With more and more businesses and households able to access superfast broadband, and an increasing number of smartphone users browsing the internet on 4G networks, your business website can now utilise stunning high-resolution imagery, glorious high-definition videos, animations, and other interactivity to engage potential customers and promote your business.
Could your website be doing more for your business?
Here are a few things to consider if you want to enhance your online presence…
Mobile-Friendly Websites
Any business without a mobile-friendly or responsive website right now is missing out on potential customers and opportunities. If your potential client is looking at your website on their smartphone or tablet and can’t find what they’re looking for quickly and easily – they’ll find a competitor’s website where they can.
Google says so…
- Google researched the importance of mobile sites and found that 72% of consumers
demand a mobile-friendly website for ease of navigation. (Source: Google) - Consumers actually lose interest in websites that are not compatible with their mobile devices. (Source: Sunrise Advertising)
- 94% of smartphone owners look for local information on their phone – and because searchers are looking for this information on the go, their purchase intent is far higher than people searching on a desktop. (Source: Televox)
- Consumers are spending 15+ hours per week researching products and services on their smartphones. (Source: Google)
Bottom line – people are constantly on their phones, which is why it is essential for businesses to be there too.
If your website isn’t mobile-friendly or responsive then contact your web design agency now to discuss your options. If it’s been a while since you carried out a major design or functionality update to your website now would be a great time to do this as you take steps to appeal to an increasing mobile audience.
Video and Animations
If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words is a video worth?
Video, animation, and motion-graphics are extremely powerful tools when it comes to selling your products or services online, as these stats prove:
- Having a video on your landing page can increase conversions by over 80% (Source: Visually)
- Video drives a 157% increase in organic traffic from search engines (Source: Brightcove)
- 4 x as many consumers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it (Source: eMarketer)
- Businesses using video grow company revenue 49% faster year-over-year than organisations that don’t (Source: Aberdeen)
- 7 out of 10 people view brands in a more positive light after watching interesting video content from them (Source: Axonn Research)
Businesses that fail to include video on their website will do so at their peril. Advancements in technology have brought video production costs down significantly in recent years, and animated info-graphics can be just as powerful, for a fraction of the cost.
Video quality is vitally important, though. Posting a poor quality video can be as detrimental to your website as having no video. Another important tip is that video doesn’t necessarily have to be stored directly on your website server, it can be hosted on third party video websites such as YouTube, Vimeo, and Wistia and then embedded on your website in glorious High Definition.
High Quality Imagery
With high resolution displays now available on most modern devices including laptops and smartphones, images are more powerful than ever before.
Here are a few tips when it comes to creating and selecting your website imagery…
Opt for High Resolution
In the past, the resolution and file size of images on websites had to be limited to ensure a prompt load time and maintain a positive user-experience – that’s still a factor, but with increased internet speeds and efficient photo editing tools your images can be high in quality, and your website lightning fast.
Go Pro if you can
As good as the iPhone and other smartphones’ cameras are, these images are best saved for posting on your social media accounts. For your website, hire a professional photographer to take pictures of your products, projects or business premises.
Good Stock
If you can’t afford a professional photographer in the first instance then stock imagery is an affordable compromise. Just be sure to download professional looking images at the highest resolution and don’t use the same stock images you have seen on your competitors’ websites. There’s plenty to choose from – be different.
Of course, it’s impossible to future-proof your website entirely – but why would you want to?
Advancements in technology and broadband infrastructure generally enhance the user experience and how you can showcase your business online.
In general, we advise our clients to consider doing a major overhaul of their website every 3-5 years and in some cases every couple of years, depending on their industry.
If your website is in need of a design and technology upgrade then contact Vizulate Digital today.
About Vizulate Digital
Vizulate Digital is a digital marketing and web design agency based in Brighouse on the outskirts of Huddersfield and Calderdale. Every website designed and developed by Vizulate Digital is responsive, and therefore mobile-friendly, as standard. We employ SEO best practice and every site is created with a simple to use content management system (CMS).
For more information contact us on 01484 950 200 or email us at info@vizulate.com
