You’ve probably all heard the news over the weekend about this ransomware and the damage it has done to the NHS.

You’ll be pleased to know that both our AV engines were updated pretty promptly to block this virus. However, no-one seems entirely sure whether it was spread via email in the first place, or simply over the internet via SMB connections.

We also expect other people to get hold of this virus and start modifying it, so there may be some variants appearing over the coming days, and our AV engines will both be trying to update themselves as soon as new variants appear.

The best advice we can pass on is for users to continue to be vigilant, and if in doubt, don’t attempt to open an attachment. Also, get those Windows boxes updated asap.

Please note this doesn’t affect Windows 10 or Mac users.

This week it’s #SmallBusinessWeek in the US and from the 15th – 21st May,  it’s #LocalBusinessWeek in the UK.

In light of this, Function28 are offering local Devon businesses 6 months free website hosting if you choose to have a website developed with us between 4th May – 22nd May!

If you chose to have a website developed with Function28 you will receive-

• ‘.co.uk’ Domain Registration (renewable annually.)
• Full design and development consultation.
• SEO friendly pages – pages built so that search engines can find them easily.
• Content Management System – Giving you the ability to make updates to your site.
• Fully Responsive Website – working across all mobiles and tablets.
• Website Analytics – monitor the traffic on your website.
• Friendly advice and support at any time, working with you throughout the project.
• AND 6 months free hosting as part of the #LocalBusinessWeek offer.

We build bespoke websites for any business, large or small. We build –

• ECommerce Websites
• Brochure Websites
• Recruitment Websites
• Calendar/Booking Systems Websites
• And custom projects that you may have.

Take a look at our Portfolio. If you are unsure about the website you need, give us a call, we’ll be happy to talk about your requirements – 01884 308091 / 01472 485858.

We also offer additional Digital Marketing services including –

• Business email accounts, with your website URL.
• Monthly support packages.
• Monthly SEO Packages.
• Social Media Management Packages.

Get in contact with us to have a chat about your specifications and we’ll put together a quote for you – 01884 308091 / 01472 485858 or email socialmedia@function28.co.uk

Have you ever been on to a website and been harassed instantly by a pop up asking you to sign up to the company’s mailing list? Or start a free trial? Get a free quote? These are all Call to Action’s, and as annoying as they can be, they are the perfect way to generate leads and get engagement from a visitor.
Call to Actions provide direction for visitors and can decrease a website’s bounce rate as it gives a next step for the visitor to carry out, Call to Actions are also a great way to measure success as you can look at statistics regarding how many people sign up, click etc.
However, there are some best practices to remember when creating Call to Actions.

1) Clear Benefits

Make the Call to Action’s benefit obvious to the visitor, instead of phrasing the action obviously, use persuasive language that highlights the benefits. Such as the example below, ‘grow my traffic’ which clearly highlights the benefits of signing up and is, therefore, more likely to make the customer engage.

Using scarcity to encourage engagement often creates a sense of urgency as it appears that you’re limiting your supply and therefore encourages people to act. Good examples of this are offering limited time discounts, limited supplies and highlighting how quickly you are selling out.

2) Be one thought ahead of the visitor

Address the visitor’s questions and concerns before they’ve even had a chance to ask them, carrying out a Call to Action is usually a big step of trust for a user. ‘You’ll get a free quote from us within one week’ is better than ‘Get a quote’ as it provides a timescale and a cost. Answering the client’s questions before they have a chance to ask them increases your company’s legitimacy and therefore increases the customers trust in you.

3) Focus on a small number of Call to Actions

Make sure you only include a small number of Call to Action’s which are distinct and easy to interpret, this will help to make sure the user isn’t overwhelmed. Having fewer choices for a user to make reduces the amount of effort they need to put in, which in turn makes the process less stressful for them as you provide a simple step by step.

4) Positioning

Positioning your Call to Action’s in a straightforward place that will stand out to the client, positioned high on a page and in the centre, is usually successful. Thinking about the time in the visitor’s journey is also important, find the right time for the user to respond, an example of poor Call to Action positioning can be found below, the Call to Action pops up before the user has even had a chance to look at the products meaning that they won’t know yet whether they want money off a product as they haven’t even had a chance to see the products available to them.

