Flixton Case Study
Credit: Bukisweb
User Experience Tips for Your Website
A seamless user experience (UX) is the cornerstone of a successful website. It’s what keeps visitors engaged, converts them into customers, and ultimately drives business growth. And sadly, it’s where a lot of people who are designing their website miss the ball. So today, let’s chat about user-experience, and go over five simple things you can do today to make a better user-experience for your website visitors.
Intuitive Navigation
Intuitive navigation refers to website design that aligns with users’ natural browsing behaviors, making it easy for them to find information without confusion. You may not know it, but there are basic navigation menu standards that can make it easier for people to find your content when they land on your site.
- Home: The first link in your navigation menu should be Home. I’ve had plenty of people say “We don’t need home, they can click on the logo.” And that’s true, the logo should be present and clickable. But that isn’t always obvious to people.
- Contact: The last link in your navigation menu should be contact. That is just where people look for it. Some people want to add it as a button on the page, or hide it in the footer. Best practice is to keep it in the navigation as the last item, unless you really, really don’t want anyone to contact you.
- Logical Organization: The rest of your navigation should be simple, uncluttered, and cohesive. Don’t hide your contact link in a drop down. Group things appropriately so they make sense to the user. If you have five services, then those can be listed under Services in a dropdown menu.
- Readable: Don’t use fancy fonts that are hard to read. Make sure your color contrast is strong. Always make sure that your navigation links are big enough to read, and use short, concise words that reveal what’s on that page. Don’t use full sentences or long phrases in your navigation.
- Be Consistent: Have the same navigation menu on every page of your site. Remember that not everyone will enter your website on the homepage. Some may get served up your about page, a blog post, or another page when they are searching. No matter what page they land on, they should get the same menu.
When it comes to navigation, your main menu is only one aspect of it. One thing to keep in mind is that different people navigate sites in different ways. Don’t assume that all your users are going to scroll to the bottom of your site and see the footer. Many won’t. In fact, most won’t make it that far. In general, people land on your site with a purpose in mind, and they are going to click on the right links until they find what they need. Make it super easy for find what they need.
Be consistent in your design and branding
A big turnoff for your website visitor is if each page of your website looks like a new website. Sure, it can be fun to experiment with different design choices, fonts, colors, and imagery, but it makes for a poor user experience. Humans desire consistency. Consistency creates a professional and cohesive user experience. Often times if the theme of the website changes, people will think they’ve landed on a new website.
Consistency is also important for branding. Using the same fonts, colors, and styles across all pages creates a clear definition of your brand and will create a connection with your brand and those styles that will start to be identifiable with your name. Want to know more about brand guidelines? We wrote a blog post about that.
User Friendly Forms
Guess what, your website should have at least one form. This form lets people contact you. I routinely have people come to me and say, “I hate filling out forms, I don’t want one.” And that’s your right to have an opinion about forms. But just because you hate them, doesn’t mean other people do too. In fact, some people prefer to use a form. Some prefer to email. Some prefer to call. Some prefer to chat. My advice is to give people as many of those options as possible. If you don’t want people to call you, then obviously don’t include a phone number, but any type of communication you are willing to engage in should be included.
So let’s talk about that form. If you have a form, it needs to be easy to read, make sense, collect only the information you need. Here are a few tips:
- Limit the number of required fields. Did you know that making a phone number field optional will increase your submissions by 5%? The less fields you require, the more likely you are to get that form filled out. Now, there are times when you want to be restrictive in your forms, when you need more information to complete a request, etc. Just remember less fields equals more submissions.
- Have clear labels. Make sure it makes sense what goes in each field.
- Make it readable. The fonts shouldn’t be too small, they should be easy to read, and the placeholder font shouldn’t be so light gray you can’t read it.
- Don’t use captchas. I know, we all hate spam, but those captchas are very hard to complete for a lot of people Don’t even get me started on the ones that make me identify all the bicycles or stoplights. The bane of my existence. If spam is an issue, you can add an invisible recaptcha that checks spam without the user having to do anything.
