If you are restaurant owner in Orange County how much can you relate to this statement: “Before they open your menu they open your website”

Now this is not the blog where I am going to talk about why your restaurant business needs a good website because if you are reading this than I am sure you know about it.

Here I will mention few actionable tips that you can implement on your restaurant websites right away to turn them into a powerful lead generating machine.

1) Keep your area in mind

You are a restaurant owner in Orange County who is looking to build either a new or redesign a website for your restaurant. Now, what is the first thing you will be looking at? Menu? Well, we have a different answer to this.

Even before you think about the colors and graphics of your website it is imperative to understand the area where your restaurant is located.

See what all areas are covered in your radius. Does it have universities or it is located near co-operate offices or it is easily accessible to nearby residential areas. Once you have the grasp of your area you will able to get the right:

– Tone: A Collage goer will have a different vocabulary than to an office executive. So you need to make sure that you choose the right voice.

– Graphics: If 70% of your audience is residential you would want to give them the theme that resonates well with their tastes.

Therefore it is imperative that once decide to build or redesign your website you are completely aware about these facts.

This will not only help you understand your market better but will also help your designer design the website as per your way.

2) Menu

Yes, now is the time to talk about it. Though we have written about it in our earlier blog but still this is one point which needs to be included every time it is mentioned.

Why would a user click on a Restaurant website?- To know about the food items it offers
– What is unique about it
– Where it is located

Now, if a user has to search hard for these things or he is not able to access it on his smart device the effort on the website is a complete waste irrespective how good it looks.

Menu should be in front of the user in a jiffy when he/she open up the website. Not only it should be easily accessible but should also be readable.

3) Less Is More

Now, I could have covered this point above as well but I gave it a separate sub-heading because it is relevant and important.

Now, you will come across lot of websites that will write something ambitious like: amongst the best restaurants in orange county or best places to eat in Orange County.

Now these are generic statements that people don’t care about. More than making an impression they generally turn people away.

Now, I am not discouraging you from mentioning things you are good at but instead of adding these terms it is good to mention facts. This is what you can do:

– If you have good reviews on Yelp, you can mention that on your website
– Add testimonials and reviews of your customers
– Mention the ingredients and unique techniques you use in cooking the food

In other words cover less but cover things that are authentic and true. People want to will believe in you if you present them with facts rather than statements.

4) Get Your Audience To Act

Your restaurant website should have a good and clear call to action on all the pages.
Imagine this, by using proper tracking metrics you are able to gauge that a person is on your menu page for more than a minute, which means that is interested in it.

Now, when he is about to leave that page a small pop-up comes up asking would you like to make a reservation or add this menu or bookmark this page? Bam!

Once you have a customer on the website don’t become too aggressive or pushy with your call to action but at the same time don’t become so polite also that the other person don’t even notice you.
Don’t have boring Contact forms. Make them user friendly and more interactive.

Remember that the success of your restaurant will ultimately depend upon the quality of food but to get them there you need proper tools.

Your website should be interactive and should cover all the essential elements so that when the customer walks in he is aware about where he is and what he can expect.

In case you need any assistance in creating or redesigning a restaurant website you can always contact your truly orange county website design company.

Are you a local business based in Orange County? Are you looking for ways to expand your Local customer base? Drive more traffic to your store and convert those customers to paying customers? If your answer to above mentioned questions is yes, then this blog is definitely for you.
Even if you are not based in Orange County but as a local business are looking for ways to grow it, this blog will be of mighty help.
In this blog we will unravel some untapped secrets which you can amend in your business to promote it locally in Orange County or in the area you are working from.
In other words at the end of this blog you will have some practical, actionable steps which you will be able to implement in your business right away. So without wasting any more time on introduction, let’s dive straight into it:
To begin with let’s understand and elaborate the term Local Business?
As defined by Yext “Any business that provides goods or services to local population is deemed as Local business”.
For example: You have a store or a shop or like us you are an Orange County Website Design company based in Newport Beach, CA, where customers can come and directly talk to you.
Even if you don’t have an address still your business carter to the needs of people in Newport Beach area, your business is a local business.
This is why it becomes super important that you generate traffic from your local area to strengthen your position locally.
So here are certain tips that you should implement to your business right away to ensure that you get the maximum results from the area you are operating in.

1) Website is Fine, but Presence on Social Media Is Must

Now, I am not a Nostradamus but every once in a while I like to make some bold predictions just to flex my intuition muscles. So, this is what I believe will dominate 2019.
Social Power in others words make sure you are active about your brand on all major platforms. No matter how big or small your business is.
Even if you don’t have a website or a website that needs a redesign but you have a strong enough social reach you are a winner.
Though this doesn’t discard the significance of website still if you want to wait for a website it is fine as long as you are going strong socially.
Here are some interesting stats that prove the same:
– 70% of customers visit Local stores based on information found online
– Retailers advertising locally on Facebook see an average ROI of 152%
– In a survey of 3,511 Local marketers, respondents ranked Social Media advertising as most effective out of a list of 30 promotional channels that included TV, radio, print and offline advertising
Here is a survey that shows that only 25% of small businesses have a website https://gtdesign.co/local-businesses-without-a-website and even lesser number use Social Media pages to promote or rank their business.
This means that there is an open ground to cover. Today the cost of marketing or advertising on Instagram or Facebook is far lesser then compared to Google Ads. As a business owner you can absolutely latch on to this opportunity.
Platforms like Facebook and Instagram give you an opportunity to select the radius in which you want to promote your business. Now what more can you ask for.
The kind of metrics these platforms have is phenomenal. You can use them to select your audience, location, income group, interest, behavior and can do a lot more.
These platforms are hot therefore making sure that you capitalize on them before they hike their prices.
In fact you can go over our article to understand more about how to work and network over Instagram.

