While Robot.txt is an exclusion protocol and tells search engines what not to crawl on your site, sitemaps do the exact opposite. It helps search engines index important portions of the website and thus improve its visibility. Google was the first search engine to use XML sitemaps which are different from ordinary HTML sitemaps. Now, other search engines are also following suit and thus the importance of sitemaps have grown further from the point of view of SEO.

Advantages of sitemaps

1. A sitemap is like a blueprint: A sitemap is like a blueprint for building a house. It guides people who are working on the project to design a website. It should be kept in a central location and in a format that makes it easily accessible. It helps everybody working on the project to know the project status, the changes that have been made or changes that may be made. It saves wastage of resources and extra work that would have been required otherwise.
2. A sitemap helps to understand the goals: A sitemap gives a goal and a plan to the designer. It helps the designing team to understand what they exactly want from this website and what needs to be done in order to attain those goals.
3. Avoid duplication of content: It would be a waste of time and resources if you continue to create similar content again, and again, every time you need it. It is far more elegant and efficient to interlink content. A sitemap helps you to understand which pages exist where and how they have been interlinked. It makes the process of linking easier.
4. Sitemaps make it easier for search engines to index changes: Although search engines take a lot of time to index new pages or changes to your website, the process can be made more streamlined by having a sitemap which captures the changes.

Conclusion

A sitemap is an essential part of a website from the point of view of design, SEO, and navigability. Google does not even penalize sites if they have one XML sitemap and another HTML sitemap. As the importance of indexing increases and search engines come equipped with better crawling algorithms, websites would need good sitemaps to make the process of loading the site URLs quicker.

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Some argue that websites can be built without breaking a sweat with CSS, JavaScript or HTML. Then why should frameworks find an application in web design? But others say that if you are building a simple website without a lot of pages or a dynamic website, frameworks find good use. If you have to create multiple log-in credentials on your website, a framework would provide you with a structure to do it easily without having to do it multiple times manually.  Frameworks are templates which contain snippets of codes and other design elements which help you to take care of the basic design needs of your web-page and help you to save a lot of valuable project time.

Another major advantage of a framework is that a lot of them have been tested, debugged and validated. So, it not only saves you the time of writing the code in markup language but also save you the time of testing.

When you are designing a website, you will have your areas of strength. There may be other areas where you need some help. So, if you are using frameworks, you get instant, ready-made help.

What is a framework?

A framework is a set of tools or design conventions that is stored in the form of modules and can be invoked by calling it as a function in a code that you may be writing. A lot of ordinary tasks are taken care of through these modules. A framework doesn’t mean a licensed product that you will have to subscribe to or buy. You can create your own framework and store it as a module in a library and call it any number of times.

Advantages

• They are usually very fast. You can use an API to create a simple design in one-tenth of the time probably of what you would have taken otherwise.
• They can boost the efficiency as designers can focus more on solving the unique challenges rather than having to take care of common problems perfunctorily. This definitely boosts output and problem solving abilities.
• It definitely brings down the final cost of the project at hand.

Disadvantages

• The scope of work may be limited as you have to use the same framework essentially even with modifications.
• Frameworks contain files like normalize.css that have not been configured for the particular context in which you want to apply them.

A framework has both pros and cons. It is up to you to decide whether you want to use them or not. If you can identify the right context for its application, it does provide you a lot of leveraging power and speed. Carefully protect your individuality even when you are using an open source framework.

The post Should You Be Using Frameworks In Your Web Designs? appeared first on Stacked Site.

A well-organized grid reduces visual chaos and provides a breathing space to each design element so that they stand out individually as well as a single unit. A well-coordinated grid layout can help the designer to determine the right color proportions and use the right balance between design elements and white space at the margin of each row and column.

Grids are also simple. Although a grid based layout may not be suitable for all projects, a bulk of the modern design projects which need speed and efficiency are using grid based layouts to establish order without looking monotonous.

Some of the benefits of grid-based layouts are as follows

1. Aesthetic appeal: Grids can maintain clarity within chaos. It ushers in a certain order which makes it possible for the designer to clearly highlight the different design elements and use vast amounts of content in a single grid layout without cluttering the space. It is sensual without being exotic.
2. Enjoys the benefits of economies of scale: A design grid once created can be used as a road-map for future design ideas and the time of creating a new design reduces. It allows different designers to collaborate effectively since the core grid is in place and all they have to do is create different designs by switching places of components on the same grid i.e. changing the alignment or using new components on the same grid.
3. Allows creation of responsive web design: A grid-based layout is ideal for creating a responsive web design because it uses a single set of design codes to be used for the creation of a website for different devices.

A grid based layout is cost-effective and saves a lot of time. If you are building a commercial web design, in 8 out of 10 cases, you would need to use grid-based designs for their inherent advantages.

The post Why do Most Experts Prefer a Grid-Based Web Design? appeared first on Stacked Site.