Triple check your mobile friendliness
As we are about to enter 2025, if your website isn’t mobile friendly, you are in big trouble. Not only is that a ranking factor for SEO, but it’s a huge liability for your users. Now, people will come onto the Internet and throw out figures like “90% of your website visitors are on mobile!” And, well, that’s likely just not true. The truth is that this number varies significantly by industry. I have one client who has 80% of their users visiting on desktop computers. This site actually has 75% of users visiting on desktop. Another client has 63% mobile visitors. So much depends on industry and demographic when it comes to devices, but one thing is for sure, you must be mobile friendly!
Check these key things:
- Are your font sizes readable on mobile?
- Is your navigation menu easy to use?
- Are buttons big enough for fingers to tap?
- Are your images properly resized?
- Do your columns shift in an order that makes sense?
- Are your form fields big enough for a finger to tap?
Check your load times
Patience for website loading is non-existent. If your website takes too long, people are going to give and move on. Don’t neglect your website speed. Nothing can fix poor hosting, so make sure you are on a reliable, speedy hosting service. If you are looking for the cheapest hosting, you are likely going to get a slower hosting service. Other items to check include image optimization, how many plugins you are using (that you really need) and make sure everything you are including in your site is really needed. Guess what you don’t really need? Extra animations that serve no purpose other than looking cool. If you feel like your site needs an animation, add just one. Nobody needs to see every content box on your site fade in. It’s obnoxious and it makes your site load slower.
Any website can be enhanced by going through a few extra steps to make sure that it’s easy for your users to find what they are looking for.
Credit: Bukisweb
Our top-rated web design service vs leading website builders
Discover how our top-rated web design service stacks up against the world’s leading website builders. Find the best fit for growing your business today.
Credit: Bukisweb
How do I get Google reviews on my website?
If you are working hard on getting Google reviews, and if you are a locally based business you should be, you may be wondering, how do I get Google reviews on my website? I have the answers to your question.
First, what are Google reviews and how do you get them?
A Google review is a rating and review of a business or product left by a customer on Google. It typically includes a star rating (from 1 to 5) and a written comment about the customer’s experience.
These reviews show up in several places:
- Google Maps: When you search for a business on Google Maps, reviews are displayed on the business’s profile.
- Google Search: Reviews can appear in the search results when you search for a business or product.
- Google Business Profile: Businesses can showcase their reviews on their Google Business Profile, which appears in Google search results and Maps.
Google reviews are important because they can influence potential customers’ decisions. Many people read reviews before trying a new restaurant, visiting a store, or making a purchase. Positive reviews can attract new customers, while negative reviews can deter them.
If you already have a Google business listing, go ahead and Google yourself and you’ll see reviews in the knowledge panel. The Google Knowledge Panel is that neat little box that pops up on the right side of your Google search results when you look up something specific, like a person, place, organization, or thing. It’s like a quick cheat sheet with key information about your search topic.
Here’s what mine looks like if you Google Sumy Designs.
But if you are asking the question how do I get Google reviews on my website, you probably already know that you have some good ones you want to share. Here are a couple of examples where I’ve added Google reviews to clients’ websites.
Of course, one simple and free way to do it is to just copy and paste them, but if you have a lot of reviews, that can get tedious. And it also doesn’t pull in the branding from Google or link to them, which adds credibility. The way I prefer to do it is with a plugin that connects your Google Business Listing with your website, and pulls in those reviews automatically. The benefit of this is that you can style it, set it to only pull in the best reviews based on your own metrics, and it updates your website automatically every time you get a new review. Here are a couple of website examples where we’ve incorporated their Google reviews.
There are plenty of plugins you can use to do this, but for these two sites, I used Rich Plugins Business Reviews Bundle.
The Rich Plugins Business Reviews Bundle is a WordPress plugin that allows you to merge and display business reviews from multiple platforms like Google, Facebook, and Yelp on your website. It provides a way to showcase a unified collection of reviews and a summary rating, making it easy for visitors to see what customers are saying about your business.
Key features of the plugin include:
- Merging reviews: Combines reviews from different sources into a single feed.
- Summary rating: Calculates an overall rating based on the reviews from all platforms.
- Display options: Offers various ways to present the reviews, such as widgets and shortcodes.
- Customization: Provides options to customize the appearance of the reviews to match your website’s design.
