denbagus blog » web design

4 Golden Rules for Optimizing Call to Action Buttons

Philip — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 03:36:59 +0000

Website design is both an art and science. There are plenty of designers who will go one step further and say that it is more science than art. Today, the focus of website designers has partially shifted from visual appeal to encouraging better conversions. There is no doubt that website design needs to be visually appealing, but what is even more important is that this design encourages a positive response from website visitors. To do that, you need to change the perception of a person, and this is why there is also a bit of science involved in website design.

This is the also the point where the ‘Call to Action’ buttons come into play. In the parlance of website designing, these are design elements that encourage a user to take action. The use of these buttons is not new and is as old as website designing itself. But, with websites emerging as big players in the battle to win the attention of target customers, the ‘call-to-action’ buttons have begun playing a more significant role in improving a website conversion count. So, it makes sense that the use of these buttons (usually appearing as clickable elements) is optimized so much, so that action is guaranteed from their use.

Effective call-to-action buttons that grab the user’s attention and lure them into clicking them are the need of the hour; and it’s only by using effective designing techniques that this can be made possible. Let’s take a look at 5 rules, which can help optimize call-to-action buttons

Size Still Matters

It’s the simple things that you need to do right. The size of a page element with respect to other design elements of the page does matter. So, if your call-to-action button is relatively larger as compared to other page elements, it is sure to grab a user’s attention. There are designers who choose to create a call-to-action button whose size is larger than the logo on the site. This way, they can place them higher on the web page, and they will still command attention.

So, here’s the first Golden Rule – Ensure that your call-to-action button has a size that is larger than its surrounding elements.

Prominent Placement

Position your call-to-action button/s in a way such that they are immediately visible to website visitors. Identify the prominent positions on your web page and place your button in these positions. This will help them draw more user attention, which leads to higher landing page conversions. One of the best positions is right at the top of the web page. Here, there is very little chance that the button will be ignored. Another great positioning will be right at the center of the layout. While doing so, you must ensure that there are no other designing elements around the call-to-action button that can distract the user. Yet another way that you can make sure your call –to-action buttons have pride of place is by positioning them in a manner that makes them appear to be on top of other elements on the page. This can be done by placing them on a ‘distinguished area’.

The Second Golden Rule – Proper placement is the key to a successful call-to-action button.

Color Contrasts

Color and Call-to-Action buttons, does it really matter what color you choose for your buttons? Yes, it does and it matters a great deal. Remember, the idea is to draw attention to these buttons and what could be better than choosing the right color, or to put it specifically, zeroing in on the right color contrasts. Now, this use of contrasting color must keep the color of the surrounding elements and background of the webpage in mind. For e.g. if most of the design elements that appear on a web page are blue…. orange will provide the best color contrast here. When it comes to the use of color contrast it is not just important to draw attention with it, but you must also ensure that it goes well with the design of the webpage.

The Third Golden Rule – Use call-to-action buttons with color that contrasts with the surrounding elements and background of the web page.

Insistence and Persuasiveness

Your call-to-action buttons must be such that users respond to them with a sense of urgency. For this to happen, they must appear insistent and persuasive at the same time. They must be able to hasten the users’ decision to click on the button. The perception created by the button must be such that the users must feel that they are missing out on something big, if they don’t take action. Something as simple as a button that proclaims “Buy now” in big bold letters conveys a sense of urgency. It suggests that if you don’t buy now, you might be losing out on a profitable opportunity. The keywords here are ‘Now, ‘Right Now’ and ‘immediately’ and while they might sound a little loud, their inherent power to insist and persuade cannot be denied.

The Fourth Golden Rule – Use Words in your Call to Action Button that Express Immediacy

Conclusion

It’s important to note that golden rules only work if you are really serious about optimizing these buttons for better conversions. In professional website design, there are no half measures and you either going the whole hog or you don’t go anywhere. Be very careful about the golden rule that you are going to follow and incorporate it after a lot of forethought and with an eye on its qualitative objective. The best thing to do is create a call-to action button that is a coming together of all the rules.

