Tag Archive for: website

Web conversion tips to boost your online success

For many of today’s website operators, boosting conversion rates is one of the primary goals. Transforming casual visitors into loyal customers is, after all, the ultimate aim of maintaining an online presence. To facilitate this crucial mission, we present these five practical tips you can immediately implement to boost your site’s conversion rate.

Keep it simple

Emphasizing simplicity is crucial in web design. Unnecessary elements can be confusing and time-consuming for users to navigate. Each page, word, and image on a company website should actively contribute to the goal of prompting visitors to contact you, so steer clear of excess information, irrelevant games, and distracting animations. Opt instead for a clean layout that enables visitors to immediately understand what you’re offering and how they can connect with you with a single click.

Mobile matters: Prioritize the phone view

Your website needs to work flawlessly on smartphones. That’s where many people are browsing, and if your site gives them trouble, they’ll bounce faster than a rogue email.

Mobile-first design tackles this head-on. It means building your website with mobile users in mind first, then expanding it for larger screens. Think responsive layouts that automatically adjust, buttons designed for thumbs, and easy navigation — not just on the home page, but everywhere. You can think of it as being similar to a map: every corner should be reachable without users getting lost.

Enhance your site with engaging photos

They say a picture speaks a thousand words, and in website design, this rings particularly true. The right image can instantly capture visitors’ attention, making your site more memorable.

When choosing photos for your website, opt for high-quality, relevant images. Avoid using generic stock photos whenever possible. Instead, showcase your team and offerings with original images. With original photos, you have control over the message they convey, helping you stand out from the competition.

Consistency is key to connecting with your audience. Use a specific photographic or graphic style that your audience can easily identify. This not only contributes to your brand’s trustworthiness but also makes it more relatable.

Improve social media icon placement

Adding social media icons can boost your business’s credibility, but it comes with a caveat. Placing these icons at the top of a page may tempt visitors to click away, leading them to get sidetracked on social media. Remember, the main goal is to keep visitors on your website, exploring what you have to offer.

To achieve this, consider relocating the social media icons to the bottom of the page or in the footer area. This move ensures that visitors engage with your services and content first before venturing into the social media sphere.

Make it easy to connect — don’t hide your contact info

Need help from your website visitors? Don’t bury your contact details. Put your phone number, email address, or even live chat options front and center. Make it easy for site visitors to reach you, whether they’re just curious or ready to buy.

This is especially helpful for people who might not want to leave their email on a form. Give them a direct way to connect, and you’ll open the door to more conversations and conversions.
Turning your website into a conversion machine doesn’t require fancy tricks. By focusing on the basics — clear information, easy navigation, and simplicity — you make it easy for potential customers to get in touch.

Boosting conversions on your website is all about the basics. Follow these tips, focus on key website elements such as clear info and easy navigation, and you’ll create a space that both looks good and turns visitors into customers. If you need more website tips and/or other assistance with anything IT-related, contact us today.

If you are looking for an expert to help you find the best solutions for your business talk to GCInfotech about a free technology assessment

Published with consideration from TechAdvisory.org SOURCE

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Why HTTPS is essential for online security

Cybercriminals are relentless in coming up with new ways to steal our personal information and financial data. That’s why it’s more important than ever to take steps to protect ourselves online, and these steps include visiting websites that use HTTPS.

What is HTTPS?

When you visit a website, you may see a padlock icon in the address bar. This icon indicates that the website is using Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), which is a secure communications protocol that encrypts all data transmitted between your browser and the website.

Without HTTPS, all the data you enter or click on is sent in plain text. This means that anyone who intercepts the traffic between your browser and the website can see everything you do, including the information you enter on the website.

HTTPS also verifies the identity of the website you are visiting, protecting you from cyberattacks involving spoofed versions of legitimate websites that are designed to steal your information.

Compared to the standard HTTP, HTTPS offers a higher level of security, making it essential for online banking, eCommerce, and any other website that handles sensitive data.

How do HTTPS certificates work?

When you go to a website, your device uses an internet directory (i.e., DNS server) to convert the website’s name into a number (i.e., its IP address). This number is saved in a cache so that your device doesn’t have to look it up again every time you visit the website. However, if your computer gets compromised while using an HTTP connection, an attacker can change the directory so that you are redirected to a malicious website, even if you type in the correct address. Victims are usually redirected to spoofed versions of legitimate websites, where they are tricked into entering their sensitive information, such as their login credentials.