2) Target Local Directories

Please don’t’ judge this point by its sub-heading. I know that you would have heard and read about this before but there is a catch.
Instead of going after 40- 50 local directories and listing your business there, the idea is to pick 7 directories, list your business and maintain your presence.
Interact on these platforms, answer the reviews and make sure you are active.
It will only take 15-20 minutes of work every week and you will be ahead of competitors.
You need to keep in mind that Google value consistency. If you are listed on a reputed website like:
Yelp and are consistently engaging with your audiences there you are sending strong signals to Google bots.
All these factors are crucial to your brand establishment in long run so make sure you make the most out of it.

3) If you have a website Optimize it

:

If you have a website, it is critical that you optimize it to gain maximum benefits from local search.
You need to be thorough with your ground work. You need to test, implement, analyse your competitor to reach to your audiences.
You need to ask yourself questions like where your customer will be. You need to draw out a persona framework to determine who your client is and how you can best reach him.
A part from basic keyword search here are few others things you can add to your website to optimise its growth:
• Add Schema Mark up
• Make sure that your website open supremely on Mobile platforms
• Optimize your Google My Business Account
• Audit local citations and ensure consistent NAP
Also, make sure you check if your website is as per current designing standard or it needs a redesign.
Here this article will help you in this regard.

4) Don’t Try Too Hard To Market Or Sell Your Brand

Obviously if you are in market with your product or service you want to sell it to maximum number of people. However, the rules and dynamics of markets had changed considerably.
These days people don’t connect with products but with brands and brands don’t sell themselves, they connect.
So, if you have a grocery store in Orange County remember that you have a Grocery store in Orange County. This means that along with your store you should talk about Orange County as well.
Any insightful information around your local area is always going to go in your favour as it will connect people with your brand.
Always remember that building brand is a process and process takes time, so invest your time in Orange County and your brand will look after your grocery store.

5) Invest in Sponsorship

This point is an extension to the previous point.
How many events you have seen around you? Why not sponsor some of them.
Now, this kind of marketing practice can benefit your brand in two ways:
a) People who are organizing the event will instantly know about you and your product/services.
b) People who are participating in the event will not only acknowledge your brand but you can personally talk to them and make them aware about your services.
Trust me a lot of brand promotion events fail to bring the kind of viewership what these sponsorship can bring.
You can introduce coupons, discounts and other such attractive offers to get people interested in your brand.

Conclusion:
Local marketing is imperative. Having a good product is one thing but to sell it requires a lot of efforts till the time it becomes a brand. Therefore, be ready to invest in lot of time, patience and energy to work out a strategy around it.
There are lots of businesses in Orange County that are still not working on their Local marketing game which gives you a great opportunity to shine in. So, get your stuff together and establish your authority in your niche.

The food world has gone through its own unique evolution in this brave new world.
Remember when you had to queue up to order a hot big cheese burger with crispy fries?
Nah! Neither do we.
From the actual mechanics of eating to the way restaurant criticism functions, the internet and its tools have left an unfading mark on our relationship with food. And to keep this relationship as smooth as possible, tons of restaurant delivery sites seem to be popping up all over the internet.
Orange County has a very lively dining scene. There are various restaurants offering impressive culinary variety – from renowned hotel restaurants to sophomore efforts from some of the area’s most respected names.
All wrapped up in warm days and cool nights, with the sounds of the ocean often not far away.
The sister county to the south – Orange County has restaurants with their websites allowing users to search and filter through their menu, place an order, and have it delivered straight to their door.
In this article I shall be discussing my findings on 3 restaurant Orange County websites: Pour Vida Latin Flavor, Puesto and SOCIAL Costa Mesa.

Prominent Call-To-Action

All such sites need a prominent call to action in order to provide a smooth customer service. Puesto does just that. As soon as you land on their website you are immediately greeted with the option to make a reservation along with the other necessary icons appropriately placed.
Pour Vida Latin Flavor, on the other hand, does not offer the choice of making reservations as soon as you open their website. Instead, it gives us a brief description of their restaurant’s chef.

EASY ACCESS TO THE MENU

All the websites excel in providing their respective menu – an impetus in user experience.
Puesto provides a variety of Mexican food and the menu is easy to interpret.
Pour Vida Latin Flavor has a creatively designed menu with a very attractive layout and equally appealing colour scheme.
SOCIAL has a relatively similarly designed menu all over the world. The theme around which the menu has been designed is very scholarly. The menu can be comprehended easily and truly matches the décor of the restaurant.

EXCELLENT PRODUCT PHOTOS

Ok. So I actually have a confession to make here.
I maybe a little biased towards these sites because I ended up reviewing them around midnight but the food looks tempting. All 3 of them have their best items on display and honestly, I am not complaining!

EASY TO CONTACT

SOCIAL, Puesto and Pour Vida Latin Flavor – offer an easy way to get in touch with them. Visitors can find their contact details on the top of the webpage under ‘contact details’.

MOBILE FRIENDLY

It is a known fact that more people than ever are using mobile devices these days. With this in mind, websites now have been built taking non-desktop devices into consideration.
Puesto’s mobile site handles this issue beautifully. Social Costa Mesa offers website accessibility assistance to its users, and Pour Vida Latin Flavor offers a separate mobile site. Each allows the same user-friendly filtering and checkout process as the desktop site.

EMOTIONAL APPEAL

At last, I would like to discuss how these websites appeal to our emotions or instincts. Exciting colour schemes and fun, casual language tend to be more appealing and make users feel more comfortable. Thus, they are more willing to eat from your place than a one which has complicated, high end names and a rather dull colour scheme.
“We eat through our eyes” – is a true phenomenon. Until and unless it appeals to our eyes, it will never make its way into our stomach.
Pour Vida Latin Flavor has a delicate colour scheme. In comparison to Social and Puesto, their website is dull and boring. They don’t have a solid background and impressive font.
Social and Puesto have a bright colour scheme and tend to be more appealing to the youth. More attractive layout and images of food items incite hunger and actually make you want to run to these places and order all this!

