Tag: Web Design

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Google Means Business on Forcing You to Have a Good Mobile Website

Just this last week Google announced that it was ready to start penalizing websites that did not offer a good mobile web experience. Here’s why:

• Mobile devices have been a driving factor in an increase in time spent online. In fact, since 2010, the time the average individual spends online has doubled.

 

 

• 91% of adults in the United States own a phone; 61% of those phones are smart phones.

 

 

• In 2012, marketers spent $4.4 billion on mobile advertising in the United States alone. By 2013, that number doubled to $8.5 million. By 2017, the figure is expected to fall around $31.1 billion. Search and PPC advertising accounts for nearly half of this budget.

 

 

• 25% of adults in the United States only use a mobile device to access the Internet. PCs have become tools of the past.

 

 

• Organic search results matter now more than ever before. In fact, one-third of all search clicks go to the top organic result; this means that the mobile icons Google is testing could play a larger role than you’d imagine going forward. Read the full article online.

Beautiful young woman talking on mobile phone
Smartphones are no longer a luxury but a necessity.

What Google is doing about this important trend is very important. In the search results, Google has been testing aggressively just how it will be notating information about your website. It has tested a variety of icons that are cues to readers that they experience when they click into a particular site will be mobile read friendly since September with testing continuing.

The next step most SEO’s feel is coming in the near future is an update in the Google search algorithm to penalize sites that do not offer the “right” experience, from Google’s point of view. Remember, Google is all about relevancy. If it stops keeping its eye on that mark, its own share of the market will change.

Already it is predicted, with Facebook’s strong growth this quarter in the mobile arena, that Google share will drop below 50% of mobile search activity. So, Google must stay focused on making sure that its search results for the mobile space are the most relevant and easiest to use in the search world for this growing audience of mobile search users. If it does not, it will lose advertising dollars and its place in the marketplace as the top search engine.

If your website does not have a great mobile experience, you may want to consider our mobile and device responsive websites that are strong on content and SEO for your next upgrade.

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How Long is Too Long When It Comes to a Web Page?

Put the knife to your content to trim it for mobile devices.
Put the knife to your content to trim it for mobile devices.

If you haven’t updated your website in a while you may have some monster pages that need to be trimmed down to work with mobile viewing patterns and our shorter attention spans.

So how long is too long?

If you have to scroll, scroll, scroll, and them scroll some more to get to the bottom of your page on a desktop screen, just think how much more scrolling you would be doing if you were on a smartphone or tablet. In fact, think about how you yourself use the web on a device, rarely will you scroll to the bottom of the page unless it is something you are really interested in. For that matter really long pages may not even load in a smartphone or may take so long that a reader simply clicks back to leave – I’ve done that and I’m sure you have too.

A good rule of thumb is that if a page is more than 1.5 Word document pages it should be shortened and turned into multiple pages. Typically a single page of a Word document is about 500 words. So get close to 800 to 1,000 and up and you really should be thinking of getting out the chopper.

Are there different topics on the same page?

Another good way to look at your own website page is to see if you are hopping around on topics. On that super long page, do you start talking about ants and then talk about each species of ant and then talk about termites too?

It is by far better to have content on one topic on one page and when you move to a new topic create a new page.

Make sure to test your update pages using a smartphone and a tablet. Doing so will give you a really good idea of when you get fatigued with scrolling and need to take the knife out to start trimming up your content.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking that your old website is good enough, the mobile space is and has changed everything when it comes to presenting your message on the web. Find out how we can help you trim, adjust, and revise your content to be more concise or to decide where breaks or content should be scrapped.

 

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New Responsive Website Launched

Inside page of Heritage Pest Control
Inside page of Heritage Pest Control

Just this past week I have launched one of our client websites completed in our Quick Launch responsive design styles. Heritage Pest Control is the newest customer to move from one of our old custom websites done about four years ago to a new responsive layout. You can check out the new site at www.HeritagePestControlNJ.com.

Here are some of the comments we are hearing from clients as they move to HTML 5 and responsive website designs:

1. The site has a very clean look – very different than my old site that had sidebars and all types of links and features right and left.

2. I love how the site re-sizes to fill the screen of my smart phone AND my tablet.

3. I like my mobile site using the new responsive design much better than my DudaMobile site that was auto-created from my old custom design.

4. I really like how my images in my content resize when I look at my site in my smartphone or tablet – how did you do that?

5. The load time of my site is fast and I am already getting feedback from customers that they love my new look.

If your website is older than four years, it is time to consider upgrading your website to HTML 5 and new technology. Starting at $1,850 these special responsive websites give you top quality unique content, design and integration completed by an SEO expert, and fast implementation or transition of your old content and site to a new look.

Find out more by visiting our responsive website design page.

 

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Custom Content Plus Responsive Design for a Winning Combination

Google Partner Badge
McCord Web Services is a Google Partner.

Are you looking for a skilled web designer with SEO know-how and quality, unique website content that sells your services while communicating authority, transparency and building trust? If so, we may be the perfect match for your needs.

With over thirteen years of experience in web design, our new Quick Launch program that provides responsive websites (sites that look good on desktops, tablets, different sized screens, and smartphones alike) gives you the professional web presence you need for today’s world.

Our websites supply the look and feel that is popular with users today and a good match for search engines. We use HTML5 and CSS for our Quick Launch Designs.

Our strength is our in-depth authoritative content with a strong focus on proper keyword and marketing usage as well as thoughtful wording that conveys transparency and confidence to your website visitors.

Your new responsively designed website can become a lead generating tool that brings you new business and prospects. Prices for a 5 page website start at $1,850 and includes 5 pages of content free. Find out more about this new service on our website.