To prevent this, internet directories issue HTTPS certificates that transform HTTP into HTTPS. This makes it impossible for anyone to redirect you to a fraudulent website. HTTPS certificates include data about the website, such as its domain name, company name, and location. They also contain a public key for encrypting communication between your browser and the website.

More ways to stay safe online

Here are a few tips for staying safe online, whether you’re just browsing or doing work-related tasks:

  • Think twice before clicking on a website flagged as “unsafe” by your browser. Proceed only if you are sure that no confidential data will be transmitted.
  • Use trusted web browser extensions, such as HTTPS Everywhere, to encrypt your communication, especially when visiting unencrypted websites.
  • Don’t go to websites that don’t use the HTTPS prefix.
  • Be vigilant. Even if a website has HTTPS, it doesn’t automatically mean it’s safe. For example, amaz0n.com (with the “o” replaced with a 0) could have a certificate, but the misspelling suggests that it’s an untrustworthy site. Cybercriminals use similar spellings of real websites to trick victims into believing they’re on a secure site.

While HTTPS is not a silver bullet for online security, it is an essential measure for protecting yourself online. Reach out to us today to learn more about HTTPS and other cybersecurity best practices.

If you are looking for an expert to help you find the best solutions for your business talk to GCInfotech about a free technology assessment

Published with consideration from TechAdvisory SOURCE

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Speed up your WordPress site by following these tips

Ten years ago, waiting five seconds for a website to load was perfectly acceptable. But today, people just don’t have the patience for pages that load for more than three seconds. Anything slower than that and they’ll click away, which then increases your bounce rate. If you want to speed up your WordPress site and reduce bounce rate, try the following tips.

Keep WordPress and plugins up to date

Updating your WordPress version and plugins will not only keep your website secure but also speed it up. Therefore, you should install those updates as soon as they become available.

You can set WordPress to update automatically, or you can install updates manually. If you want to manage the updates yourself, install the Easy Updates Manager plugin to help you stay on top of all updates.

Choose a website host wisely

Your website’s host can make or break your website. So before you select one, carefully compare the details of their service plans — especially the website speed and uptime — against those of other vendors.

While it may be tempting to opt for shared hosting because of its low cost, this setup offers the slowest speeds because websites are simultaneously relying on the same server for bandwidth. In contrast, having a dedicated server will provide the best speed, but it may be too costly for many small- and medium-sized businesses.

A great mid-performance, mid-price alternative is a virtual private server (VPS). A VPS acts like a dedicated server in terms of functionality but still technically uses a shared server. It will speed up your site better than typical shared hosting without breaking the bank.

Keep your site lean

The leaner your site, the faster it will load. To create a lean site, be mindful of these four things:

  1. Theme – Having a theme with tons of features can set you back in terms of speed. This is because the huge amount of code that powers those features can bog down your site. Avoid this by testing different themes to see how long they take to load. If the loading time is more than three seconds, look for another theme that loads faster.
  2. Design – Some design elements can dramatically slow down your site. Simple sites load faster, so carefully consider the ads, images, and extra assets that you add to your website to avoid slow page loads.
  3. Plugins – Think twice before going overboard with plugins, as having fewer plugins translates to a faster site load time. Also, keep in mind that not all plugins are created equal; some run faster than others. To tell one from the other, use applets that show the impact a plugin has on your site’s load time.
  4. Images – While many raw images are around 3,000 to 4,000 pixels wide, most web pages resize them without compression to 600 to 800 pixels wide so they can fit on the screen. If you want faster web page load speeds, resize your site’s images to the exact size they’ll appear on the screen. This shaves some bytes off the image file size, so the images load more quickly.

Leverage speed-boosting plugins

Use plugins that speed up your site. Cache plugins like W3 Total Cache and WP Super Cache can provide more speed by caching your site on user browsers, thereby reducing download times.

Another helpful plugin is Lazy Load. It boosts your site’s speed by loading the elements at the top of the website first, then loading subsequent elements as a visitor scrolls down the page. Most themes already include the Lazy Load plugin, so check your Theme Options to see if it’s already part of your code pack.

Use redirects sparingly

Web pages that point to other URLs can slow down your site, so make sure to avoid or limit redirections. To check for redirects that your website doesn’t need, you can use the Redirect mapper tool or similar alternatives.

Implementing some or all of the tips above will surely improve your WordPress site’s speed. If you need more help in optimizing your website, or if you have other IT concerns, just give us a call.

Ask yourself what your website is doing for you and whether it’s aligned with your business needs and objectives. The GCInfotech professional web design team is here to help.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. SOURCE

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