Plumbers run very different businesses from traditional companies. A restaurant may use their website to advertise their menu and their specialties. Contrary to that, you need to generate leads from your plumbing website.
Unlike the restaurants, your success is calls and contact forms, and not foot traffic to your restaurant.
In this age of digitalisation, consumers want the information they seek NOW, meaning your plumbing company’s website should answer questions like:
So Lets Analyse few Websites in Orange County and see how are they different:
Who are you?
What do you do / offer?
How do I contact you?
Without the user needing to scroll down the page at all
Today I am going to discuss my findings on 3 plumbing websites: Orange County plumbing heating and air conditioning (OCPHAC), Pristine plumbing and Scott Harrison plumbing.

Call to Action

I know that I have mentioned this in the past, but this is the most important aspect that needs to be catered to – a prominent call-to-action.
OCPHAC does just that. As soon as you land on homepage, BAM! You are greeted with the message – “Get help now”.
Pristine plumbing and Scott Harrison plumbing operate on the same grounds too. Both of them have an immediate call of action which is a huge plus point in generating leads.

Services Offered

We then move forward to the services offered by these websites. Like a menu is an illustration of a restaurant’s abilities, the services symbolize the company’s talent.
Pristine plumbing advertise on the lines of 24×7 provisions of plumbing services.

OCPHAC and Scott Harrison plumbing offer a wide range of plumbing services too, both residential and commercial.

Easy To Contact

Pristine plumbing, Scott Harrison plumbing and OCPHAC – all offer a toll free number to get in touch with them to avail their services.

Apart from this, they also offer a small form for you to fill in your address and contact number to book an appointment with them too. These facilities make the websites user-friendly and very easy to operate.

Chat Support

Sometimes, even the most user-friendly sites may fall short to design for the lowest common denominator. Therefore, to take care of the unforeseen problems there is always a facility for chat support.
Pristine plumbing is the only website that offers this facility to its users. OCPHAC and Scott Harrison plumbing do offer you a form to fill in your enquiry and send it to them for a response but they don’t have a chat support system setup.

Coupons

Who can overlook this? There is nothing better than getting a discount or getting some service for free. Each site has a section and filter just for special deals. I personally am a sucker for coupons, whether its food deals or deals on other services.

Scott Harrison plumbing has a separate section under the heading – view specials/ coupons. OCPHAC offers financing options for your plumbing needs and even offer coupons which can be redeemed. Pristine plumbing doesn’t offer any such coupons on their website.

Mobile Friendly

More and more people have gained access to mobile phones these days. Gone are the days when mobile phones were out of the reach of a common man. As a result, loads of websites have started getting mobile friendly and can be accessed through non- desktop devices.
Scott Harrison plumbing, OCPHAC and Pristine plumbing have also taken non-desktop devices into consideration and services from these websites can be accessed through desktop and non-desktop devices easily.

Customer Reviews

Reviews on a service website can play a very pivotal role in affecting sales and generating leads. Most of the people, these days, do a bit of research from their end before taking up any service.

OCPHAC, Pristine plumbing and Scott Harrison plumbing – all of them have their testimonials and reviews uploaded on their respective websites for the viewers to read and analyse their services. Pristine plumbing even provides for a shortcut to access their customer reviews in one click.

Color Scheme

Color scheme and font are important aspects of any website. More attractive a website, more traffic it tends to attract. Colors affect the psychology of an individual and different colors incite different emotions.
Orange County Plumbing Heating and Air Conditioning, Scott Harrison plumbing and pristine plumbing – all have relatively dull websites with more whites, blues and black. There are traces of orange and red which add enthusiasm and energy on a website.
Colors play with the human mind and are a very essential tool in attracting customers to your website.

“If people like you they will listen to you, but if they trust you, they’ll do business with you.”
– Zig Ziglar
Branding has been a buzzword in the advertising industry for decades now. And with the recent explosion of the concept of social media marketing, personal branding has reached new heights. And this is one trend that you should not turn your back on, especially if you aim to establish an online presence.
A successful brand relies on its unique positioning in the marketplace. We as Orange county web Design Company are pushing hard every day to establish our brand in our niche.
Your unique identity sets you apart from your competition and contributes towards the overall success of your company.

A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.
– Seth Godin
Before I get into the details about why you need to brand yourself, let me take a step back. When thinking about a brand for a business, firstly you need to decide whether you want to build a personal brand or a business brand.
A personal brand is built around ‘you’ – means you brand your business with your name.
On the contrary, a business brand is build around an identity that you create for your business – means crafting a name that is independent of your personal name.
What does it mean to brand you?

Personal branding is the art of becoming knowable, likable and trustable.
– John Jantsch
To brand yourself is to create this identity for your self – a professional identity, and present a message that would set you apart from fellow workers in your company or in your industry.
You present your best qualities and skills in an appealing way to the online sector, targeted to a specific audience who is in search of your area of specialization.

1. You need to give a face to your company

Yes, brand name can work for some companies. However, almost all companies (even the “big” ones) have to choose an agency that is more human than choosing a mere logo to talk for them.
People like to interact with people – not machines!
Personal branding should be able to earn you a good and positive reputation that people would admire.
Your brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room.
– Jeff Bezos

2. Create a visual expression

Your brand must be able to create a visual identity of yours. When your name is mentioned, you want people to remember your name and not just your brand logo!
This will really identify your business brand.
The mention of your name should make people visualise your face as well as your brand logo.
Personal branding is all about building rapport at scale and rapport is one of the most fundamental sales techniques. Whether you call it personal branding or charisma, it’s a very powerful tool that veteran salespeople naturally employ to close more deals with less effort.
– Mark Roberge
Personal Brand Management Strategy

Once you have established your brand, your next task is to manage and actively promote your personal brand. Thanks to digitalisation, today’s world demands consistency.
You need to take control of your online brand image and provide a platform – website, outlining your achievements or create a blog to share your ideas and experiences related to your industry. If you don’t share your ideas, no one will know if they are any good.
Apart from creating a vibrant branded Twitter account for your start up, business owners should consider creating their own personal account on Twitter. Fans and followers often want to connect with the person behind the brand.
Lewis Howe’s
The strategy for your personal brand should be proactive and be reflective of your natural capabilities. You have to understand your own personal DNA.
Don’t do something because Steve Jobs or Bill Gates did it. Stay true to yourself and your brand.

