In today’s world of an often cluttered online space, coming across innovative,

If we think of a website similarly to how we would view a used car, it helps put this notion into perspective. Let’s say you go to a used car lot and a sparkling vehicle catches your eye. While on the outside it may look visually pleasing and refined, it could have a faulty engine and no breaks. However, this car would pass the “eye test” and fool those who merely look at the exterior. If you were quick to jump the gun and purchase it based on a great price for a flawless appearance, you will eventually learn that the car performance and price correlate. In that same respect, if a website is designed to be graphically interesting and does not keep in mind user experience (UX) or technical components, it is nothing more than a work of art.

Therefore, user experience should play a vital role in website design. Various tools exist for companies to analyze this aspect. For example, heat and scroll map software generates a series of reports on a webpage over a period of time. From the findings, a strategic team can gain insight into user behavior and better determine if a page needs to be reworked in order to benefit UX.

Making adjustments based on UX is crucial, especially as accessing websites through mobile devices becomes increasingly popular. You want to ensure that your website creates a clear path for users to convert on both desktop and mobile. A mobile-friendly is website crucial, as sleek design and functionality on a desktop alone is simply not enough.

Apart from the user experience related to website design, search engine optimization (SEO) and other technical components of a site are important. In order for your site to be found favorable in the eyes of Google, and thus rank higher, hundreds of ranking factors are taken into consideration. Providing relevant, credible, optimized content specific to what your key demographic is searching is a starting point. Trusting SEO in the hands of a technical team, such as the team at Clix, would be advantageous.

Thus, if user experience is factored into website design along with sound SEO practices in place, your website is headed in the right direction. Another aspect to keep in mind would be the overall health of your site. For example, if a theme or plugins are left outdated,images and links on your site may break. With numerous broken elements, your website becomes less credible as a resource, damages the UX, and potentially impacts rankings. Taking a proactive approach to monitoring these items becomes of great importance.

Overall, having the knowledge to determine if your site needs help is a significant first step, but sometimes the hardest. Jason Hylan, Clix CEO, gives an analogy of knockoff handbags on the streets of New York City. Similar to these replica handbags, there are companies that may pass the “eye test,” as we discussed previously. The service they provide can appear to be what your business needs. As with many things in life, you get what you pay for. If the service you pay for is far cheaper than the standard, your website design and technical elements (if any) will reflect that.

At Clix, we strive to be not only a leader in website design and digital marketing services but also a trustworthy partner to the companies we serve. We want our digital marketing efforts to have substance at the core. For more information on our services, or what sets Clix apart from others in the field, contact us today!

The post Why “Gorgeous” Website Designs Still Fail to Convert appeared first on Clix.

Other companies might have their own proprietary system for managing your website, but what you might not realize is your website will not be transferable. In WordPress, your website can transfer from theme to theme. There might be updates and revisions to modify, but your content will not be lost. At Clix, we do not lease websites, and we never hold digital assets hostage. Your website is your property—our job is to make it beautiful and functional.

Is WordPress Easy to Use and Good for User Experience?

For a lot of people, updating websites is scary and something they just avoid, but when it comes to WordPress, it’s something we do often and without fear. Other CMS, such as Drupal or Magento, wait to do one large update about once per year that usually breaks your website and requires a web developer to fix. With this in mind, most people won’t update their site and will become outdated. But WordPress does small regular updates, which we do at Clix quarterly on all of our websites. These updates help your site become the cutting edge in the web industry, helping your web rankings in both speed and user experience.

WordPress is an open source CMS that web developers are constantly building new plugins and responsive themes for. No other content management system has this extensive of a library of resources for free downloads, places to purchase more powerful plugins, or online community forums. In other content management systems, if there isn’t a plugin readily available, you have to hire a developer to create what you need, which can quickly add to the total cost of a web build and throw off your budget.

There are all kinds of plugins from Yoast SEO that helps your site to be more search engine friendly, from Smush, which shrinks your image file size, to Better WordPress Minify, which allows you to minify your CSS and JS files for a faster page load time. And if there isn’t a free plugin that fit your needs, there are more robust plugins we can purchase or source a community forum for help. When you use WordPress and partner with Clix for your digital marketing, there is no problem we can’t find a solution for.

WordPress and Responsive Design

Just a few years ago, you would have to design a mobile version of your website so it would look right on your phone. Now WordPress creates responsive websites so when you look at your website on your phone, tablet, or desktop, it adapts to fit the correct resolution for a better user experience and page speed load time.