• De-clutter your site landing pages. A site that has too much going on will leave visitors both overwhelmed and confused. They won’t be able to spot that CTA button amidst all that clutter. It can also leave users under the impression that you are trying too hard to win them over. You want to keep your site design simple and appealing.
• While it’s not a bad idea to do up your site a little differently than other sites out there, you don’t want to miss out on the basics in the process. Online users have come to expect a certain few basics on all sites- About Us, Careers, Investors, Social Media, Store Locator, Privacy Policy, and Contact Us pages for example. You will usually find most of these tabs on the footer of the page. Make sure your website has these basics covered, so site visitors do not feel as if they’re in unfamiliar online territory.
• Icons and images do a good job of upping that professional quotient of your website. Images are great storytellers. In fact. some of the biggest brands out there have full-blown images as the backdrop for their site. Icons are equally important for a professional touch. Whether you’re talking about the features of your service or why customers should choose your business, the use of icons makes it look more professional and believable.
• Keep the navigation simple, so visitors easily find what they’re here for. Online users are usually quite impatient to find things. A site with navigation that is complex or not user-friendly will negatively affect user experience, and may cause users to leave the site. A search bar and site map are indispensable for professional sites. A smooth, intuitive navigation could mean lower bounce rate and higher conversions for your brand.

A quick site audit from a professional Brisbane web design agency can reveal what changes your site needs to appear professional. Remember, how your site looks not just affects whether or not users decide to stay on your site, but also their purchase decisions with your brand.

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Clear message

Can a user understand the service/product/value you offer within the first few seconds of visiting your site?

The average site has under 7 seconds to help make a visitor understand what it does, according to digital marketing Brisbane experts. Given how user attention spans are getting lower, don’t be surprised if some visitors spend as much as just 3 seconds to decide whether or not they want to stay on your site.

Your website should be designed so it sends through a clear message to the visitor. Ask any professional Brisbane graphic design agency and they will tell you how image sliders and too much information translate to higher bounce rate.

Businesses like the idea of using clever tag-lines and quirky web design formats for their pages. But given how little a time users take to decide whether or not they want to stay on your website, you are better off sticking to standard web design formats and punchlines that convey a clear business message.

Visual cues

Visual cues are a great way to capture the attention of users. However, if you include too many visual cues, you will leave the user confused. So you want to use visual cues sparingly, and strategically, say advertising agency Brisbane experts.

You may be tempted to use stock photos for your website landing pages as it an easy option, but they don’t always have the intended impact. Try using exclusive images of your business instead, so you can connect better with your customers.

For instance, if you operate a food delivery service, have a professional photographer take pictures of your staff in action during their workday, and that of happy customers, instead of run-off-the-mill photos.

Videos can be a great way to keep site visitors hooked as well, say marketing agency Brisbane. Rather than explaining what your business does in page-long content, put up a video for users to watch so they can understand what you do.

Of course, you do not want your video to be set on auto-play; if anything it will dissuade the user from watching the video, as most users like to choose the what and how of consuming online content.

The post Is Your Web Design Aligned With Your Digital Marketing Strategy? appeared first on Stacked Site.

• Conversion-focused websites cleverly guide user through their story or service offerings, onto the CTA button. Make sure your website follows a logical eye-path, so it achieves the same. The design aesthetics should draw the visitor’s eyes to your CTA. While we are on the subject of CTA, know that having multiple CTA buttons will leave users confused. So stick to one CTA for each page.

• Users have a short attention span, and you want to convince them to buy your product/ service within a few seconds. Videos and images can be a great way to support your conversion strategy, and get them to hit that buy button. Of course, you do not want to overdo it with either of them, or visitors will be clueless as to where they are supposed to look.

• Swap a pretty website layout to one that is functional; pretty will catch the eye, but good functionality means easy usability. Make sure users can easily find what they came to your site for in the first place. A search bar and site map can make your website go a long way!

• Make sure your website load speed is fast. A slow page load speed is one of the main causes for high bounce rate. You can lazy load images so your page loads faster, and get a reliable hosting service on board, so your site speed does not lag. Visitors expect site pages to load as quickly as 3 seconds, and much faster for mobile-site pages. In fact surveys have shown that you can lose out on 11 percent of your conversion rate for each one second delay in your page load speed.

• Social proof can be a great way to build user trust in your brand. If your business is not a well-known name in the industry, you want to use other means such as testimonials and reviews from trusted sources to foster trust in visitors. Researches have shown that users trust reviews online nearly the same way they would trust recommendations from friends.

You may not be able to pinpoint what exactly is affecting your site-conversion rates, in which case you want to get in touch with a Brisbane web design agency, so they can evaluate your site and recommend changes.

The post What Do Conversion-Focused Websites Have in Common appeared first on Stacked Site.

A/B tests can offer you helpful insights on optimizing your site. Here’s what you need to know about A/B tests according to the top digital marketing agency Brisbane.

Common A/B tests

• Free vs purchase: You can test how your site fares when you offer free trials as opposed to just the purchase option. Some businesses have reported an over 100 percent increase in the site visitor sign up rate on switching to free trial from purchase option.