Use of Social Media Platforms

Look around you and you will see that the world is on Web. Everyone is holding a phone and is surfing through stories through the day.
The question is simple: How to get in front of those users? How to make your stories relevant to these customers?
As a brand you need to challenge your marketing mindset. Social media is the game and you need to play it well. You need to ensure that you take your brand and present in right way to right audiences.
Insta user will want a different story as compared to a LinkedIn one. You need be smarter with your strategies.
You need to talk about your values. You need to showcase what you as a brand stand for.
Mere presence is not going to help; you need to engage with your audiences. You need to ensure they are taking to you and about.
Still under doubt about the presence and power of social media, read these facts:
1. 75% of male internet users are on Facebook and 83% are females
2. In US, You Tube and Facebook are the most watched Social Media Channels
3. 81% of Millennials check their Twitter account at least once per day
4. LinkedIN boasts more than 530 million users profile
5. Three quarters of Facebook users check use their Facebook everyday
Still need proof? I guess not.

How branding benefits your company

Remember that your reputation is everything. You build it through everything you do, whether big actions or small decisions.
Consumers tend to make more favourable judgement of a particular product because of positive biases for a certain brand or people associated with it.
Like, consumers like a certain product because it is endorsed by their favourite celebrity. Similarly, if you develop a unique personal brand then your company gets to enjoy the same status.
Take for example Yelp. Now, most of the users before buying from a business prefer to check their reviews. These reviews are powerful and stats prove that they shale and mend the psyche of the buyer.
In fact, see it for yourself, if you had ever shopped from Amazon, I am sure before making a purchase no matter how lucrative the deal you would have checked its reviews.
This is what good branding does. Rather this is what good branding should be about. It should be able to generate favourable reviews about your business.
Again you can use Social Media to aid you in this process. Ask and encourage your customers to leave you reviews.
Make sure that you answer back to each and every review you get on your website. The more you interact the healthier it for your brand.
Always remember that once you build a trustworthy reputation in the market, you are a winner.
Even individuals need to develop a brand for themselves …. Whatever your area of expertise, you can take steps to make people think of YOU when they think of your field.
– Webzine

How branding benefits your career?

Brand yourself for the career you want, not the job you have.
– Dan Schnabel
It is important to create a unique brand for yourself, independent of your identity within your company, in order to stay marketable. This opens doors for more opportunities both within and outside your organisation.
It allows you to market your skills to meet the customer’s needs. There is an interesting article dedicated to this, you can check it out here.
It helps you to understand how you add value. The biggest benefit you get from understanding who you are is a stronger belief in your own value.
There are plenty of platforms where you can showcase your skills. LinkedIn for one is where all the recruiters are.
If you are looking for a Job change this is the best platform to be hooked upon. Put your best work there.
Trust me every day, there are some amazing stories coming out from this platform. This is a platform that allows you to showcase your skills and work.
Again it is imperative to brand yourself in the best possible manner to stay ahead in the market.
To conclude, just remember that being you works the best!
Be bold and original. Tell people something that they don’t know. With social media having gained accessibility into people’s lives, it has become easier to create a brand online that people can see at any moment.
Start by knowing what you want and who you are, build credibility around it and deliver it online in a compelling way.
Krista Neher
Your brand is the gateway to your true work. Focus on identifying your target audience, communicating an authentic message and project yourself as a ‘pro’ in your niche.
When you create a compelling brand you attract people who want the promise of your brand – which you deliver.

It is hard to imagine running a business in these times without having a website. People look up on the internet only to search for products or services they need. But what’s ironical is that although there are tons of businesses that have what the customer needs, but, unfortunately their websites don’t!
Despite all the website tools and resources available easily on the internet, there are still some sites which are in a pitiable shape.
From poor visuals to disjointed navigation, unattractive content, and lack of clear call to actions – all these help in keeping money out of the door for your business.
Web design is meant to combine form and function in a way that makes a website enjoyable, navigable, and interesting. This is what all good Orange County Web Design companies do.
Web design is a form of art. Web design aims to give its viewers an experience. To do this, there are certain rules web designers must follow.
So here I am going to list down some common web design mistakes that businesses make all the time.

1. Visual Horror

Your website is your chief branding tool and if it looks anything like the image attached above then your business is sure to be doomed.
Your website is a window for the world to shop from and a source for customers, clients and partners to reach you. The important thing to remember is that crowded websites are never a good thing.
Websites with hundreds of images and text take ages to load and confuse the visitors. Such websites have the highest bounce rates and zero conversions.

2. Poor Call To Action

Call to Action (CTA) is the gateway to your business. It directs your visitors to do something. Click here! Buy now! Or Contact us.
What’s important is to tell them to act right away! But along with that there should be enough information for the visitors on the website so that they know what result their action would yield.
A common mistake which most web designers do is add obscure call to action buttons. That is totally unnecessary!
One should make sure to keep their CTA precise, on-point and easy to find. This is your website’s golden chance to capture a customer. Don’t blow it.

3. Poor Content

Content is king when it comes to online business. Low quality, duplicated content can ruin your investment on online marketing.
Content is what puts your services into words. It informs the audience of your business. You need to make sure that you appropriately lay out your content on the web page and pick a legible and attractive font for the same.
Also, always keep your content updated. An outdated website is a sign of poor or no business. It would simply reflect that you may have gone out of business. And remember to make good use of the whitespace.

