UX Design for Responsive Websites

What is meant by a ‘responsive’ website design?

Lets keep this simple as there is a lot of confusion surrounding Responsive Website Design. That is, it is a single website that can be viewed across all screen sizes; ipone, ipad and android phones.

Why you need UX designers?

If your website is responsive, ideally you need to give users the best experience possible. Once on your website, they need to be engaged and find their way around the site as easily and seamlessly as they can.

So a great question is:

What is the best and most cost effective way to provide a great user experience for a responsive website?

Never remove functionality

One of the largest issues for any online person is when important functionality just disappears when it is viewed on a mobile device – never remove important navigation or buttons, just cause you think it needs to be smaller to be viewed on a hand held.

A good tip is to refine functionality so it is more compatible for the mobile experience:

  • many columns of text on the page can be converted to selectable drop downs
  • ensure that the main navigation is now viewable on a basic menu button.

Basically, keep everything you have but streamline the interface – your users will be much more happier for this.

Start with the mobile first

The initial design should be the one that will viewed on mobiles and the you gradually work your way up to the largest; being the desktop. Think smallest to largest resolution size. Starting with the smallest first, means that the next design will be much easier as the screen size becomes larger and wider.

Clients will also like this as they can see what their mobile web design will look like before the ipad or desktop!

Not sure what resolution to design for?

Below are the most common sizes and your web designer should be well on top of this – if you have a site in production, this is a handy guide to keep resolution sizes optimal for viewing.

  • Mobile or Hand Held – 330 x 490
  • Tablet or iPad – 780 x 1000
  • Desktop Screen – 1000 x 600 

Design with touch in mind

All UX web layouts need touch as a primary consideration.

When designing for touch a developer must remember what is easily selectable with a finger is a lot different to what is clickable with the traditional mouse.

Some really important factors to remember in the UX design include:

  • Hovering does not exist any more, all functionality and navigation buttons are now ‘tap’ activated
  • Forget about drag and drop – this is almost impossible on a mobile device so this must be avoided.
  • Large numbers and clean text are better and easier to read – keep it this way – and avoid the over use of too many colours.

INTERESTED IN HAVING YOUR RESPONSIVE WEBSITE DESIGNED WITH THE BEST UX SPECIALISTS IN SYDNEY – CALL 02 9360 8514

CMS Solutions for Charities, Non – Profits and NGOs

A lot of web companies will not offer open source CMS platforms, preferring to use their own customised CMS.

Herein lies a big issue for organisations who are unclear about the dangers associated with using these in house, proprietary build CMS systems.

Following are some tips for choosing the best CMS Solution for your Charity, NFP or NGO website.

Make sure that you can get training in the usage of the CMS once the website project has been completed. This is a no brainer and should be given to you no matter the type of CMS you use.

Ask your web developer exactly what type of CMS solution they will be provided – if it is not one of the above mentioned then you need to be extremely careful about progressing with them.

Make sure there are no licence fees associated with custom-built CMS platforms as this can get very costly over the years.

Avoid getting locked into contracts as this means that you are stuck with 1 company for the entire life of the website – not ideal in this day and age.

Make sure your CMS is SEO friendly where you can add titles, descriptions and H1, H2 and H3 headings. I have worked on many websites that use outdated proprietary content management systems that are super SEO unfriendly and it’s a nightmare. The first thing I tell my clients is that we have to transfer your entire site over to a WordPress CMS platform.

What CMS solutions do Hopping Mad Designs use?

Our range of Open Source Content Management Systems based web design solutions for charities, non-profits and NGOs are designed to deliver extremely cost-effective online solutions that will help your organisation succeed online.

Our not-for-profit expertise puts us in the best position to advise your organisation on the best CMS Solution – We use WordPress CMS for all our websites and the reasons are simple:

FREE to download, no monthly fees, easy to use and very search engine friendly. PLUS you get full backup and support.

Why use Hopping Mad Designs as your CMS provider for your NFP or charity?

  • We will give your organisation a free initial consultation
  • There are discounted rates for charities, non-profits and NGO’s
  • All our websites are fully customised, giving your organisation a completely unique style.
  • We know search engine optimisation and can rank your website within weeks of launching it.
  • Expert and REAL advice on the best use of your social media platforms; Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc.
  • No lock-in contracts – OUR WordPress CMS is 100% open source.
  • Training on how to add or delete content on your WordPress CMS

 

Eastern Suburbs Website Designers

Quality Web Design by Professional Website Designers In the Eastern Suburbs.

Without a great looking web design that converts sales effectively, your business can suffer – losing customers and sales.

This is only one of the reasons why it is essential to have a professionally designed website developed by experts for your company or small business.

