Top-Ranking Success: Granite Ridge Estates

Our latest top-10 website client is Granite Ridge Estates in Buckhorn, Ontario. They build custom luxury homes in their own subdivision in Buckhorn, as well as throughout the Kawartha Lakes.

They had an old website that was outdated and didn't reflect their current business very well. It was more or less just awful Flash slideshows and very little text.

The focus of the site now, aside from proper descriptions of what the company does, is tons of interior and exterior home photos (galleries that clearly show all the images available and can be navigated freely), plus actual floor plans of their various base models that can be printed out.

Work included an update to their logo, several on-location photo shoots, new high-resolution scans of dozens of floor plans, and lots more. The look of the site was made clean and classy by using simple black and white along with earth-toned colours like those found in the homes they build.

You Must Be Joking: "Security" Questions?

Over the past few weeks I've been checking to see if some websites are allowing more secure passwords.

As a side effect of this, I came across a variety of "security" questions to be used for secondary identification and/or password reset requests. You've probably seen many of these.

The problem is most of the questions are about things that are either already public knowledge, or things that could easily be found out!

Don't you think all of the following information could be found in about two minutes by anyone who wanted it? Couldn't a smart network admin come up with better questions that only you would possibly know the answer to?

• Your mother's maiden name
• Your father's middle name
• Your birth place
• Your high school
• Your high school mascot
• The street where you grew up
• Your favorite pet's name
• Your first job or employer
• Your first car (particularly obvious for young people, who may have only ever owned one!)

If everyone on Facebook knows the answer, maybe it's not a very good "security" question, lol.

Old School Web Design: A "Contact" Page

Is there anything more inexplicable about a business website than being unable to find contact information?

You're interested, ready to buy, or simply want more information, but ...you can't find the email address, street address, or phone number!

Which is because it's been stuck on a page all by itself somewhere else on the site. Not a shred of contact information anywhere except that one page.

This is another classic design mistake that heralds back to the days when graphic designers were told to make websites, and sought to create as many pages as possible from a slim amount of information.

It seems like an extension of the website-as-brochure mindset from the early days. Maybe graphic designers were so used to putting contact information only on the back of a flyer they figured it would only have one place on a website as well.

But it's more helpful to think of web pages in terms of a letterhead, where there should be essential information at your fingertips at all times. A visitor should be able to call a business or send an email from whatever page they happen to be on, instead of having to wander off to a separate part of the site. That breaks how visitors naturally move around a website, and demands they take at least one extra step just to get in touch... and probably moves them away from what got them interested in the first place!

In fairness, a contact page isn’t pointless in every case, just misused on a grand scale. If you have 35 offices, then yes, a contact page is appropriate, but at least a head office or 1-800 number should still appear on every page.

Just like the "enter" or "splash" page, never make your visitors jump through a hoop to do something as basic as contacting you.

Old School Web Design: Works Only On Internet Explorer

This issue stems from the fact that about 15 years ago Internet Explorer was the dominant web browser by a huge margin. But 15 years is a heck of a long time, and anyone today still building websites using FrontPage or any other WIndows-specific design tool needs to give their head a shake!

For some reason there are websites still being built today that only look and work correctly on Internet Explorer. Do these designers not understand that different browsers render code differently? Could they not bother spending a few minutes to test their sites? Why are they even building websites if they don't know what they're doing? How can they sleep at night knowing they are charging good money to build websites that won't even work right for many of the people who try to use them?

There are five major browsers in use today, and while Internet Explorer is still common on desktop computers, it is essentially non-existent on mobile devices. And we all know how mobile device use has skyrocketed in the last few years, soon to overtake laptops and desktops for overall internet use.

Building websites that only look and work right on IE is a sure way to neglect at least half of the visitors to an average website, close to all the visitors of any tech or geek-related site (typically using Chrome or Firefox), and basically everyone using a mobile device.

Now sure, some websites built for IE will work correctly on other browsers by default without any extra effort, as long as they are of simple and standard design. But the days of designing primarily for IE and hoping for the best are long gone. It simply isn't the dominant browser like it was 15 years ago.

