GOOGLE IS TESTING OUT A “SLOW” WARNING ON ITS RESULTS PAGES

Recently Google launched a "mobile friendly" badge which I have personally seen. I purposely shut down the mobile version of my site to see this first hand. what I received was an email saying that my website was not mobile friendly and that would affect mobile search results.

Now Google is  experimenting with a new "slow" icon which may appear in our search results.

Everyone hates a slow website. Pages that take too long to load can be frustrating and turn users and potential customers off to a website or product.

So what can you do to make sure your site isn't getting a slow badge?

1. Using Google analytics, check your site speed
2. Check the suggestions on how to improve your site speed
3. check the mobile c=version as well especially the user experience

If you are able, make these changes. Or you can always go to an experienced Web Designer.

Simple is Better

Simple. A term we use at SMR Website Design with our clients all the time. You want to get your message across as quickly and clearly as possible.

Often, business owners want websites with large images, fancy fonts, and links to separate pages for every topic within their website. But are these requests and ideas the best way to keep a  viewers attention? More often than not, a visitor to a website is looking for certain information right away. For instance, if your company sells product-A, the visitor has come to your website looking for info on that product. They most likely are not interested in seeing dynamic graphics or hard to understand fonts. Not that these are not important, but they should be used to accent the website instead of taking it over.

"The product or service your are selling, should be front and center, and presented in a clear, understandable way. " - Frank, designer at SMRWD

Long Scrolling Websites are a trending design because of their simplicity. With only one or two different pages, in most cases only one, all the information is on one page. Information is quickly accessible, and presented in a clear way. The user need only to scroll down, or hit an anchor link, to find what they are looking for. This UX is what will keep a visitor on your site longer, which will result in a higher rate of sale.

This form also transfers over to mobile better than any other. Most people are viewing sites on their mobile devices, in which Long Scrolling is perfect for. It's much easier to scroll on your phone than to continually click and load different pages.

Confusing, hard to navigate, slow loading sites, are a thing of the past. Flash is gone. It's all about conveying your message as quickly and clearly as possible. Keeping you visitor on one page and not sending them away to links, will make it easier for them, resulting in a longer viewing session.

Material Design will start to play a large roll in this form of web design.
At SMRWD we are already fusing Material Design and Long Scrolling Design into one, creating vibrant websites that meet these simple design characteristics. The results have been very positive.

Analytics numbers show that these types of sites are performing better than the old standard design templates. Duration, bounce rates, and goal conversion rates, all have more favorable numbers, in similar time frames, than their standard website counterparts.

SMR Website Design will continue to merge these designs. If you are interested in having a website designed in this fashion, but would like to know more, please feel free to contact us. We are always willing to answer questions and give advice or help anytime we can.

Is The Client Always Right?

I'm sure we've all been there. Hired by a client to do a job for them. Hired for your expertise only to have them dictating to you what and how they want things done.

So what do you do?

I have recently had a client that hired me to build a website for them. We started off with a basic design, and as always I built something that I thought would serve the client's business well. I am always open to suggestions and any changes the client may want. If I think they're good ideas I tell them, and if I think they're bad ideas I tell them. I always try to give them the best possible advice I can to create the best product I  can.

After some collaboration, it became clear I was just doing the changes they wanted with the design they wanted. All of my ideas were discarded, and the design had become solely theirs.

So normally I really would not have such a problem with this. I am getting paid after all and that's why I am doing this. But  this website had become nothing that represents my style or my company. It actually breaks every basic rule of website design.

So what should I have done? Should I have put my company name on the project? I don't want potential customers to think this is my work.
Do I continue working with this client? If I don't feel passionate about a project, is it worth putting in my time and effort?

This is a difficult position to be in because it could affect your reputation. While on the one hand I do not want to do business with this client, but on the other hand I need the income, and do not want any bad reviews.

I have so many great clients, Next Level Speed, Acapellic Records, Nozze Marketing, to name a few. I also have 5 websites in development. So do I really need a client that I am not proud of the website produced?

