The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a comprehensive civil rights law passed by Congress in 1990 to protect people with disabilities from discrimination in employment, public services, public accommodations, and telecommunications. This is why we now have handicap parking spaces among a long list of other requirements.

The ADA is categorized under three titles:

Title I – Employment

Title II – State & Local Government

Title III – Public Accommodations and Commercial Facilities

In 1990 the internet as we know it now didn’t exist, not many people thought of a website as something that should be under ADA accessibility guidelines.

It wasn’t until July 26, 2010, that the US Department of Justice issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) regarding the accessibility of Web information and services of state and local government entities (title II) and public accommodations (title III).

The DOJ then separated the rulemaking to deal separately with title II and title III and proceeded first with title II rulemaking. On May 9, 2016, the DOJ published a Supplemental Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding accessibility of Web information and services of state and local governments.

However, the Department of Justice HAS NOT published ANY rulemaking document regarding title III, (private and commercial businesses) Web accessibility since the 2010 ANPRM.

As a matter of fact, on 12/26/2017 the Justice Department announced the WITHDRAWAL of four previously announced Advance Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRMs), pertaining to title II and title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act for further review.  And then they go on to say:

“The Department is evaluating whether promulgating regulations about the accessibility of Web information and services are necessary and appropriate.”

So, if you are a privately run or commercial business, don’t feel bad if you are confused about what the ADA compliance regulations are for your website when the Government itself isn’t sure!

Do I really need to worry about my website being ADA compliant?

If your business exists to benefit the public or is a local or state government agency or you’re a private employer with 15 or more employees, you should be ADA compliant.

ADA Compliance is meant for these qualifiers:

• Private companies with a minimum of 15 people on its payroll
• Local and state public sectors, including programmed and physical access
  to programs and services rendered (under Title II of the ADA)
• Public facilities and nonprofit businesses (under Title III of the ADA)

We are not just talking about your website is accessible to visitors, but accessible to your employees that have a disability.

How is ADA compliance enforced?

The US Department of Justice is in charge of enforcing ADA requirements and has been active in making sure government agencies are ADA compliant. Title III of the ADA just has a general non-discrimination mandate and other general rules. Since a set of web accessibility guidelines are not yet law for private website owners, the DOJ “encourages” self-regulation.

A much bigger worry than the DOJ coming after you are individuals with disabilities filing lawsuits. In 2017, plaintiffs filed around 814 federal lawsuits about allegedly inaccessible websites, including a number of putative class actions. It is crucial to go over your ADA Compliance very carefully to avoid lengthy and expensive legal battles.

For more information regarding ADA and the law read ADA Compliant Websites and The Law.

How do I make my website ADA compliant?

The original intent of the ADA back in 1990 was to make business physically accessible to those with disabilities. So, there were extensive building codes and construction requirements business owners had to fulfill and for that, the ADA Standards for Accessible Design was created.

For websites, the recommended guidelines for accessibility currently come from The World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0 AA). Accessibility for a wide range of disabilities, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, language, learning, and neurological disabilities.

WCAG Accessibility Standards

The WCAG 2.0 AA, with its extensive list of guidelines on how to make Web content accessible to individuals with disabilities, is primarily intended for:

• Web content developers (page authors, site designers, etc.)
• Web authoring tool developers
• Web accessibility evaluation tool developers

If you don’t have a web developer in-house, it is recommended that you get one to implement the standards to achieve the level of compliance needed for your website.

The WCAG has 3 levels:

1. Level A (Beginner) The most basic web accessibility features
2. Level AA (Intermediate) Deals with the biggest and most common barriers for disabled users
3. Level AAA (Advanced) The highest (and most complex) level of web accessibility

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines address four areas of your web site’s functionality to ensure that it is:

Perceivable – The senses people use when browsing the web, sight, sound, and touch. Make sure that users with difficulties with one or more of their senses can perceive all the information on your website. This can be done by:

• Providing text alternatives for any non-text content so that it can be changed into other forms people need, such as large print, braille, speech, symbols or simpler language.
• Providing alternatives for time-based media.
• Creating content that can be presented in different ways (for example simpler layout) without losing information or structure.
• Making it easier for users to see and hear content including separating foreground from background.

Operable – The different ways in which your users browse your website. These operational issues can be addressed by:

• Making all functionality available from a keyboard.
• Giving users enough time to read and use the content.
• Designing content in a way that is known to cause seizures.
• Offering ways to help users navigate, find content and determine where they are.

Understandable – A website needs clear terms and simple instructions. It must function in a way that users understand, by avoiding unusual, unexpected or inconsistent functions. Fulfill this requirement by:

• Making text content readable and understandable.
• Making Web pages appear and operate in predictable ways.
• Helping users avoid and correct mistakes.

Robust – Your website needs to be workable with third-party technology like different web browsers and screen readers. Robust also means it must meet recognized standards, such as using clean HTML and CSS. Maximize compatibility with current and future user agents, including assistive technologies.

WCAG Update

WCAG 2.0 was issued in 2008. 10 years later after 4 years of work, on June 5, 2018, the World Wide Web Consortium published an expanded version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. WCAG 2.1 adds 17 more requirements to address new technologies and other digital barriers for individuals with disabilities. The updates are mainly related to mobile devices. View the WCAG update.

Benefits of an ADA compliant website

The legal reasons previously talked about are more than enough to tell you that you should have a website that is ADA compliant. But even if lawsuits weren’t an issue, it is just the right thing to do.

Here are 7 other reasons to have your website overhauled and made more accessible.