We build websites that look and work exactly the same on any browser at any resolution. It takes a bit of extra work, but it's not that hard. Don’t let anyone tell you some nonsense about what they think your customers and prospects prefer, or tell you it's hard to make compatible or standardized websites, or tell you it will cost more. It's easy for anyone who ought to be calling themselves a "web designer".

Old School Web Design: An “Enter” page

Also known as a splash page. Have you ever come across one of these? It’s basically a huge empty page with a logo and a link to enter the actual website.

This is a leftover from times when no one really knew what to do with a website, but wanted more than just one page with their flyer on it, so they tossed up an extra page with nothing but the company logo on it.

It might say something like: "Welcome, you are now at the website of Joe’s Peanuts. Please click HERE to enter our site..."

There are only two types of sites that might need a landing page or splash page: A multi-national site asking you to select a language or country, or a porn site that requires a legal warning or disclaimer. For all other sites an entry page is pointless and indicates an amateurish delight in having as many pages as possible, which is nothing but detrimental and irritating to users.

Your home page needs to be a real home page, rich with content.

Entry pages also present a huge problem in terms of ranking in web searches. If one home page is completely devoid of content, how do you suppose it stacks up against other websites with normal home pages full of information? Do you think Google and Bing would consider it more useful or less useful to users?

Give your visitors what they came for. Never make someone jump through a hoop just for the privilege of getting to your home page!

(P.S. If you do need to remove a splash page from your site, make sure your webmaster is going to do a proper 301 redirect.)

Old School Web Design: A "Website" That's Just A Giant Animation

This is the more modern equivalent to using a single picture as a web page: using a single animation as a web page.

Some graphic designers with a knack for using animation software will take all the elements of a normal web page and put them into an animation file rather than a picture file.

It’s easy to get caught up in something familiar and use it for everything that comes along, without regard for the user experience, the purpose of the site, the way search engines work, the need for regular updates, compatibility across devices, or the advantages and opportunities of new coding developments.

It's the old “When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail” situation that existed in the early days of the web, when design options were very limited.

Illustrators figured websites would be elaborate illustrations. Animators envisioned websites as animations. Neither was wrong, it's just that those familiar individual preferences have become out of date because the internet has evolved so much.

Modern websites can include text, pictures, video, audio, animations, and more. They all have their place, and to build an entire website in only one medium is unnecessarily limiting to users. The choice should belong to the user, and, for example, not alienate blind or deaf visitors due to content they can't experience.

To be fair, in both cases (a "web page" that's either a picture or animation) it's often the design and animation software that is largely to blame, by having misleading options like "export as web page" or "export for web". These are handy software features, and perhaps suitable for personal web pages, but certainly not for business websites that need to be built to maximize search engine comprehension, accommodate all users on all devices, and correspond with how the internet works today.

Old School Web Design: A "Website" That's Just A Giant Picture

This is probably the most severe old-school flashback, nearly two decades out of date.

To this day, some so-called websites are no more than a huge graphic. All of the text and images, instead of being real elements, are actually parts of a single picture displayed on the screen (a .jpg or.gif, etc.).

When the internet was new and business owners told their graphic designers to put up a web page, they'd open their desktop publishing software and export an existing brochure or other marketing piece as a picture file. Then that picture could be displayed with just a few lines of HTML. Bingo, instant website.

For example, many of the first restaurant websites were often just images of their print menu.

It was natural for this to happen. Since the field of “web design” didn’t exist, business owners called upon their graphic designers to make web pages. And since it required no more than a few clicks in the desktop publishing or illustration software they were already using, everything worked out at the time.

But be careful your web designer isn’t still using graphic design software to lay out your site’s content and then saving it as a picture file. That isn’t web design, it’s photo editing!

Old School Web Design: Is Your Website Stuck In The 1990s?

Way back in the mid-1990s the internet leapt out of military and educational institutions and became accessible to the masses.

At that time, business owners saw websites as a new version of a flyer, billboard, and/or newspaper ad. But unlike printed material, they could be changed in an instant with new text, images, colors, etc. No need to reprint 10,000 flyers because of a spelling mistake or a change in pricing, hooray!