WordPress is a powerful CMS, and when used to its fullest potential, your company can reap the benefits of its capabilities. Learning how to use your WordPress site might seem daunting, but WordPress is very easy to use, and there are many resources online for beginners. Here at Clix, we want to give you the most advanced site, but also one you will feel comfortable using on your own. WordPress achieves both of these needs.

If you’re ready to use WordPress and partner with a robust digital marketing team, contact us to learn more.

The post WordPress: A Robust, Flexible Digital Marketing CMS appeared first on Clix.

Creative and logical design will not directly affect your Google Ranking in a technical sense. Creative design is not built for Google – it is built for the user (AKA your client or customer). The ranking increases are a byproduct of having a user-friendly design and functionality. Since the Panda update in 2011, user metrics have become a very important factor in digital marketing.

With that said, I think we need to explore what Google is and how it is supposed to work.

Google, in essence, was created to help users find websites they deem useful or informative. The results that appear on screen after a search query are determined by an algorithm devised by Google to mimic what they think a user wants or, more often than not, by user proximity or previous user history/experience. This algorithm is organic, ever advancing as marketers(and users) become more savvy and obviously to help Google’s business model.

A good analogy is to think of SEO initiatives as advertisements for a retail store and your website as a salesperson or the store’s layout. The advertisements get the person to the store. The layout of the store can affect shopping patterns with the salesperson answering questions and, ultimately, making the sale.

OK, that is neat and all, but how will design effect my Google rankings?

To quote Moz:

“When a search engine delivers a page of results to you, it can measure the success of the rankings by observing how you engage with those results. If you click the first link, then immediately hit the back button to try the second link, this indicates that you were not satisfied with the first result. Search engines seek the “long click” – where users click a result without immediately returning to the search page to try again. Taken in aggregate over millions and millions of queries each day, the engines build up a good pool of data to judge the quality of their results.”

SEO tactics and clean development can only take a website so far. When all of these optimization tools are sharpened, we turn to content and personal interaction with the site. So we know that Google’s algorithm can be directly affectedby how a user interacts with your website. Generally, when a person is an interested party, they interact with the website more (exploring multiple pages and more time spent on site can have a direct effect on Google’s ranking system).

Within this user visit, you have two major aspects that contribute to personal interaction: User Experience(UX) and User Interface(UI). These two facets of design often blend together, in unison, to help a user find what he or she is looking for (or maybe discover new services products, or ideas).

So, What is User Experience & User Interface?

User Experience, or UX, is the overall experience of a person using a product such as a website or computer application, especially in terms of how easy or pleasing it is to use.

User Interface, or UI is the means by which the user and a computer system interact, in particular the use of input devices and software.

So basically, UI is how a person interacts with the website, and UX is how that interaction makes the user feel. Common sense tells us that a slick, easy, and fun interface often leads to a better experience. This experience is monitored by Google, giving better designs a rankings or results bump.

The post The Importance of Creativity & Design on Google Rankings appeared first on Clix.

There is a very popular trend of creating double exposure effects for web, motion, and print graphics.

How to Create the Double Exposure Effect

The process is actually quite simple and I created a short video to show a simple and basic way to create this effect.

You will need 3 things for this tutorial…

• Photoshop (obviously)
• A portrait photo
• A landscape photo

The Final Double Exposure Effect Result

This is my first video tutorial but if I get a decent feedback, I will be shoot some more. I hope you enjoy the video and thank you for watching.

Meet Michael

Some of Michael’s work

The post VIDEO TUTORIAL: Double exposure effect in Photoshop appeared first on Clix.

Burger King recently rolled out the red carpet, wrapped a PR firestorm in silk, lobbed it out to McDonald’s, and McD’s failed miserably. Burger King recently took out a full-page, open-letter-style ad in The New York Times and Chicago Tribune, calling for a truce with McDonald’s and suggesting they join forces to create a “MCWhopper” burger for the sake of world peace. 

BK proposed the two corporations partner with Peace One Day, a nonprofit group seeking to raise awareness of the International Day of Peace, and raise money via the sales of the MCWhoppers.

BK even went as far as building a website, designing packaging, uniforms, and producing a the PR pitch heard around the world… MCDonald’s quickly stomped the idea out with it’s red floppy oversized wingtips, and the public is not happy.

When @bluskyz00 asked entrepreneur, investor, author, public speaker, and digital media wizz Gary Vaynerchuck,  “What do you think of [McDonald’s] response to [Burger Kings’s] “PeaceMcWhopper” idea? Seems like they missed a big opp.”