For these sites, I’m only pulling in Google reviews, but you can use it for other platforms too including Facebook and Yelp.
There is a free and a paid option for this plugin. The free version allows you to display 5 Google reviews, all your Facebook reviews, and 3 Yelp reviews on your site. If you want to get all your reviews, you’ll need to upgrade to the paid version for $85 a year. To me, it was enough of a time saver that the cost was worthwhile.
Why incorporate Google Reviews over adding in your own testimonials?
Incorporating Google reviews on your website instead of solely relying on your own testimonials offers several key advantages:
- Increased Trust and Credibility: Google reviews are seen as more authentic and unbiased by potential customers. They know these reviews are coming from real people who have experienced your business firsthand, unlike testimonials you might select and edit yourself.
- Enhanced Social Proof: Displaying a collection of positive Google reviews acts as powerful social proof. It shows that other customers have had positive experiences with your business, which can significantly influence purchasing decisions.
- Improved SEO: Google reviews play a role in local search engine optimization (SEO). Positive reviews can boost your visibility in local search results, making it easier for potential customers to find you.
- Valuable Feedback and Insights: Google reviews provide a continuous stream of feedback that you can use to identify areas of improvement in your business. Both positive and negative reviews offer valuable insights into customer experiences.
- Transparency and Engagement: Responding to Google reviews, both positive and negative, shows that you value customer feedback and are actively engaged with your audience. This can build trust and loyalty with potential customers.
While testimonials can still be valuable, especially for highlighting specific aspects of your business, integrating Google reviews offers a higher level of authenticity and can significantly impact how potential customers perceive your brand.
The Rich Plugins Business Reviews Bundle has been my plugin of choice, but there are other options if you want to check them out. Here are a few you might want to look into:
- Widgets for Google Reviews from Trustindex. This is a popular one. The basic level is free and allows you to display up to 10 Google reviews. It does require a Trust Index account whether you use paid or free. If you want to have more than 10 reviews, you’ll need the paid account for $65 a year. This plugin also offers you other platforms to pull reviews from like AirBNB, Ebay, Amazon, etc.
- Reviews and Ratings – Google Reviews by Design Extreme. I haven’t used this one before, but I definitely want to try it out. It is a completely free plugin with no limitations on how many reviews you can pull, has 168 five-star ratings. If you only want Google Reviews this may be the way to go. I’ll update this post once I try it out.
How do I get Google reviews?
Need to get Google reviews? The best way to do that is simply to ask. People have a tendency to leave reviews when they’ve had a really bad experience or a really exceptional service, and not a lot in between. However, many people would be happy to leave you a review if you simply ask them for one. You can also use an online review service to ask for reviews for you.
Regardless of how you get them, having and sharing Google reviews can only enhance your credibility with potential customers, and I highly recommend you consider adding them to your site.
Credit: Bukisweb
Our top-rated web design service vs Squarespace website builder
Discover how our top-rated web design service stacks up against Squarespace one of the leading website builders. Find the best fit for your business today.
Credit: Bukisweb
MailChimp Segmentation – Sumy Designs
You may not realize, but another thing we can do at Sumy Designs is help you with your email marketing. And one thing we get asked about is MailChimp lists, audiences, segments, etc. So let me explain what these are and why it’s important to know and how to manage it.
A MailChimp audience (formerly known as a “list”) is a collection of contacts that you send email campaigns to. It serves as the central database for your email marketing efforts, where you can store and manage subscriber information, segment contacts based on behavior or demographics, and personalize email communications.
In the earlier days of email marketing, when you had lists, you would create a new list for different reasons. You might have a list for newsletter subscribers, a list for your clients, a list for your customers, etc. etc.
With these lists, sometimes you would email to all lists at once, and sometimes you would email just some lists. But it could get pretty clunky to manage the different lists, or move people between them if needed. Plus, around 2019 MailChimp started charging you to have multiple lists so this became not as economical.
Instead, we use segmentation.
Mailchimp Segmentation is a feature that allows you to divide your email list into smaller, more targeted groups based on shared characteristics. This helps you send more relevant and personalized emails, which can lead to higher engagement and better results.