Expand Your Customer Base – According to the U.S. census bureau, nearly 1 in 5 people have a disability in the U.S. Make it easier for individuals with disabilities to engage with you digitally, you will connect with many more consumers.

Better Usability for Everyone – It will be easier for anyone disabled or not to use the assistive technologies to engage with your brand online such as Screenreaders and Text to Speech applications.

Improve Your Reputation – By projecting a disability-friendly brand presence you show people that you care and understand how to best serve them. Consumers prefer doing business with socially responsible companies.

Rank Higher in the SERPs – Google rewards sites that check many accessibility boxes with higher rankings.

Handle Government Contracts – Open the doors to work as a government contractor.

Be Prepared for the Future – You’ll be up to standard when the ADA compliance regulations eventually evolve

Claim Tax Breaks – Tax incentives are available to encourage compliance with the ADA.

ADA Compliant Website Checklist

Here are some things to consider before going public with an upcoming website. At the end of this article, you’ll find some ways to get a check mark on the ADA compliance test.

Presentation

The website’s design can be a very difficult obstacle to maneuver. Make sure that the website layout is not too complex; have the options for adjustments. Let website readers or visitors have the option to adjust the size or color of certain parts such as text, font, and even images. The requirement by the ADA is a resizable ability of up to 200% from the original size.

Text

Favor bigger fonts for titles, headings, menus, and banners. The font size is relevant for those who have vision impairments such as blurry visions. The Bigger size will enable them to read better and with less strain.

The color is also important. Design texts that are easy to spot. The texts should not be consumed with the background color rendering it difficult to read. Moreover, texts that are underlined must be removed. This gives the impression that the text is a link to another page or website.

Audio and Video

For audios, videos, and images, the best way to make them compliant is through captioning. Add text to images. Detailed descriptions are also required, these will be useful information for those who cannot see. These descriptions can be read with the help of text reader software. Video transcripts are also a good way to provide other options, especially for deaf or blind people.

Assistive Technology

Today, people with disabilities get help from sources that are available to them. Technology has made it possible to utilize the same tools to be used on the internet. We have the text-to-speech devices, closed captioning, text magnifiers, screen-reading software or optical character recognition and more. Bear in mind that most websites can utilize these tools to cater to those with disabilities. Here are some changes or enhancements that can be done:

Provide HTML formats

This format is easy to interpret for those who are using text-to-speech or similar applications. Avoid PDFs; these documents cannot be read or recognized by optical character recognition devices. For people who are not able to use a computer mouse, a specialized keyboard can be used instead. Make sure the website can support keyboard navigation.

Skip navigation is also now available. This allows users to skip links or headings to directly go to the main content of the page without going through the whole website.

Support

The above list already covers most of the checklist requirements. However, as most websites and other publicly accessible engines, a website needs to provide support. Support for the disabled is also a requirement. Here’s how:

Provide access for feedback

• Get feedback from people with a disability. They might contribute suggestions that could significantly improve your website.
• Web developers need to be ready to apply tweaks and changes whenever a requirement is not met.
• Try hiring or asking people with disabilities to try the website from time to time. This helps to see if the ADA conditions are being met or are still working.
• Provide support by phone, email or letter. Just like feedback, questions might arise. This provides good customer support and not only is the website being compliant; this might entice more people to visit your website.

These are just some of the basic things a web developer and a website owner need to before going online. Or, if your website is already live, follow the above suggestions as soon as possible.

ADA Accessibility Resources

View an ADA/WCAG Checklist features that enable users with disabilities to access all your site´s information or elements.

Here is a link to a developer needs to implement these standards required for accessibility. Visit https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/. If you have no one to do these developer tasks, please contact us as soon as possible and let’s get your website compliant.

To evaluate your website for accessibility, use this free tool. http://wave.webaim.org/

Here is a site dedicated to empowering organizations to make their web content accessible to people with disabilities. https://webaim.org/

ADA Archive – https://www.ada.gov/anprm2010/web%20anprm_2010.htm

ADA Lawsuit article: https://www.adatitleiii.com/2018/07/website-access-and-other-ada-title-iii-lawsuits-hit-record-numbers/

Contact PrimeView for help with ADA Compliance

Following the ADA and WCAG guidelines can get quite tedious if you don’t have any experience or have a knowledgeable webmaster. PrimeView is serious about accessibility issues for many reasons but essentially, it’s just “the right thing to do.”

People with disabilities have the right to have equal access to what others need and enjoy, and websites are one of those, especially in the modern world.

If you follow all the guidelines in the WCAG, you will mitigate the risk of lawsuits, grow your client base and improve your reputation. Miss some and you may open yourself to lawsuits.

We offer this information to help our clients or anyone with a website who wants to get their assets up to date with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Stay tuned for more information and updates on rules and regulations affecting your website and business.

Also, we can provide a free ADA compliance test for your website, just click this button.

For further reading:

Americans with Disabilities Act – WCAG Checklist

Make Your Website ADA Compliant Checklist

On the 26th of July, 1990, former US President George H. W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act. Its top priority was to avoid discrimination due to a person’s disability. Like its predecessor, The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which focused on race, color, sex, national origin, and religion, ADA made unjust treatment of people with disabilities illegal and punishable by law. Today, it’s had a significant impact on American society. Public buildings, transportation, schools and even jobs are required to follow the ADA Guidelines and Checklists. People with disabilities now have the opportunity to be on equal footing with the average individuals. Additionally, with the advent of the Internet, ADA has been extended to the World Wide Web.