4 Golden Rules for Optimizing Call to Action Buttons is a post from: denbagus blog

Four Reasons Why Web Designers Need a Business Degree

denbagus — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 23:09:28 +0000

Being a web designer is to be someone who appreciates creativity, beauty, and function through form. Therefore, a business degree is oftentimes the last thing on any web designer’s mind. Yet while there’s still a seemingly endless supply of web design possibilities, there doesn’t seem to be a definitive future for the web design industry as an economically viable career path for most individuals. Simply put, in coming years website design and business education will probably go hand-in-hand. Forward-thinking web designers, and especially ones currently looking for work, ought to seriously consider going back to school and learning the tricks of running a business. If you don’t, then it’s likely the endless supply of up-and-coming web designers will beat you to the punch.

Here are four reasons why it’s a smart idea to major in business if you’ve already been trained in the art of web design:

DEBT DEFERMENT

If you’re a trained web designer, then chances are you’ve already racked up a decent amount of student loan debt. Going back to become educated in business will temporarily relieve you of pressing student loan payments. While this is by no means a solid long-term strategy for solving your student loan debt woes, it’s a worthwhile investment and does the secondary service of allowing you to get caught up on other bills you’d otherwise be putting on the back burner. For example, you might be able to pay off your credit card debt by having your student loan debt deferred.

MANAGEMENT WILL ALWAYS HAVE A PLACE

Industries that focus on math and sciences will dominate the totality of business enterprises during the first half of this century. Web designers are only halfway going to be in demand during this transition of industry. Since you may or may not be someone who has what it takes to become learned in a highly skilled trade within the math and sciences, think about the need for management. No matter how much industries change in the coming years people will always have to manage the business-side of things. As a web designer you can incorporate your natural marketing skills with an acquired business education. This in term will make you much more viable in the changing workforce.

IN THESE TIMES KNOWING HOW BUSINESS WORKS IS A REQUIREMENT

While not everyone will end up learning the ins and outs of business, it’s an incredibly important study to master, especially as a web designer. Even if you never directly engage in the establishment and expansion of an enterprise, knowing the art of business will give you innumerable advantages. You’ll see the industry around you,no matter what it is, with a clearer pair of lenses. So long as the free market continues to exist, business will always be a worthwhile study to learn in any situation.

IT WILL COMPLEMENT YOUR PREEXISTING EXPERTISE

As mentioned earlier, being someone who understands both web design and business is to have an enormous advantage in the real world. You can advertise your freelance work more effectively by getting to the heart of any business’s worries and ambitions and explaining how you can help. In fact, it may very well help you improve your very own web designing skills.

If you’re out of work or staring down the barrel of long-term lack of web design opportunity, consider going back to school to learn business. It’s a great way to stay properly in-tune with the rapidly changing state of modern enterprise management. Having both the skills of a web designer and of a business guru will provide you with the endless amount of entrepreneurial confidence you currently don’t have. For the greater good of your long-term workforce viability and personal business management skills, go back to school and get that business degree.

Four Reasons Why Web Designers Need a Business Degree is a post from: denbagus blog

20 Webiste Design with Panorama Background

denbagus — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 01:59:48 +0000

Every day we visited the site with a similar layout. This makes saturated for visitors. Sometimes we want something fresh when visiting websites. With different views and different colors

If We bored with our work and Crowded situation, We need to see a panorama, and it will from the make us more relaxed. Maybe see this by 20 Website Design Background with Panorama you will from more relaxed too.

Lodging Branson

Zima nad morzem

Sachische Schweiz

Horn Fork Guides

Anthony V. Lombardo

Your Friendly Tree Expert

Australia’s Finest Fishing Forum

Tomas Pojeta

Theoleg

Original Source

Flourish

Outdoor Italia

Imagine Air

Best Destinations

2Advanced Studios

V5 Design

Oasis

Real Casual

Parasol Island

Great Pakistan

20 Webiste Design with Panorama Background is a post from: denbagus blog

20 showcase Unusual Web Layout for Your Inspiration

denbagus — Thu, 26 May 2011 23:32:12 +0000

Usually, we used to design a website with header on top, left, or right navigation below it then a sidebar along side content area and in the end there is a footer. Sometimes we want something different with the layout, it will makes our website eye catching. So here we have collected some unusual website layout to get inspired and create one for yourself. All this is so different from regular websites that we see everyday. Some of these seems to be very simple but still due to its interaction and structure it makes them include in the list of unusual web layout.