4. Poor Placements Of Ads

Advertising is an inevitable part of the web design world. It is one of the main income streams for bloggers. However too many ads or flashy ads can be frustrating for the audience and make them close your website.
It is an evil that can eat your business alive. You need to be very careful regarding the choice, design and placement of an ad on your website. If you’re bothered by certain ads, the audience will be too. Get rid of them!

5. Ignoring Analytics

This is one of the biggest mistakes made by businesses worldwide. Designing a website may land you with a good-looking site which works fine but there is a bleak chance that it may possess the required analytics.
Analytic tools help you measure the result of your website and help identify errors for improvement. It provides us with bounce rates and you can see areas that require improvement for improving the results.
Constant adjustment, testing, and optimization is important for your continued success online. We at Orange County recommend Google Analytics for improving usability issues and ultimately turning visitors into customers.

6. Greedy Forms

A greedy contact form is a common web design mistake because it is an appeal to the visitor for ‘way too much’ when it comes to them engaging with your business.
Contact forms are a very important part of businesses online. They are a very convenient way to help the customers get in contact with you and simultaneously help the businesses in figuring out the requirements of their customers. But it’s important not to make your form as a begging bowl on your website.
You should only ask for the information that is very much necessary and leave all the incessant details for later. You need to capture the attention of the lead and turn him into your customer.
TIP: Never use the word “Submit” at the end of your form. Rather, go for “Request now”.
Small things can make a big difference.
Conclusion
Can you remember the last time you might have opened a website that had some or all the above listed mistakes? Did it leave you frustrated? Didn’t you go back from that website in seconds?
I am sure you don’t want visitors feeling the same for your website, do you?
You need to always put yourself in the shoes of your users and then design your website. You need to keep your target audience and brand image in mind throughout the designing process.
Big design mistakes can cost time, money, resources and most importantly, customers. Designers at Orange County understand that only a customer-centric approach can help in creating a high-performing website. We ensure that you build a website that provides your customers with the support and guidance they need to excel.
We believe,
Good customer service costs less than bad customer service.

“Creativity is a conversation.”
What are trends? Answer to it is simple; they are just like the main threads in this engaging and chaotic conversation. Our creative choices exist alongside these trends.
Emerging trends keep changing in terms of functionality, sustainability, web design and development.
They guide us to make the best possible changes and discard anything unsuitable. When doing business online you need to make sure that you provide your audience with the best possible user experience on your website.
Therefore, it is vital for you to stay at par with the changing trends else your business may fall behind. You will notice all good web designing companies in Orange County keep themselves updated as per the current demand of the market.
2017 was all about minimalism – rise of conversational interfaces, AI and creative layouts. 2018 brings back bold typefaces, vibrant colours, and new possibilities for users to interact with design.
Now in the second half of 2018, we continue to see these grow further and become more popular, hinting what we can expect in 2019.
Let me list down some web development trends that are bound to leave a strong impact globally and leave you behind as an awed spectator to the age of transformation.
This will be the future of Web Designing:

1. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)

PWAs are web-based applications that have the feel and UX like mobile apps. They utilize the latest web technologies to bring users app-like experience in a browser tab.

PWAs are the happy medium between casual websites and mobile apps. They carve out the best from the two and bring forward dual benefits. Some of its basic features are as follows:
1. PWAs have URLs for every page for trouble-free linking. You can access them in every modern browser without installation.
2. PWAs bring users an app-like experience, ensuring that users spend more time on your website.
3. PWAs load when the network connection is bad or absent.
4. HTTPS protocol serves PWAs, ensuring secure data transfer.
5. Also, PWAs are fast, reliable and engaging thanks to the UI and UX borrowed from mobile apps.
PWAs can help bring sizeable benefits to businesses by increasing engagement with the audience and leading to higher conversion rates and improved reliability.
With its PWA, companies like Amazon and AliExpress have doubled their conversion rates across all the browsers.
All said, PWAs are totally worth it. As of now, they have not entered the mainstream, but this is one trend that is expected to raise after all the hype that it has created in the early part of 2018. It is one trend that is sure to provide you a boost that you might have only dreamt of!

2. Motion UI

A popular definition of Motion UI states it as a standalone library that powers the transition effects used in several Foundation components, including Toggler, Reveal, and Orbit.
ZURB has been in the business of creating awesome-looking web design tools for quite a while now, one of their most popular one being-Motion UI.
Motion UI is ZURB’s own Sass library that offers nothing but customizable transitions and animations for your site.
The library lets you transition the elements of your website, like overlays, modals, off-canvas menus, etc, in and out. Moreover, you can use transition effects to build single CSS animations and even series of them.
Its simplicity, flexibility and universal character make it one of the most popular web development trends of this year.
With basic knowledge of CSS and JavaScript, the coding of Motion UI is not a hard nut to crack.
With multiple parameters at your disposal, you can build your own animation in whichever way you want and apply it to almost every element of your website.
Users today are moving away from showy animations and GIFs towards a simpler website with modern design elements. Therefore, implementing Motion UI animations on your website will provide better user experience.

3. Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one such trend which has made its way from the virtual world of sci-fi to reality.
It is one of the latest and top trending technologies in web development in 2018.

1. Artificial Intelligence has revolutionized how computing is experienced by people in the present age.
It helps to create a better user experience leading to quicker business conversions by decoding buyer intent.
It can help in increasing the sales per buyer in the e-commerce industry. The big cheeses like Amazon and AliExpress benefit a lot from AI as they can track search results of the customers and provide them with alternative or better products relative to their search history.
This is how you get the option “Suggestions for You” in your account. Thus, AI leads to increase in sales which in turn lead to increase in revenue.
2. Chatbots are another great way in which artificial intelligence has made way into our lives in 2018.
It is a computer program based on the technology of machine learning and natural language processing that helps people in completing tasks like shopping, finding some information or ordering a service.
Bots offer online customer support to your users in a manner that emulates a real human interaction.
The big sharks like Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Skype etc have incorporated bots and consider it to be the future of the web development industry.
In 2019 bots, powered by AI, will become an essential tool for most websites ranging from sites that sell books, gym memberships etc. Hence, bots have managed to secure their place in web development industry for the years to come.

