Craft Your Website To Engage Customers

Millions of websites are viewed by thousands per day, but not too many stay on a website for over 30 seconds. When a customer visits a particular webpage and leaves the site after 30 seconds, that website’s bounce rate increases. This could be due to many factors. We have narrowed down a short checklist for you to cover when crafting the perfect website for your company.

Responsiveness counts.

If your site isn’t already responsive, you need a new design, as this is the main concern pertaining to websites in general, even over aesthetic appeal! Make sure your website is sized for viewing on multiple devices: mobile use, tablet use, computer use for both large and small monitors and even for viewing on a watch. Budget this into your marketing financials to monitor SEO performance and make changes along the way for maximum optimized viewing.

Keep it simple.

Make sure whoever is visiting your website, whether a savvy 16-year-old or your grandmother, anyone should be able to get to where he or she wants to go in only three clicks of the mouse.

Ghost buttons to envy.

Ghost buttons provide a minimal and classy look to keys or switches placed over images, content, or a blank section of your website. Ghost buttons are also an amazing call-to-action piece, drawing in both customers and outside designers. Not to mention the speed of your website will experience an increase in speed!

Typography matters.

Think nobody notices what font you use? Wrong. If you select an ugly font, customers will notice right away. Even if customers do not have an automatic reaction to your font choice, their subconscious will because fonts form an emphasis on what your company represents value and ethics wise. If you already know ‘content is king’ this will be no surprise to you.

Design defines.

Overall, your company will be based on its overall visual appearance. Flat designs started to trend in 2014 and continue to have momentum through mid-2015. This is due to how we consume content and our need for less is more. By taking on the minimalist approach, your customers will spend more time on your website and be more inclined to share your website with others.

Tip: Our website actually uses a flat design for example!

Make sure everything works well on your website, that there are no broken links or faulty images. Your website speaks volumes and taking the little time to update once, if not twice, a year, along with continually providing new content and call-to-action pieces will drop your bounce rate and attract new clients. Take care of your website so it can take care of your company.

Society Fooled By Adobe's Photoshop

Society stresses the over-use of Photoshop, a photo-editing program by Adobe, on public figures, claiming the program blurs the line of what is real and what is fake.

Photos streaming the Internet community make headlines every time a celebrity’s unedited photos get leaked. Companies release campaigns that get bashed by the public for being ‘too Photoshopped’. The truly blurred lines between Photoshop and reality debuts from misguided truths of what is actually touched-up and what is not.

Photoshop is a post-production tool used to correct minor flaws and not for sole creation alone. Advertisements displayed across the inner beginning pages of Vogue Magazine are seen as flawless, making the viewer questions its authenticity. In March of 2013, L’Oreal “permanently discontinued” a set of mascara campaign advertisements due to claims of excessive Photoshop. But what goes into that L’Oreal headshot alone?

To start an advertising campaign, the company selects a model or celebrity to represent the brand or product. Usually the model already has close to flawless skin. Liquid makeup is placed on the models skin for an overall smooth base of foundation. Then a professional makeup artist applies high-quality makeup exclusive to specialists in the industry. After all of this is said and done, the photo shoot takes place and the photographer will then retouch the images to remove flyaway strands of hair, control light (if need be), and other small errors that would take the reader’s eye away from the brand or product.

The public is overly misled by how Photoshop works, what its purpose is, and who uses Photoshop. When it is even being used the statement, “it’s too Photoshopped,” has become a regularly occurrence. The photo shoot was probably a full-day production, with numerous salaries at work and endless light changes.

This year marks Photoshop’s 25^th birthday with the Alex Amado, Adobe’s senior director of creative and media, claiming “a huge milestone” for the photo-editing software program.

"It's the tool we put out into the world that's had the broadest impact," Amado said. "It's used in the design process of pretty much everything we see and touch these days—every ad you've reviewed, all the photography in every publication, everything from logos on T-shirts to billboards, industrial design and the movies."

So before making the claim “it’s too Photoshopped”, think about all the professionals involved in one single shot.