Gary responded with one of his usual, energetic, ADD-saturated rants that I love him for. Basically, he effectively said that he thinks business is going in a direction where public battles via social media and public forums is going to be the norm, and that McDonald’s is taking a more ‘serious’ approach to BK’s lighthearted request. He also goes on to say, “We are clearly living in interesting times where Burger King can make a micro site to make this announcement and McDonald’s official answer is in a Facebook post – in sentence form.

If you haven’t realized that communication has changed forever in our society please let this be [the] moment…”

I know this doesn’t necessarily answer @bluskyzoo’s question, but I think Gary makes a good point. This social media bellyflop may stand as a small marker in history as the time times officially changed. (and McDonalds was mad an example of)

Check the full video pitch here:

The post Wake Up McDonald’s appeared first on Clix.

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Web Site Design Template

download free template

website sketch grid

Mobile App & Design Template

download free template

 mobile device sketch grid

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Download the Art versus Design Wallpaper

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I don’t self-identify as a foodie, but I’ve loved to cook ever since my mom let me use our old hand mixer to get cookie dough started. I even thought about cooking for a career until I decided I was tired of smelling like food all the time.

But that doesn’t mean I gave up on cooking—far from it! I may not have been able to cook in my dorm during college, but we did get free issues of the New York Times. That’s when I discovered that every Wednesday The Gray Lady has the best food section of any newspaper on the planet. It’s even better than most food magazines, and they only have one job.

Unfortunately the free subscription stopped after I graduated, but I subscribed and I check back every Wednesday. This week I made another discovery that I somehow missed: beyond the old Dining & Wine section, there’s cooking.nytimes.com. Oh my.

Besides the same gorgeous photography and great recipes, there’s a whole pantry full of other features.

You too could be color coding!

Immediately you’re probably thinking of takeaways for your own site—or a client’s—and there are tons. From the attractive and elegant layout to the interactive and instructional touches and even color coded categories, this site has so many tricks you can borrow. I mean, in essence, it’s just a blog. But add in high-quality content and dead-simple usability and suddenly it’s so much more than that.

Where do you find inspiration for your projects? Have you seen a site that’s made your mouth water recently?

The post What Can Your Website Learn From the NY Times Cooking Section? appeared first on Clix.

What is a CTA (Call-to-Action)?

A CTA, or Call to Action, is a link, graphic, or button placed on a web page with the sole purpose to drive leads or visitor awareness. The common misconception is that all CTAs need to drive the user to a form, however, this is not always true. While the vast majority of CTAs are used to drive a user to a simple form, CTAs can also be used to drive a user to information, phone conversation, online chat, or an action that will eventually lead to a customer/business contact.

CTAs can use all kinds of action text but they will generally look like the following…

– Download now
– FREE ….
– Click Here
– Make Appointment
– Contact Us Today
– Sign Up Now
– Save 50%
– Register Now
– etc.

CTA Best Practices

When creating or placing a CTA, there are some general rules to consider. These include…

Graphics

Color Contrast

Always try to add some contrast in the CTA. This contrast will usually allow the CTA to become a focal point. Contrast can be used by using a different color or a slightly varied graphical styling.

Styling

Always try to keep the branding in mind. If the site is a flat layout, use a flat inspired design for the CTA.

Creativity

While creativity and wit can not be taught, an open discussion amongst co-workers can spark an idea

CTA Text

The idea is to offer an incentive or a command to the visitor. Always try to include an action word like “Click Here”, “Save” or “Download Now” The end message should be clear and concise while raising a hint of desire.

Placement

The placement of a CTA can often be as important as the look of the Call-to-Action. Some general rules to follow would be to have the CTA placed withing the main body or header of the website (main CTAs will often appear above the “fold”). I find placing the CTA within the main body content can usually yield the best result.

Whitespace

While this seems like a no-brainer, this simple rule is often looked over. Be sure to include ample negative space around the CTA- this will allow the CTA have more contrast(read above).

Sizing

Decide what size fits best. The CTA should be obvious without being intrusive.

Simplicity of Options

Do not overload a page with too many CTAs pushing for contact. We have all dealt with an annoying or over-achieving salesperson that is too overbearing. We do not want that emulated on our websites; remember how annoying pop-ups used to be 10+ years ago?

Linking

Always test you links. Also decide whether opening a new tab, a white box or a standard link will work best. If the CTA is meant for a simple form fill, I would generally push for a whitebox effect(traffic can be tracked through clicks).

Remember the visitor

They are the main focus of any & all web marketing initiatives. If you keep your desired market in mind, the market will reward you with contact. Be sure to design the Call-to-Action for your market.

With a deeper knowledge of CTAs, I urge you follow these simple rules and reap the benefits.

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