What is a landing page

What is a landing page?

The simplest way to describe a “landing page” is any page of your website that someone arrives “lands” on. In the marketing realm, a landing page is a standalone web page that is distinct from your main website. It is designed for a focused objective.

Types of landing pages There are two basic types of landing pages

  • Click through
  • lead generation.

Click through

landing page - click throughClick through landing pages are designed to try and get users to click through to another page. This type of landing page is usually used within ecommerce web sites. These pages can be used to describe a product in more detail. These pages are meant to warm up the users and turn them into a customer. This can be great for getting more users to sign up / register to your site. Or convince someone that that a product is worth purchasing.

 

Lead Generation

Lead generation landing pages are designed to gather user data. This can be things like names, phone numbers and email addresses. The whole design of these pages is to collect data. This gives marketers information to connect with potential customers and as they have given you contact information the lead will be warmer than a cold caller. These pages usually give something to the user. To get the offer / free product users exchange their information.

These can be things like (but not limited to!):

  • Ebooks
  • Webinars
  • Consultation
  • Coupons / vouchers
  • Competition entry

Whats next?

Now that you hopefully have an understanding of what landing pages are and how they work what do you do next? Hopefully this is enough information for you to start planning your own landing pages.

If you still need help and want to discuss how you can use them to get more business then get in contact!

Read up on my you should use landing pages

Is your site ready for 2017 – Website House Keeping

Digital teams need to do housekeeping on the ever evolving web to keep relevant. For many companies this is daily attention to make sure that their online presence stays relevant.

Because of this finding time to step back to review and make changes to keep you in the race can be difficult.  Here are a few things to do to make sure that you are keeping ahead of the game and moving forward.

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Re-Examine Content and User Experience

Look at what content you have produced. Make sure the content is relevant. Have your skills updated that you offer or have you incorporated new technologies into your working environment.

Look at your site as if you were a user of the site and use it.

These factors can impact a user’s experience of your site. So, making a list of things to change and improve is necessary. If you look and don’t know where to start get specialist advice. Looking at these will make sure next year on top and in control.

  • Imagery
  • Layout
  • Call to actions (like buttons)
  • Making sure your responsive / adaptive layouts work
  • Accessible for users with different needs

 

Review your analytics

Its important to look at your analytics and assess if your site is performing the way you want it to. You want to review all aspects of your websites performance. Looking at how pages are performing for both user experience and analytics perspective. This will help you see what areas needs improvements and what if certain parts of a page need further exploration to see what can be improved.

Perhaps you need to look at a full audit and don’t be worried about getting someone external to help. Look to do testing on the areas that need help. Be dynamic and be able to fail fast and change quickly.

 

Review internal processes

You want to look at processes and workflow. Where can they be improved. This could be greater communication, having less but more meaningful meetings or more depending on what works for your team. Look to remove complexity. Look to the simplest solutions KISS(Keep It Simple Stupid) to maximise productivity.

Kraken - work flow

Update and backup servers

If you don’t have a process already in place for this (Highly recommended you do!) then this time of year is a great time to make sure all your sites and databases are backed up. This in case something goes wrong, you will want the ability to recover fast. If you have already got something set up to auto do this test it!

Kraken - update and back up server

Social media

Take a look at what you’re doing on social media and look at what’s working and what isn’t.  Check your goals and campaigns are clear and you are sticking to a schedule. Things to think about; Are you looking to generate more traffic to your site? Are you trying to increase subscribers? Or are you looking to do get quality leads from direct marketing? This is a perfect Time to look at these and plan for the new year.

Kraken - social media

Check your sites security

Look into the latest security standards and are you up with them? Try to make it so your site has the least chance of having down time due to malicious attacks. Take the time now to look at your set up and make changes. Are pages with important information on using HTTPS? Do you have a fire wall? Does your site need updates to it?

Kraken - site security


Places to start

These are great places to start. One last little thing update the copyright year! Reason we wrote this post was that we are currently doing these and thought if we are doing a lot of maintenance then most likely it’s time for you to do the same!

If you need help with any of these aspect get in contact [email protected]

We are here to help you find the right solutions. Have a great holiday and new year from the Kraken team!

Designer and Clients UX UI Expectations

TLDR

Web designers need to use UX / UI in designs. Explain what they are and how they use them to customers. If customers don't understand ask questions get knowledge.

Working With Designers

I understand that working with designers can sometimes be very difficult. Using a language that can go right over your head and whilst they talk this strange language you nod and smile. If this is you and they aren't taking the time to explain the terms they use then ask them! They should of course be trying to explain what UX and UI are and their reasoning on using them in the design.

 

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So what are UX and UI?

  • UX From Wikipedia: User experience design (UX, UXD, UED or XD) is the process of enhancing user satisfaction with a product by improving the usability, accessibility, and pleasure provided in the interaction with the product.
  • UI From Wikipedia: The user interface (UI), in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur.

How Do They Effect Your Design

Well UI is the interactive parts of the site like buttons, links, video players, etc and UX is how to use them and place them. Combining both to push users to be able to 1. use the page they are using and 2. guide them to the place on the site you want them to (conversion points). 

