Being a small business, it’s easy to make small mistakes without even realizing. But it’s better than being a big business and making big mistakes, right? Well, when it comes to web design, like your personal website, both desktop version and mobile version, there are some common mistakes that small businesses tend to make or ignore. Yes, they are small mistakes, but they could easily have a big impact on your audience and your general image.

Pointing out some little errors here and there aren’t meant to hurt your feelings, but rather to help you realize what you might be doing wrong without even knowing it’s wrong. It happens to all of us, and we can’t deny it; we all make mistakes!

Here are the 7 common web design mistakes small businesses make. Let’s see if you fall into any of these errors:

1. Neglecting the audience. The first faulty mistake is simple: you ignore the target market. Who is your website targeting, and what is the best way to reach them? This is one of the most important questions whenever creating anything new. Before you start working on your site, you must do some research into your audience and find out what other type of webpages they are on and how they access information, via personal computer or mobile device. You need to do your research first and foremost!
2. Busy design. You know the saying, less is more, and that applies to your webpage design. A mobile device is small and compact, even a tablet is limited in display space, so why do you want to cluster all of that with lots of flashy images or layouts. Keep it simple and clean. With a clear design, it’s all about navigation; the browser can easily find what they’re looking for without blinding their eyes with bright neon signs. Try to keep it minimal without loosing your own style.
3. No clear function. The homepage is everything, remember that. When the browser first accesses your homepage, what do you want them to do next? You have to set up a clear navigation, while also guiding them into the right direction. Do you want them to shop in your e-store, read your blog, or sign up for your weekly newsletter? You have to make sure that the features you want to focus on are clear and present, or else you might lose the browser.
4. Worrying about cost. For the most part, people think that if they spend more on something, they’re paying for the higher quality; and that’s not always true. Likewise if you pay less for something, then the quality is poor. Neither is true, and neither is wrong. Don’t worry about price when it comes to web design, instead, focus on the quality. When you’re looking for a web designer, don’t ask about the price first, make sure to check out their portfolio and previous work, you never know, the perfect designer for you could work for cheap, or he could work for millions. Make the right decision.
5. Old content. This of course refers to when your website is complete, but is still a mistake often made by small businesses. When you don’t update your website with new content, people won’t be interested in it anymore. If you opened your website in 2010 and haven’t touched it since, it’s not likely you’re making any businesses from that website. Try to update it at least once a week, and if you don’t have any new things to add, it’s a good idea to do a general maintenance check to make sure the links are working, etc.
6. A general audience. When you try to target your webpage to the entire world, it can become a little messy and unclear. You may want some big traffic coming onto your webpage, but you can’t handle it. You’re a small business, and you’re there for the smaller market. Focus on a specific group of consumers and stick with that. Slowly, and eventually, you can expand into larger waters, but for now, keep it small. Don’t overwhelm yourself!
7. Don’t do it yourself. Every now and then we feel empowered when we take on a DIY task and complete it to satisfaction, but when it comes to web design, don’t even give it a try unless you’re a designer. Hire a professional and let him do the work. Stick to what you know, and that’s running a business.

Is your website in the deep end? Learn from your mistakes and create the most successful webs design you can!

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Even though your mobile website should be similar to your desktop website, there are some things that you must have on your mobile website that you may or may not already have on your desktop website. The two sites are very different, even though they are for the same function or purpose, more or less. The users that access your website on either platform, mobile or personal computer, they are accessing it from very different sources of technology, and their browsing experience is different.

To make sure that your mobile website is in tip top shape, here’s a check list of 5 things you must have, and you must have them.