4. SSL and HTTPS

SSL (Secure Socket Layer) is a technology that provides for establishing an encrypted connection between browser and web server.
According to a recent research more than 43% of users abandon a website if they see a security alert message. Therefore, it has become vital to secure your website by installing Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and Hypertext Transfer-Protocol Secure (HTTPS).
When your website uses the SSL technology, you’ll see an ‘S’ added to http:// in the address bar, as well as a padlock.
Some SSL certificates also display your company’s name in green for better recognition.
1. They are cryptographic protocols which are secured through Transfer Layer Secure (T.L.S) using three layers of protection.
2. It protects sensitive information of users and lets them complete transactions without any risk of data loss.
3. The data exchange is authenticated to prove that users are communicating with the intended website and no hacker is intercepting the transmission.
Also, Google gives ranking benefits for HTTPS websites thereby giving a boost to your SEO and increasing the reputation of your business over the internet.
So, this is one trend that is going dominate 2019, therefore, all businesses should go for this certificate as it ensures data integrity, encryption and authentication.

5. WordPress 4.9

WordPress is one of the most popular website engines for content management in the world – home to numerous personal blogs as well as personal and e-commerce websites.

WordPress has always been a front-runner in the business of content management and post the release of its latest version it has become an even more popular web development technology.
WordPress 4.9 delivers better menu customization UX, theme previewing within Customizer and improved theme switching. It aims to improve your workflow inside the customizer.
It is a thing to watch out for in 2019 because it plans to integrate a variety of plug-ins to facilitate VR and AR technologies into web design which will create an ease of use experience for readability of content.
This developer friendly platform will now also offer a huge variety of drag-and-drop themes, which will make it very easy for developers to design websites without writing a single line of code.

Conclusion

These trending web development technologies that I have listed are just a few among many web development trends that are sure to leave a mark in 2019.
Other trends include Push Notifications, PHP, User Behaviour Tracking, Google AMP, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality.
For someone working in this dynamic career of a professional web developer, understanding and using these technologies will always put them ahead of their competition.
You must choose which technology has the potential to guide your business towards great heights. Your choice determines your future. Choose wisely!

Your website is the hub of all your online marketing activities. It is a doorway through which your customers can gain access your business.
First impressions are powerful. You just have a time span of 0.2 seconds to leave an impact on the user. So, if your website will come across as old or boring then there is a very unlikely chance that users will visit your website again.
You need to know if your website is generating the right number of visitors and sales as expected.
But how do you know that it is time for a redesign?
In this blog I will share 11 signs that are a clear indication that your website desperately needs a makeover.

1. Your website is not generating any revenue

The goal of any business is to generate sales. But that becomes difficult when your website receives traffic but there are no conversions.
This significant drop-off in traffic and leads could be a sign that your visitors are clearly not finding what they’re looking for.
Therefore, if your website is not finding you any business then it’s time for a redesign, something all leading Orange website design agencies stresses upon.

2. You have a high bounce rate

Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page.
In other words, people are exiting your website as soon as they enter it. This is a sign of a high bounce rate. This is a sure sign you need to redesign.
A good website should be inviting for the visitor and should keep the visitor engaged and interested. An effective website design can decrease your bounce rate and increase your conversions.

3. Your website is outdated

When was your website created? Does it have the feel and impression of a modern-day website?
If your answer is NO, then clearly, it’s time for a redesign.
It’s always good to stay on top of design trends. An outdated website is a guaranteed way to get visitors running away from your site as fast as they can.
Visitors want a website that is fresh and engaging. They need to be provided with an experience. An outdated website would not be able to do that. A website redesign is the way to go.

4. Your website isn’t responsive

A responsive website is a website that displays well on all devices and screen sizes. You need to remember that users will be accessing your website not only from their laptops but smartphones and tablets.
In a world where everyone is handling everything via a mobile phone, if your website isn’t accessible through that then you lose a large percentage of customers. To stay relevant in your industry, your website must be responsive.
It maximizes your conversions and provides visitors with a good experience. Therefore, if your website isn’t responsive, it’s a clear sign you need a redesign.

5. Your website has no conversion funnel

A conversion funnel refers to the stages a visitor navigates through your website to convert.
Effective website designs define conversion funnels.
One should know how starting from the homepage of your website the visitor will travel through different aspects or options available throughout your website before they can find what they are looking for.
How easy is it for visitors to navigate your website? If the navigation isn’t hassle free, then it’s time for a redesign.

6. Your website is too slow

Remember you have hardly 2 seconds to leave an impression on the user. And if your website spends that much time or more in the loading process then you are in for some trouble.
Your visitors are going to exit before your website even loads. Outdated websites, often, run into the problem of being slow loaders which can further have an impact on your bounce rate as well.
A website redesign can help boost your load times, thus, making your site more engaging for visitors. If you can finish your chores when your website loads, you should know that it’s time for a redesign.

7. Your website has no call-to-actions

A call-to-action button is simply a piece of content intended to get the viewer to take an action. It’s an area on your webpage that stimulates action.
Examples could include ‘sign up now’ or ‘get started today’ or ‘call now’ or ‘request a free consultation’.
If your website has no call-to-action, it’s time for a redesign. It will take your website visitors from point A to point B. This basically helps your visitors navigate.

8. Your website doesn’t reflect your brand

Your brand is who you are. Your website should be aligned with your core values. It should be reflective of the experience a visitor would have if they interacted with you in person.
No matter how impressive your website looks, it will fall short if it doesn’t reflect your brand personality. A redesign provides you with this opportunity. It helps you communicate the value of your business.
Also, if anything else in your company is updated then it’s time to update your website too. Maintaining this brand consistency reflects your brands overall identity.

