Raven & Macaw

What A Proper Website Should Look Like

what a good website looks like

With millions of website strategies available, you may wonder what an appropriate website should look like. But, before that, do the looks even matter? Well, sure, pretty, you have clicked on some websites and gone “WOW” at first glance; plus, you didn’t have any problem getting what you were looking for, and it felt like what you needed. But, on the other hand, you may have experienced some websites that you couldn’t spend 10 seconds surfing. Why? Because it was not a good website. Well, the looks/appearance of a quality website can enhance or ruin the initial purpose of the website, as it is among the key factors determining a business’s success. Therefore, every website should contain the below features to be perceived as a good website. Primary Purpose The first and most important question is, “What is the primary purpose of this website?” No one wakes up on Wednesday morning and says, “Oh! Today I want to create a website for absolutely nothing….” Every website has a specific reason why it is created, right? So, within a few seconds of clicking a website, every visitor should be able to know the primary purpose of the website and what it has to offer. For example, every visitor should quickly notice the shopping cart feature if a website is created to sell products online. Simplicity and Design How simple but catchy the design of a website greatly influences user experience. The colours, typography and visuals all matter. First, you need to have a colour palette for your brand. This will make it easy for you to decide on the colour combinations to use on your website, not just jump on random colours. Moreover, a good website shouldn’t exceed five colours. Secondly, typography is a vital aspect of every website. It kind of controls the individuals’ attention and speaks for the brand. Therefore, a good website should have no more than three font types. The visuals of a website are all the imagery aspects that form the website. The visuals should explain/display the nature of the company/brand. This is important because it decides every visitor’s first impression. Easy to Navigate A good website should be easy to navigate. Nobody wants a complicated website. The easier a website can navigate, the faster it retains its visitors. If visitors find it hard to navigate a website, look at competitors’ websites. Consistent layouts and visual cues for functionality should be standard across a good website. Mobile Friendly We live in a world where people access the internet via mobile phones. You have no idea what device your next visit will use to access your website. So, you wouldn’t like your website to look scattered or unfriendly. There will hardly be an SEO ranking for a website without being mobile-friendly. Type Of Content The type of content on a website also contributes to its overall quality. A website can be A+ on the design, but poor content can ruin its whole purpose. Educative, exciting and entertaining content is the best. In addition, consistent quality content updates, whether video, audio or text, will make visitors come back for more updates and can easily convert these visitors to customers and enhance the SEO ranking of a website. Call To Action A key factor for almost every website. Not just e-commerce websites, but every website should ask visitors to do at least one thing. This may include sharing an article, following SM handles, signing up or downloading what they have to offer. Load Time Everyone seems to be in a hurry these days. No one can wait more than 5 seconds for a website to fully load. In today’s world, a good website should be able to access any of its pages within 3 seconds. With quality content and fast load time, no way that won’t leave a smile on any visitor’s face. Of course, the speed of a website starts with quality hosting. However, content optimisation has a strong effect on load time. Have our team of website designers create/design and maintain a website that ranks number one on search engine result pages and drives massive traffic.  

How To Optimise Your Website

how to optimise your website

Over 60% of Google users search for products and services online. Also, around 80% of these people end up in direct, in-store sales or another patronage. So this becomes a good reason to optimise your website. Optimising a website pops up in top searches whenever users search for a related keyword. It is a continuous process. The more you keep doing business and creating content, you must also keep optimising your website regularly. What’s more interesting is that the ways to optimise your website are primarily free. So, it is not a matter of who has the deepest pockets but who is ready to put in more time and effort. Below are some free ways to optimise your website: Optimise For Mobile Nowadays, smartphones and tabs are used for research more often than desktops. You have no idea from which device a user will access your website. That is why it is of enormous importance to optimise your website for all digital devices. Nobody enjoys surfing a website with cut-off edges and oversized content. So, don’t forget to scale all your images for responsive design, avoid long meta descriptions and take note of pop-ups that may obstruct your visitors from reading or seeing your content. When last did you check your website via a mobile phone? Well, do that now and see if everything looks good. Easy Site Navigations Most people don’t take site navigation serious because it is arguably a complex notion to understand. However, it is a vital step in website optimisation. Almost everything will fail if your website is challenging to navigate; your great content and offers will barely matter. The layout of your website should allow users to have access from one point to another without so many clicks and stress. So, initially, you would like to start simple and have an image of what your website should look like before building it. Then, look and feel for everything and ensure it is something users can easily navigate. Proper Keyword Research This is more like a trick in optimisation; the research for words and phrases that your audience would like to see and have interest in. so first, you have to understand who your customers are. This looks like an arduous task, and yes, it is. However, some tools like Google Keyword Planner make it all easy. These tools will show you words (related to your niche), how many searches the terms have, your competitors and more. So it would help if you considered going for talks with high searches but low competitors. Make Use Of Landing Pages Landing pages are almost a necessity for every website. All customers need a page to land. If you are driving traffic from social media handles, you should have landing pages for your customers to see more about your products or services. These landing pages should be similar in colour and verbosity to your social media post. Landing pages are excellent remedies for intricate websites that channel customers to the correct pages. Keep An Eye On The Speed How fast a website boots and functions is key to its success. Google has made a free tool known as “PageSpeed Insight”, which can assist you in understanding how fast it takes the pages on your website to load. In addition, it gives you suggestions for a better speed. See How Similar Websites Are Doing Undoubtedly, the best way to be ahead of your competitors is by looking at what they do and developing a better idea. You may find it hard to do a couple of things on your own; in situations like this, you can look at how similar businesses are doing it and have an idea of how to start. Things to look into may include articles, product pages, titles and more. However, it is more important to consider what works well for them. Visit the Raven and Macaw website now to learn more about optimising your website, or consult our experts to design and optimise your website for long-term effects.