1. Social media. The majority of mobile users are connected to social media, typically Facebook and Twitter, but depending on your target market, the social media tools may be different. Generally it’s important to be in the networks with your customers and that means you have to include these easy links on your mobile website. You can take it a step further (if you have a mobile commerce store) and add ‘share’ buttons for each item, allowing users to easily click to share with their Facebook friends or Twitter followers.
2. Mobile web video. Video content is currently a hot trend, not only in the business world. People like to see visuals, they like to hear sounds, and they enjoy graphics and cool story lines. You can upload video content about your products or business, or you can use video content to market other things, like behind the scenes action or even a video blog. But you should have at least one video on your mobile website (and desktop website for that matter).
3. Clear navigation. On a mobile device, even if it’s a tablet, the display screen has limited space, so you have to plan accordingly. Your navigation should be very clear and useful. You won’t be able to include the links to every single thing on your homepage, but you can categorize and eventually lead the customer to where they want to go. Generally it’s good to have the very basics as the mobile homepage, such as: Shop, Contact, About, and social media links. Decide for yourself what are the most important links for your website.
4. Call to action. Since your users are obviously on a mobile device, and most likely a smartphone, you need to have a call to action button. This is like a simple button that users can just tap and a call to that number is initiated. It’s easy for customers to quickly dial your number, and if you have several numbers, it can help them find the right service they need.
5. Mobile commerce. Of course, this goes for all the websites that have an e-commerce store already. Set up mobile commerce so users can browse your e-store and make purchases directly from their mobile device. It’s an easy way to add some more business for mobile users. And besides, some people like to browse while they’re on the train home, and who knows if they discover something they simply must have?

Make sure your mobile website is able to provide all of the customer’s needs and wants, because sometimes a customer doesn’t know what they want until you give it to them. So let’s get your mobile web design started!

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There’s not much of a difference between a personal website and a business website, of course the content may vary, but for both cases, web design is important.

Having a great, clean, web design will really help make your website look professional and easy to browse. There are several things to consider when coming up with the best web design, so let’s go through and look at some of the main points.

• Organize and optimize content as efficiently as you can. Try not to have so much happening on one page, try to find a simple way to organize content into tabs or links on a website. When you optimize your mobile website, it’s important that all the content is minimal and efficient. Your mobile site and desktop site should both be very clean and easy to navigate.
• Maintain links and web pages often because sometimes links may expire or something may randomly malfunction on your web page, so it’s important to check it often and do a little maintenance on both mobile website and desktop website.
• Consider the user’s need, whether desktop or mobile. It’s important to have a fast download time and a balance of clear images and text. Test your site on both desktop and mobile phone to see for yourself if the web page is suitable for users.
• Plan a clear navigation tab, and make sure to categorize or filter links and other files in a clear way. Avoid stress and confusion, just keep things together and keep them accessible for users. And try to have as few tabs or links as possible when considering the mobile website, only the bare necessities!.
• Remember that mobile users browse with just a finger, so make sure that scrolling and navigating is touch-friendly and large enough to read.
• Use phone location for some website-related features. For example, when a mobile user accesses your site from their device, their location could be used when ordering an item, such as the general location information is already detected (country or region, and city).
• Constantly compare your mobile site with the desktop site, make sure they are both up to date and contain the same information. It’s important to test all the features on the mobile phone to make sure they work and are easily accessible for users.

You should also try to make sure that your website and mobile site share the same theme, or at least colour scheme, so that users can quickly recognize your site.

And remember, when you’re mobile site is ready to launch, advertise it on your website to let users know that they can now access your mobile optimized website and keep up to date with your business. Connecting with smartphone users is a new way to do business, we are all connected, let’s all stay connected.

These are tips for optimizing your mobile website design. Need help finding a designer? Drop us a message and we’ll start working on your mobile optimized website.

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When you have a great mobile web design, why would you need an app?

Mobile optimized websites can come in many different looks, depending on the function and main purpose of the website. This said, a mobile website could look just like a mobile app, without the extra costs of app design, distribution, and maintenance.

Creating a mobile app takes a lot of time and can easily drain your bank account. You have to come up with a cool design first of all, which is the first step to converting a website to a mobile website. Next with an app, you have to distribute it according to which devices you want it to be available on. Naturally you would want it available on all mobile devices, but that doesn’t happen automatically; you have to manually configure it, according to each individual device; because let’s face it, every smartphone is a little different than the other.