In recent years, more and more websites have sprouted, and most of them were created with little to no thought about people who have disabilities. Take note that progressively, website owners and developers are being brought into court due to non-compliance. It is crucial to go over the ADA Compliance very carefully to avoid lengthy and expensive legal battles.

Thinking of ways to make a website adaptable to a person with a disability can be difficult, especially if you have no experience or no interactions with such a person. However, guidelines can be acquired online or by calling the United States’ Department of Justice and Civil Rights Division. There is also the Assistive Technology used by people with disability. These tools make their lives more comfortable and easier. With the progress of this technology, all they need to do is tweak the website around with the help of these devices and ensure that the contents are compatible with these helpful tools.

ADA Compliance Checklist for Websites

The following are some things to consider before going public with an upcoming website. At the end of this article, you’ll find it could be easy to get a check mark on the ADA compliance test.

Presentation

The website’s design itself can be a very difficult obstacle to maneuver. Make sure that the website layout is not too complex; have the options for adjustments. Let website readers or visitors have the option to adjust the size or color of certain parts such as text, font, and even images. The requirement by the ADA is a resizable ability of up to 200% from the original size.

Text

Favor bigger fonts for titles, headings, menus, and banners. The font size is relevant for those who have vision impairments such as blurry visions. The Bigger size will enable them to read better and with less strain.

The color is also important. Design text that is easy to spot. The text should not be consumed with the background color rendering it difficult to read. Moreover, the text that is underlined must be removed. This gives the impression that the text is a link to another page or website.

Audio and Video

For audios, videos, and images, the best way to make them compliant is through captioning. Add texts to images. Detailed descriptions are also required, these will be useful information for those who cannot see. These descriptions will be read with the help of text reader software. Video transcripts are also a good way to provide other options, especially for deaf or blind people.

Assistive Technology

Today, people with disabilities get help from sources that are available to them. Technology has made it possible to utilize the same tools to be used on the internet. We have the text-to-speech devices, closed captioning, text magnifiers, screen-reading software or optical character recognition and more. Bear in mind that most websites can utilize these tools to cater to those with disabilities. Here are some changes or enhancements that can be done:

• Provide HTML format

This format is easy to interpret for those who are using text-to-speech or similar applications. Avoid PDFs; these documents cannot be read or recognized by optical character recognition devices. For people who are not able to use the computer mouse, a specialized keyboard can be used instead. Make sure the website can support keyboard navigation.

Skip navigation is also now available. This allows users to skip links or headings to directly go to the main content of the page without going through the whole website.

• Support

The above list already covers most of the checklist requirements. However, as most websites and other publicly accessible engines, a website needs to provide support. Support for the disabled is also a requirement. Here’s how:

Provide access to feedback

Take feedback from people with disability into consideration. They might contribute suggestions that could significantly improve your website.

Web developers must be ready to apply tweaks and changes whenever a requirement is not met.

Try hiring or asking people with disabilities to try the website from time to time. This ensures that the ADA conditions are being met or are still working.

Provide support by phone, email or letter. Just like feedback, questions might arise. This provides good customer support and not only is the website being compliant; this might entice more people to visit too.

Listed are just the basic things a web developer and a website owner need to contemplate about before going online. Or, if the said website is already live, follow the above steps as quickly as possible.

Web Accessibility

Web Accessibility is a program that was developed for people with disabilities. This initiative takes into consideration what most disabled people need to access websites just like how average people access them. This means the website is user-friendly both for those who are disabled and those who are not.

Most of the time, it could be very difficult to identify if a website is ADA Compliant, but rest assured, there is a simple solution to this. Most accessibility problems can be detected by a tool that is free to use and is available online like WAVE.

WAVE (wave.webaim.org) is free of charge. How does it work? Just go to the website and evaluate the accessibility. With a little study and effort, you’ll be able to use this tool to isolate errors and adjust as needed. In any case, a live person is still the best option to detect what is missing. As mentioned earlier, asking someone with experience or has a disability would be the perfect solution.

Web developers are most likely tempted to avoid this compliance checklist. However, bear in mind that people with disabilities are also human like us. They have the right to have equal access to what regular people enjoy, and websites are one of those. And one more thing to take note of, if you are a developer or website owner who is willing to risk lawsuits so that they can skip or avoid making the lives of several million people easier? Think about it.

Want to know what it takes to make your website ADA compliant? PrimeView has extensive experience in creating ADA compliant websites, Contact us today.

For further reading:

ADA Compliance and Your Website

Americans with Disabilities Act – WCAG Checklist

ADA Compliant Websites and The Law

What Is Customer Loyalty?

Beyond Philosophy, a consultancy and training company defines Customer Loyalty as “the result of consistently positive emotional experience, physical attribute-based satisfaction and perceived value of an experience, which includes the product or services.” In simpler terms, customer loyalty is a measure of how likely a consumer will do repeat business with a brand.

Repeat buyers or consumers are your most valuable customers. Even though they do not make big purchases in one go, it is likely that over time, their recurring investments will exceed your income from big one-time buyers. In fact, repeat customers spend up to 67 percent more than new or one-time customers.

How to Earn Customer Loyalty

Even though only 13 percent of retailers described themselves as “digital-first,” 51 percent of Americans prefer to shop online, and 96 percent of them have made an online purchase in their life. Furthermore, with hundreds and thousands of competitors online, getting people to visit your site, click on a link, and more importantly, become repeat customers, is more challenging than ever.

To overcome this, let us discuss the six things you can do to earn customer loyalty–and get them to keep coming back for more.