So websites became the new version of print advertising, reflecting all the design techniques of the print industry.

In those early days, companies put up sites hastily. Then, as the internet evolved, those sites were replaced with better content. Technology brought incredible changes, and web pages quickly became nothing at all like flyers, billboards, or newspaper ads. The internet moved way beyond being just a new form of print advertising.

But like the zombie of an old traveling salesman who doesn’t realize what’s happening around him, some of the dead and buried practices of decades ago still linger on the web.

The next few posts will highlight some of these tragic relics of last century you can still find on the internet today.

If your site is stuck in the 1990s, have your webmaster fix it, quick!

Faster Website = Higher Search Ranking

Web Page Loading Speeds
Can you think of a time when you went to a website and it seemed like it wasn't going to load, but you waited and it finally did?

Even 5 to 10 seconds for most people seems like forever compared to typical web pages that load instantly. We sure take lightning speed for granted, don't we?

I generally abandon a site if it takes more than about 5 seconds to load because I assume it's either poorly designed, and/or utilizing unecessary plugins, and/or redirecting to another site improperly, and/or it is infected with malware.

It isn't because 5 seconds is a long time, it's because I have no idea if it has crashed or if it will end up being 60 seconds, by which time I could have already found what I wanted on another site. And it's also because I know how dangerous it is to be on an infected website for even a few seconds.

(Here's a video explaining what is called drive-by malware.)

We Build Fast Websites
It makes sense then that one of the 200+ criteria that Google uses to evaluate website quality is the time it takes for pages to load. As mentioned above, whether it's because of sloppy design or something else, a slow loading page is a poor experience for internet users. So for two websites with the same overall credibility and value, Google will give the edge in search results to the faster one because it will be a better experience for the end user.

Google added site speed to their list of ranking criteria back in 2010. Here's the official site speed announcement.

Because of this, Second Glance Digital Media takes extra steps to increase the speed of every website we build for every client. By optimizing server settings, site architecture, and individual page design, it's just one of the many things we do to stay on top, in order to keep our clients and their businesses on top!

What Is Your Website's Call To Action?

Throughout all of your marketing efforts, your business must present consistent messages, offers, and calls to action to your prospects and customers. This includes your website.

Someone in the company, whether owner, manager, marketing department, or sales team, needs to determine a basic sales approach that all of your promotional material will adhere to and support. Some companies have newspaper ads that say one thing, salespeople saying other things, and a website with yet another focus. Coherence is the name of the game.

Your print advertising, emails, business cards, website, and other marketing material should work together toward the same underlying outcome. Don't just lay a heap of information on people then offer no direction about what to do with it or how to benefit from it.

What is your broadest, most basic marketing goal? To get people into your store, get people to call or email, buy products through your website, or something else?

Now, considering this, does your website have a clear and obvious call to action on every page? Does your website ask people to pick up the phone and call? To come to your store or office? To subscribe to a newsletter? To participate in a poll? To leave a comment? To sign up for a free sample or demo? To click and buy now? If you came to this page about online security guard training would it be apparent what action to take?

Does your website clearly ask visitors to do something simple, specific, and logical? And have you made it incredibly easy for them to?

Update On Web Browser Usage - April 2012

Here's a look at current web browser usage in April 2012, according to both Statcounter and Netmarketshare. All numbers rounded to nearest percentage point.

Usage stats for IE - Chrome - Firefox - Safari
  - Statcounter: 35% - 31% - 25% - 7%
  - Netmarketshare: 54% - 19% - 21% - 5%

Statcounter uses "15 billion pageviews per month collected from... more than 3 million websites".

Netmarketshare uses "160 million unique visits per month" from "over 40,000 websites".

Does Your Website Work Right On All Browsers?

Today's post is a reminder that there are five major web browsers people use to surf the internet, plus a variety of mobile devices with potential quirks regarding how they show web pages. Does your website look and behave the same on all of them? When was the last time you checked?

In days of old, web designers would build only for Internet Explorer and many sites would fail sadly on other browsers. Things are much more standardized today, both in terms of technology and the way designers build sites, but there are still vast differences among computers, browsers, and devices that warrant a routine compatibility check.

