A marketing calendar is an important tool which every business should use. Creating an outline of the holidays and promotions in advance will give you enough time to prepare your graphics, emails, social posts, and website billboards. Rushing through your marketing is a recipe for disaster. Instead, use our marketing calendar or create your own so that you’re fully prepared for the year ahead.
Once you have outlined your holidays and promotions, what should you do next? Follow these easy steps to get started.
Plan Your Holidays and Promotions
Decide which marketing channels you will use to share your message
Remember that different marketing tools need different content. What you would post on Instagram is probably different than what you’d post on Facebook.
Write your promotion outline 1 month in advance
Design your graphics 3 weeks in advance
Setup your email marketing and social media 2 weeks in advance
Proofread all of your content at least one more time 1 week before it runs
Schedule out your website billboards to be setup and taken down 3 days in advance
Remember to setup any coupon codes or discounts the day before your promotions go live
Marketing can be lots of fun if you plan it out and execute your plans well. If you need help, we’re here for you. Give us a call at 866-515-2057, chat with us online at www.venturawebdesign.com, or email us sales@venturawebdesign.com to schedule a free consultation today.
As the holiday season begins to wrap up, it’s still important to make sure your website experience is worth it to your consumers. Head into the New Year with the most optimized website out there!
eCommerce websites directly rely on website conversions. So, in order to drive those conversions, the right tests should be conducted to make sure you’re getting the most out of your website.
Before we get into the features you should always be testing on your website, let’s go over the different types of User Testing out there.
Moderated Testing
This may be the most preferred method of testing because of the type of feedback it provides. You’re able to communicate directly with users online or in person and you can even screen record through this method of testing. Moderated Testing may be a bit time consuming, but you’re able to ask targeted questions which is massively helpful when accessing which elements need to be fixed on your website.
Remote Moderated Testing
This type of testing allows you to test specific pages and actions on a website. This fast and effective method of testing allows users to provide feedback while working remotely.
Card Sorting
Card sorting is a method of testing that helps design or evaluate the information architecture of a website. Users can categorize topics based on their preferences. Card sorting can be done online with sorting tools or done with pieces of paper.
Preference Testing
Users are presented with up to 6 different UX design elements and are asked to choose. Examples of elements include: logos, color palettes, buttons, and videos. Users provide their feedback on the aesthetic appeal and how well they communicate a specific message or idea.
Five Second Test
This method of testing tracks a users impression within the first five seconds of viewing a design. Five Second Tests are usually used to test how effective a website’s design is communicating a specific message or idea.
Now that you know the types of tests that exist, let’s get to the features you need to be testing frequently.
Homepage
Your homepage is typically the first thing that website visitors will see. Your website’s homepage should give viewers an overview of what to expect from the business. A well-designed homepage can heavily impact how long a viewer spends on your website.
Product Details Page
Your website visitors made it past your homepage—great! You want your product details page to be optimized to reflect the factors that influences visitors decision-making the most. It’s a great idea to put all of these elements on your product details page.
Checkout
This needs to be a seamless endpoint for website visitors. Their experience could make or break your sale.
Call to Actions
CTA’s can directly influence conversions across your website. Ensure that all of your buttons work and are linked appropriately to their respective destinations.
Mobile Page Speed Test
Optimizing your website for mobile devices is critical when it comes to attracting and retaining customers, as more than half of the world’s internet traffic comes from mobile devices. If your website takes anywhere longer than five seconds to load, the likeliness of potential customers leaving the page rising exponentially.
We run tests like these to ensure our clients’ eCommerce website is the best of the best. While we’ve shared 5 features to test on your website, there are countless other features to test like: landing page design, testimonial pages, contact pages, videos, forms, and more.
Your customers’ shopping experience is imperative to the success of your eCommerce business! Schedule your FREE Consultation with us now to get the support you need to run tests like these as well as get the on-going support you need to grow your eCommerce business.
Who doesn’t want a successful, stress-free holiday season? You, us and shoppers alike!
To set yourself up for the best holiday season yet to come, we’ve put together a checklist so that you can be on top of all things business and eCommerce this holiday season.