Here’s how it works:
- You define the criteria: You choose the specific characteristics that define your segments. This could include things like:
- Demographics (age, gender, location)
- Purchase history
- Website activity
- Email engagement (opens, clicks)
- Signup date
- Interests (if you’ve collected that data)
- Tags
- Mailchimp filters your list: Based on the criteria you set, Mailchimp automatically filters your email list and creates separate segments for each group.
- You send targeted emails: Once you have your segments, you can create email campaigns specifically tailored to each group’s interests and needs. This could mean different content, offers, or even send times.
Benefits of Mailchimp Segmentation:
- Increased engagement: By sending more relevant emails, you’re more likely to capture your audience’s attention and encourage them to interact with your messages.
- Improved deliverability: Targeted emails can help you avoid spam filters and reach your subscribers’ inboxes more effectively.
- Higher conversion rates: Personalized emails can lead to more clicks, purchases, and other desired actions.
- Stronger customer relationships: By showing your audience that you understand their needs and interests, you can build stronger relationships and foster loyalty.
Types of Segments:
Mailchimp offers different types of segments, including:
- Static segments: These are fixed groups that don’t automatically update. You manually add or remove contacts.
- Dynamic segments: These automatically update as contacts meet or no longer meet the criteria.
- Pre-built segments: Mailchimp offers some pre-built segments based on common criteria, such as “engaged subscribers” or “new subscribers.”
I am working with a client that offers pool services, and they want to send an email to just past clients who have had their pools opened in the past. On their opening form sign up, we’ve connected it to their MailChimp account and anyone who signs up for an opening is tagged with “opening” and then when it’s time to start scheduling their pool openings, they can send an email specifically to all past clients who have previously had their pool opened just by segmenting their email blast to folks with that tag.
Why is MailChimp segmentation useful?
Mailchimp segmentation is incredibly useful for a number of reasons, all boiling down to making your email marketing more effective and your audience happier. Here’s a breakdown:
1. Relevance is King (and Queen):
- Stop the “spray and pray” approach: Sending the same email to everyone on your list is like casting a wide net and hoping to catch something. Segmentation lets you send targeted messages that resonate with specific groups, making your emails more relevant and valuable to each recipient.
- Personalization beyond a name: Segmentation allows you to go beyond just inserting a name. You can tailor content, offers, and even the tone of your emails to match the interests, behaviors, and needs of different segments.
2. Boosted Engagement:
- Higher open and click-through rates: When your emails are relevant, people are more likely to open them and click on the content. This increased engagement signals to email providers that your emails are wanted, which can improve your deliverability.
- Reduced unsubscribes: Nobody likes getting emails that have nothing to do with them. By sending targeted emails, you reduce the chances of people unsubscribing from your list.
3. Better Results:
- Increased conversions: Relevant emails lead to more desired actions, whether it’s making a purchase, signing up for an event, or downloading a resource.
- Improved ROI: By getting better results from your email campaigns, you’re maximizing your return on investment.
4. Stronger Relationships:
- Show you care: When you send personalized emails that address specific needs and interests, you show your audience that you understand them and value their preferences. This helps build trust and loyalty.
- Nurture leads effectively: Segmentation allows you to guide your subscribers through the customer journey with tailored content at each stage, from initial interest to purchase and beyond.
5. Mailchimp’s Tools Make it Easy:
- Variety of segmentation options: Mailchimp offers a wide range of criteria to segment your audience, from demographics and purchase history to website activity and email engagement.
- Dynamic segments: These automatically update as contacts meet or no longer meet the criteria, saving you time and effort.
- User-friendly interface: Mailchimp’s segmentation tools are relatively easy to use, even for those new to email marketing.
In short, Mailchimp segmentation empowers you to send the right message to the right people at the right time. This leads to higher engagement, better results, and stronger relationships with your audience.
Ready to boost your business with email marketing? Contact us now to get started!
Credit: Bukisweb
Livermead Case Study
Livermead Case Study
Credit: Bukisweb
Get It Good, Get It Done, and Edit It Later
One of the biggest hold ups we have when working on a website is getting the content to put into it. If you’ve never been involved in a website project, usually the content for the website is provided by the person or company who is commissioning the website, unless of course you hire a writer or work with a company who also offers copywriting.