SMR Website Design takes a lot of pride in our work.  We do not like to put our name on something unless we will stand behind it.

So our decision is still being made. It is a tough one.
If you have any ideas leave a comment on our website, this post, on our Facebook Page, or even Twitter.

We love hearing different views on issues that will help us be a more successful company and we value any suggestions from consumers.

- Frank 

SMR Website Design

When is it Time to Fire a Client?

So here I am again, sending the same invoice reminder for the second time this month, to the same client who has not contacted me.

Many of us have been in this predicament. As a small business, your clients payments are the lifeblood of your business. But what do you do with the ones who do not pay for months, or constantly pay late?

Here's my gauge:

• Is their money (not there) actually helping you? 
• Is the stress of not receiving payment, while still providing them with service not worth the fee?
• Are you spending valuable time and resources chasing down this client for payment every month?

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But how do I end it without denting my reputation? 

That's the question that makes us keep these clients. We are actually afraid to let them go for fear of losing income and a bad review somewhere.

These are tough questions, especially for small businesses with a small clientele. Large companies can make stringent guidelines for client payments. If the client does not follow those guidelines, well, the company is so large that losing one or two, who don't pay anyway, will not hurt them. It actually helps them by not having to waste time and resources chasing down those clients.

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Below is a great snippet of an article from Inc.

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INC. - Many articles that ask the question, "When is it time to fire a client?" list non-payment as a primary reason. As valuable as that client's money is to your business, if months have passed with no payment, that money is obviously not helping at all. Even if payment eventually comes in, the time and mental overhead you spend each month tracking payments, sending notices, and worrying that the client won't pay aren't worth it. In this case, the best thing you can do is put the late-paying client on notice that you'll be ending your working relationship at the end of its current term.

Unfortunately, ending a relationship with a client is one of the hardest parts of being an entrepreneur, even if that client's late payments have caused you unnecessary headaches. Many entrepreneurs feel loyal and grateful to their clients, or are concerned about their professional reputation. But you can still graciously bow out while still being firm, especially if you've mentioned the problem with late payments to the client previously. Try first discussing the problem politely with the client and, if it still doesn't get better, carefully plan the conversation before making the call.

If you can end things professionally and amicably with the client, that's ideal. Unfortunately, there will be cases where your client won't take it well despite your best efforts. As long as you've conducted yourself as professionally as possible, you shouldn't have any regrets. As time goes on, you'll likely have a few relationships with clients that don't work out, but the stress relief will be totally worth it.

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So this is great advice. It's a tough decision to make, but one that has to be made. I constantly find myself feeling bad for these types of clients, and I always give them one more chance. But I am realizing that there is only so much you can do for someone. They eventually have to take responsibility and realize, that they are causing themselves to be removed as a client.

Frank

SMR Website Design

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NoZzE Marketing : You Live and You Learn ...Small Business Problems

NoZzE Marketing : You Live and You Learn ...Small Business Problems: What a day,  Small Business Problems Starting out as a brand new business... I didn't realize how hard it would be to manage employees...

My First Material Design Website

I have slowly been studying a new trending style, Material Design. It is an attractive, simplistic design, with bold, but flat colors. You have all seen this style as Google has implemented it throughout their websites and apps.

So I received an email from a prospective client, who was interested in a website for his blog and social news media hub. After he filled out my build form, I thought he would be the perfect candidate for this new style design.

As I had been working on building a template previously, I decided that it would be the one that I would use.

It's a very simple design. All the important information is

Material Design website by SMR Website Design

easily accessible in a very bold interface. But all the normal elements you would expect to see are there, and they are where you would normally find them. That is key in a website. What this does is not make the user have to think or search for all the normal features. They are where they should be, right in front of them.