9. Your website is hard to understand

The entire purpose of having a website is to have a means to connect with your target audience. But if your website only makes sense to you and no one else then you have got a problem in your hands.
If the information on your website is outdated or the font types are inconsistent, and the font sizes are totally random or the images on the website are not corresponding with the message you want to portray then it’s high time that you redesign.
Only a professional redesigning of the website can get this thing right and prove fruitful in the future.

10. You can’t be found online

Over 90% of people searching for something online don’t even click to the second page of the search engine to find more options.
This means for visitors to find you online fast, it must be on the first page.
So how easy it is for the visitors to find you online?
SEO is extremely powerful when it comes to building your brand identity. You, obviously, won’t be able to build your SEO up enough to be on that first page in just a day. What really matters then?
It’s the keywords and the content. For this you need to redesign your website to help your website become more visible and aid you in finding more qualified leads.

11. Your competitor’s websites are amazing in comparison

There are a lot of people out there doing the same thing as you are. You are saying the same thing in the same way as tons of other businesses just like you.
How can you make yourself stand out? How can visitors find something unique in your website that separates you from the rest?
The answer is – effective web design.
If your competitors have websites that look and work better than yours, you’re going to be at a significant disadvantage.
Therefore, it is time for a redesign when you start feeling that your competitors have moved a step ahead in making their website more appealing and distinctive.

Your turn

You need to know that a new look and fresh content and design can make a difference in your organisation’s ability to attract new business.
So, if you’re experiencing a few of these problems, it’s time for a website redesign. Of course, it’s not going to be possible for you to personally do it.
The ideal solution is to rope in a professional web development agency like, Orange County Web Design, with experts in all arenas – designing, coding, and writing – to have a complete and thorough makeover.
Apparently, they offer website design with 360-degree branding.
How cool is that!

Is your business lacking luster? Need to energize it with new leads? An effective answer is to link your e-mail publishing platform to your landing page.
Landing pages are a medium to inform your visitors of the benefits and features associated with your product or service and most importantly make them take some sort of action like clicking on a button, providing you with an email, making a purchase, or simply clicking through to another page.
If you want to increase your targeted leads, then your landing page web design must speak for your business.
Landing pages contribute to conversion rate optimization and literally run your business when you’re not there. All professional Orange County Web Design Companies do it.
In this post I am going to give you a step-by-step process for creating an ideal landing page.
A landing page that speaks directly to the customers and guides them to a place leads to conversions.
So, let’s get started.
Starting With A Mock Up!
You always need to have a rough draft before your final submission. Similarly, you need to start with a prototype when you are building a landing page.
You cannot simply jump into the HTML and CSS process. You should use some graphic application, like Adobe Experience Design or SVG, to create a mock-up of the page you intend on building. This can have benefits like:
• It is quick and easy.
• It’s easier to make changes without adjusting codes.
• It gives a structure to your vision of what exactly your landing page will look like in the browser.
Hence, I always advocate starting with a mock-up when in the process of building a landing page.

Creating A Background For Your Landing Page

Choosing a background for a landing page involves a lot of subjectivity. There are no fixed rules that one needs to follow.
However, there are some principles that might help you in establishing a successful background for your page.
• Your background should never contain large graphic files like high quality JPG’s as it takes too long to load.
• Your background should have high contrast in relation to the foreground content.
• Your background should never contain distracting elements.

Headline and Sub-Headline For Landing Page

A headline is a prominent blimp of text that captures a users’ attention. It is the first thing that you want your users to see.
It is something that would leave an impression on the users’ mind and make him want to come back to your website again and again.
Next in the visual hierarchy is the sub-headline. It mainly provides additional details about your service or product.
You want to pay attention to both these things when building a landing page. They can easily make or break your business.

Call To Action

The elixir of a great landing page is the call to action button. The button should be prominent and at the same time compelling.
It should make your visitors want to perform some action. It should be representative of exactly what your target user will receive and the experience they can expect.
You want to draw your visitors’ attention to it. This call to action button needs to stand out from the rest of your content.
It should, most preferably, use a colour that’s high contrast from the background and possibly unique to the rest of your colour theme.
The ‘content’ of the CTA button is also very important. “click me” is so cliché’. You may want to be more specific and try some options like:
• Let’s Talk
• Get my quote
• Get my proposal
• Schedule my consultation etc.

Supporting Right Media For Landing Page

Your landing page should contain illustration to make it stand out or be more attractive.
Any type of media like, a photograph or some video, can do the job.
“a picture is worth a thousand words.”
It is a visual world and people respond to visuals. Visuals make information clearer to the reader more than text alone.
Use visuals that are relevant and compelling to your target audience.
Visuals have taken over the social media network. Internet is full of social media tools as a proof of this.
Facebook and Twitter have established authority, more than ever before, due to their high volume of images and videos.
Using visuals as a design element in your landing pages can truly transform your digital business.

Give Away Useful Material

Give away valuable, practical and content-rich information for free. Yes, I am serious.
Giving free gifts to your audience is an effective marketing strategy and a great way of upping your conversion rate.
It’s a way of building trust and credibility with customers. Free gifts always compel people to act.
I am sure most of you are familiar with the term ‘lead magnet’.
It is helpful content that you give away for free, in exchange for the user’s email address, thereby moving that user into your conversion funnel.
It can be a simple report, eBook, blog post, email course, software, plugin or even your time.
If you give them a free consultation, you’re building relationships that will come into play when talking about conversion rate optimization.
Remember, that in the long run, giving away free valuable information is much more profitable because it encourages those CTA button clicks, improves your conversion rates, and boosts your marketing campaign.

