Month: April 2019

Your web design Santee will not be complete without an SSL certificate. When purchasing your domain name and hosting service you have to consider spending a little more money on an SSL certificate. In the past this was needed only on websites that dealt with credit card payments. Today any website should have the SSL certificate. Here are the main reasons why SSL is essential.

Protects data

One of the main purposes of having SSL is so as to protect the data that is exchanged between you and a visitor. SSL works by encrypting the data that is sent over the Internet. What this means is that the data is locked and can only be unlocked by the intended recipient. This is particularly important when dealing with sensitive data. Your web designer Santee will insist on having an SSL certificate if your website will deal with sensitive data like credit card numbers, passwords and IDs. SSL protects you and your audience from the mischievous arm of skimmers and hackers. SSL works by turning the data into undecipherable format which cannot be accessed by hackers. The recipients’ server or browser is what unlocks the data. This in turn helps affirm your identity.

Better search engine ranking

Back in 2014 Google made changes to its algorithm. The change gave an upper hand to websites that used HTTPS. Today, researchers have found that websites that use https get better ranking on Google results than those that don’t. There is a very strong correlation between HTTPS and high search engine ranking. This is according to a study by Brian Dean; the founder of Backlinko.com. Getting the SSL certificate will hence boost your search engine rankings.

Satisfy PCI/DSS requirements

If you accept only payments, you are familiar with the PCI/DSS requirements. For your website to receive payments you must be PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliant. Getting the SSL certificate is one of the steps of getting PCI compliant. SSL is one of the 12 primary requirements that have been set by PCI.

If you are working on your web design Santee, SSL is one thing you must never ignore. The cost is not as high and there are so many hosting companies that even offer SSL certificates for free. However, if you want to receive online payments, you must find a trusted SSL certificate provider. It is also good to note that having an SSL certificate is a requirement today for any website. Even for a personal website, if you want to rank well on search engine results, you must consider getting the SSL certificate.

Web Design Santee

Web design Santee focuses on more than just the appearance. As search engines try to keep Internet users safe, there are many regulations that website owners have to adhere to. One of those regulations is having an SSL certificate. SSL is the backbone for a secure Internet. It protects sensitive information that is being sent across the world computer networks. Today having an SSL certificate is no longer optional. This is regardless of whether your website handles sensitive information or not. SSL provides critical security, privacy and data integrity for your website and the user’s personal information.

It encrypts sensitive information

The primary purpose of SSL is to keep sensitive information that is being sent across the Internet encrypted so that only the intended recipients can access it. With SSL, no computer between you and the server can see the information you are sending may it be usernames, credit card numbers or passwords. Having an SSL certificate will even boost your search engine rankings on Google. This is one of the top reasons why your web designer Santee will recommend you get an SSL certificate.

Provides authentication

Away from data encryption, having an SSL certificate will give authentication. This means you will be sending the information securely to the intended server and no imposter will be able to eavesdrop. Having SSL means you will be able to avoid websites that trick users into sending information to them instead of to your website. All you need to do is get SSL certificate from trusted SSL providers.

Trusted SSL providers only issue SSL certificates to companies that have been verified. Several identify checks are done to verify a company. Special types of SSL certificates like EV SSL Certificates require thorough validation than the other types.

SSL provides trust

One of the reasons you need to account for the cost of SSL certificate in your web design Santee budget is because having SSL will provide trust to potential clients. Web browsers provide visual cues that let web users know if they are on a trusted website or not. If your website still uses http:// instead of https://, users will know right away that yours is not a secure website and they might never trust you. SSL providers will give you a trust seal which helps win the trust of visitors.

Required for PCI compliance

Last but not least, it is good to note that SSL is needed for PCI compliance. To accept credit cards your website must have an SSL certificate.

There are so many reasons why you need to get an SSL certificate. The only two disadvantages of using SSL are cost and performance. You will pay more to get the SSL certificate and on performance using SSL requires more server resources. You will gain a lot more from getting SSL.

Web Design Santee

Web design Santee is mostly considered when creating a website for the first time. Thereafter, the only thing that people do is update the layout and content. But did you know there are times when you might need to build a whole new website? In this post we will be looking at the main reasons why you might need a new website.

Outdated layout

If your web design is outdated, it will be easier to create a whole new website. A new website will mostly be needed if your website is not mobile-friendly. According to Google, 77% of mobile searches occur in places desktop computers are likely to be present. There are more mobile searches than ever before. What is more is that in April 2015 Google rolled out a new update which favors mobile-friendly website in ranking. Asking your web designer Santee to build a new mobile friendly website will actually boost your search rankings.

Search engine rankings are terrible

If your search engine rankings are abysmal now might be the best time to build a new website. If you have been doing everything possible to boost your rankings but your website doesn’t seem to rank, creating a new website can help achieve better results in search engine rankings. The reason your website might not be ranking well is because your web design is not SEO friendly. The best way to solve this issue is by creating a new website.