6 Easy-to-use Graphic Design Tools

Graphic design: what is it? The production of visual compositions for problem-solving and concept communication using text, imagery, colour, and shape is known as graphic design. There are various forms of graphic design, each with a specific area of competence because there is no single best approach to accomplish that. Graphic design is described as “the art and practice of designing and projecting ideas and experiences with visual and textual information” by the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA). In other words, the graphic design uses images to convey specific concepts or thoughts. These images might be as straightforward as a company logo or as intricate as website page designs. -The 8 Types of Graphic Designs You Need To Know- Therefore, graphic design tools are software programs that assist designers in realising their ideas. So, just get started if you’re sick of paying for graphic design. In this article, we’ll discuss six simple and easy-to-use graphic design tools whether you’re a student or a business owner.       CANVA A free online graphic design tool is Canva. Use it to make logos, presentations, posters, films, social media postings, and more. To enable everyone in the world to design anything and publish anywhere, Canva is an online design and publishing platform.  As a straightforward drag-and-drop user interface, Canva enables picture manipulation and project-based learning and is suitable even for younger students. It provides many virtual templates so users, including students, can edit designs and make additions. Canva has many features, but many of them are targeted at educators. Canva has more than 8,000 templates, compared to Snappa’s 5,000 in addition to stickers and badge graphics.          ADOBE SPARK Adobe Spark is an integrated narrative platform and online creative tool. Users can design and produce images to communicate knowledge interactively. The tool was developed in May 2016 and consists of three design programs: Post (graphic design), Page (web design), and Video. Adobe Spark helps you build innovative web pages and videos by striking the right balance between minimalism and robust design. Users never lose their progress because modifications made while designing any of the three apps are saved in an online cloud.       SNAPPA Snappa is a cloud-based graphic design tool created to assist small businesses in creating graphics for infographics, emails, blogs, social media, and other channels according to the channel’s specifications. Snappa is a straightforward tool that aids in producing minimalist designs. Snappa is entirely free to use for as long as you’d want. You can access thousands of images and graphics, three monthly downloads and professionally created social media templates for all the major social media networks. There are several critical distinctions between Snappa and Canva. Canva includes more sophisticated design features, whereas Snappa concentrates on straightforward, user-friendly tools.          DESYNER With established templates, Desygner, a visual design tool, organisations may create social media posts, presentations, advertising, posters, and other types of material. However, the most excellent and accessible graphic design software is called Desygner. This tool provides the sense of using photoshop because it allows you to switch between picture layers and customise your text and graphics settings.          AFFINITY DESIGNER Due to its user-friendly interface, Affinity Designer is a fantastic alternative for independent projects or beginning graphic artists. It is a solid rival to Adobe Illustrator, offering a comparable set of design tools and additional user-friendly features. People who desire a cost-effective option without sacrificing functionality should consider it.          PHOTOSCAPE   A minimal toolbox of sketching tools is included in the free picture editing program PhotoScape, which covers all the essentials. Due to its drag-and-drop user interface, it is easy to use. It will swiftly and pleasantly complete straightforward operations such as resizing or cropping. Additionally, it has some batch operations, including file renaming and minor editing to speed up your work. We hope this article helps you know about graphic design tools that are easy and free to use, even as a student or an amateur. If you liked this article, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, where we share the company updates and tips.    

