is everywhere, a slow website is an instant turnoff.
We live in a world where a website is the first impression most customers have of a business. Whether it's fair or not, first impressions matter.
Fear not if you're feeling that your website may need a refresh. We're here to help.
Hostway now offers Website Design Services. With this service, you can now get a professional, modern, and elegant website for your business - all created for you.
Visit our Website Design Services page and schedule a free consultation with us to see if our design service makes sense for you.
The basics never grow old. Things like Levi’s Jeans, a classic watch, or a leather jacket - you can always count on them to fit right into the times.
The same can't be said for website design. When it comes to online, new tools, technologies, and customer expectations are constantly transforming what constitutes "good design."
As we look forward to the rest of 2021, we fully expect this definition to evolve as new technologies and best practices emerge.
First, let’s talk about web users. We're at a moment in time where the user experience is defined by an amazing set of circumstances.
These factors indicate we're suddenly at an era of immersive web experiences - we must build with this destiny in mind.
Look for these trends to drive web design in 2021.
Mobile First
The days of sitting at a computer, wandering around the web, and discovering things are coming to an end.
Most people are reaching for their phones first. Looking at the phone is the first thing many people do each morning, the first thing students do when they leave class, and the first thing employees do when they arrive at work. People are on their phones all day and night long.
In addition, billions of searches each day occur on mobile devices and in result, major search engines are now ranking sites with mobile experiences higher than those that do not.
Minimal Design
The increase in mobile traffic impacts users' attention spans.
This means, websites need to deliver their call-to-actions fast (whether that be to sign-up, make a purchase, subscribe, find out more, or to book an appointment).
There's no better way to get your point across fast than with a simple, clean, minimalistic design.
More Story-Telling
Driving customers to take action on your page is a challenge. While, yes, a minimal design helps, there has to be room for authenticity, story-telling, and the communication of valuable, unique selling points.
Achieving this, while keeping users' attention, is a challenge, and can be supplemented with engaging story-telling devices like short videos, social media posts, and animations.
The Need for Speed
Website speed is more important than ever.
You don’t want visitors to leave because they were forced to wait too long. Having fast web hosting is important, but site design is a huge piece. Great web design allows for pages to render and stabilize quickly, smooth page loading, and rapid response time to user interactions.
One-Page Designs
It may not be for everyone, but for some industries, the one-page design is becoming more and more in-vogue. Essentially it places all of the traditional structured pages, like "Contact," "About," and "Services," and so forth, on one page, in a concise, intuitive, user-driven experience.
In many cases, this type of design creates is more engaging and more mobile friendly.
Design trends evolve over time, but this latest wave of technology is a significant leap that should drive you toward getting a new site. One of the most flexible and easiest ways to do this is for us to do it for you!
Hostway's Website Design Service can create a custom WordPress-based site geared toward your needs, integrating all of the above best practices described above.
If you're interest in the service, just reach out to us by completing the form on the Website Design page. We'll get in touch with you and talk through if this service can be a fit for you.
The internet is a rapidly evolving place, where yesterday’s websites can quickly become yesterday’s news. Even the most dependable and trusted websites refresh their look from time to time, including major news publishers, e-commerce sites, and just about every industry in need of presenting a competitive, current message.
If you’re in a position where you have a website and it’s time for a refresh - or if you’re looking to make your first ever website – you’ve probably heard of WordPress.
Today, we’re going to detail why you should make WordPress your choice website platform.
While yes – popular platforms like Squarespace and Wix provide robust page building experiences, we’ll be detailing just how much of an advantage WordPress has over these services and why it’s considered the most flexible and powerful system on the web today.
Evolving from its roots as a blogging platform, WordPress has transformed over the years to an infinitely configurable Content Management System (CMS) that can deliver both a simple web page, or a feature-rich website.
Today, WordPress can handle e-commerce, invoicing, image and video galleries, online reservations, and more, through its vast network of APIs and connectivity, essentially serving as a portal for anything.
