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Web Design

Why Your Nashville Business Needs Responsive Web Design for Your Mobile Friendly Website

Responsive Web Design and Mobile Friendly Websites in Nashville is all the talk. Why? Because technology has continued to progress creating new challenges for websites made for Nashville small businesses. The images and text contained within the layout of a website can occasionally be cut off when viewed on various devices, the navigation bars maybe obstructed, or any other challenges making it difficult to peruse Nashville’s websites.

Nashville small businesses needing mobile websites that include responsive web design
Nashville Local Businesses on Broadway Ave. 2020

Responsive & Mobile Friendly Website Design takes these considerations into account when constructing the website. It is a specific way of programming the website to adjust the layout and adapt to a wide variety of screen sizes. Images and text can be shrunken and realigned and the navigation is contained within the screen.

Gone are the days of two versions of a website — desktop and mobile. Responsive mobile web design does the work for the visitor to adapt the web pages to display perfectly no matter what size screen they are using.

The Importance of Responsive Web Design

There are about 246 million people in the United States that view the internet on a mobile device. You want to be sure that your Nashville customers are presented with the best experience when they visit your website.

The previous mentality of designing two websites — desktop and mobile — is simply unsustainable. Changes are constantly being made to these mobile devices so it is crucial for your website to be able to adjust itself. You don’t want to risk a large amount of possible sales to be lost simply because visitors were unable to find your search function on mobile devices.

Here’s how your Nashville Website stands to benefit from a Responsive Web Design:

  • Responsive Web Design Provides Better User Experience
  • Responsive Web Design Improves SEO
  • Your Reduce Bounce Rates with Responsive Web Design
  • Responsive Web Design Prepares You for Future Innovations
  • Expand Your Reach with Responsive Web Design
  • Responsive Web Design will Save on Maintenance Costs

Responsive Web Design Provides Better User Experience

The main goal of responsive web design is to improve the experience of the people that visit your website. Internet users have a lot of options. They are looking for reasons to leave your website and look elsewhere. Any annoyance or difficulty will be met with immediately leaving the website.

But a quality user experience holds the visitor’s attention. You are much more likely to create a customer from your visitor if they are able to quickly and easily find the information they need.

Responsive Web Design Improves SEO

Google rewards websites that incorporate responsive web design. This goes back to the idea of an improved user experience. Search engines want to provide their users with the highest-quality options when displaying search results. This is because they know that if they provide subpar options for users, they will start using a different search engine.

Responsive websites are rewarded with more favorable rankings on search engine results pages. And this can make all the difference when attracting new customers.

Your Reduce Bounce Rates with Responsive Web Design

Imagine visiting a website on your phone that isn’t set up for a mobile device. It generally involves a lot of scrolling, possibly some zooming. But either way, it looks bad as soon as you pull it up. This will frequently be punished by users immediately clicking off the website to look elsewhere.

Your website’s bounce rate is the tendency of visitors to leave your website without moving past the initial page. Responsive web design gives the visitors a reason to stay, which results in a better bounce rate. And the longer they’re there, the more likely they are to become customers.

Responsive Web Design Prepares You for Future Innovations

As we said earlier, technology is always changing. An unresponsive website isn’t going to be able to keep up with the innovations. This will mean your website is either going to be incompatible with new technology, or you’ll have to do a complete redesign as technology progresses.

Responsive web design is made for this inevitably. Altering the images and layout depending on the type of device used will continue to be an asset as new technology emerges.

Expand Your Reach with Responsive Web Design

Higher search result rankings and the ability to easily view your website on a wide range of devices will open your website up to new visitors. Many people find information and products through the use of social media. And social media is often viewed on mobile devices.

Position yourself to convert these new visitors by making use of responsive web design. Ignoring this consideration will leave room for your competition to pick up any slack you leave behind.

Responsive Web Design will Save on Maintenance Costs

Responsive web design is going to have a larger upfront cost, but it will save you money over time. Managing two versions of your website will create twice as much maintenance work and fees. You also stand to incur more fees as technology progresses and your current website becomes out of date.

Do your Nashville business a favor and make use of a professional responsive web design company. NoSweatWeb serves the Nashville community with responsive design, ecommerce websites, content creation services, and more.

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Web Design

Should You Use WordPress for Your Ecommerce Website?

More people are doing their shopping online. The ease of shopping from your couch can be advantageous for many reasons, but the most salient is that it’s incredibly convenient. However, this ease of transition between a potential customer recognizing a need and being able to immediately make a purchase is also advantageous to the provider of that product.