Websites Vs Landing Pages

websites vs. landing pages

Have you ever been stuck between choosing a website or a landing page? To make things clear, a website is like your whole business online, while a landing page is a part of it. However, you may need a website and landing page for a superb online impression. Although a landing page can be just a part of your website, in some cases, it works better than your website and vice-versa. However, there are times when you may need both for your online presence. In this article, we will look at what a website and landing page are, their differences and when you need one over the other. A Website  It is a set of accessible related web pages containing images, videos, audio, write-ups, or other information/data that individuals can read or retrieve through the internet. A website is made up of web pages. A website has different functions and can portray almost every idea. For example, businesses use websites to display and explain their products or services and grant individuals access. A website speaks for you online with relevant features like purchases and customer services. Landing Page Unlike a website, a landing page is a simple webpage created for a clear purpose and specific audience. It is usually based on a promotional concept to engage leads. It may and may not be attached to a website. Landing pages are excellent marketing tools for advertising, generating sales campaigns, and more. They are designed in an accessible and straight format with a CTA for visitors to sign up, download, buy, or purchase. Difference between Website and Landing page The Website Landing Page contains several pages with various purposes. A single page with a single goal. There are pages on websites that are not focused on conversions. A landing page is focused on conversion. Information on a website provides everything the visitors need to know. Information is centred around a single offer; It is created to present an entire business. It is designed to sell products or capture leads. Several modules and functions. A landing page typically only includes text, images and CTA.       Website or Landing Page For new users, it may be hard to choose between a website and a landing page. Well, it all depends on the requirements. For example, a landing page works best for a quick product launch or boosting the online presence of a business. However, a website works best for online business details, selling multiple products, blogging and many more. -Different types of websites you should know- When You Need A Website Over A Landing A website is an excellent tool for telling your brand story. Whether a business or a personal account, the About Us, Mission and Visions pages can provide all the necessary information, your visitors might have about you or your business. A website serves as an online store. All your products and more can be organised on several pages within it. Every product can be described with its features and a category. A website can be populated with service pages. Visitors can quickly locate and book your services with quality and clear messages. A website offers functions and relates you to your customers. You can showcase everything you do or offer and help users locate your business through your website. A website is to inform and not always sell. When You Need A Landing Page Over A Website Ads quality, like PPC, is measured by the linked pages. When launching a new product, discount, location, events, etc., a landing page around the ad will perform better than an entire website. A landing page works best when you want to grab users’ attention quickly. A landing page provides only what the user wants to see/do. It is also used to generate the best leads. Some forms mostly pop out on landing pages; anytime a user fills out the form, they become a lead. Website or landing page, at Raven and Macaw, we can help you with both for long-term double profit.    

Website Design Trends in 2022

website design trends

Web design has gone way beyond how it was about a decade ago. Gone are the days when many design-related elements were unessential on a website. With millions of people surfing the internet for new adventures daily, first design impressions matter; people are more focused on designs, how accessible the website is, easy navigation, and user-friendly. There are so many designs that are making waves already this year. Key features of these designs include unique typography, live animations, advanced interactions, and visual styles, to mention a few. We are halfway to 2023 already. So let’s look at the website designs that have been making waves so far in 2022. One-page Website The world keeps developing, and millions of people check different websites daily. A complex website can sometimes be the least effective because many people would find it hard to navigate. A one-page website makes it easy for everyone, especially if you have a narrow subject matter. A one-page website is similar to that. However, this fantastic design places all the necessary information on a single page, saving customers time and the stress of navigating different pages. Moreover, it gives a reader/viewer more focus because the information they seek is in front of their eyes. Side Scroll Website We are most familiar with websites that we can scroll and navigate vertically. However, this jaw-dropping design has made many people’ wow’ because of its horizontal scroll feature. This type of website design is common among portfolio websites and catalogs. Nowadays, almost every website with projects, galleries, and exploring new places can have a side-scroll feature addition; some top-rated music websites like SIareP is also side-scroll website. If done correctly, side-scroll websites are more attractive, engaging, and impressive. Sites of Delight This is more like a fun website. It has never resulted in a bad user experience. It comes in two forms.         Surface Delight         Deep Delight Surface delight is a great and compelling style. It is where animations, images, sound, and gestures come into play. However, to some point, it needs a bit of touch/assistance to stand firm thoroughly; that is where Deep delight comes into play. Deep delight ensures all customer requirements are met; this includes the website functions, how reliable it is, and how friendly and pleasurable it is. In designing a delightful site, the designers usually make a playful/fun UX design. They try to include humor in the navigations, menu, and other interactions. In addition, they often describe it as a website that works in unexpected ways. App-like Designs Many people are used to apps that easily interact, engage with a couple of animations, and have many dynamic experiences. Well, that app logic is in some websites already. Jeremy Beyth (CEO ThreeSixtyEight) recently spoke on this, stating, “An app-like website creates a more amazing experience, and if it’s given more attention, it will surely be the future of all web designs.” So many new web design tools like no-code make this interaction design easy to implement. Brutalism Design While the world fancy appealing fonts, and excellent placements, this design doesn’t seem to go with the flow. It is more like a sore thumb; it is raw, has an unpolished look, the colors clash, and the layouts look non-traditional. You need this if you are ready to settle for something bold and rugged on a website. Also, if this is the right taste, you wish to go crazy/wild on a website. What’s impressive about this design is how it makes your website pop out even with the little elements. Brutalist typography goes well on headers and paragraphs. It is an excellent way to add a metropolitan vibe to a website. Interactive Fonts In this design, there is more to text than just plain text. Professional designers have found many ways to make text move in fantastic styles, some by placing your cursor on the reader. A simple way to do this is if you apply a hover-state change similar to a button. It keeps getting easier to implement this feature through no-code platforms. However, when implementing this type of font, ensure it’s clear and readable because many individuals get puzzled by moving characters. Multilayer Design Do you have many contents you want to display in a limited space? This design got you covered. Over the years, many designers don’t want to approach designs with visual content. Still, with this technique, designers find it easy to populate a website with photo galleries and graphic elements. Imagery multilayers are an excellent technique to tell a story and make visitors spend more time exploring a website. Do you want your website to drive traffic as you’ve never imagined? Contact us now and have your website designed by professionals.