July 31, 2021

Chart The Waters

Explore insights on SEO, AI, and digital marketing strategies designed to help your business grow, stay visible, and adapt in a constantly evolving online landscape.
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The most important part in developing a website is the overall user experience (UX). User experience is defined as the way in which the user is interacting with the product or in this case a website. This could entail the page path the user takes to get to what they are looking for or how much time they are spending browsing or reading a certain page. It is all about the journey they embark on. 

Developing a website could seem very overwhelming since there are so many moving parts that need to take place before a launch – but trust us, it’s not as stressful as you may assume. With the uprise in technology over the years, website hosting platforms have become more advanced and efficient, meaning there are tons of website templates to choose from if you aren’t sure where to begin. 

It’s all about utilizing your resources. Beacon Media + Marketing is a digital marketing company equipped with ample knowledge and a plethora of helpful resources to help your business grow, scale, and thrive. As marketing wizards and gurus, we want to help your website come to life while also giving users an exceptional experience, which is why we are going to go into detail about five easy user experience wins when developing a website. 

Looking to take your website up a notch? Book a free consultation. 

1. Page Speed & Loading Time  

First things first, in order to increase user experience (UX), you will want to make sure your website is loading at a quick pace. most people do not like waiting and spending time on a page that takes more than five seconds to load. 

If your website is taking longer than usual, this may result in frustration from the user, causing them to become uninterested and close out of your website immediately. That is exactly what we do not want to happen. Instead, you want to make sure your page speed is always working properly, especially for mobile users. Mobile users expect things to load on their devices as quickly as possible. 

Page speed also plays a key role in how well your SEO performs. User experience is vital.  Google’s announced back in 2010, that they would be including page speed as one of the ranking factors for their search index. Hence, another reason to ensure your website is loading in a timely manner. After all, a slow site will result in no conversions. 

You can manage staying on top of page speed by: 

  • Optimizing images
  • Reducing redirects
  • Clearing your browser’s cache
  • Improving server response time 
  • Mitigating CSS files, HTML, and JavaScript 

2. Responsive Design 

Making sure that your website’s layout is completely functional and accessible can also make or a break a user’s experience. Responsive design refers to how your website looks or functions on different screens such as on a desktop compared to a laptop, tablet, or mobile device. 

For example, let’s say everything on your website looks amazing and everything is formatted just the way you envisioned. But what about how the mobile version or tablet version is performing? Many people fail to check how their website is functioning on all platforms because we think that just because it looks perfect on a desktop computer, it might not look the same when it’s shrunken down on a mobile device. When the formatting on a mobile device isn’t functioning properly, users entering through a phone browser may not have the same happy experience other users are having on a desktop. 

Lesson learned: double check – better yet – TRIPLE check all browsing platforms are fully up and running the way they should be daily. Website updates often occur, but sometimes they can mess up the layout. 

3. UI Patterns 

UI patterns help reduce the risk of error and are defined as design patterns. These build interfaces that have the same look and feel as other websites and help assist with navigation and patterns. In short, do not try and attempt to reinvent the wheel with design. Instead, look to other resources. Never feel bad about using tools that are there to be used. 

After all, they are there for a reason. Certain layouts make it easier for people to navigate a website, such as the usual linked logo in the top left corner of a website, a horizontal navigation, and your typical contact details in the footer. These features help websites maintain some consistency – in the sense that they use the same layouts that  users are used to seeing and navigating.  

Using layouts that people are experienced with will only boost the user experience. If you decide against UI design patterns and take it upon yourself to create an unconventional design, you run the risk of your users not knowing how to properly use your website. This can leave  them confused, frustrated, and less likely to return for a second time. 

4. There’s More to Just the Homepage 

In order for your users to have an exceptional experience, you must look beyond the homepage. Yes, the homepage is the first thing users will see as soon as they enter your website, but you want to make sure all other pages and posts are laid out the exact same way to keep the experience going. 

Many of us tend to get hung up on the homepage. Once the homepage is perfected and looks pretty, people tend to look past the rest of the website. If you want your website to have a strong presence, spend your energy and focus on the entire website rather than a small chunk. We promise this will bring more engaged users to your website and more business to your door. 

5. SEO and CTA’s 

Lastly, if you want your users to have the experience of a lifetime, you want to make sure that: 

  1. The targeted users are actually finding your website through Google, which indicates how well your website is ranking in terms of SEO 
  2. You are encouraging a second click wherever you see fit 

Both are extremely necessary if you want your users to enjoy their overall experience while browsing your website. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is what helps boost your ranking and positioning on where you sit on Google. The goal is to essentially rank in positions 1-10 on the first page on Google so people can easily locate you based on the keyword research you have put in. When you know what people are searching for, it will only be 10x easier for people to find you. 

Calls-to-action are a very powerful tool to use because this will encourage the user to continue browsing and clicking around your website. Incorporating CTAs keeps the user engaged. For example, throughout some webpages and blog posts, you will see words that are hyperlinked to different pages. Let’s say you want to learn more about a specific topic. By clicking the hyperlink, this will take you to a different page which will then encourage the user to keep reading. 

Sharpen Your UX Experience with Beacon Media + Marketing 

If you’re ready to explore the possibilities of what different user experiences can look like, Beacon Media + Marketing offers web development services. Want a fast, secure, reliable, and efficient website? We can help you out. 