Monitor your Online Tactics & Strategies
Continuously monitor your Website, Advertisements, Social Media profiles, SEO, Marketing Promotions, and Sales to make adjustments as they may be needed.
Update and Test NOW
If your website needs fixes, improvements and/or updates, the time to make those changes was yesterday. Wait no longer because the holiday rush is already upon us. This includes making changes to design, too to get visitors in the holiday spirit!
Your website will see a significant increase in traffic in the next few weeks, so your website needs to be able to support that. Tell us…would you wait for more than 8 seconds for a website to load? Images can slow your website down quite a bit, so you want to make sure they’re all optimized to yield the fastest loading time. Don’t delay Santa’s shopping by making him wait for slow images to load on your website.
You should be testing things like: the checkout process, shipping calculators, mobile displays, site navigation, all payment methods, coupon and discount codes, any CTA’s, and all outbound and internal links.
Create Marketing Campaigns
Consider promotions like free shipping, seasonal add-ons, free gifts with a certain purchase, or discounts on orders over a certain amount as part of your Holiday Marketing Campaign. Incentivize early shopping as much as you can in your marketing collateral.
Know your Top Sellers
You should have a good idea about which products are most popular and sell out quickly. Use this information to ensure your inventory is what it needs to be for all the goods to be purchased. Furthermore, think about making these top sellers a priority in your holiday marketing and promotions.
Consider adding gift cards as an option for buyers! Also, use your top selling insight to upsell and bundle products.
Prioritize Security
Cybercriminals create mischievous ways to access customer information and that could lead to a lot of harm for your business. Take the time to assess your website security to ensure the best security for your business and customers alike.
Manage Expectations with Communication
Its cliche, but communication is key. Make things as easy as possible for your customers. Be proactive and advertise shipping dates so they can get their purchases on time, send email reminders as the holidays approach, and speak up about returns. Clear communication will give your customers the confidence they need to become a repeat customer.
TIP: The best place on your website to place important information would be on the homepage, landing pages, product pages, and shopping cart pages.
Provide Tracking Information
As much as your business may be obsessing over delivery dates, your customers are too. Provide your customers with tracking numbers so that they can easily track their orders via UPS, FedEx, etc..
Save yourself the stress and check these items off of your to-list now! If you’re thinking you may need some help with some of these items, go ahead and schedule your FREE consultation with us, today!
Las Vegas Raiders vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Sun, 10/25, 4:05pm ET, 1:05pm PT. No matter which team wins, ALL new Ventura clients win.
Watch as our two favorite teams battle it out. Our Las Vegas Ventura Team will obviously be cheering for the Raiders, while our Tampa Ventura Team will be cheering for the Buccaneers.
We are excited to see which team wins this crucial battle. Both teams need this win, so it’s sure to be a great game. To add some fun to the competition, we will offer 25% off your first month of VIP Support Services if Tampa Bay wins, or 25% off your new website or website redesign if Las Vegas wins.
* Offer valid on new contracts only. Must be signed and paid in full prior to Oct 30, 2020. VIP contracts must be Advanced level or higher, with minimum 6 month commitment. New websites / redesigns must be at the Enterprise level, $15,000 or higher.
Did you know your Facebook page could be one of your best tools for increasing your revenue? With the proper relevance and frequency of your posts you could tap a whole new market you didn’t even know existed!
47% of users expect a maximum loading time of two seconds for an average website. In the day and age where everything is instantaneous, it’s unlikely users will wait for a slow website to load. They will go back to a search engine to find a faster one. This blog will cover the 10 factors that could be slowing down your website loading speed.
Unoptimized photos
This is usually the top culprit of a slow loading web page. When uploading a high-resolution image (which is always advised) and then scaling it down it causes your web page to be large and thus take longer to load.
To combat this use JPEG images as opposed to PNG or GIF, as JPEGs have a smaller file size. Never use files that have a file size of 1 MB or more.
If you have a slow website or are just curious to test your site’s speed there are websites that will analyze any link and tell you where slowdowns may be coming from.
JavaScript issues
JavaScript is a great program for plugins, but if you’re not careful your JavaScript plugin can actually be hurting your website loading speed.
