The Web Design Success Blog
Website Design Tips
The problem with unique top level domains (tld)
With all of the new top level domains (tld) out there many people are tempted to purchase more and more unique names. You can get .xyz, .link, .healthcare and .guru. Unfortunately, web users are so used to using .com that they assume that everything ends with .com. This can be a nightmare for businesses...
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Achieving better web usability and quicker navigation
Website UsabilityEliminating questions allows you to achieve better web usability and quicker navigation making your site much more effective. Today you can do almost anything in a minute or less, more specifically when it comes to the web, it is important to create web sites so that they can be quickly navigated....
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2011 Website Browser Statistics
Browser Stats 2011Firefox loses ground while Chrome and mobile gain percentage points. IE remains constant. Browser statistics for the beginning of 2011 show that IE has remained at a consistent 61% market share. Firefox fell the most in 2011 losing 5.86% over 2010. Chrome surges again with a 2.65% increase over 2010....
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2010 Website Browser Statistics
Browser Stats 2010Browser statistics for 2010 show that IE loses 6% of its market share. Firefox stays constant with a slight increase at 24.87%. Chrome increases 3% and Safari increase 2.75%. Internet Explorer (IE) users have been shifting toward the newer versions of IE 8. We have seen a decrease of 8% in IE 6 users...
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nbsp Error in Ajax Calls (Mootools) in Google Chrome
Mootools & NBSP; Entity Error FixedHow to fix 'nbsp' not defined error in Google Chrome. I have fought with this problem for a long time and finally found a "correct" answer. If you have problems using MooTools in Chrome and get "Entity 'nbsp' not defined. Below is a rendering of the page up to the first error." I have a great answer...
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Accept Credit Cards Online
FreeAuthNet - Free Authorize.Net AccountHow to accept credit cards online without a machine (by using a merchant gateway account from Authorize.net with free setup) and not using PayPal. First off you need to know that I get hundreds of calls a year trying to convince me to switch credit card processors (or switch merchant gateways)...
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Four Step Formula to Be Successful at Multivariate Testing
Multivariate Testing - MVTMuiltvariate testing we help quickly increase conversions. Here are the four simple steps to implement multivariate testing. We recently wrote a from the ground up, multivariate testing package to use with all of our upcoming websites. We've always believed in testing, testing, testing, and the iterative...
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Do You Know These Tips to Quickly Improve Landing Page Conversion Rates
Landing Page ConversionsIncrease landing page conversions with these simple tips. Increasing conversions is a big topic lately. Here are some more great ideas from ioninteractive for increasing conversions on your landing pages for this year. Keep your Organic and PPC landing pages separate. Targeted traffic from PPC have...
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6 Ways Your Website Usability is Discouraging Conversions
Usability and ConversionsSix ways to increase usability and conversions. There are many ways that you can increase conversions. Here is a list of usability items to fix that will help increase conversions. Visitors can't find what they want. Provide an easy navigation as well as a search function for your site. Then make...
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Simple Steps to Increase Landing Page ROI
Landing Page ConversionsEasy and simple steps to increase landing page conversions and ROI. You've brought people to your site through great SEO or PPC, but now what. What can you do to help make sure that those people buy? Here are some simple ideas from EMC to increase landing page conversions. Include an image along...
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How to Build Effective Websites 101
Effective Websites 101Many small companies are making a wise choice and investing in professionally designed websites that raise the company's level of professionalism, exposure, and sales. I have had people come to my saddle shop and they were surprised to see that we are just a a small shop because the website made us...
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How to Determine if Your Website is Successful
Successful Website MetricsMaking sure that you pick the correct metric to measure is extremely important to having a truly successful website. Recently on SEOmoz's whiteboard friday they discussed how to keep clients happy. Much of the conversation focused around knowing what determines success. A point that I thought was extremely...
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Now You Can Have Lower Shopping Cart Abandon Rates
Increase E-Commerce SalesAvoid these e-commerce shopping cart mistakes to lower your cart abandon rates and increase sales. Did you know that on average 52.1% of people abandon shopping their online shopping carts? Primary reasons for abandonment include high shipping charges, high cost of items, price comparison with other...
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2009 Website Browser Statistics
Browser Stats 20092009 Website Browser Statistics Review. IE 7 is still the browser of choice, but some of the IE 7 crowd have recently switched over to IE 8. Mostly we saw a move from IE 7 to IE 8 with Firefox gaining another percentage and eveyone else staying practically the same from the middle of 2009. The web...
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Proper Label Placement in Forms
HTML Form LabelsLabel placement is important in usability of HTML forms. There is an amazing study done by uxmatters where they compared different label placements in forms. Here are the results: Label position—Placing a label above an input field works better in most cases, because users aren’t forced...
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The Secret to Communicating Your Business Effectively
Blind SpotsAvoid these common website mistakes that keeps your website from communicating effectively. Too many people have the "reading the label from inside the bottle" mentality when they think about their business. A great article by Todd Follansbee still holds true for all businesses online. Here are some...
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Who Else Wants to Build Links and Rank High in Google
Link BaitingWho Else Wants to Build Links and Rank Higher in Google Link Baiting has become common place to increase organic inbound links and rank higher in Google. There was a great article by Andy Hagan but he broke his site to pieces, so I had to do some digging to find it again. Here are some of the best from...
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Basic Website Usability Tips
Website UsabilityHere is a good list of important basic design usability tips. I'm doing a massive cleanup of my bookmarks, and realized that tons of really good content just disappears off the web. So, I'm going to put the content where I know it won't disappear. Here are some great usability tips I grabbed from Jens...
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2009 Website Browser Stats Review
2009 Website Browser Stats
IE 7 is the current browser of choice with Firefox second and IE 6 in third. IE 8 adoption is still slow. Since we didn't do a browser stat review for 2008, we decided to do a review for the middle of 2009 and bring people back up to speed on the browser war. Among the tech field (Site 6) Firefox still...
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Creating Web Copy That Brings In Customers
Online Writing Advice
The content on your website should always help pull in your visitors, not push them away. So, you've optimized your website for search engines, but have you optimized it for visitors as well? When a user arrives at your website from a search engine, they have typed in specific words that they are hoping...
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Mixing Colors Into Your Website Design
Color and Emotion
Color can evoke emotions and influence people in positive—or negative— ways. Designing a website consists of more than just copy and layout—color also needs to be a consideration. To help choose the correct colors, it is a good idea to come up with how you would like to describe your...
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Simple Navigation Pointers
Good Navigation
If users don't understand your website's navigation, you are losing sales. Navigation is of huge importance to your website, so it shouldn't be just thrown onto the page. There are certain things users expect, and people are comfortable with things they are used to. For example, navigation is usually...
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Basic Design Principles for Persuasive Websites
Increasing Conversions
Getting more conversions through your website can be a daunting task, but Call to Action has some pointers to help make it easier on you. Avoid inconsistency - keep a distinct look and feel throughout the website. A splash page may be what your company wants, but try to avoid them; they are more...
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Guide To Building Successful Websites
Planning and Developing
Building a website requires careful planning and a strong foundation. There are many steps that you need to go through in order to get a website up and running. While many people may skip some steps or hurry through others, each step is an important part of the process as a whole. The first part of...
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Information and Persuasion Architecture
Information Architecture
Good information architecture helps customers find what they want and keeps them coming back. Your site's architecture is supposed to help visitors find what they are looking for. Categories and links should make sense to your customer so that they are able to find information on your website, whether...
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