Your website is not interactive

If your website is passive, you need to build a new one. Expectations of visitors on your website are changing. Visitors want to spend time on a website that offers them what they want. A passive website will repel visitors whereas an interactive one will encourage visitors to come back, link to you and stay longer on your site.

Takes over 3 seconds to load

How fast your website loads matters. Slow speeds are often caused by how your website has been designed. Therefore, if you have optimized your images, made use of caching plugins, changed to a better hosting plan but still experience slow speeds, there is a good chance the problem is in how your website has been coded. Creating a new website might be the only way forward.

There are many more reasons why you might need to create a new website. The important thing to do is hire a competent web designer Santee. The last thing you want is for an incompetent designer to make the same mistakes your previous designer made.

Web Design Santee

Having the best web design Santee is not enough when creating a web shop. Yes the web design is crucial if you don’t want visitors to abandon shopping cards midway but there are other things you will have to do to make your shop the ultimate place to be. If you want to reduce the rate at which shoppers abandon your shopping carts, here are some important things you should consider doing.

Automate all that can be automated

The key reason why you build a web shop is to keep your business doors open 24/7. On the flipside, doing this means the workload will be massive. The back-office processes can be overwhelming. You need to ensure stock is available, complaints are handled fast and all the data s reviewed constantly to know where you stand. To save time and resources, you need to automate most of the processes. Your web designer Santee will recommend the implementation of application to automate things like record keeping and application monitoring. Some of the work can also be outsourced to specialists.

Keep monitoring everything

You will never know what is not working smoothly unless you keep measuring, evaluating and adjusting. It is only with consistent monitoring that you will be able to cater to the unique needs of customers. Here are some important things you have to do:

• Pay attention to details. You need to be detail oriented when setting up your web shop. Don’t forget to add comprehensive information and images to individual products.
• Offer freebies. Free stuffs will boost sales.
• Minimize cost. Making it affordable to do business with you will compel the shoppers to buy more from you.
• Base your decisions on solid data and not on guesswork. Understand what customers need before taking action.

Optimize for search

You have to love Google if you want to ace it in online marketing. Google will give you the exposure you need. Ensure your brand has a high ranking on the search engine results. This means you have to invest more in SEO, and SEA. You can also use online marketing agencies. Pick an agency that has experience in your industry.

Speed things up

How fast your page loads matters. The checkout process must also be swift. Slow loading pages and long checkout processes are the top reasons why most shoppers abandon their shopping carts. The more clicks you require from customers the higher the chances of them abandoning their shopping cart. Always give your shoppers a visual checkout process so that they know if they are almost done.

Other important things you should consider doing is offering free shipping, providing multiple payment option, adding a loyalty program and keep testing and improving your web shop. Doing these simple things will significantly optimize your web shop. As a bonus point, have your web shop created by a web designer Santee with experience creating web shops.

Web Design Santee

Most people assume that web design Santee is the same as web development. The truth is these are two very distinct terms. The term web design is mostly used when discussing a project with someone that is not a web professional. When speaking to someone who is experienced in the web industry, generalization will not be enough to explain what will be done. In this post we will be discussing the differences between web design and web development.

What is web design?

Web design is the most common term used by a web designer Santee. Often times, when a designer says web design they mean a very broad set of skills one of which is the visual design. Web design is basically the front end part of a website. This is how a website looks and how customers interact with it. This is why web designers are often referred to as experience designers or UX designers. This is because what they do is create the look of a website.

An experienced web designer will use the principles of design to create a website that looks great. Designers are also familiar with usability and know how to create a website that is user-friendly. However, it is good to note that a web designer will do more than just make your website look beautiful. There is where the web development part comes in.

What is web development?

There are two flavors of web development: front end development and back-end development. Front-end developers take the visual design of a website and build the code for it. He uses HTML for the structure of the website, CSS to dictate visual styles and at times JavaScript. For most small website, front-end development is the only thing required in web development.

If yours is a complex website, back-end development will be required. This deals with the advanced programming and interactions on a web page. Focus here is on how a website works and how the customers get things done with various functionalities. This may include programming code that interfaces with the database and creating such features as ecommerce shopping carts that link to payment processors.

When thinking of a new web design Santee, you need to hire someone that has experience with web development. The last thing you want is to work with a designer who simply creates the visuals of your website and forgets about everything else including your database. Always consider your website needs before you hire a designer.

Web Design Santee

When planning a website, you need to think about the web design Santee that will work best, what you are willing to pay and what you may end up paying. Don’t just take the package given to you by a web design company. You need to do your own research to avoid being exploited. In this post we shall be looking at the costs you should be prepared to pay when it comes to web design.

New websites will cost more than a redesign

This is the first fact you need to understand about web design. When a web designer Santee has to start from scratch to create your website, he will charge you more than when redesigning your website. This is because with a new website, a web designer doesn’t have pre-created assets to work with. The advantage of creating a website from scratch is that you can work closely with a designer to get exactly what you need and within your budget. The cost of a new website runs anywhere from $500 to thousands of dollars. The cost will depend on the options you need, number of revisions and the hourly cost of the web design team.