What is the best way to get a well-designed website?

Hire a professional web designer who has plenty of experience at designing top, quality websites.

Based In Surry Hills, we are happy to design websites for businesses based anywhere in the Eastern Suburbs, including:

  • Bondi
  • Darlinghurst
  • Paddington
  • Bondi Junction
  • Kings Cross
  • Double Bay
  • Bellevue Hill
  • Rose Bay

We specialise in a range of types of websites such as eCommerce, Mobile/Responsive, Small Business Websites right through to large complex web development projects.

Being an Eastern Suburbs based Web Design studio we are easy to get to, have ample parking for those face to face meetings and know what it takes to make businesses succeed online in the very competitive Eastern Suburbs marketplace. Engaging Hopping MAD Designs for your web design, means that your website will be given the best chance of succeeding online.

Eastern Suburbs web design experts:  Why should you use Hopping Mad Designs?

Our prices are super competitive and geared towards small to medium-sized businesses. We never have hidden fees and are totally upfront with all our costs.

All our designers have extensive design and online experience, which benefits your website and your business. Especially, if you are just starting out and need advice about the internet and how to make your website work for you.

We know what it takes to rank a website on Google – having done this for our own website – we can do this for yours through ethical, strategic website planning. WE KNOW HOW THE SEARCH ENGINES WORK!

All designs are carried out in house – not outsourcing here! We can write all the content for your website. Our team of web copywriters can come up with website copy that will help your website SELL!

We are able to build your website so it works across all handheld and mobile devices. If you have never thought about this before and want to appeal to a new, mobile market, we can help.

We work across all ranges and types of businesses in the Eastern Suburbs: retail, fashion, service-based, food, trades, health, medical, supermarket chains, charities, local government it doesn’t matter – we work with every business in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney.

No offshore shortcuts – Better quality work means better results – We are 100% Australian.

Hopping Mad Designs is proudly Australian with your local Eastern Suburbs web team producing all design and development work in-house. There are no offshore shortcuts – we firmly believe in quality work and have the set of skills to deliver it. Our locally based web designers are skilled including:

  • Website planning & wireframing
  • WordPress Content Management System with full training and backup support.
  • e-commerce web design,
  • customised & creative concepts
  • user interface design ( UX )
  • responsive web design – websites for mobiles and tablets

Do you want your website to appear on the search engines with a high ranking?

If the answer is yes, then we can design and develop you a new website that will appear on page 1 of Google for your Eastern Suburbs business. This is called ‘ local SEO marketing‘ and it is a great way to get new business and drive heaps of web traffic through to your website. And, if you want to target a larger area ( Sydney wide or even Australia), we are able to implement an SEO campaign to get your website ranked.

How long will my website design take?

This will depend on the size and the type of website BUT for most Eastern Suburbs businesses we can generally have a full working website for you in about 3-4 weeks. This includes basic brochure style websites and shopping cart/eCommerce websites.

Where To Find the Best Business Card Designers in Sydney

 _104_http://www.hoppingmad.com.au/media/image/portfolio0061.jpgWhere do you find the best business card designers in Sydney?

The first place you should be looking is online. Google words like; graphic designers or business card designs sydney and you should get a good selection to choose from.

OR

You could simply call 02 9360 8514 and speak with one of the best business card design team in Sydney.

Since 1998, we have been designing stunning, highly creative business cards for businesses around Sydney looking for that something special in their card design. We are fast, super efficient and can have your designs turned around in a couple of days!

 

Contact Us for the Best Designed Business Cards Anywhere from Sydney to Perth.

At Hopping Mad Designs, we know what it takes to get your business image ahead of your competitors. A professionally designed business card can make a huge difference between closing that deal and the client walking away!

 

We will design a range of business card options for you to choose from. All fully customised based on your brief.

If you are looking for business cards that are effective, visual and very creative, contact the team at Hopping Mad Designs.

We can deliver all business card printing and design services across Australia including capital cities such as Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and surrounding areas.

 

Why choose US for your business card design?

  • at our core is a team of graphic design experts that can take a tired looking business and turn it into a ‘wow design’ card. Just image handing a prospective client your new, professionally designed card. It makes a MASSIVE difference to the way people ;look at your company – if it looks great it will reflect very well on you.

  • We are fast, friendly and very affordable. You will be surprised at what you actually get – it’s a no brainer!

  • Although we are based in Sydney, we are happy to work with any business Australia wide. We can improve the look of your logo or identity

  • we are 100% Australian and never outsource our work.

  • every customer inquiry is handled by a designer NOT an accout manager – you get the best that money can buy!