1. Share and practice your company values

Do you ever wonder what makes customers choose one brand over the other? Here’s a clue: Commitment, honesty, efficiency, and reliability—and no, these are not just adjectives—these are values that will help customers choose you over your competitors. Often, customers not only buy products, but they invest in what your company stands for. In fact, 64 percent of consumers cite shared values as the main reason they remained loyal to a business.

Also, having values is not enough; you must practice what you preach, too. Build a business culture focused on a set of shared values, which may or may not include the aforementioned, as well as other great company values such as integrity, consistency, and dependability (among others). These core values should reflect your products and services, your employees, and every decision your business makes.

2. Provide quality products and services

In line with practicing your values, if you say your product or service is superior compared to your competitor’s—you need to walk the talk. Many new and established businesses fail to live up to their promises. In hindsight, having a well-established reputation for quality and reliability can cultivate repeat business.

As an example, if you are an e-commerce site that promises to deliver orders within 24 hours, you need to live up to your end of the bargain. Remember that consumers prefer businesses they can rely on. Thus, give them that, and they will compensate you with support and loyalty.

3. Reward customer loyalty

An excellent way to secure loyalty is to reward it. Offering complementary goods, discounts, and exclusive purchasing opportunities to regular customers is a form of “nourishment,” showing that you value and appreciate them. As a result, these customers may reward you by making more purchases in the future. You can also reward shoppers and clients with a points system or by giving them discount codes and coupons to entice them to come back.

Depending on the nature of your business, you can customize the type of freebies and rewards you offer.

4. Talk to your customers

Making time to communicate with your customers is crucial to the long-term success of your business. With that said, you must never ignore queries and qualms in your social media pages. When a prospect or long-time customer reaches out to you on social media, retaining that customer may rely on your eagerness to listen and respond.  

Your customers will be much more willing to stick around when they know you are responsive to even the simplest concerns.

5. Encourage customer feedback

Are your customers satisfied with your service? What did they like (or dislike) about your products? Is there something you can do to improve your business? — These are questions best answered by people who have tried and tested your business.

Since over 88 percent of online shoppers incorporate reviews into their buying decisions, you need to make sure that your products and services receive excellent reviews. How? By asking for feedback! You can use a myriad of platforms to gather responses, including an online survey or questionnaire.

As an example, many e-commerce sites reward customers who leave reviews with store credits and discounts, which further encourages them to provide their feedback.

6. Make your customers feel special

Making your customers feel special, exclusive, and valued is essential to fostering loyalty. For instance, if your customer will be experiencing a delay in deliveries due to inclement weather, you can inform them through email instead of making them wait for a package that will not arrive for another 2 or 3 days.

Another way to make your consumers feel valued is through small surprises, including discount coupons on their birthday. Surprising your customers keeps your business top of mind, and reinforces your values.

Happy Customers Equals Great Business

Earning repeat, loyal customers should be a top priority for any business, including yours. As long as you focus on your customers and meet their needs with superb service, they will reward you time after time.

Need Help Securing Your Customers’ Loyalty?

If you are struggling to obtain the loyal customers your business desires, PrimeView can help plan and execute surefire ways to win customer loyalty. We know people want the best deals, but we also understand that they appreciate value. Together, we can build your brand for all to see it as the trustworthy and reliable business it is. Dial 480-970-4688 today to get a free quote.

Do you ever wonder why people press the back button within seconds after landing on your page? It can be frustrating when you accomplished designing a great website with all the best details. You even edited the content ten times over and believe that your pages are true masterpieces. So, why aren’t your visitors sticking around?

As one of the leading web design agencies in Phoenix, Arizona, we have compiled ten design elements that increase your website’s bounce rates:

1. Pop-ups

Pop-ups are forms of online advertising on the Internet. It is a graphical user interface (GUI) display area, usually a small window, which suddenly appears in the foreground of the visual interface. Pop-ups are a way to get your message across in the fastest, most in-your-face possible. One pop-up is usually tolerable. However, if you bombard your visitors with pop-up after pop-up, they are likely to lose their patience and leave. Always remember the very reason why a web visitor is on your page in the first place: he or she assumes that you have the answer to their search engine query. They did not go to your website to read the contents of your pop-up windows.

2. Immediate Registration Demands

If there is anything worse than a pop-up, it’s a pop-up asking web visitors to register for a newsletter or service immediately. This is especially true for first-time visitors who know nothing about your company and only clicked out of curiosity. Before asking web users to sign up for anything, allow them to browse through your homepage at the very least. Tease them a little. Timing is everything.

3. Auto sounds

There was a time back in the nineties and very early 2000s when sound or music on websites was all the rage. Today, it is incredibly unlikely for anyone to prefer automatic audio. It is unfair to assume that your visitor wants you to auto-play sounds for them. So, even if you are confident that they share the same tastes in music and video as you, it does not immediately mean that they want to hear it. In fact, it is without a doubt driving people away from your website.

4. Slow Loading Time

According to surveys conducted by Akamai and Gomez.com, nearly half of web users expect a website to load within two seconds or less, and that they tend to abandon a site that does not load within three seconds. In other words, never make your visitors wait. A lot of people pay premium prices for 50MB home and office broadband connections. If your website is taking too long to load, they will know that your site is to blame. Specifically, if a web user is only curious and has clicked your URL on impulse, they are more likely to leave.

5. Confusing Navigation

Navigation ensures your visitors that they can explore your website without having to hunt for a hidden treasure. The design of a website’s navigation has one of the most significant impacts on the success or failure of a site. It affects traffic and search engine rankings alike. Web visitors expect to find seamless, horizontal navigation across the top fold or vertical navigation down the left side of your page. Conversely, putting your navigation in standard places makes your site so much easier to use.