Some users may drop out during the course of the trial, say marketing business solution agency, but if you have a sound conversion rate, then retaining the free trial might be a good choice.

• Chat help: While you may have a search bar and site map in place (so visitors can find what they came looking for on your site), it may still not helps solve all site visitor queries. Many businesses include a chat help for this reason. You want to include one on your site to see if it makes any difference to your site conversion rate, as it answers customer questions instantly.

• CTA: The colour and placement of the CTA button could make a difference to your conversion rate. Consult your website design Brisbane agency to evaluate what changes you should make to your CTA button, before you test it out.

How to choose an A/B test

Some businesses go wrong with their A/B testing, as they randomly try and pick tests. If you are unable to decide which A/B tests suit your website’s needs it is best to outsource business solutions to an expert.

The point of A/B tests is to identify problem areas in your site that are negatively affecting the conversion rate and fix it.

This is where random A/B tests fail, according to business process outsourcing experts. You want to carry out a site analysis to determine which parts of your site appreciate good or poor traffic, and the corresponding conversion rates as well.

Check out the user drop-out points in fill-out forms, and the pages that get the most number of hits, so you know what aspects to focus on while picking A/B tests.

These tests will be able to pinpoint what is/isn’t working for your site- whether it is a long form or complex navigation that is causing users to leave the site. Once you have fixed the problem areas on your website that were leading to a high bounce rate, the next step is to check out what your competitor sites are doing, so you can up the ante.

The post Using A/B Tests to Drive Your Conversion Rate appeared first on Stacked Site.

Content and design go hand in hand

Many businesses make the mistake of working on their website design first, and then the content strategy. A strong website design is no doubt important for your business to make a good impact on visitors.

However, without a strong content to accompany it, visitors will probably move on to the next site they can find. Focusing on your content and web design efforts from the start will help structure your site as a well-rounded content publishing platform- one that sports a clean design and has informative/ interesting content. This in turn translates to good SEO rankings.

Easy to navigate

Some businesses like to get creative with their web design layouts, and while it’s not a bad thing, and can bring in that wow factor to your site, it can also work against it. If the quirks and creative elements in your website design make it difficult for site visitors to navigate or find things on your site, then you have a problem.

Most visitors will not take the trouble to stick around on a site that is not easy to navigate, and that could mean high bounce rates for your site. Google is quick to notice bounce rates while ranking sites, so if you want your site to rank well, then you may want to play it safe sometimes.

Of course, there is always room to be creative and original with the visuals on the site, but as far as the navigation goes, you want to go by the book.

Responsive design

Google has been emphasizing mobile-friendliness of sites for a while now. In fact, it recently announced that starting May 2016, mobile-friendliness will be given increased priority in the search engine rankings.

Businesses that do not have a responsive design for their site yet, should get going about now.

Given the number of users who access sites through smartphones and tablets, businesses which do not have a mobile-friendly site are missing out on some serious opportunity.

A responsive design naturally detects the size of the device, and auto-fits the page for hassle-free interaction, supporting better visitor retention, and SEO ranking.

The post Web Design Tips For a Better SEO Performance appeared first on Stacked Site.

Advertisements

If ads are hogging most of your website real estate then you are in for some trouble. Most website visitors leave a site when the ad content on it is overflowing. What’s more is it also makes site trust quotient take a hit, as users now recognise that you have an ulterior motive.

Of course, if your website primarily depends on ads to stay afloat, then you cannot scrap all ads on the site; you do not have to scrap all the ads on your site even otherwise. What you want to do is to keep the ad versus actual content balanced, giving more space for the latter.

Understand that ads tend to distract your user from the actual content on your site. Now, this may not be a bad thing if you depend on just ads for monetization. However, if you have a business product/service that you are trying to sell, ads will take the focus off it.

Pop-ups and auto-plays

Pop-up displays and auto-play videos are among the most common reasons why users leave a site. The problem with both these website features is they materialise unannounced, when in reality, users would like to be in control of the information that they see on the site.

You would also want to check if pop-ups or auto-play videos may be causing your bounce rates to increase. No doubt, a video that displays how your product/service works or a pop-up that asks users to register to your newsletter could help drive conversions; at least that is the idea behind these notorious visitor rebound features.

However, they may not be having the same results as you expect. You want to use measuring tools to evaluate whether it is benefiting your site or working against it, and then decide whether or not you want to keep it, say Brisbane search engine optimisation experts.

Lack of trust and/or personality

It’s interesting how traits that visitors look for in a website vary around the world. A business is France would do better focusing on how trustworthy their website appears, while one in Mexico would do better focusing on how desirable the design of the site appears.

Australian users look for a mix of both, so you may want to get your site evaluated by Brisbane website design agency to see how your site scores on these factors. Build a distinct personality for your brand if you can. A run-off-the-mill website won’t garner the same attention as one with a distinct personality and creative website design.

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