Web design goes hand in hand with UX and UI. A site that looks pretty doesn't mean it will do the job it's meant to do. Good looks doesn't always turn in good conversion (get the user to do what you want them to do).

Sites need goals. If your site has no goals then your making art and even then there is a goal! 

What Designers Should Ask 

Web designers need to be asking probing questions to you. Finding out what you are trying to achieve. Looking to see what your goals are and what level of importance they go in. Using this to design basic ideas of how the site will work then add the beauty in after. Get the functionality and structure sorted then move on to jaw dropping beauty that will aid the UX and UI.

Conclusion

Designers need to use UX and UI to make working websites that achieve goals. They also need to be able to explain this to customers and make sure that they understand what they are. Customers need to be able to talk to designers and understand what is being said without a language barrier. They also need to be able to say sorry I don't understand. This is difficult as no one likes to look as if they don't know what the other person is taking about but please say something it may save your online business. 

 

Testing And Improving Web Design

The Moan

In the world of web design there are many web designers who, once they design something, have it set in stone. They don’t like it when it changes or deviates from the original design that they worked on. This is understandable when designers have poured a lot of effort/time to get a mixture of creativity, UX - UI patterns and branding on the design. The same with developers. They spend a long time making the solution and suddenly changes need to be made to the page They've been through the designs with the designer - so why is it changing?

So when someone says I want to test that verses this idea, they feel like it’s putting down their design skills and knowledge. This isn’t the case. This is normally another person seeing something from a different angle.

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Learn / Update Your Skills

Testing also is something a designer/developer should embrace as it’s an avenue for them to prove their understandings and reshape what they know with facts and figures. A designer/developer with the open minded approach of 'test it - because right or wrong, I’ll learn' is more valuable to a company than one who says 'I’m the expert and only my view matters'.

At Kraken, We are fortunate to work with a very open minded and talented designer (Hannah) and developer (Sam). Hannah works with Sam on ideas and concepts to help improve people’s site goals. This could be working on getting more sign ups or getting more people to the checkout. What we want is constant understanding of what it is we do, and to further that knowledge that makes us masters in our areas of expertise.

Testing a site and using the data from those tests will improve not only the website but also improve the designers and developers ideas of what works where. Adding lots of small ideas to improve the library of knowledge you bring to the table for each and every customer.

What To Take Away - TLDR

So from this read take away the ability to be flexible in thinking about solutions. What worked on one site may not work on another due to other factors - and embrace that sharpening of your tools and knowledge through testing.

Working With Local Businesses

Kraken has a lot of new websites coming out soon. Working with many customers from the local area (Wedmore, Bridgwater, Glastonbury to name a few). Businesses with different types of people in different areas of work.

This means we need to understand what people want from their web sites and go deeper to help them understand how to use a website as part of their business. It’s a great part of the job. When meeting with clients and them saying I need the web site to do XYZ and then breaking that down deeper to show other aspects they may not have thought of.

Giving them great web designs, built in a way that makes them easy to read from search engines and content to go with. Putting information and contact points in places that not only make sense but increase user engagement is what we do. Having all these go together and seeing businesses see the improvements we are making is great and makes us happy to help people and businesses.

So just wanted to say we have had a great few months and worked with great people to improve their online presence and footprint. We look forward to the next few months with a load of great web design projects to start.

Having a professional website built VS making your own

If you’re a start-up business, beginning life with minimal budget, limited time and basic resources, then the advantages of making your own website are obvious. Platforms like Squarespace, Weebly and Wix allow users to quickly and easily create a website through masses of set templates and ready-to-go features.

BUT – while this is a useful way for a new business to get themselves established quickly online, should you really rely on this type of platform as your company and reputation grows?

At Kraken, we believe that our websites should reflect the personality and brand of the business behind it – so if your website has clearly been cheaply made and looks like a hundred other sites made using the same templates, doesn’t that inevitably reflect on your business?

Of course we’re a little bias – but here’s 6 reason why we believe that a growing business should choose a professional site over self-made…

  • IT’S PERSONALISED – No two business are ever the same. They may share similar products or location or even target customers, but they will always differ in their brand, colours, personality and principals. Designing a professional website allows your businesses ‘uniqueness’ to be front and centre, for all the online world to see – designed in a way that reflects YOUR business.
  • FLEXIBLE DESIGN – Having fixed templates can be handy as a shortcut. It saves time and money. But when it comes to your business, saving time and money will only ever result in one thing – a lower quality product. With a professional website you can choose how you want your website to look and feel, how it’s navigated and how best to introduce your new customers to who you are. You can be inventive, inspiring and different! All the things that a fixed template will never quite allow you to be.
  • CONTROL OVER YOUR SEO – while it’s still possible to be deliberate in the keywords and content of a self-made site, you will never truly have control over all the elements that fully optimise the site’s search results. With a professional site, a developer will be able to ensure that your site is responsive, has a HTML structure that is easier for search engines to understand your content and catalog.
  • YOU CAN ANALYSE AND ADAPT – There is nothing more valuable for a business owner than the ability to constantly analyse the data behind their website and see how it’s performing. With a professional site you will be able to monitor how your site is navigated, how far your users go, identifying any weak spots or dead areas. This allows you to continually upgrade your website so it is as efficient as possible, maximising your conversion at every opportunity.
  • YOU CAN GROW – As your company continues to expand, your website will always have to evolve with it. If you started as two people working in a garage then that website will look very different by the time the business has grown into two offices with over 400 employees. Self-made websites are a great place to start, but give little opportunity to grow and evolve, at least not with the freedom and flexibility of a professional site. Give your business the space to GROW!
  • YOU OWN IT – Not only can you take control of your own site, but you can own it. Driving traffic back to Squarespace and Weebly does more for their business than it does for yours. So put that effort into your own site, and reap all the benefits for your business – all while ensuring that your website looks modern, bespoke and 100% professional.