6. Typos

Types and poor grammar do not make you look professional. Enough said.

7. Bad Selection of Fonts

Your website and your message need to be as clear as daylight. Otherwise, your viewers will not respond to it. Having breathtaking designs with illegible typography will confuse your viewers and turn them off. Using web fonts cleverly will help you avoid all of that. To help you get started, here are the top recommended fonts from Google Web Fonts.

8. No Impact

If your overall web design is not attractive and engaging, or if your copy does not evolve with your business, it is going to come across as boring. There is nothing wrong with wanting your website to look professional, but just because it’s professional does not mean it should have the personality of a deer in headlights. The colors, font, images, and overall organizational schematic can either make or break your web design woes.

9. No “About” Page

Your “About” page delivers the most important and relevant information about your business. Most web users look for this page for a reason: It answers their question about your business, including what your contact information is, where your office is located, and how long you have been in business. Not having this basic and crucial page may impact your legitimacy as a company.

10. Lack of Clarity

When users visit your website for the first time, they need to be able to tell what your company does within seconds. If they scratch their head in confusion, you may need to consider re-conceptualizing your identity as a business. What you need is a unique selling point, which is what defines your company’s unique position in the marketplace. It is the heart of your business: the value you offer and the problem you solve. A strong USP clearly articulates a specific benefit — one that other competitors do not offer and makes you stand out. A descriptive, meaningful, plain English strapline is often key.

When you look at some of these ten factors individually, they may not seem enough to make visitors click out. However, when combined, they can give off an entirely wrong impression.

Give Your Visitors a Reason to Stick Around

It’s not always easy to create a brilliant user experience, and there is a lot of pressure knowing that every aspect of your website represents the competence of your business. In reality, even the smallest defect can significantly increase your bounce rate. If you require assistance in making online visitors stay longer, PrimeView can help develop web design strategies that fit your site’s needs, goals, and identity as a business. Call us today at 480-970-4688.

Importance of Good Web Design

Web design goes beyond aesthetics — it should display four major components that any reputable website should have. These are navigation, brand consistency, reading patterns and SEO, and most importantly, building trust.

Navigation is the most critical component of a website, especially for those with many pages. Good web design makes it easy for users to navigate through the site, striking a balance between elements that are pleasing to the eyes and buttons that are functional.

Customers must recognize your brand in all forms of communication. This is what brand consistency is about, and is something that must be present in a well-designed website. Everything that appears in print materials — that is, brand messaging and imagery — must be carried over into the website design. This needs custom design work, so templates are not advisable.

Websites with good design take into consideration how visitors read content; like a book, from top to bottom and left to right. This means that relevant information must be on the upper left column and the first thing visitors see. This practice also helps with SEO efforts, because search engines can crawl your website more efficiently, thus increasing your placement in search results pages. This translates to increased visibility and traffic to your site.

Finally, building trust among customers very important, so it makes sense that your design incorporates elements that resonate well with your target market. This means making your website look welcoming and professional, and easy to use. A website with a professional, uncluttered design makes it easier for visitors to read and understand the message you are trying to send.

Why You Should Invest in a Reputable Web Design Agency

You should never cut corners in building your website, especially when it comes to design. Hiring professionals to design your website is pricier than relying on templates available online or doing it yourself, but the benefits far outweigh the cost. Web design is an investment – one that might cost 10k upwards. That’s a lot of money, but here are some of the reasons why you should hire a professional web design agency such as PrimeView:

1. We have the skills and experience needed to deliver results.

Professional web designers are experts in designing sites that will attract visitors and are adept at SEO techniques, as well as in all the software necessary to come up with good web design. They are also trained to be both creative and technically proficient, so they can execute your vision seamlessly into the site. These professionals are aware that your time is valuable, and since they are experts at what they do, they will be able to turn in deliverables promptly. After all, they no longer need to learn or struggle with what they’re supposed to do.

Furthermore, they put valuable human touch to your website in that they understand how websites are supposed to work and how people navigate through websites, so they understand the merits of, say, having your contact details on the upper right side of your site at all times, and why large chunks of text must be broken apart with images. At PrimeView, we know how to design a website that is easy to navigate through and people will want to keep coming back to.

2. We can maintain your site.

One of the main advantages of getting your site designed by a professional web design agency is that they can help you develop your website as your business and your customers’ needs grow. At Primeview, we have professional web designers that can help update your site’s design, navigation, and functionality as needed. This will resonate well with your audience because this means that you are in tune with their needs.

3. We make your site responsive.

Some of your users might be using an older browser version, or a device that does not support some aspects of your site (such as Java or Flash), and professional web designers will ensure that all elements will be perfect regardless of the browser version or device your site is being viewed from. The talented web designers at PrimeView will also ensure that your website loads properly and accurately, with all elements intact, regardless of the browser size, which means that we will make your site design mobile-responsive.

4. We execute designs to your exact specifications.

Templates are cheap but often limiting. When you pay for a template, you have a ready-made design. All you have to do is input your information, and you’re done. It’s easy and convenient but has little regard for SEO, ease of navigation, and your brand identity — things that matter on a well-designed website.

At PrimeView, we will work closely with you in executing the exact design that you have in mind. We will adjust background color, font size, font type, buttons, and all other elements on the site until everything is exactly as you prefer it, and if there’s something that needs to be tweaked, we will be able to do so.