Festa Coordenadas

Beco Digital

Taina3

Baah Fashion

Langoor

Pacific Home and Garden

Jaskolka Scluptures

The Art of Moize Opel

Alpha Universe

Letter Learner

Much More Ice Cream

Grao Arquitetura

Creative Touch

Paul Mitchell Kelly

Castri Creativa

La gente ha dicho

Quartel Design

Blitz

Kite Writers

Identity Withheld

20 showcase Unusual Web Layout for Your Inspiration is a post from: denbagus blog

How to design a killer Landing Page and optimize it to attract leads?

Mark — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 17:17:33 +0000

The foremost objective of an online business is to attract large number of visitors to its site and convert those visits into leads and finally sales. If it is able to do so, it enjoys the dual benefit of creating awareness about its products or services as well as achieving its online sales target. In this regard effective Landing Pages play a crucial role in online lead generation.

What is a Landing Page?

The page to which the visitors are directed to when they click on a search result, an advertisement or a link from PPC campaign, Email campaign, social media, etc. What makes landing page different is that it caters to specific requirement/demand of a visitor and takes him/her to the page where he/she can take up action to fulfill the need/requirement along with providing the necessary information.

Different types of landing pages can be designed based on the specific purpose. To say for example, there can be separate landing pages for products belonging to different category, services, for making enquiring, filling the order, etc. But the main objective of creating a landing page is to convert a visitor into a customer, that is, to get conversions.

It is certain that landing pages are beneficial for online marketers but at the same time they help users to find exact information that they are searching for and enables them to take quick action. In this way, a landing page saves the time of the visitors who are directed to the page which specifically meets their requirement.

How to design an effective Landing Page?

Here are some points to consider while designing a Landing Page:

Understand your Target Customers

Designers must bear in mind the audience they are creating landing pages for. The page should be designed to address the aspirations and desires of the target customers and it must create a relation between a product and the visitors’ needs.

Follow the KISS rule

In order to lead the visitor into buying a product or hiring a service, the information must be presented in a simple and crisp manner. A landing page must provide the necessary details in an attractive but easy to understand way. Users are not interested in length; rather they focus on the relevancy of the information to their need. Therefore KEEP IT SHORT and SIMPLE while
using the targeted keywords.

Images

As Images catches the attention fast, it is important to include relevant and appealing image in the landing page to draw users’ attention. The size and placement of the images must be in fine combination with other elements of the page, and importantly images should aid in understanding the message conveyed and should not be like something that diverts visitors’ attraction.

Call to Action

A Call to Action is necessary to be placed on top of the page to incite the visitors as well as at other places on the landing page. It is better to use different calls to action, so that the customer who might be hesitant to place the order in the first visit might feel comfortable to give his information so that you may contact him later or may not be interested now, but might subscribe for say, newsletter or register to download a freebie, you can utilize those resources to send proposals later. Calls to action can be anything, say an order form or request a proposal or call, live chat, information form, newsletter subscription, download option (freebies) etc.

Have a Catchy headline and highlight the discount offers, Schemes, etc.

A headline that answers the question running in the visitor’s mind makes him/her go through the rest of the content. Therefore it is important to create a headline that catches attention. Also as users are drawn towards Discounts, Scheme or any other offer, it is beneficial to highlight them as it may drive them to make a purchase.

Loading Speed

The landing page must load quickly to present itself before the users who would not like to wait for the page to load.

Optimizing a Landing page

For a Landing page to achieve its purpose, it is vital to optimize it for search engines.

Focus on a specific keyword

As the main motive of landing page is to fulfill the specific need of the user, it makes sense to keep its orientation towards a particular keyword. Also use of long tail keywords help as they in a way answer users’ queries (search terms) and are relevant to their search. Appropriate use of such keywords attracts search engines to index the page.

Make use of white space

This helps in the organization of content in a neat manner making it easy to crawl in addition to facilitating the users to read the information.