You stand a much better chance at selling your products if they are easily available. And an ecommerce website puts your products at the fingertips of everybody with internet access.

A lot of businesses know this, which is why there are millions of ecommerce websites on the internet at any given time. So how do you set yourself apart? How can you be sure that you have the tools necessary to compete with these other websites?

You need to be sure you have an attractive and functional website.

Small businesses don’t have a lot of money to throw around. So how can they get a quality website that will perform all the necessary functions?

They get a WordPress website. Here’s why WordPress is a great option for small businesses in search of the perfect ecommerce website.

Easy to Use

The first thing new WordPress users realize is that it’s deceptively easy to use. Many of us don’t have a lot of technical know-how. The idea of designing and updating a website seems impossible. But WordPress has been around for a long time. They’ve been able to hammer out the kinks and have made great strides to improve the usability of their interface over the years.

Adding products, pages, and listings can be done quickly by anybody. Their functions are intuitive. And if you find yourself confused, they have a great library of support videos to help you find your way.

Visit NoSweatWeb to learn more about ecommerce web design in Nashville today!

Professional Design

You’ve visited a lot of WordPress websites over the years. And most likely, you haven’t known they were WordPress websites. This is because they look great, can vary widely in appearance, and are just as professional-looking as something that was designed from scratch by a team of professional designers.

Templates and pre-programmed designs make it easy for a novice to quickly set themselves up with a great looking website. And soon you will have the functionality and attractive design that you might have thought would cost a small fortune.

Customizable

Don’t be fooled. Just because WordPress provides great templates and designs doesn’t mean your website has to look like everyone else’s. The wide variety in templates can help with this, but plugins can take it a step further.

These downloadable plugins can be easily added to your website to improve functionality and make sure you get exactly what you want from your ecommerce web design. Add galleries, track traffic, analyze SEO capabilities, and much more. The list of plugins is quite long so the only thing holding you back is your imagination.

Security

WordPress has many quality security systems in place to protect the users of their platform. Their security team consists of 50 developers and security researchers who are experts in their fields. They actively work to fix any bugs or potential issues before they become a large problem. And if they do become a problem, they release a report on the issue as soon as they have it fixed in an effort to be fully transparent.

SEO-Friendly

You can have the most effective ecommerce web design for your Nashville business, but it’s not going to matter if people don’t find you. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a great way to get your name out there. It helps to get your pages to the top of relevant search results through targeted content on your website.

Blogs are a great way to boost your SEO. And it just so happens that WordPress was originally started as a blogging platform. This makes it perfectly set up to include a blog on your ecommerce website which will help drive traffic and spread the word about your company.

WooCommerce

We mentioned plugins. WooCommerce is a great ecommerce plugin that can help put your business on the internet and open you up to a whole new section of the population. WooCommerce integrates easily and smoothly with your WordPress website and quickly gives you access to functionalities that you can easily manage yourself.

Security is very important in ecommerce web design, and WooCommerce has that covered. It has a professional look, provides great analytics, and is very flexible.

Contact NoSweatWeb and get started with your ecommerce web design in Nashville!

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Web Design

The Importance of Schema Markup for SEO

All websites are not created equal. There are many unseen factors that go into how your website shows up in search results. Strict attention to local SEO will help your rankings, but those who take an all-encompassing approach will be rewarded not only with higher rankings, but featured snippets.

Schema Markup is an important tool to help your Nashville business with your local SEO efforts. But what is it? And how does it help?

What Is It?

Microdata is a specification located within the content of web pages. Search engines extract and process this microdata and use it to provide stronger and more specialized search results. Schema Markup is a form of microdata. It adds what’s known as a “rich snippet” (which is basically an enhanced description) which helpsschema markup the page appear in relevant search results.

Schema was built back in 2011 through a collaboration between Google, Yahoo, Yandex, and Bing. Tools that help search engines return accurate search results helps everyone, so they worked together to provide better capabilities to achieve this.

There are a few different versions of Schema Markup codes:

  • JSON-LD (Javascript Object Notation-Linked Data): This is a method of structured markup that uses a system of name-value pairs. It is popular because of its ease of use.
  • RDFa: This method works with a variety of document types.
  • Microdata: This is the most common and easiest to use method

Contact NoSweatWeb for professional help with local SEO in Nashville!

What Can It Help?

There are a fairly wide variety of enhancements that can be made to a website through the use of Schema Markup. However, you need to be conscious of what enhancements will be useful for your particular industry. Otherwise you could spend a lot of time performing enhancements that won’t actually affect your search engine result rankings.