Once you have a mobile app completed, it’s not done yet, you still have to maintain it and update it from time to time, and users have to download the new updates and keep up with the new changes manually from their device. Not as easy as you thought it was?

The mobile web on the other hand, is used on all mobile devices, not just smartphones, but also tablets and other mobile phones with wifi access. A mobile optimized website has the same content as a regular website, it is just presented in a different way which caters to the mobile user.

Typically space is limited, so it’s important to condense everything into a clean design that focuses on navigation and content, rather than ads, campaigns, and lots of wordy text. Everything has to be clear, simple, and to the point.

When we’re talking about retail and businesses, it’s important to know that mobile users prefer the mobile web to mobile apps. With a clean mobile web design, it can resemble the same features as an app, with tabs and quick buttons to navigate and other functions, such as purchasing, shopping carts, send to friend, etc.

If a mobile website can function just like a mobile app, why go through all the extra hassle to ultimately create the same product?

It’s easier to access the mobile web whenever it’s needed than to download and update apps that may take up space in smartphones. Even if you’re an avid shopper, it’s not likely you’ll be checking the app every day in case something new comes up. It’s just convenient to access the mobile web whenever it’s needed.

Give your site a mobile make over with a sleek mobile design suitable for all mobile devices from smartphones to tablets. The mobile web is better than a mobile app, so get your mobile optimized website ready and become a part of the modern world.

Technology is growing fast, so it’s important to keep up. Make sure your site is mobile friendly, go mobile!

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Internet videos have become a popular trend in the last several years, giving the world an opportunity to share ideas, information, and cool tidbits about anything from pop music to knitting stitches.

Now that video is viewable on mobile devices, users are taking advantage of this. At least 20% of video views come from mobile devices alone.

The popular video hosting site, YouTube, automatically converts their videos to suit the mobile format, but that doesn’t mean the actual content is easily converted, just the design.

So what’s the best way to optimize video for mobile devices?

A mobile screen is a lot smaller than a desktop computer screen, it’s important to consider size first of all. Using a lot of text in a video isn’t recommended for either, but do avoid small text that may be completely illegible on a mobile device. Of course, it depends on your content, but try to avoid using as much text as you can, and if it’s needed, make it big and clear so that viewers on all platforms can easily read.

Most videos are trying to advertise or market an idea or product, so make sure that you focus on what you’re talking about. Viewing video on mobile phone is very limiting, and it’s not possible to zoom into the video, so help everyone out and use zooming in your video so your viewers won’t have to strain. Focus on details and demonstrate what you’re talking about in the clearest way possible.

Audio is important, not just for mobile videos, but also for web videos. If you don’t have clear audio, then no one is going to understand what’s happening. Mobile phone speakers are limited, and even using headphones can be limiting. Test out audio before you upload it; try to make it as clear as possible. High quality is always better.

Mobile users are also more limited with their devices, cramming content in a small space and navigating using scrolling and just thumbs. Having useful links in the video description will make it easy for users to just push and browse, instead of having them type out a URL using their thumbs and consuming time. Mobile users are used to clicking link after link and browsing the web, so give them something they are already familiar with. Links are important for all users, and they should be included with every web video.

No matter what, it’s important to test out your video before you upload it. Test it on a mobile device and a desktop computer. See how the quality is on the small screen versus the large screen. Check the audio quality and the visibility of the text, do everything you can to make sure the video is optimized for mobile devices.

The world is quickly moving onto mobile devices, and they’re popping up everywhere, so everyone who isn’t a part of the fast movement, needs to adapt accordingly. You may not be a mobile user, but if you have content online, it needs to be optimized for mobile users. It’s not an extra hassle; it just makes everything convenient for everyone. Make sure your video content is optimized for mobile devices before you upload it onto the web!

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