H1 Tags

It is beneficial to use a well written content that describes the page’s content in H1 tag as it will help the search engines to know the relevancy of the content.

Accessibility

Landing page must be accessible by all users, irrespective of their disabilities.

Undertake Testing for landing Page optimization

Landing page should be regularly tested using Multivariate Testing and A/B Split Testing methods.

Landing Page is a very important factor to be considered in an aggressive online marketing campaign as Quality and attractive landing pages backed with systematic promotional efforts would steadily increase your online lead generation and ROI.

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How to design a killer Landing Page and optimize it to attract leads? is a post from: denbagus blog

20 Free HTML5 Templates

denbagus — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 02:58:09 +0000

Nowadays, HTML5 is changing the web trends. It is the latest update version of HTML. Animation made in HTML5 faster and gives very good results, it makes many people say that it is better than flash. In this post, i wanna share 20 best templates that made in HTML5.

Travel Website Template

As usually as travel website, it available to book hotel, car, or ticket. It also has a gallery of popular places and hot travel.

Real Estate Website Template

It makes you easily to find customer in real estate. User can buy, sell, and rent estate here.

HTML5 Business Template

It has very simple but very formal and professional design, this template very match if you want a sleek business look.

Drag n Drop

One of the feature of HTML5 is drag n drop. This site implement native drag n drop to shopping cart website.

Industrial Business Template

Besides HTML5, this site also made in CSS3 (for set border, box, text, gradient, font, transition, and selection) and jQuery (for slider and datepicker). It makes the site look professional and eye catching.

Design Company Website

This template will be used for online project that deal with web design. It made in CSS3, jQuery for gallery and slider, and compatible for Firefox 3.6 +, Opera 10.5+, Safari 4+, Chrome 4+, and IE 6+.

Architecture Website

Pretty nice website template about architecture building. Available used for online project about architecture.

Website Template Music

You are welcome to used it for your online projects the deal with the music theme. It has very eye catching template that will make music freak will interested if open this site.

SocialStream Website

This template will show our Twitter , Facebook, or any other social network live stream with funny design.

Hosting Website

Nowadays, there is so many site which sell all about hosting product. If you one of person who want to sell hosting, it will make you easily to build your amazing site with HTLML5.

Flip Thru

Flip Thru is HTML5 and CSS3 template with horizontal accordion effect.

PKE Meter

PKE Meter is a cool iPhone app website using a HTML5 structure, and visual styling with some CSS3 effects.

Car Club

Template for you who want start car business project.

Azalea Garden

Azalea Garden is a 2-column HTML5 and CSS3 template with slider and colorful with purple and pink.

Photo Art

This template has gallery with faded effect using the jquery.faded.js script.

Charity Website Template

Charity website template can be a good start for your charity project.

Serenity

Serenity is one column HTML5 and CSS3 template with jquery slider.

Biz Solutions

It very match for online business.

HTML5 Starter Pack

It’s a very basic HTML5 starter pack with a clean & ordered directory structure fit for most projects.

Coding a CSS3 & HTML5 One-Page Website Template

HTML5 web template using some of the new features brought by CSS3 and jQuery, with the scrollTo plug-in.
That’s all my present about ten free HTML5 templates.

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20 Free HTML5 Templates is a post from: denbagus blog

25 Fresh PSD Web Layout Tutorials

denbagus — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 17:59:01 +0000

Learn how to design very nice looking web layouts from the following 25 psd tutorial. Photoshop is an amazing tool to create web layouts. There are all different types of websites and styles of design represented, so you should be able to find some useful tutorials in the following roundup. I hope this psd tutorial will give you new inspiration and can write another amazing psd tutorial

Transform your PSD files to HTML using Ultimate CSS Framework

Learn a very unique way to convert your PSD files to CSS/XHTML websites using a very easy method

Create an advanced dark web layout – psd tutorial

Learn how to design a dark web layout with 3D look

Ultimate web hosting tutorial

Create a very detailed and unique web hosting layout.

Create a textured web layout – psd tutorial

Learn how to use pixel textures in your web layout projects. Some small pice of pixel patterns can change the overall look of the website.

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25 Fresh PSD Web Layout Tutorials is a post from: denbagus blog