Blogs and content management tools

If yours is a WordPress website, you will have the advantage of having a free content management system (CMS). Integrating a website on WordPress and other tools like Drupal, Joomla! And ExpressionEngine has its challenges when building a site from scratch. You also have to think about buying premium themes and plugins. You should add $200 if you want to add a blog or CMS.

Graphics

Graphics are the images you will be using on your website including the logos. You don’t want to be skimpy in this area. Poor graphics will tarnish the look and affect the performance of your website. Even if you are supplying all the images, you still have to pay for the integration of the graphics into your website. If you need the web designer Santee to customize the images, you should set aside at least $500 for both image customization and integration into your website. If the web designer will be doing everything including getting the images, you should budget for at least $1,200.  You also need to set a budget of $350 for the icons and buttons that will be created. For the use of stock photos, set a budget of $20 to $100.

Content creation and addition

The cheapest way forward is to create your own content and add it to your website. If you cannot do this, your web designer will help with content creation and addition to your website. With content creation you need to budget about $150 per page of typed content.

There are so many other costs you need to plan for. The important thing is to always ask for a cost breakdown for your web design Santee. When you know what is being charged you can make some compromises to bring the cost down.

Web Design Santee

Web design Santee has come a long way over the years. Today, anybody with a vision can create their own website from the comfort of their home. However, if what you need is a professional website with more functions like ecommerce and user signups, you need to hire a professional to help with the development. If you want to create a simple personal website, here are the steps you need to take.

Plan your website

This is the first step. There are several decisions a web designer Santee has to make when planning a website. The three most important decisions are:

• Type of website that you need: Do you need an informational site or a company website with ecommerce features? The type of website you want will have specific areas of focus that influence the hosting and design you use.
• Navigation design: How do you want users to move around your website? You need to plan out the pages that your website will have and create a sitemap. You also need a navigational structure.
• Content: Third you need to decide on the type of content to use. Will your content contain text, images and videos or more? A clear content strategy is necessary before creating a website.

Get hosting and register a domain name

Web hosting will store all your website data and determine how users access your website. Choose a hosting company that offers adequate server space, sufficient bandwidth and one that doesn’t lock you to always use their services. If yours is a simple website, you can cut down on costs by selecting the shared hosting plan. You can advance to better plans later on.

You then need to register a domain name. The domain name is the URL visitors will enter in their web browsers to get to your site. Ensure your domain name is easy to remember and type. Don’t use special characters in your domain name.

Choose a CMS

The next step is to select a content management system. WordPress is the most popular CMS out there. It powers more than 33% of all the live websites. The best thing about WordPress is that you will find templates and plugins to create the dream website that you want. After installing WordPress, you just need to pick the theme that satisfies your needs in web design Santee.

Publishing your website

When using WordPress you don’t need to worry about this step. With other CMSs, you may have to use proprietary tools provided by your web host to transfer your website to your hosting provider. The FTP software is the most popular software.

Your website is now live. The next step is to keep updating its content and promote it. SEO is the most desirable ways of promoting a website. You can also share the link to your website on your social media pages, on your business cards, and other promotional materials.

Web Design Santee

Web design Santee is not something you get up one morning and get it done by evening. It is a project that involves a lot of stages. After contacting a web designer, there are a number of things he will do to plan your website and to implement the ideas. In this article we shall look at the essential steps that have to be taken when designing a website.

Research

Like with most design projects, the first step a web designer Santee will take is to perform research. Some of the research is done to understand the needs and goals of a client. The designer will also learn more about the client’s industry and competitors. The purpose of research is to discover as much as possible about a client in order to develop an outline for a website that will eventually be designed. A web designer will the client about their goals, target audience, creative directions and a range of other variables that affect what the client can offer.

Brainstorm

Once the needs of a client are identified, the next step is to come up with a design plan. This often requires a lot of brainstorming. The web designer will consider the preferences of the client and merge them with his own ideas. Brainstorming helps throw in all the ideas then narrow it down later. After finding a unique concept, the web designer will contact the client for approval. Most web designers will provide at least three concepts for the client to choose from.

Consider the technical requirements

Once a concept has been selected, decisions have to be made on the technical requirements of the website. The decisions will affect the budget, time frame as well as the overall feel of the web design Santee. The underlying structure of the website is one of the main decisions that are made. Options include using basic HTML or using a content management system. With the CMS the client have to choose between proprietary CMS and the open source CMS like WordPress.

Build the website

Now that the web designer Santee and the client are on the same page, the next step is to put all the ideas down on paper. This involves drawing an outline of the website. The next step is to create wireframes. Once the client approves what he sees, the website is designed.

This is just an overview of what to expect in web design Santee. The list is not exhaustive. There are many things that have been left out such as creating the backend, promoting the website and keeping the content fresh. All you need to do is hire a great web designer to help with the project.

Web design Santee