Many of the drag-and-drop platforms out there, like Squarespace and Wix, do not have the significant blogging capabilities WordPress offers.
Moreover, WordPress is based on open-source software driven by a collection of contributors and dedicated experts. Whatever your website needs, if it hasn’t already been created, rest assured someone in the community is already working on it.
The best part of choosing WordPress is that once you begin your site, you can update and enhance it exactly how you need over time, due to its limitless flexibility and standing as an industry standard.
WordPress is built with simplicity in mind – meaning anyone can operate it behind the scenes.
In most cases, the look, feel, and functionality of a website is just a few plugins or configurations away, with behind-the-scenes maintenance tools that are easy and simple to configure.
Nobody wants things to be more complicated than they should be - WordPress was designed with that philosophy in mind.
WordPress is especially known for its Search Engine Optimization (SEO) capabilities. Essentially, SEO functionalities are baked into the platform - every time a post or page is made, valuable SEO tags and metadata is automatically generated, helping websites index in major search engines for key search terms.
We believe there’s no better choice in the industry today than a WordPress-based website.
If you’re interested in joining the WordPress wave, our professional WordPress website designers are waiting in the wings to create for you a modern, responsive, and professional WordPress website.
Learn more about our Website Design Services and how we can make your website vision into a reality.
Your website is an opportunity to connect to the public, potential partners, prospective clients, and essentially the entire world.
This is a place where you want to tell your story and engage with individuals in a way that leads them to a desired result, whether that be a call, purchase, consultation, or a download.
Your website answers the "this is who we are, this is what we do, and this is what I want you to do" questions.
It's your story.
Words are powerful, but when it comes to websites, design is a significant component. A busy, cluttered site can send out a mixed message or bury a message altogether.
A clear, purposeful site does a better job, but there is a limit. A site that goes too far with simplicity and white space can create an underwhelming message or lose visitors' focus.
There's obviously a lot to think about. Let’s take a look at some of the most critical web design components and what they have to say to a visitor.
1) Load performance – When a user visits a website, you have precious little time to engage with them - nobody likes to wait around. Load-oriented design means that components are designed to load quickly, paying respect to size, positioning, and technical composition.
2) White space – It is difficult to avoid the impulse to fill space. However, white space on a page enables the page, through design, to guide the visitor to what is most important on your page. It might be a capture dialog, it might be a product, it might be a phone number - whatever it is that you want to highlight can only benefit from a proper amount of room around it.
3) Line space and padding – Reading should be easy and without proper spacing, users can easily get lost in crowded spaces. With padding, attention is paid to the proximity between text and other elements of the page - page components should flow together, without conflict or distractions.
4) Mobile experience – Mobile design is a must-have. Every day, all day, visitors surf and engage on their phones - they demand websites to look good on mobile. Responsive page design allows for a variety of device sizes to present pages in an optimized design style.
5) Symmetry – Symmetry of page components is pleasing to the eye and keeps readers engaged with your message and brand.
6) Colors – Getting the fundamentals of color consistency, contrast, and color selection correct make all the difference you need to stand out and appeal to visitors.
7) Design components – Use and don’t overuse design components. Text boxes, graphical cues, radio buttons, and many components can help create your business story effectively. It’s easy to get carried away however, meaning it’s possible to clutter up pages with too many components.
Note that regardless of what platform your site is running on – custom code, WordPress, and beyond, you're going to need to do some design planning. Anything short of that, or off the shelf, can result in an ineffective effort, loss of SEO, and most significantly, a lost opportunity to evoke the message you want to share with visitors.
It’s a competitive online world and you need a professional, attractive design that is developed through a proper, purpose-driven design process.
The finished result of a great design process should look unforced, is easy to navigate, performs well, and shares the message you want to share effectively.
At Hostway, we’ll design for your business a brand new modern, professional, beautiful, and responsive website with all the features you need to attract and convert visitors into customers.