To combat this potential problem audit your JavaScript.
In case you’re not a tech guru we have multiple staff members that know how to perform these functions. Contact us or visit us online to learn more about our web design services.
Flash content
Everyone remembers or knows Adobe Flash because it was that popup that used to came frequently in the past when you were trying to surf the web. Flash always seemed like it had to be updated, didn’t it? Well, that’s likely because it did. As websites advanced the Flash version had to be updated and now it could be the culprit of your own slow website.
Flash is somewhat outdated now and can be causing your website to slow down. You can either perform an audit of your Flash content to see what you can eliminate or simply start using HTML5 to speed up your site.
HTTP requests
If your website has many JavaScript, CSS, and images. That can be a lot of processes to request from the browser causing a slower load time.
To reduce these requests try using Sprites to reduce HTTP requests
Also consider pairing down the files on your page including images, JavaScript, and CSS.
Not Caching
Caching is the process of storing data so at a later request they load faster. This takes the burden off the server so it doesn’t have to process the same information multiple times.
Using browser/HTTP caching and server-side caching will improve your site speed tremendously.
Cluttered code
When your website has excessive styling or white space these things can cause unclean code. Removing these unnecessary things can compress the code, and thus reduce load time.
Not zipping files
gZIP compression allows you to compress the file size of the objects that commonly slow down your site speed like images, CSS, and JavaScript. This means when a user requests these things from your server they are smaller so they load faster on their end.
If you haven’t already, enable gZIP on your website.
Too many ads
Ads are great for extra revenue for many sites, but it’s not worth compromising site load speed. More ads mean more HTTP requests, especially for media-rich display ads.
To reduce clutter and improve site speed reduce the number of ads.
Not using a CDN service
A CDN service is a network of independent servers deployed in different geographic locations. They are designed to deploy information from the closest server from the requesting user. These can dramatically improve site speed.
Bad hosting
If all of the above options have been exhausted. It could be that you are using a bad hosting service. A bad host can cause your website to load slow.
Try switching hosts to a company that provides site speed support or optimized speed within their hosting bundle.
Contact Us
If you would like to outsource your web design and mobile web design contact us online or by phone. We have two locations to serve you with those specializing in web design in Las Vegas and Tampa.
Your website home page should entice viewers to buy from you or work with you. People make very quick judgments when viewing a site…about a two-second judgment to be exact. So, implement the five things covered in this blog to convert web traffic into revenue.
Clear and concise messaging
People spend 5.94 seconds looking at the main page of a website so its important to have a clear and concise messaging to get your point across.
It’s best to have one main focal point on the page with easily digestible text…chunky paragraphs are a major no-no.
Every website main page should contain:
What you do
Why you do it
Benefits of your business/product
Hours of operation
Contact section
Call to action
Reduced options
Some may think its better to give people 20 options as opposed to a handful of options. While it may feel contradictory, it’s actually better to give people just a few choices.
Hicks Law states that the more choices a person has the longer they will take to make a decision.
This is not what you want when someone visits your site. You want to convert that visitor into a customer, therefore, giving them fewer options to pick from is better since the longer it takes them to choose an item the more likely they will be to second guess the purchase altogether and leave the site.
Easy navigation
How many clicks it takes to complete a task and how easy options are to find are two factors people look for when browsing sites.
Make your site easy to browse and buy from. Minimal things to click on the homepage is usually best. Here’s an example of CarMax’s homepage.
The page tells you what they do, has a large call to action button, and quality photos.
Use photos to enhance your page
As shown in the example above good photos are crucial to people’s perception of your business and what you do. Avoid using stock images, as it seems impersonal and makes a customer less likely to trust you.
Your images should be high quality and compressed or zipped files to prevent the page from lagging when loading.
Provide proof for your claims
Provide reviews of past customers on your website. As people, we are more likely to follow the crowd so posting other satisfied reviews will make people more likely to choose your business. Providing reviews shows you can back up claims or provide a quality product or service. Let’s use our website as an example. We have put reviews on our website to back up our claims.