5. We take care of even the smallest details.

Professional web designers are sticklers for details. We won’t stop until the site borders are even all throughout until all the colors are just right until all the fonts are of the right size, and until all the links and flash elements are working correctly. We will make sure that your site has the perfect canary yellow background you asked for, and that the text is evenly distributed so that visitor’s eyes won’t glaze over when they read your content. This is yet another advantage of having professional designers work on your site as opposed to purchasing a template.

Invest in a Good Web Design Agency Today

Hiring a professional web design agency can get expensive, but the investment will be worth every penny. PrimeView is Arizona’s leading web design firm with over 20 years of experience in the business. Contact us at 480-970-4688 if you need professional web design services in Phoenix.

Sources:
https://www.epagecity.com/blog/five-reasons-you-should-spend-more-than-10k-on-your-website
https://www.topagency.co/blog/10-reasons-why-you-should-invest-in-web-design

In situations like this, most people would look at their marketing strategy, SEO or their content. What most people forget is that the website’s actual design might be the culprit. Your efforts can be hurt by bad site design. To avoid this, we put together nine common web mistakes for you to nip it in the bud and finally get the results you were hoping to achieve.

Your Website is Hard to Navigate

Primarily, guests are going to use your site menu to navigate where they need to go. For this reason, making it easy to understand and usable is going to be beneficial for you. If you look at WordPress, you will see how the site makes it easy to navigate for viewers. Check your site and see how easy it is to navigate. A rule of thumb is, the easier, the better.

Bad Content

You may have all the bells and whistles as well as all the trendy new developments in web design, but if there is not much substance, guests will immediately go somewhere else. Most people need value above everything else so if something looks very shiny but don’t have the information they are looking for, they will attempt to search it somewhere else. Instead, focus on the content and make sure that it provides the value that people need. Good content is king. In fact, even if you need minor tweaks on your site, viewers will tend to be a lot more forgiving if the content you provide them is exactly what they need.

Your Website Looks Outdated

New trends on the web are constant and keeping your site looking fresh and up to date will garner more viewership. Pay attention to new developments, particularly if you are a tech company or are selling gadgets. No one is going to want to deal with a technology website that looks like it is still in the nineties.

Responsive Design Doesn’t Exist

If your website is not available to view on a mobile gadget or a different format other than on a desktop, you might as well close your business. More and more viewers view sites from their phone, and if this is something you simply did not spend time doing for your site, your efforts would be futile. Instead, make sure that your site has a responsive design for those who do not surf the web on a desktop computer. This way, you can cross this one off the list as your culprit and focus on other stuff instead.

Bad Call to Action

The call to action is the focal point of all websites. In fact, the goal and purpose of your site is to move viewers forward. When your call to action is hard to find, or when it is nowhere to be seen, this will cause viewers to become confused. Instead, prominently display calls to action. Remember, this is not the time to play hide and seek. Make it easy for every guest on your website to say yes. The more obstacles that stand in the way of your viewers and your goal, the less likely they will hit the YES button.  Rather, making it easy for your viewers to click YES will make a tremendous difference in terms of website success.

Uninterrupted, Large Text Blocks

Quick scanning is the norm today and when you have one large text block on your screen, without paragraph breaks in between; this will turn viewers off immediately. Remember, a website is not a page of a novel and viewers find it easier to scan information if this is broken down into chunks rather than presented with no paragraph breaks as one giant piece of text. Using different colors, font sizes and fonts will make a huge difference in becoming more appealing to the viewers. When you include subheadings, this divides your text into smaller chunks, making it easier for the viewers to sift through all the information they need.

Clutter and Inconsistency

When it comes to web design, less is more. A good site design’s objective is to provide content hierarchy, focus, and guidance. Pages cluttered with too much stuff will cause the viewer to put too much effort trying to find the correct link or may cause confusion about where they want to go.

Your Websites Loads Slowly

One major factor that contributes to viewers leaving your page quickly is when it loads slowly. Slower response times to page loading increases page abandonment, for obvious reasons. People are simply not going to wait to find out what time of day your entire page fully loads.

Your Site Makes A Bad First Impression

When it comes to web design, first impressions are everything. You know the saying that you never have another chance to make a great first impression? Well, the same can be said for websites. Guests tend to decide at lightning speed whether your site is worth their time or not. Thus, making a clear, positive first impression is something you want to do. Everyone that visits your site should want to stay there.

Avoiding these nine common web design mistakes will help your site turn one-time site visitors to frequent ones. Remember that in the ever constant world of changing trends, keeping yourself on top of things and doing periodic revamps of your website to tweak it to make it more attractive and easier to use will enable you to reap the rewards of your efforts. After all, with so many people online these days, things can only look up from here.

Does your website need a makeover? A refresh might be the thing you need to push your visitors to customers, call us today 480-970-4688

Photo by Julian O’hayon on Unsplash

Some people think that to make an excellent design; you need to fill your space with as many elements as you can. The pros disagree. Designers understand that what makes a great design isn’t so much what you see, but also what you do not see. It’s not just how much of the space is filled, but also how much of it isn’t. This why white space is a crucial element is graphic and web design.

What is white space?

The term pertains to the space between the elements of the design. It is the part of the page that contains no lines, images, or text. It is the space between graphics, boxes, columns, words, and margins. It is what casual observers may call the empty space.

Undeniably, white space makes for clean-looking content. The human mind has a natural affinity for order and this is one of the reasons tidy visuals tend to be more attractive than cluttered ones. A clean page is easier on the eyes and the mind and as such, is preferred by most viewers. In fact, white space is one of the best ways to enhance the visual appeal of your output.