As well as the positioning on a page, it’s important to consider which pages to put a Call of Action on, ideally you should have a call to action on every page on your site. Your call to action does not need to be the same for each page, instead, you can use smaller actions that lead the user towards your goal.

5) Use negative space positively

Leave negative space around a Call to Action to draw more attention to it. Having too much content around a call to action will detract from it. Google vs Yahoo is a perfect example of this.

6) Colour and Size

Often designers get frustrated with clients asking to make thing bigger, however, when it comes to Call to Action’s, size really does matter. As does colour, both are effective ways of drawing attention to elements on a page. Having a Call to Button in a larger size, and a bright accent colour makes it stand out and appear more clearly to the eye of the reader, ensuring that they know what to do next. For example on our own website, ‘view our work.’

If you need any more information or advice then feel free to gives us a call on 01884 308091 / 01472 485858 or email info@function28.co.uk.

Sources:

11 Kick-Ass Call to Action Examples (And Why They Work)

Calls to Action: 15 Techniques for Improvement, With Examples

Read our tips below to find out how to optimise your Websites navigation and lower your bounce rate.

Brand Logo- Having your brand logo in the header of your website is a standard design element for pretty much all websites (see image below,) having this logo lead back to your website homepage is a very beneficial navigation element to your website, most users will expect the header logo to lead back to your homepage. A user may, therefore, become frustrated with the unconventional navigation if the header logo wasn’t a link back to your homepage. Also, having your brand logo image with a relevant H1 tag will help your website to be found by Google under a relevant search term, such as on our website, our logo is titled ‘Function28 Limited | Devon Web Design Development,’ including the location and name of your business increases the chance of you being found.

Dropdowns- Dropdowns are a good way to organise your website content into smaller sub-categories that are easy to navigate through, however, the biggest downfall of using drop down menus is the fact that often the top page (the navigation title) isn’t clicked on and therefore this top page is bypassed and the information on it is missed by a visitor. So, when using dropdowns on your website navigation, it is often a good idea to make your initial title unclickable, that way important information can’t be missed.

 

Unique Descriptive Titles- Giving your website pages’ unique descriptive titles both increases the website’s findability and SEO score as well as making your website more unique and individual. Instead of having generic page titles such as, ‘about us’, ‘home’ and ‘contact us.’ Personalise your titles to add character to your website, include location to make the site score better in search engine results. E.g. ‘Devon Website Design’ or ‘Meet Our Devon Web Designers.’ These comprehensive, location-based personal titles will increase your SEO score as well as make your website appear unique to a visitor, possibly increasing the chance of them doing business with you.

Navigation Bar Position- The position of your navigation bar is important; there is a constant discussion over whether horizontal or vertical navigation bars are best for websites. In recent years, responsive horizontal navigation bars have been the industry standard. A ‘responsive’ navigation bar is one that works on all devices, mobile and tablets included. This responsive horizontal navigation bar can be in the form of the navigation bar manipulating its size for the mobile device, which can sometimes be hard to read, or the most common responsive navigation in recent years is the Hamburger Navigation Icon.

This is where the navigation is shown as three horizontal bars, similar looking to a burger icon. From here, the bars icon can be clicked on and reveals a form of vertical navigation as this suits the dimensions of a mobile device screen better.

Having your website navigation bar in these standard responsive and horizontal styles make your website easier to navigate and understand and therefore lowers the chance of someone bouncing from your website.

Navigation Order- The order of your navigation is important to a user, you want to order the most important pages on your site to the left and the least important to the right. For example, your home page and business’s key pages should be furthest to the left. Pages such as your contact form should be furthest to the right as that is the page that users are most likely to go to last after they have looked at the rest of your site and decided that they want to get in touch with your company. This left to right priority is due to people reading left to right. When deciding on how to order your pages it is important to look at your website statistics, seeing which pages are most often clicked, these should, therefore, be more to the left so that they are easier accessible to visitors.

Following all these suggestions will increase your website’s usability and lower the likeliness of someone bouncing from your website, pairing this with the correct landing page etiquette will even further lower your website bounce rate.

Call 01884 308091 / 01472 485858 or email info@function28.co.uk for more information.