Interested? Learn more about our Website Design Services.
With so many options out there, the question comes up all the time – should I have professionals design a website for me?
Here's reasons why a website design service may be the best choice for your business.
A unique, modern, fresh website design is the best marketing tool you have - communicating to prospects what your business stands for.
SEO wise, when it comes to competing for Google listing real estate, custom designed sites are usually built with streamlined code and SEO best practices in mind.
Your business and professional profile are unique, so why would you want a site that isn't? Standard, run of the mill sites are boring and don't grab your attention and engage your visual senses.
When the difference between two competing businesses (in the eyes of prospects) comes down only to only how attractive their websites look - which is often the case - design makes all the difference in the world.
In the minds of potential customers and business partners, the design of a website is a critical. When a site is appealing and easy to use, people notice and place more trust in your business. Customers that trust you are more willing to provide you with their information and make a purchase.
A beautiful websites that stands out from the crowd can truly communicate your message in a way that standard websites can't. Competition is fierce and every impression of your business counts.
Working with an experienced team of website developers is well worth the cost, providing personalized and tailored services to fit your needs.
The process usually begins with an informational gathering Q&A session with whoever's going to build your site. This allows your website designer to get to know your business and understand what your website requires.
From there, your web design team will take your requirements and develop your website.
A website is an extension of your business and is usually the first thing a prospect sees about your business. If you're not a designer yourself, the only way to truly build a website that stands out from the crowd is with the help of a custom website design service.
At Hostway, we’ll design for your business a brand new modern, professional, beautiful, and responsive website with all the features you need to attract and convert visitors into customers.
Interested? Learn more about our Website Design Services.
Does your website display as “Not Secure” within users’ address bars? If so, it’s likely your customers are turning away from your website in the masses before ever even engaging with your site.
In 2018, Google Chrome (the most popular web browser in the world) began flagging all websites without an SSL certificate as “Not Secure” in ominous red text, warning users to proceed with caution.
Since this change, users are avoiding sites without an SSL certificate like the plague, worried their data and information will be hacked.
An SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate provides security for websites to handle sensitive information adequately. More importantly, it lets your customers or visitors know your website is secure.
Have you noticed the little lock on top of your browser, right next to the URL on your favorite website? That indicates a website with added SSL security –it’s as simple as that!
Beyond the obvious reason - to get rid of the trust killing “Not Secure” mark – how much do you spend a year on anti-virus for your personal computer? Why do you need it?
It’s no different when it comes to the security of your website.
Imagine if all of your customers’ data was stolen. How badly would this impact your reputation and business? More importantly, how do you stop it from happening in the first place?
Your customers and visitors trust and depend on you to provide a secure platform for them to browse securely on. To sum it up, here are 6 benefits of SSL encryption:
Think about how safe you would feel browsing secured websites – it’s time your customers feel that too and that you show them you care.
Getting set up is as simple as following a few steps to complete the process. Feel free to request a consultation with one of our security specialists.
One last tip – It’s important to understand the difference between the varieties of SSL certificates available. Make sure they meet your unique needs and are aligned with your business profile. If you’re having trouble figuring this out, our Sales team will be more than happy to help you!
Founding your own small business is unlike any other job you may take on. It’s a pathway to a totally different lifestyle – so much so that you’ll have to ask yourself whether you’re ready for a complete commitment to the success of your business. If you’re in a relationship, it’s just as important that you ask your partner whether he or she is completely committed.
As the CoE – Chief of Everything – of your small business, you’ll have less time for your personal life. You may put yourself in the position of using much of what you own as collateral to raise money for the business. If those sacrifices don’t sound too harrowing, consider these advantages and disadvantages of owning your own business.
Pros:
Cons:
Considering doing all this from your home office? This comes with distinct pros and cons as well:
Pros:
Cons:
With all these ideas in mind, make an informed decision on whether or not you’re ready to take the plunge into business ownership.
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