While I do a fair bit of writing on this website, I don’t consider myself to be a expert writer, and it’s not a field I want to try to insert myself into. If you need a copywriter, I can recommend several. However, I think content is best when it comes from you. And here’s why.
Deepest Understanding: No one knows your business and its services better than you. You have the most intimate knowledge of the nuances, the specific value proposition, and the target audience. This translates to more authentic and accurate copy. You’ve lived it, breathed it, and likely refined it over time.
Passion and Enthusiasm: Your passion for your business is often contagious. This enthusiasm can come through in the writing, making the copy more engaging and persuasive. It’s hard to fake genuine excitement, and that excitement can resonate with potential customers.
Unique Voice and Perspective: Your individual voice and perspective are part of what makes the business unique. You can inject this personality into the copy, differentiating it from competitors and creating a stronger connection with the target audience. This helps build brand identity.
With that being said, struggling to create the copy is definitely a pain point for many people. We see many websites get held up waiting for content to be created, or waiting while the copy is edited, refined, edited again. So my advice to anyone working on their website copy is this:
Get it Good. Get it Done. Edit it Later.
What do I mean by this?
- Get it Good: Your copy doesn’t have to be perfect. The truth is, as wonderful as you are, you aren’t perfect either. And no one should expect you to be. Write the copy, proofread it, make sure it gets across the point you want it to be make. But stop seeking perfection.
- Get it Done. Don’t delay your website launch for nonstop revisions of your content. Stop seeking perfection. Get it good enough, and put it on your website.
- Edit it Later. A good website is never “done” but is always a work in progress. One of the reasons you should stop seeking perfect is that you can go back and change your content after your site is launched. It doesn’t need to be perfect on day 1, because you can improve it on day 2, and day 3, and day 100.
I have seen people make themselves crazy going through their content time and time again, changing words and phrases, making the tiniest changes. And here’s the truth that you don’t want to hear: most people aren’t going to read your content that thoroughly. They won’t notice if you forgot a comma in one place. They won’t notice if you change a word or title here or there.
What is important is that the message you are trying to convey hits it’s mark, and that doesn’t happen because you changed a semicolon to a comma or vice versa. And I love me a good semicolon; the former English teacher in me approves.
Does your content land with the target audience?
It may or may not, and you may not know the answer until you launch your website with your content. You could spend hours and days revising your content and still have it fall flat. But what if you cut your time in half, published the content, and then waited to see how your audience responds? Because you may have to edit it anyway.
Why is it a bad idea to delay your website launch?
Missing Opportunities: Every day you delay your launch is a day you miss out on potential customers, leads, and revenue. Getting your website up and running quickly is crucial.
Perfection is an Illusion: There’s no such thing as “perfect” content. You can always tweak and improve your website copy. Launching a functional website with good content is better than waiting for the “perfect” version that may never come.
Valuable Feedback: Launching your website allows you to gather real-world feedback from your audience. This feedback can help you identify areas where your content can be improved and refined.
SEO Benefits: Search engines favor websites that are live and active. Launching your website sooner can give you a head start in search engine rankings and attract organic traffic.
Momentum: Delays can kill momentum and enthusiasm. Getting your website launched can provide a sense of accomplishment and motivate you to continue improving and growing your online presence.
Your website is a living and breathing entity. It’s meant to evolve and improve over time. Don’t let the pursuit of perfection hold you back from launching and reaping the benefits of an online presence.
Credit: Bukisweb
Our top-rated web design service vs WordPress website builder
Discover how our top-rated web design service stacks up against WordPress, arguably the world’s leading website builder. Find the best fit for your business.
Credit: Bukisweb
What newsletter manager should you use?
I get asked this question a lot when people are ready to embark on starting an online newsletter. And it’s a good question, because the newsletter system you use is very important. There are so many choices when it comes to newsletters. And they change all the time! So here’s my very important, very best answer to this question:
Use the newsletter manager that you find easiest to use!
Because the truth is, all the bells and whistles in the world aren’t going to help you if you don’t know how to use them. What will happen, if you dive in on a system that sounds good but is confusing to you, is that you’ll end up putting off sending your newsletter, not getting around to it, and your newsletter will end up collecting digital dust. And that doesn’t give you or your readers any benefits.