Conclusion

The digital marketing space is changing. New tools are being developed. You need to invest adequate time to learn how these new tools work and keep abreast of landing page trends – they would guide you when making decisions.
You need to invest a great amount of time, effort, skill and resources if you want your landing page to consistently yield good results.
Maybe, at some point you may need more landing pages, but it is advisable to focus your attention on one task and with the right design it can also yield impressive results.
Some other elements that you could include in your landing page could be:
• Target the right keywords.
• Showing logos of those who have covered the business.
• Testimonials.
• How can visitors trust you?
• Why is it advised to not chronically change things in your landing page?
Follow these steps and watch your conversion rate rise.
“Landing pages are within your easy reach. You’ll be amazed how your business got by without them!”

User experience is paramount to any user today and must be considered when building and designing a new website.
People are now filled with so many options as to how to utilize their time – and the digital landscape can provide so many different avenues for users to explore. Therefore, web and app design, as well as user experience, needs to make the customer feel powerful and most good Orange County Web Design Companies do that .
It has the customers’ best interest in mind, and is not deceptive in nature. These experiences are either created after studying various design practices, learning more about the user or, it can be used to manipulate the user and trick them into making decisions that aren’t necessarily good for them but eventually benefit the company.
The former approach can make a product stand out and provide good results for the businesses. However, it is the latter that is ultimately going to lead to huge business growth. It is called creating ‘Dark Patterns’.

“A dark pattern is an element of a manipulative interface designed to trick the user into taking actions that they might not have done freely.”

UI design gets dark sometimes. Particularly when companies exploit their user interface to trick users into doing something they wouldn’t consciously do, usually for profit, Dark patterns are used in some web pages, popups and programs that include malware, freeware, shareware, freemium offerings and even fully paid software.

Companies are often looking for short-term results, and increases in numbers rather than qualitative stats like, maybe, user happiness. And dark patterns work.
They successfully trick people, so companies keep using them.
“When you use the web, you don’t read every word on every page — you skim read and make assumptions. If a company wants to trick you into doing something, they can take advantage of it by making a page look like it is saying one thing when in fact it is saying another. You can defend yourself against dark patterns on this site.”
HARRY BRIGNULL
Some of the common dark patterns to watch out for are Bait and Switch, disguised ads , forced continuity, friend spam, hidden costs, misdirection, roach motel, sneak into basket, making it difficult to cancel a subscription, and tricking users to share information they did not intend to etc. the 12 main types of dark patterns are attached in an image below.

Tech companies use so-called dark patterns to do everything – from making it difficult for you to close your account to tricking you into clicking online ads.
A typical example of this is the inclusion of additional programs along with a program a user is installing. During the installation, these programs may be presented to the user as options in a more- or-less visible check box.
Typically the additional programs are pre-selected for download.
To make it even more likely that the user won’t successfully prevent the download of these programs, the developers make the forms complicated for the users to fill completely and have them set to reselect “optional” programs in the event of an error.
Or the user selects between typical and advanced installations and the “typical” option includes unspecified third-party programs.
Should the user continue through installation by simply clicking “next” in the series of windows, they end up with unwanted programs.

” When Dark Patterns are employed, agency is taken away from users by nudging them toward making certain choices. In our Opinion, this means that the idea of giving consumers better control of their personal data is circumvented”

Dark patterns are used almost as often by established companies as shady enterprises.
In a report called ‘Deceived By Design’, the Norwegian Consumer Council has accused Facebook and Google of manipulating its users with dark patterns.
For example, Facebook is criticized for wording the strongly nudged users in a certain direction.
If they selected ‘Manage Data Settings’ rather than simply leaving facial recognition on, users looking to opt-out of a facial recognition feature are met with a prompt warning telling them that they “won’t be able to use this technology if a stranger uses your photo to impersonate you.”
In this instance, Facebook has carefully formulated its wording to provide a negative result to your data privacy choice instead of giving their users even a neutral proposition.
Also, Facebook is pushing users into sharing their bio to the News Feed. It’s doing this by implying that by clicking ‘Cancel’, you are cancelling changes made to your bio.
In reality, ‘Cancel’ means ‘No’. Again, it’s the type of practice that can trick even the most privacy-conscious.
Facebook and Google are also accused of providing nothing more than the “illusion of control” through various methods such as hiding away privacy-friendly choices, take-it-or-leave-it choices, and choice architectures where choosing the privacy friendly option requires more effort for the users.
“It is a practice of misleading consumers into making certain choices, which may put their privacy at risk.”
Similarly, Amazon’s website makes closing an account almost impossible and the company continues to send promotional emails after users have unsubscribed.
While Amazon targets the pockets of vulnerable consumers, Facebook is more interested in the user sharing as much information about them as possible—even if they are not intending to do so.
Google responded to the above mentioned accusation and released the following statement:
“We build privacy and security into our products from the very earliest stages.
Over the last 18 months, in preparation for the implementation of the EU’s new data protection regulation, we have taken steps to update our products, policies and processes to provide all our users with meaningful data transparency and straightforward controls across all our services.
We’re constantly evolving these controls based on user experience tests – in the last month alone, we’ve made further improvements to our Ad Settings and Google Account information and controls.”
Conclusion
For the most vulnerable, such as elderly, those less proficient with the language used, or users with a disability, these types of practices can make things near impossible to use or understand.
They may not be able to find that hidden unsubscribe link. They may not notice that something has been added to their basket during checkout. And they may get disillusioned with privacy settings, disguised ads and friend spam which may provide a great deal of confusion and distress.
Even as a designer who is aware of these tricks, it’s still incredibly easy to fall victim to them. These practices create distrust between the company and the consumer.
The internet is a place where you have to always remain on your toes. The bigger the companies, the bigger the scams, Designers and teams need to be aware of their responsibility to ensure that the vulnerable, who are hit the hardest, are safeguarded against all these issues.
Honestly, if a business’s UI creates a shady, suspicious experience that leaves the user feeling defrauded or patronized, that business will lose out in the long term.
It’s always better to win over customers through delightful UX design and not through dark patterns.