Contact Us
After reading this do you think your website could be spruced up? Contact us and we can handle redesigning, rewriting, and reworking your website so it can effectively grab the attention of potential customers. We have two locations to serve you. Contact us by phone in Tampa at (813) 556-7990 or in Las Vegas at (702) 515-2057. You can also contact us online.
What’s a pillar page and why should every website have one? This blog will discuss pillar pages in-depth, from what they are, to why you should have one, and how to create one. Keep reading to find out how they can help your business build credibility and improve relationships with current and future customers.
What Is A Pillar Page?
To put it simply pillar pages are web pages that contain information about a specific topic with relevant subtopics on it. These subtopics are clickable hyperlinks within the text body that will transfer someone to various pieces of content. For example, let’s say your topic is about the mechanics of baseball. You would have subtopics underneath baseball for subjects related to baseball like how to pick the right equipment, how to catch a ball, how to hit a baseball, etc and within those text bodies on the page, there will be clickable links to other more specific pieces related to the subtopic.
Your main topic should be a popular keyword. This will drive traffic to your pillar page via clicks. This keyword should also be mentioned in the image alt text, h1 tags, URL, and title.
Here’s an example of a pillar page for more context. There is body text about the main topic with a clickable link to a more detailed piece of content about fonts, logos, and colors.
When Should You Create A Pillar Page?
A pillar page should be created when you have enough content on the topic that you can flesh it out. Pretend you know nothing about the topic, would you be able to go to your pillar page and learn enough about the topic to have a comfortable conversation about many facets of the topic. If the answer is yes, then you have enough content for a pillar page. If the answer is no, create additional pieces of content with the intent of publishing that information on your pillar page.
There is such a thing as a 10x pillar page. What do you ask is the difference between a regular pillar page and a 10x pillar page? A 10x pillar page simply means your pillar page is 10x (10 times) better than the best pillar page on the chosen topic. This is the ultimate goal when creating a pillar page.
What Is A Pillar Page Good For?
A pillar page can serve as a landing page for a specific topic you’re trying to market. They are beneficial for email marketing, webinars, or paid ad purposes.
Creating a pillar page not only makes you seem credible but people will use you as a resource for that topic.
Steps To Create A Pillar Page
Choose a topic
This should be broad but not too broad
Choose your subtopics and write them or repurpose them from your old content
Add hyperlinks where relevant in the body text
Build your pillar page
Share your new awesome content!
Outsource Your Website Design And Pillar Page Creation
Running a business is time-consuming. Outsource your marketing and website design to experts with over 20 years of experience at Ventura Web Design and Marketing.
How Long Should A Pillar Page Be?
A pillar page should have body text ranging between 2000-5000 words. The text should relate to the main topic, but it shouldn’t go fully into detail. That’s what you have the hyperlinks to other content you’ve created for.
Extra Features To Add To Your Pillar Page
Progress bar
This is a bar that appears on the page under the URL that shows a reader how far they are into the article.
Last updated line
Let your readers know how up to date their content is by updating your pillar page with a description saying when the page was last updated
Offer a PDF download of the pillar page
This creates a document someone can print or easily email or share on social media.
Introduction video
Include a video at the top of your pillar page. Videos are the best way to intrigue readers and keep them on your page.
Table of contents
This can be at the top of the page or on the side of the page as the reader scrolls through. This is designed so a reader can easily know what section they’re on as well as skip easily to sections they would like to read.
Format your pillar page in small snippets
A wall of text is extremely daunting and disinteresting to a reader. Make your content more appealing and digestible by keeping the text chunks between 2-4 sentences, using bullets, or numbered lists.
Include a ‘back to top’ button
No one likes excessive scrolling. Make it easy for readers to get back to the top of your page with a clickable ‘back to top’ button.
Contact Us To Design Your Pillar Page
Gain email subscribers, market your self using paid ads, and present yourself as a thought leader with a pillar page today. If you need help designing a professional pillar page we can help you with that. Contact us online or by phone. We have two offices to serve you. The Tampa location phone number is (813) 556-7990 and the Las Vegas location phone number is (702) 515-2057.
Abform Workwear is the leading supplier of OSHA approved safety gear, fire and flame-resistant workwear, uniforms, and more. They’ve been in business since the early 80’s and continue to serve as many industries as possible. They offer a wide variety of products for shoppers and need to make sure their customers are satisfied during every step of the online experience.