There are two kinds of white space:

• Active white space. This refers to the space that you deliberately add to your design to create a particular effect, whether it is to lead your viewer’s eye or to emphasize a point, among others.
• Passive white space. This pertains to space that occurs naturally, such as the spaces between the lines of a paragraph.

Contrary to what its name suggests, white space isn’t always white. It is simply the portion of the page that designers don’t want you to focus on. As such, it may come in different colors and may even feature repetitive patterns or shapes.

Why do you use white space?

Some consider white space the fundamental building block of good design, and for good reason, too. When used properly, white space can do wonders for your output. Here are some of its merits:

• It makes content easy to understand. Too many elements in your design can be difficult for viewers to take. White space minimizes visual stimuli to the bare minimum, helping the brain cope more effectively and take in information more readily. This is especially true when your content offers text for users to read. A study suggests that the effective use of white space can have a positive impact on the comprehensibility of the text in your content.
• It helps guide your viewer’s focus. Removing unnecessary elements and using a healthy amount of white space helps your reader focus on the message you want to convey. Instead of having to interpret extra images or text, your readers only have to focus on which part of the content truly matters.
• It helps creates emphasis. Do you want users to perform a certain action after seeing your design? Then place a call to action (CTA) and make sure it is the most visible part of your content. The easiest way to do this is to use sufficient white space around the CTA to make it stand out. You practically leave them with no choice but notice your CTA and just maybe do what you want them to do. Needless to say, you can also use this strategy for other elements in your design, such as specific symbols, words, or pictures.
• It helps create balance. This is an important factor to consider in any design. Even if you use loud and busy graphics, you can still create a lovely design by employing enough white space as a counterbalance of sorts. This is a strategy commonly used in magazines and newspapers where pictures and text are commonly found together.
• It acts as an effective separator. Do you need to establish borders between the various elements of your design? Look no further and just use the trusted white space. This is a great way to create neat partitions without using new elements that will overload your output. In fact, you’ll even end up placing better emphasis on the different parts of your page.
• It imbues sophistication and elegance. Apple is currently one of the first brands that come to mind when you mention sophistication. Steve Jobs-era Apple products effectively combined simplicity, sleekness, and elegance not just in their design, but also in their functionality. These qualities are visible and are reinforced even, by the amount of white space used on the Apple website. All you see are products against a stark white or black background, as well as a line or two of well-written text. This emphasis on minimalism is an aesthetic that’s also followed by many luxury brands.
• It allows viewers to use their imagination. White space isn’t emptiness all throughout. It can also mean potential. Using it right is like creating a cliffhanger at the end of the story. You practically tell viewers to let their imagination run wild and decide what else the design is trying to say besides what is obviously present. It evokes a sense of mystery. This is great for designs that connote growth, transformation, or the passage of time.

Many marketers are concerned with ensuring that viewers receive the message they want to convey fully. As such, they often end up choosing a design that is filled with as many elements as they can fit into the page. While delivering the right information is vital—and is, in fact, the main motivation behind almost any designing endeavor—the right amount of care must be taken in ensuring that said message is provided effectively in a manner that viewers and readers would appreciate and easily digest.

White space tempers what could be convoluted design and provides observers’ eyes with enough opportunity to pause and really take in what they are looking at. White space is attractive, versatile, and is potent at capturing and managing the attention and expectations of viewers. As such, using it right is essential to creating an excellent design.

Balance Your Web Design

Whitespace balances out a website with overwhelming content. If your site lacks harmony and balance, you may want to consider a website redesign. Call us at 480-970-4688 or fill out our online form to receive a free quote.

1. White Space

   White space or negative space, is the usually the portion that is left blank on a page or left empty. It’s the space between website elements. Too much clutter on your site can turn off a user prompting them to close their browser, which is why designers use whitespace to improve user experience and help the user focus on the content. This also simplifies the page. Remember simplicity is key. Too much clutter is a no-no. White space also doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be white – it can be any color you choose, it just has to be empty, or free of text or images.

2. Use simple and well-known icons

   Icons have an important role in making a website better and therefore boost the user experience. Use well-known icons. Users already know what they mean, how they work, which means that chances are higher they will click on them. Don’t use some esoteric icons that only you or the designer know the definition or meaning. In addition, label and use text to reveal what an icon is used for.

3. Call to action

   Making a website that will make a huge profit won’t be possible unless you install a call to action. A call to action can be a button that lets the user choose what action to take – push through with a transaction, call, email, etc. A far more important fact is the design of that button. It must be simple, well-designed and catches the eye.

Of course, it’s not limited to just 3 elements. Watch out for our next article as go deeper on what your website must have.

1. Make Your Site is User-friendly

You need a simple and functional user interface design that would allow your visitors to explore the pages of your site with ease. That is the basic requirement of any website, as there is no use of having an SEO-rich content on your site if users find it hard to navigate or browse through your pages. For instance, make sure your products are very visible, properly labeled with description, and are categorized accordingly, if necessary. It is also important that there is a visible button for every page for when you want to go back to the homepage or proceed to checkout.

Your eCommerce site should reflect the overall theme of your business, taking into consideration your target demographic. This would help you formulate a good layout that would result to an enhanced user-friendly experience.

2. Include Testimonials of Satisfied Customers

Customer testimonials reflect credibility, and credibility is important to gain your potential customers’ trust. People interested in your products want to know how happy your previous customers were with your product. Testimonials may be that much-needed push to turn interested and indecisive browsers into paying customers who would want to try your products out for themselves and see why other people were pleased.