Like everyone else, business owners and managers have their own preferred web browser and typically only ever see their site using that one. It's time for a quick look to be sure all your visitors are experiencing your website properly.

Here are the download links for each major browser:
Internet Explorer
Firefox
Chrome
Opera
Safari

To check the look and functionality of your site on mobile devices, you'll need to get hold of (or ask someone who has) an Android, Blackberry, iPhone, iPad, and whatever else.

These days desktop and laptop browsers are split primarily across IE, Chrome, and Firefox, so at least ensure full compatibility and functionality across those three. But the truth is your website should be designed to work the same on all browsers and devices.

If you find problems, we can likely help. We design responsive websites for all browsers and resolutions. Drop us an email.

Top-Ranking Success: Gillmore Home Renovations

Our latest client has squeaked into the top-10 rankings on Google after about one month live, a little sooner than anticipated! In fact the site was ranking #3 on Bing after just two weeks, so we could tell it was off to a good start. It should settle closer to #5 on Google eventually.

Gillmore Home Renovations does interior and exterior renovations, construction, and carpentry in Peterborough, Ontario. The owner, James Gill, has been doing home improvements for about 10 years, and has some great testimonials from happy clients.

Most of his business is kitchen and bathroom renovations, but he also builds custom decks, fences, and much more.

This client came to us after building his own free site, which he quickly learned had limitations in terms of both looks and being found in searches. We've traded that in for a top-ranking website that reflects a very professional craftsman.

The website is focused on photos of his work, along with simple yet descriptive copywriting about aspects of home improvement that visitors would be interested in. Future plans include adding a Frequently Asked Questions or Interior Design Tips page, to provide further educational value to visitors.

Recent Noteworthy Privacy News

Here's a replay of five online privacy articles we tweeted about in February 2012.

You don't own your content, Facebook does - Your photos on Facebook and MySpace still exist years after you have "deleted" them. Want proof?

Twitter implements default HTTPS for all users - Most users will have no idea what this means, but basically Twitter is doing a great thing for user safety @twitter

Adobe fails again. It's almost not news. Sigh. - Oh look, another massive serious security hole in Adobe Flash. I await the day Flash is a distant memory.

Those cute smartphone apps are hacker heaven - "Twitter uploads your smartphone's address book... names, email addresses, phone numbers... and stores the data..."

Most users still won't understand the risks - Amazon, Apple, Google, HP, Microsoft, and RIM agree to disclose up front how your private data will be used by apps

Top-Ranking Success: Maxama Protection

This is yet another client who came to us with an existing website that was of little use. In fact, it ranked... wait for it... #57!

As of writing this post, it now ranks #6 for "Ontario security company", a major leap from obscurity to top-10, and the owner is thrilled. Actually, the goal was to get it ranking in the top-10 for "Peterborough" security guard terms, so we ended up doing far better than planned.

Maxama Protection provides security guards in Peterborough, as well as vehicle patrols and alarm response throughout central Ontario. The basis of the redesign was focusing the site on these three fundamental services they offer.

The site was good looking, it had a simple and consistent layout in the company's colors of black and teal. Looks weren't the problem, even if most of the photos were too small and there were some stock images that seemed out of place.

But just about everything to do with SEO was awry.

There was a 1990s-style "splash" page, pointless and bearing no content except the company logo. Every page had the same uninspiring title, "Maxama Protection Inc" and same description. Not a single link was formatted properly. Body text was scarce, and what existed wasn't optimized for either marketing or SEO advantage.

The single biggest improvement for this site was the addition of a huge amount of meaningful copywriting. All pages were expanded to include lots of body text and bigger, better pictures. The content was lacking basic sales elements, such as stressing the 30-year history of the company, and listing the key benefits of what they do for clients. The company address and phone numbers were added to every page, instead of being hidden away on a separate "Contact" page.

As well, a map was added to the home page showing where the company operates, something visitors/clients immediately need to know. Links, photos, and headlines were given proper tags. The css was cleaned. All the code was simplified and clarified. Server files were added to strip the site of the "www", designate an error page, and other back-end basics.

Another successful website redesign, and one very happy client!