Before Abform Workwear’s Design Overhaul
Abform Workwear wasn’t able to easily maintain their website and online store because of proprietary software. Proprietary software can be expensive, typically there isn’t a lot of room for customization, and developer support can be difficult to reach or even disappear should the developer go out of business.
Updates were challenging as they didn’t have access to contemporary and updated editing tools. They didn’t have the support or dedicated team they needed to give their customers the experience they deserve.
This is why they decided to work with Ventura Web Design & Marketing for their website needs. As a premier web design company in Tampa Bay, we went to work on the aesthetic, functionality, and ease of use of their website. We aimed to improve the site’s navigation and make it easier for customers to find the products they’re looking for. We also wanted to curate a bright, open style while also staying true to their brand and look professionally sleek.
After Abform Workwear’s Redesign with Ventura Web Design & Marketing
With our VIP support, team of specialists, and experience, they get the assistance they need with Ventura Web Design & Marketing as an active extension of their team.
Their website now features a brighter color scheme using a non-proprietary platform. Abform Workwear and our team is able to maintain their site easily and frequently. We worked on their navigation and homepage, graphic design, and updated their product categories. The before (left) and after (right) transitions can be seen below.
Abform Workwear’s Home Page
Abform Home Page – Before
Abform Home Page – After
Category Page
Abform Category Page – Before
Abform Category Page – After
Product Page
Abform Product Page – Before
Abform Product Page – After
We rebuilt their site keeping in mind standards for mobile website design and desktop capability. Their site was also analyzed pre-launch for SEO, and optimized accordingly.
We continue to provide them with top-level assistance including regular SEO updates to keep their site visible to their valued customers. As a Tampa Bay web design company, we are dedicated to transforming and improving every aspect of your website and digital presence. With locations in Las Vegas, Nevada and Tampa, Florida, we have you covered regardless of where you’re located. Contact us today for a consultation.
At the start of November, I can’t help but think about all of the wonderful holidays to come. Annual days set aside where family and friends come together to laugh and share updates about their lives. Eventually, we all get asked one or two questions that we dread because we already know exactly how the conversation is going to go. The question I have to prepare myself for is: So, what exactly do you do?
Every year when my aunt Ethel breaks out this gem again, I have to remind myself that design as a whole can be broad and most people may not fully understand the value that a good designer adds. Allow me to break it down:
A graphic designer or graphic artist is the creative entity on a team. They develop a wide variety of materials, using their creativity and unique skill sets, to help sell a product or service, while also contributing to the development of the brand’s identity.
My usual follow up explanation to this is to point to some nearby object or advertisement, and describe the ways in which a designer was involved. For instance, a car – almost the entire population drives them and we see them everywhere on a regular basis. Design made whatever car you’re picturing right now the way it is. A team of automotive designers created the exterior aesthetic of the car as well as the interior elements that enhance the passenger’s experience inside the car. A separate team of designers developed the advertisements to help sell that car. This team likely worked across multiple platforms and mediums including printed ads in magazines and on billboards as well as digital ads seen on social media and television. Most likely additional designers were involved outside of these dedicated teams to provide materials like business cards for the salesmen that sell these cars or flyers for savings events.
Now let’s really answer the heart of my family’s favorite question: what do I do?
I work as a website designer while also providing collateral for social media and print materials. My main focus is to provide the best user experience in the most aesthetically pleasing way. Keep in mind all of the functionality on any given website – there can be many moving parts and elements to keep track of. Do you want a pop-up window for a newsletter sign up? Do you want your customers to have a photo gallery to look through? How will these elements contribute to the look of your site and get people to interact with them? Internet users value the experience and design of a company’s website more than ever before. In fact, 75% of consumers admit to making judgements on a company’s credibility based on the company’s website design1.
When you take a hard look at what I really do, it boils down to this: I help companies make money and connect with their customers so they can build relationships that help them keep making money. A good designer is just as important as a good salesman because both help sell your product.
1Sweor. 27 Eye-Opening Website Statistics: Is Your Website Costing You Clients? Source