Give your users the experience they deserve. Get in touch with us! 

There is so much more to blogging than just trying to get a piece of content up on your website. Businesses tend to get wrapped up in meetings and are constantly on the go, which makes it difficult to really take the time to sit down, research the topic, and actually put in the effort to writing a successful blog for your website. While you may think that hurrying to get a blog post up will help your business, you are only hurting it and here’s why. 

Curating a successful blog post takes time, and there are a lot of major details you may be missing out on that we want to make sure you are honing in on – which is why Beacon Media + Marketing is here to shift your focus and get the website traffic and SEO rankings your business should be receiving. In this blog, we are going to give you a breakdown of the top five principles every blog could use. 

We can help you develop the perfect content strategy. Schedule a free consultation! 

1. Structure and Format  

The number one principle every blog should use is ensuring the content you write is well structured and you have a plan. Blog posts aren’t meant to just live and sit on your website. Instead, we want your audience to engage with the blog, read it, digest it, and have an experience. In order to do this, you must make sure your content has structure to it – meaning don’t scatter and jot down your thoughts just anywhere throughout the blog. Keeping your thoughts clear and organized will not only help the flow of content, but it will also help keep your brain focused.  

Once you have your thoughts in line and you know exactly how you want your blog to sound, you can then begin shaping the content, making it engaging and compelling for your audience or users to read. Nailing the tone you want to use and understanding your messaging can really help achieve these goals. Do you want your blogs to be more on the professional side, focusing on statistics and reaching a more serious audience? Or do you want your blogs to have a friendly and fun, yet informative, tone? It all depends on the type of business you run or work for. 

2. Relevant Subheadings 

The next big item on the list of things you want to make sure you are including throughout your blog is relevant subheadings. You may be wondering why you would need subheadings – isn’t the point of a blog to just get information out? Wrong. Subheadings are extremely important and here’s why. 

When you write a blog without subheadings, what do you see? A lengthy page with just a bunch of words on it. The reason behind subheadings is that they break up the page. When the user only sees a bunch of text with the same font throughout what they are attempting to read, it may be difficult to concentrate, or you may lose your place easily. When you incorporate subheadings, this gives the reader a chance to easily digest and navigate through the content they are reading, which will in turn result in better engagement and user experience. 

Aside from breaking up the content throughout the page, they also allow readers to know what each section covers before reading it. This makes content “scannable” – so readers are able to scan through the content, while focusing on a part of the blog that has the information they’re looking for. Not to mention, all types of headings are a huge component for SEO ranking and keyword placement.

3. Calls to Action

This is an absolute MUST for any blog! Calls to action, often known as CTA’s, encourage the user  to make a second click. A call-to-action is extremely powerful and can come in many different forms. You can have a CTA button towards the end of the blog, throughout the blog, at the very beginning of a blog, or wherever you see it fitting best. 

The first step in deciding what call-to-action you want is figuring out what action it is you want your visitors or users to take. Do you want them to contact you? Do you want them to sign up for your mailing list? Monthly newsletters? Do you want them to purchase a specific product? 

Understanding what your users are actively engaging with the most will help you determine what action you want them to take. Always think about the page path for your user and the overall goal. What is it that you want to obtain or achieve? 

4. Internal Linking 

Internal linking is  because it gives you the chance to link to another piece of content to your website. For example, let’s say you are writing a blog about health and wellness, and you are addressing a mental health topic. What you can do is highlight the word “mental health” and insert a link that will take the user to a service page that has  more information on mental health. 

We recommend using at least three to five internal links on not only blogs but throughout the rest of your website as well. When the user sees something that is hyperlinked, chances are they will click on it and want to browse and engage more with the rest of your content, while also boosting your SEO. 

5. Meta Descriptions 

Meta descriptions are an important key feature that many people overlook. Most times, the platform you are using to create a website or write blog posts, service pages, or subpages, there is a section on the backend of your website where you can write a meta description or enter in a keyword that best reflects the topic you are addressing. Meta descriptions are important because they are the snippet Google displays on the search engine results page. 

Meta descriptions have a big impact on your SEO and SERP rankings . Every time you create a new page or post in the backend of your website, you want to make sure you are inputting into the meta description section. When you do this, you are giving your website a chance to populate all over search engines, making your website or page rank higher than others. To improve click-through-rate, make sure your meta description is easily readable for all audiences, clear, and compelling. 

A well-written meta description that gives readers a clear idea of what the page is about draws in more website visitors. If you do not write a meta description yourself, Google pulls an excerpt from your blog/web page, and it may not give searchers the best idea on what the blog is about.

Tackle Blogging from A Different Perspective 

All in all, blogging can be a very crucial aspect in generating more website traffic, creating better user experiences, and bringing more business straight to your doorstep. At Beacon Media + Marketing we offer a blogging distribution package personalized just for you! 

If you are looking for more than just a couple of blogs posted every month and want to go the extra mile in really boosting your SEO, we have just the solution you need. We will first optimize and produce high-quality blogs for your website and then we will work to repurpose this content and distribute it to other platforms. 

Our content distribution package includes a video that is then published on our Beacon Media News YouTube Channel, a press release that will be reached by tons, and a spotlight feature on our Beacon Media News website. Give your content a purpose and invest in repurposing blog content that can be sought out by many other news outlets and sources to improve visibility. 

Are you ready to take your blogging to the next level? Click here to get started!