  • We take the time to design your business cards right.

  • If you don’t have a logo and need cards designed, we can design a new logo for you at the same time – check out some of our cool logo designs we have produced.

  • we can handle all the printing so you don’t have to worry about a thing.

Business Cards are our business. Custom Designed, Printed, Delivered… your Business Cards are only a few clicks away – email us NOW.

BUSINESS CARDS
DELIVERED to YOUR DOOR

Hopping Mad Designs delivers your business cards direct to your business by courier, within 5-7 working days after design is approved. Our Delivery is free for businesses within Australia.

 

Content Marketing Agencies in Sydney | Tips and Ideas To Get You Started

Lets go back two years and look at what was needed to get your website ranked on the first page of Google. It was all about back linking strategies and companies paid a fortune to have their linking profiles handled by SEO companies. This was all the rage and worked really well until Google pulled the pin on this and started to penalise this type of practice. Instead, they rewarded businesses that had a content marketing strategy.

Content Marketing is Easy

Content marketing is simple, but there are a couple of golden rules that you must adhere to such as; the content must be unique, it must be highly relevant and engaging. If you have these areas covered then you should be able to get your web page ranked. Well worded content on your website or blog is the best way to rank.
If you want, you can apply this technique to all your content throughout your website and blog. The more that you write on individual separate topics, the more you will be perceived as an authority on the subject and in turn the higher your rankings.

Its a great marketing tool and if you write regularly you will see the immediate benefits.

Top Hints for Content Marketing.

1) There is really no short cut to this. What you need to do is write content yourself or contract out the services of a professional copy writer. If you are a novice I highly recommend a copywriter – if you don't know anyone then we have our own team of blog and web copy people here at Hopping Mad Designs.

2) Look for topics that are related to your line of work and write blog articles on each topic. They can be as varied as you like within the topic, but be certain to try and keep the content within each article unique. I find that a good way to keep the content original is to write 2 or 3 pieces for myself and then get a copywriter to contribute 1 article per month. This mixes the styles up a bit and makes again, for a better read.

3) Get a client to write an article about their business and publish on your blog as a guest piece. This not only makes your client feel a apart of your business but also benefits you with new interesting blog content written from a totally new angle. Get them to write about their business or experiences in the business world.

4) If you are writing for the search engines and wanting your article to rank don’t be under the illusion that stuffing the content with keywords will help you in anyway. In fact, it will probably go against you when Google doesn’t rank the article and it will just bore the pants of the readers who will are likely to exit your site. Write content as if you are speaking naturally. Never write for the search engines, make the dialogue seem natural and never try to fool the system.

5) Be alert for content writing scams. There are a lot of online businesses out there promising that they will be able to write your unique content for $1 per article. These companies should be avoided at all costs. What they are doing is scraping content of other websites and reselling these. Essentially you end up with duplicated content that has gone around the net and is in no way unique to your business.

6) I have seen clients that think that they can write 100 word articles and think that this will be enough to get them ranked. Having this approach is a waste of time and effort. If you are serious about content marketing then you have to have a articles of around 1500 words. You will find that once you start the writing process and you are in the groove, you should get to your target very quickly.

7) If you are wanting to engage the services of a web copywriter be sure that you are using a credible team that has experience in content marketing. Again, there are many content creators to be found online, so make sure you do your due diligence before taking anyone on board. Check references and read some of their past work.

8) People are so bombarded with information and content that they need to be literally blown away with what they read. It has to be informative, easy to read and attention grabbing. If you are going to post your content on social media sites like LinkedIn or Facebook then make sure that what you write will not come back to haunt you later on.  If your content lacks substance, is offensive, badly written, the effect will be to turn people off and this can have a negative effect on your business or brand.

Why use Hopping Mad Designs for Your Content Marketing Campaigns?

1) We are the content marketing experts. We have a team of in house copy writers that understand the online environment.

2) Social Media Gurus. Social media is a great new marketing platform and a great way to engage with a whole new customer base. Having intelligent, targeted content that is aimed specifically for a promotion or to highlight a new product or brand is the best way to reach out to this audience. Hopping Mad knows social media and knows what it takes to get a reaction from people on these social networks.

3) We are fast to respond to any new content marketing campaign you may have and you will find that we do offer a surprisingly affordable service. We can save you heaps of money, time and get your business looking and sounding so much more professional than you thought possible.

4) Our content team are able to look at your business or company from a different perspective and deliver catchy content solutions that you may never have thought of.

If you want to start your CONTENT MARKETING please call us on 02 9360 8514

1 Very Important SEO Tip for Your Website

Why is Blogging Good For Google Rankings?