I know this doesn’t answer your question because if you’ve never used one, how do you know which one will be easiest? You don’t until you try them. But the good news is that many of them include either a free level of a free trial, so my best advice to you is to take advantage of those free trials.
Free Trial Tips
In my graphic above, I’ve shown logos for 10 different systems. But don’t get excited, I am not recommending you try all of them, nor do I want you try them all at once.
- Evaluate the features, fees, and narrow down choices
Realistically, you aren’t going to want to test out 10 different systems. So start by making a list of what features you think are “must haves” and what optional ones you’d like. For example, do you need an easy to use newsletter builder? Do you need automation? Detailed reporting? RSS campaigns? A/B testing? First, figure out what you need, eliminate the choices that don’t fit. - Sign up for a free trial on ONE AT A TIME
Do not, I repeat, do not sign up for all your free trials at once. Very few people will be able to manage evaluating all the options in all the different systems and be able to compare their usability in a short time frame. Decide which one you want to try first, and sign up. - Put testing out the system on your calendar
You are, more than likely, a busy business owner. And things that don’t bring you in immediate income are likely to get pushed to the back burner. At least that’s how things work for me. My advice, make evaluating this newsletter system a priority by creating time to do it and putting it on the schedule. Don’t waste your free trial time by forgetting to test the system. - Put your system to the test
Add a couple of email addresses to your list (preferably spare ones of yours), and create a new newsletter. Evaluate how you those actions work. Was it easy to add subscribers to the list? How easy was it to create a newsletter? Does the newsletter look good in my email when it arrives? Do you need automation? Set up an automation and see how easy or hard it is to set up. - Take notes
When you’ve tested what you intend to use your newsletter for, take some notes. Write down what you like about it, what was hard, etc. Because you may not remember the details after you’ve tested a few more. - Repeat 2-5 as needed until you decide.
I can’t choose what newsletter system you should go with. You, the person who has to actually create, send, and manage the newsletter, have to decide what works best for you. You might really like the features from one, but the cost is over your budget. Below I’m including a list of some of the most popular systems, their options for free trials and a tiny synopsis of each. Take it with a grain of salt and explore their websites in more detail.
Newsletter Management Systems
Mailchimp:
- Free Trial/Plan: Offers a free plan with limited features.
- Mailchimp excels with its user-friendly interface and comprehensive marketing tools, making it a versatile platform for various business sizes.
Constant Contact:
- Free Trial: Offers a free trial.
- Constant Contact is known for its straightforward email marketing tools and strong focus on small business needs, particularly event management.
MailerLite:
- Free Trial/Plan: Offers a generous free plan.
- MailerLite provides a clean, intuitive interface with robust automation features, appealing to those seeking simplicity and affordability.
ActiveCampaign:
- Free Trial: Offers a free trial.
- ActiveCampaign is a powerful platform known for its advanced automation and CRM capabilities, ideal for businesses seeking sophisticated marketing workflows.
GetResponse:
- Free Trial: Offers a free trial.
- GetResponse is an all-in-one marketing platform that includes email marketing, landing pages, and webinar hosting, providing a comprehensive marketing solution.
Kit: (formerly ConvertKit)
- Free Trial/Plan: Offers a free plan.
- Kit is tailored for creators, offering powerful email automation and segmentation features designed for bloggers, podcasters, and online course creators.
AWeber:
- Free Trial: Offers a free trial.
- AWeber is a reliable and easy-to-use platform with strong automation and list segmentation tools, making it a solid choice for consistent email marketing.
Flodesk:
- Free Trial: They do not offer a free trial, but often have promotions.
- Flodesk emphasizes beautiful, designer-made email templates and a simple interface, focusing on aesthetic appeal for creative businesses.
Emma:
- Free Trial: Often offers demos, contact their sales team.
- Emma is known for it’s stylish email templates and good customer service, and is geared toward mid-sized businesses.
Beehiiv:
- Free Trial/Plan: Offers a free plan.
- Beehiiv is built for newsletter growth, with built-in referral tools and monetization features, making it ideal for serious newsletter creators.
Credit: Bukisweb