Reasons Why Your Website Should Be Responsive

At Kraken, all of our sites are built to be responsive as default. And here’s why we believe it is so important…

Having a responsive website has never been so essential. Given the sheer amount of platforms that people have to navigate and search the internet, it’s essential for any business to ensure that their website is usable on mobile and tablet devices.

Responsive design allows the content on a webpage to adapt to the size of the device its being viewed on, without compromising on the detail or layout of the information.

Here’s 5 reasons why your website should be responsive:

1) MOBILE USAGE IS ROCKETING – When someone recommends a great company or service, what’s the first thing that most people do? Take out their smartphone and type into Google. With 55% of all web traffic now going through smartphones, you can almost guarantee that at least half of potential new customers will be viewing your website for the first time through their mobile or tablet device.

2) FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE EVERYTHING – How often have you typed a search into Google using your smartphone, a number of selections come up and the first one you try is slow, or confusing or simply unresponsive. The average mobile user has a VERY short attention span and if your website doesn’t meet the fundamental criteria for their viewing needs, chances our that new customer will leave the site and move on to the next one. Don’t give your website users any excuse to leave by making sure that your website is making the best first impression possible.

3) BEING RESPONSIVE INCREASES SEO – When comes to the tricky world of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), there are a multitude of things that will help keep your site fighting at the top of the relevant Google rankings. And one of the most important things that Google ranks a website on, is whether or not that site is responsive. Don’t lose out on vital SEO points simply because your site isn’t up to scratch.

4) SOCIAL MEDIA PULLS IN THE USERS – With over a one billion people using Facebook and more than 100 million using Instagram every day, Social Media is a vital way for your business to interact and develop relationships with potential customers. With the majority of those users accessing their various social media platforms through their smartphones and tablets, it can be an incredibly effective way to drive traffic back to your website. But if that website isn’t responsive, then those Social Media users certainly won’t be back.

5) BE READY FOR THE FUTURE – As technology advances year upon on upon year, so do the devices, laptops and smartphones that company’s like Apple and Samsung produce. We have no way of knowing what is around the corner, or how the next generation will be viewing content on the internet – but by having responsive website you can make sure that you are at least ready for whatever exciting new technology is around the corner.

These are but a few reason you need to think about having a responsive site and hopefully now you have a greater understanding that your site needs to be responsive!

What is Conversion?

Most people have an understanding of what conversion is but don’t understand that it can go towards any goal. By this I mean it doesn’t have to be a money transaction. So how do you apply conversion to everything and keep your main goal focus on what you need to achieve?

Strategies and Goals

Most businesses have set strategies which they try to use; social media strategies, marketing strategies, networking strategies and so on. All of these have separate goals which we want from different areas. For instance social media goals are for users to interact with the content which is being posted. So you can count conversion as clicks, comments, views etc. These interactions will sometimes be the full conversion goal if you’re a media consumption company like YouTube. But for many other companies will be a part of a smaller set of goals for the overarching goal (people buying products).

Whys this Important

Now that you have a better idea of how conversion can abstracted to different areas, what is your main conversion goal?

There are many websites which are ‘brochure sites’. This means you browse their products online and contact them for the sale. On sites like this the main conversion will be the public getting in contact with you, the seller. Now this is why I’m writing this post today – Too many times recently I have come across people who have forgotten what their site is for, making it look stunning but not allowing for the goals of the site to be completed. If you want to sell online without eCommerce then your primary objective is getting contact from consumers. Yes, you need the supporting imagery and break down(s) of your product which show people why they should buy the product from you. But if you don’t make it easy to contact you then all your effort has gone to waste. It’s like having a high street shop with a brilliant window display but the door is locked so no one can get to the products.

Sum it up Then

Hopefully you now understand that there are many different conversion types/goals. These goals will change from area to area but you must always remember your overarching goal!

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to the updated Kraken Creative Digital Services site.

With the rapid growth within the last year it became apparent that we needed to update the site to represent the updated services we offer. We hope that the site gives you more information to make that ‘Kraken‘ choice and get in contact with us. The updated site will also give us an area to show off the work we have done.

We would love to hear feedback from you guys! what do you think of our site?