Material Design is flat. There are no shadows behind images. The color palettes are based on different shades of the main color. This makes it look very uniform, but also accents different elements. The different shades compliment each other nicely and don't clutter up the screen. There are also only about 8 colors to each design, including the font color.

SMR Website Design

At SMR Website Design, we are always looking at the newest or latest trends in web design. We like fresh ideas and we try to link our client's tastes to a style that suits them.

So Contact Us today if you think you may be interested in a Material Design style website,or any other style.

Trending Website Design

    Lately there has been a trend in website design. For awhile, everyone wanted a landing page. But SEO managers soon realized, through bounce rates and other analytics, that visitors coming to their site were not going further. If you think about why, it actually is logical. Why should a viewer have to click through 4-5 pages to find what they are looking for? 
Too much redirection.

    Website visitors want to access the information or subject they are looking for as quickly as possible. By going to a landing page, reading through that, then clicking a button to a homepage, and reading through that, a visitor will have to almost click and load three or four pages before finding what they want. If they are on an older or slow computer, this makes it seem like an eternity! Result: they leave without even viewing any other page n the website, and you lose a potential customer.

    Website designers have adapted to this and now are using Long Form homepages.

    A Long Form Homepage will have your basic heading with a navigation bar, and those buttons will lead to other pages. But where the Long Form comes in, is that all the information on the website is represented on the homepage. So for ex. there will be an About section, a Service section, a Contact section etc... on the homepage. Usually with a link to that respective page within the website. These sections are brief overviews.         There is also a page menu with all the sections of the homepage listed. These are linked to their sections, so when clicked, the page will automatically scroll down to that section.

    At SMR Website Design, we also will put a "back to top" link in every section, which will bring the viewer back to the top of the page, which is where the page menu usually is. This way the viewer doesn't even have to scroll, it's all just clicking.

    This makes navigating through a website for a viewer quicker and easier. It also results in a viewer seeing more of your companies products and services. Once the viewer finds what they are looking for, they can click a link to be taken to that page for more information, or there may be enough there for them to use, and they can fill out a contact for (placed on the homepage) without ever leaving the page.

"The quicker and easier a potential client can find what they are looking for, the more likely they are to use your service." - Frank, SMR Website Design

    Our latest website design for Nozze Marketing, incorporated a mini version of a long form homepage. The homepage consists of a fading message, then a little "About" section. There is a menu with links to their respective pages and then a contact form. But even though this is a smaller version of a long form, the viewer can still very quickly and easy locate what they are looking for, and get there with only a click.

"UI is one of the most important features in helping your viewers find what they are looking for." - Frank, SMR Website Design

    While before the long form, website owners wanted slideshows to promote different topics on their sites. That practice is quickly fading. Slideshow galleries, while still very popular, are trending down due to slowing down the loading of a page as well as having a viewer wait for the info they are looking for. 

    Instead, they are being used with taglines, a company motto, and even

testimonial quotes. This can have a positive effect on the overall design by basically being considered "in the background." Meaning the message is not unimportant, but certainly not the most important. They are also showing only one or two slides as to not have a great effect on the load time of a web page. Again, in our client's website, Nozze Marketing,You can see how this holds true. While reading about the company you can see the company's motto and a quote, fading in and out. While it's not overwhelming, it subtly gives the viewer a little more of what the company is.

    There is also another way that we here at SMR use the long form style. We also put what we feel, is the most important information for a viewer on the homepage. 

   

In one of our other client's sites, Next Level Speed, we wanted to send viewers to the sections we wanted them to visit first. We felt these sections would sell the product the best. We felt that this was the most important information for a viewer to see.



    In summary, website designs trend for a reason. It is clear that the long form, for now, will be used more and more. It provides the user with an easily navigate-able experience, letting them find the information they are looking for quickly and easily. While at the same time, it provides the owner with more of their services and products being seen. I believe eventually we will see material design work its way into this as they seem like they would be a perfect fit for each other.

Would you like your website designed using this long form style?
Contact Us or you can visit our website a SMR Website Design