There should be a primary objective you are focused on completing. This will help dictate which markups you will implement and which ones you can skip. Read through the material on the Schema website for information on which enhancements will best benefit your website.

A few examples of possible enhancements include the addition of your address, upcoming events, or even images to your search result listings.

But this is where the specificity in relation to your industry comes in. You can dictate which of these possibilities can show up. For instance, the results for a web page including a recipe might want to include the recipe itself, calories, and website information.

Using Schema for Local SEO

One of the most useful results a business can get are the “near me” results. A person searching for your service without knowing local options might search for a keyword relating to your business with the addition of a tag relating to their particular location.

For instance, perhaps you’re visiting a new city and want to order some food. You search “pizza near me” and local results populate your screen. This is an advantageous list to be on.

Local businesses need to find the associated section of the Schema website which can be found here. You will find the applicable codes to help include your business’ name, address, phone number, and more.

This will create what’s known as a featured snippet for your company. These entries are very visible by search engine users and are a coveted position to hold. The addition of Schema Markups won’t guarantee your company to be at the top of these search results, but they will help your chances.

How to Implement It

The implementation of microdata can be daunting for those of us that don’t have experience with coding. It takes some work, but it can be done by just about anybody. And for those that aren’t feeling adventurous, the professionals at NoSweatWeb can help include the necessary tags to help your Nashville company improve your local SEO.

You will need a basic understanding of HTML processes and techniques. Tutorials for this can be found here.

You will also need the Schema library to find the appropriate codes for your industry.

Search through the library and locate the additions you would like to make to your search engine results. The results will give you the lines of code you will need to enter on your web page. Placeholder information will need to be replaced with your particular specifications. Simply swap these out, copy, and paste it into the lines of code for your website as dictated by the instructions.

Google provides a tool which tests the structured data of your website, which can be found here. This helps verify your work and find any errors in the codes.

Visit NoSweatWeb for help with any and all website needs!

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Web Design

How Responsive Web Design Helps Your SEO

No matter which industry you’re in, you want your website to show up in searches. This is how the majority of your visitors are going to find you. And as any SEO company in Nashville will tell you, not all websites are created equal in the eyes of search results.

SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” The goal of SEO is to get your website to show up as close to the top of the list of search results as possible when someone types in a query that relates to your services.

There are many different practices that can be implemented to get your website higher in the search result rankings. In fact, just about every aspect of your website can be optimized—everything from the images, to the text, to the layout.

However, there is one particular aspect of a website that is continually growing more important: responsiveness.

But what does that mean? And why does it help in search result rankings?

What Does It Mean to Be Responsive?

A responsive website is one that loads smoothly and quickly on multiple devices and screen sizes. This has become increasingly important as a large number of internet users are moving away from their computers and relying on mobile devices.

In a literal sense, the term refers to the ability of a website to adapt itself to the size and shape of a screen. Various elements are utilized in order for a singular website to be able to display itself in a number of different ways.

For instance, a desktop website might have a large banner image across the top that will get automatically resized when viewed on a smaller, mobile device. Or maybe the content is laid out in multiple columns that simply won’t fit on a smaller screen. A responsive website will adjust the amount of columns, or perhaps move them to save the visitor the hassle of scrolling left-to-right in order to read all of the content.

NoSweatWeb is a Nashville SEO company that also knows website design. Visit us today to see what we can do for you.

Why Is It Important?

Google isn’t the only search engine, but they do have a massive slice of the industry. 76% of desktop traffic and 86% of mobile traffic, to be specific.  And they’ve recently altered their search result rankings to favor websites which are better-suited for mobile  use. This shift is a result of the increased tendency for people to use the internet on their mobile devices.

The main goal for Google is to provide an experience that is user-friendly. After all, there are plenty of options on the internet, and people are going to gravitate toward that which is easiest to use. A responsive website is inherently easy to use, and is therefore rewarded with higher rankings in Google’s search results because of it.

How Do You Make Your Website Responsive?

Make It Fast

Page load time is factored into Google’s search results. They know that waiting for a website to pull up pictures and text makes the user’s experience less pleasurable. And a website that has been designed with an eye toward responsiveness will generally load faster because it isn’t trying to fit something where it wasn’t meant to go.

Make It Easy to Use

The amount of time a user spends on your site is important. However, users are likely to go elsewhere if they can’t easily find what they need. Responsive website design ensures that no matter how someone is viewing your content, it will be laid out in a coherent fashion.