3. Go for a Minimalist Approach for Your Landing Page

The average web browser has a very short attention span of only four seconds going over your landing page before deciding whether to move on, or just leave. In this short span of time, how can you grab their attention and keep them hooked?

Remember, some of your website visitors are very busy people thinking about a couple of other things while browsing your site. Some are a very distracted bunch- easily losing their focus when their phone rings, or when their boss suddenly chats them up. It is therefore important that your landing page is simple yet engaging, having only one call-to-action button that would allow your potential customers to proceed to the sales cycle without any distractions.

4. Use Auto-suggest

Some of your visitors may just be browsing through, still unsure of what they want to get from your site. It could also be that they already know what they want, but are undecided of what particular design they want to get. For instance, a potential customer might be looking for bags, but still don’t know yet whether to get a red one or a blue one. With auto-suggest, you can help them decide and proceed to buying by giving them an array of related products to choose from based from their keyword.

5. Make the Checkout Process Simple

Finally, your potential customer is about to make the purchase. Just one final step, and it’s done. But alas! Just as she is about to checkout, she leaves her shopping cart hanging.
This occurrence called shopping cart abandonment is a common problem to eCommerce stores. There are a multitude of reasons as to why it happens- paranoia with regards to website security, limited payment options, exorbitant shipping fees, or simply because there’s too much going on in the checkout page.

Ideally, what we want is to keep the checkout process simple. As much as possible, all the information needed to be filled up should be in one page, and confirmation of the order on the second page. Just like shopping in grocery stores- nobody wants long lines and too many questions, right?

Img c/o pixabay

Much has been said about “customer is king,” but did you know that this analogy can actually help boost your business?

Customer feedback is among the most taken for granted facets of the business that many businessmen would rather ignore than to spend resources on. See, gathering customer feedback can be a tiresome and thankless job, what with the many survey forms you have to print out only to have one or two back. Your staff would also have to kowtow to customers to try to get to their better side, although admittedly the customer’s satisfaction should be foremost in your staff’s mind. Make no doubts about it: trying to get customer feedback is sometimes difficult and frustrating.

However, this method actually offers several benefits to your business. If done correctly, customer feedback would be able to help you transform your services and products to better fit the needs of your clients. Here are some of the reasons through which you can do so:

• Customer feedback helps you identify weak spots

By asking your clients what they liked and hated about their experience, you would be able to find weak spots in your service and address them. There have been countless instances wherein managers thought that the service was flawless from start to finish, only to find out from a customer’s feedback that there was a glaring error they have overlooked. By listening to your customers, you would be able to remedy a problem before it can start to eat away at your business.

• Customer feedback helps you improve your products and services

By listening to your customers, you would then be able to improve your products and services and be able to give them exactly what they want. This has a direct impact on your bottom line, as you would be guaranteed to see an upwards improvement in the consumption of your products, since your customers have stipulated that this is the thing that they want. How so?

For example, a coffee shop that sells traditional cakes with their coffee might be missing out by not listening to a customer who said he would want to eat matcha cakes. On the other hand, the café across the street was given the same sentiment and thought it was a great idea – they then started providing matcha cakes. The result then is instantaneous: those who wanted matcha cakes transferred to the second café, leaving the first one with fewer loyal customers.

• Customer feedback helps you measure customer satisfaction and improve customer retention

Likewise, it is not important that you provide good service, you have to continually improve your customer’s satisfaction too. Asking for customer feedback is very helpful in terms of finding out what you can do to make the service more satisfactory for your customers.

Once you start listening to your customers, particularly those who gave high scores to your products, then you would be able to glean more information about your services and improve them to increase customer satisfaction. The more satisfied your customers are, the more likely they are to become advocates for your brand and be more likely to refer you to their colleagues and family.

• Customer feedback gives you tangible data to make better decisions about your business

Finally, listening to your customers can have the added benefit of saving you money in the long run, particularly in terms of killing off products that aren’t doing as well as you thought they would be. Think of the customer’s insight as your own personal market research, more so in terms of what works and what doesn’t for your business. You would then be able to make informed business decisions based on the feedback you receive from your clientele, and from then on act from them.

These are just some of the evident reasons that make customer feedback integral to your business. Finding out what it can do for you is all well and good, but how do you get this information in the first place? Here are some options to consider if you want to get customer feedback.

• Give out survey forms

Whether it is a physical form your customers have to fill in in the shop or a digital form that you send out to your clients after their experience, make sure that the form is concise and direct to the point. Also, make it a point to add “Thank you for your feedback! We will be responding to your concerns within 24 hours,” or a similar promise that your clients would hear back from you. However, once you make this promise, ensure that you have the means to follow through, as there would be few things as annoying to clients as having the service provider back on its words, no matter how simple the matter may be.

• Never be intrusive

Whatever you do, do not call your clients out of the blue to ask them for their feedback about their recent experience. Instead, ask them politely how they would want to be contacted – via email, SMS, or a phone call – and when they would want to be contacted. This way, your clients would feel that you have their best interest at hearts as you would never be imposing on their time – you would simply be following their request as to when they should be contacted.

• Open lines of communication with your client

Finally, make it easy for your clients to contact you. Have a dedicated phone line or email address whose sole purpose is to respond to customer feedback and complaints. Once your clients know that you are actually listening to them, they would be keen to let you know what they think – and you wouldn’t have to ask them for feedback in the first place. Display this contact information in a prominent location on your website or in your store, so that your clients would immediately know how to contact you in case they have something to share.

It goes without saying that customer feedback is one of your best tools when it comes to improving your services. With these tips, you’re hopefully on your way to maximizing it.

Img c/o Pixabay.