Blogging traditionally has been the domain of travel and food writers. Businesses never really thought much of blogging, up until now. If you want to get you website and the pages within your site ranking, then you have to blog. There is no other way. So this is the free tip for you: start a blog on your website and blog like crazy.

The main reason why blogging is key to the success of your SEO is due to the fact that Google will reward websites that change, evolve and are updates with new content.

The very best way to update content is via a blogging platform. New content on your blog will get indexed and in turn drive traffic through to your website. Simple as that.

So next time you are working on your website, make sure that your development team includes a blog.

There are some interesting articles about corporate blogging tips that you might find interesting once you have your blog in place.

Blogging can become quite addictive, but if this is the case, it will only benefit your business.

If you would like to learn more about blogging and how it can dramatically improve the amount of people visiting your website, then please call 02 9360 8514.

What’s the difference between adaptive, responsive web design?

Responsive web design is where your website responds to the screen size you are viewing the website on. The best way to achieve this responsive web design is to adjust the size of on page graphic elements to fit the screen size comfortably. The best way for the online user to view the way the response works is by adjusting your widow size on your desktop – it’s amazing to watch it happen!

Adaptive web design is a very cool web process where you adjust the website interface to suit the viewer's capabilities.  It is similar to responsive web design BUT the main difference is that the websites adapts to different web user requirements which will be based on different device ( hand held, tablet) capabilities.

Elements with adaptive web design can be resized, switched around, removed and in some extreme cases have a home page interface with an entirely new look and style.

Responsive and adaptive web sites are very fashionable at the moment – in fact, they are becoming ‘must have’ items for most companies with a web presence. For more information call the team here at Hopping Mad Designs.

Which Open Source Content Management System is Best for your Website

What is an Open Source CMS?

An open source content management system means that your website will be built around a CMS that is free to download. Unlike proprietary CMS platforms, ( which are very common) that have been purposely built by web developers, open source CMS gives you the absolute freedom to move your website wherever you like.

The trick with open source CMS solutions is to pick the right CMS, and the right web design agency to build it.

At the moment the favourite is WordPress, and here at Hopping Mad Designs we have designed and built hundreds of WordPress websites for our clients.

Features of Open Source CMS.

1) Are built and maintained by groups of likeminded people from around Australia and the rest of the world.

2) The source code is available to everyone. Anyone can use open source with a little training – basically it is free for anyone to use.

3) The beauty of open source CMS is that it can be hosted anywhere. You will never be tied to one particular hosting company that you may not want or like. You can host an open source website with just about any ISP in Sydney or Australia

4) Most plug ins or add ons are free and provided to you as soon as they are available.

 

Features of a Proprietary CMS.

– Have been developed by 1 web development company.

– You will NEVER have access to the source code.

– You will have to host with the company that built the CMS – watch those monthly fees start to skyrocket!

– If you are unhappy with the CMS or the development company, you are STUCK – you cannot move their CMS – basically you have to start all over again OR get your design files moved over to an open source CMS – there is generally a fee associated with this.

There are pros and cons for each, BUT being in this industry for 18 years I can say with certainty that a OPEN SOURCE CMS is far far better for your business. I have seen too many disasters from people getting trapped into using a proprietary CMS.

 

 Why WordPress is a Great Open Source CMS.

 

  • The main reason why we absolutely love to use WordPress is that the designs can be easily customised for your website. WordPress allows for graphics to be easily implemented, which will give your website that professional, designed look.
  • Because WordPress is an open source CMS, you are free to host or take your website any where you want ( see above points).
  • Because there are teams of developers constantly working on improving the functionality of the CMS, you will never have to worry about missing out on latest tech advances.
  • The WordPress blog functionality is awesome. If you are a fan of content marketing, then a WordPress blog is the way to go. The interface is clean and extremely simple to use, which makes it the perfect partner for businesses looking to blog about their service or product.
  • It easily integrates shopping cart/ecommerce functions.
  • WordPress is loved by the main search engines and if you update site content ( which is super easy to do), you will see your web rankings skyrocket.
  • WordPress is scalable and can work with any type of website and budget. It is perfect for the small business web presence and can work equally as well for a complex back end site.

 

Problems When You Don’t Use a WordPress CMS

If you are happy to:

  • pay excessive monthly fees – total waste of money
  • be held to ransom by your web developer or web company as they own your CMS
  • have to deal with 1 web company for the life of your website
  • be completely limited in design style – very template driven web design
  • have poor search engine performance – can’t rank on google – your website will be lost online;

then WordPress is not for you.

But if you want a website that looks and performs extremely well for your business and will help to contribute to your online success then a WordPress CMS is the answer for you.