Make It Easily Shared

A responsive website will be tailored for social media shares simply because of its design. And while this might not directly influence your search result rankings, it can be a great source of traffic. Links on various platforms can be continually shared, exposing your content to new readers and potential visitors.

Make It Engaging

The bounce rate tracks how quickly people leave your website. Do they dig deeper or do they leave without exploring other pages? A website that has a short average amount of time spent on a website is an indication of subpar content. This is reflected by lower search rankings. However, design plays as much a role in a user’s decision to leave a website as content.

Minimize Duplicate Content

One method of making a website viewable on both desktops and mobile devices is to have two separate URLs with similar content but different layouts. However, Google doesn’t understand this idea and can lower your rankings based on the existence of duplicate content alone.

Are You in Need of Website Design in Nashville?

NoSweatWeb is your one-stop shop in Nashville for both SEO and website design. We know what it takes to get results and have been helping Nashville businesses optimize their content as well as their website design.

Are you looking for a Nashville SEO company that can also help with website design? Visit NoSweatWeb today!

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Web Design

The Importance of a Mobile-Friendly Website in 2020

Everywhere you look, people are on their phones. And when they’re not on their phones, they’re looking at their tablets. This is no secret, but some websites have yet to optimize their layouts and displays to properly fit on these smaller screens. However, the time has come where this can no longer be put off. Internet users will only dig more into their mobile devices in 2020. And if your website isn’t set up to accommodate this, you’ll be in trouble.

Let’s look into why and how a mobile-friendly website is essential to compete in 2020.

Increased Use of Mobile Devices

It’s estimated that there are around 4.4 billion people on the internet. And of those people, it’s estimated that 2.87 billion people will use a mobile device in 2020. That’s almost two-thirds of all internet users. In fact, it’s been estimated that more people in the world own a smartphone than a toothbrush.

And this has changed the way people interact with websites. Gone are the days of sitting behind a desk, booting up the computer, and navigating search results with a keyboard and a mouse. Most people explore the internet with taps and drags. And if your website isn’t set up to accommodate this method of exploration, users are likely to move along to a website that will.

The attention span of the average internet user is pretty short. They won’t tolerate a slow-loading website or one that is difficult to navigate. You could have the most attractive website in the world, complete with animations and buttons, but you stand to lose a lot of possible visitors if it doesn’t flow on a mobile device.

This tendency can be used to your advantage. Optimizing your website for mobile usage can attract this large section of the internet-using population.

Ready to get make your e-commerce website mobile-friendly? Visit NoSweatWeb in Nashville for expert web design today

Enhanced Customer Experience

A good, easy-to-use website that is also attractive will bring visitors back. This is a simplistic way to look at it, but it’s true. There is a lot more that goes into website design, but visitors will appreciate a website that looks good. Likewise, a website that is difficult will convince your visitors to go elsewhere.

Mobile-friendly websites are intuitive, easy to navigate, and attractive on a smaller screen. This translates to a better experience for the customer because they don’t have to scroll around to find the buttons, task bars, and menus. Pictures will be an appropriate size. And the website will load quickly and cleanly.

This is an important factor. A mobile website that takes a long time to load is likely to lose visitors.

The convenience of a mobile website is one of the main reasons people are trending toward heavier mobile usage. Being able to download a ticket to a concert, for instance, means your chances of losing it are drastically reduced. Online shopping is another example of why mobile usage has increased so dramatically. The susceptibility of people to impulse purchases on their mobile devices can be a great advantage for e-commerce websites. And having a website that is easy to use from a mobile device is absolutely crucial to converting these visitors into customers.

Better Rankings

Google’s search ranking algorithms take numerous factors into account when they compile search results. Mobile usability is one of the more important factors that are considered when someone searches for your keywords.

The increased visibility that comes along with this is essential to help potential visitors find your website. After all, you could have the best service in the world but no one will know if they can’t find your website.

This idea of optimizing your website for mobile devices is no secret. In fact, there’s a good chance your competitors are taking this into account for their own websites. Mobile usability is essential to remaining competitive. You don’t want your competitors to have an advantage, so you need to make use of every available tool you can use. And making your website as mobile-friendly as possible not only gives you the advantage of a better customer experience, but it helps with search rankings as well.

And if people can find your website easily, and then enjoy their time while they navigate it, you’ve already provided a positive experience for them before they’ve even engaged with your content.

NoSweatWeb not only knows how important a mobile-friendly website is for a small business, but we also know how to make it a reality. Visit us to see how we can help you today.