Most templates for content management systems (like Squarespace, Shopify, or Wordpress) are responsive. That means when someone visits your website on a phone or a computer, the website resizes so that it fits in the space available. (Once upon a time, websites would often redirect you to a mobile-only version.) A layout may be responsive, but it might not be the easiest to use. When selecting a template, I look for three things: 1. Quick loading speed. Mobile users are especially impatient,...
18 days ago • 1 min read
Internet customers have very little patience. If they don’t find what they’re looking for at first glance, they will leave. You can help yourself by putting yourself in your customer’s shoes. 1. Look at your analytics. Somewhere you should be able to see a list of the most popular sizes (mobile and desktop) people are using to look at your website. 2. Choose the most popular sizes and look at your site in that size. Note: You don’t really need precise sizes, but knowing most of your customers...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
I went to Boston earlier this year and went on several tours. There was one in particular that stuck with me. The tour guide was endlessly knowledgeable, charming, and funny. His business was also new. I went to leave a review on his website and the link was broken. When I went to contact him, the contact form was also broken. Most people aren’t motivated enough to try again. Once they hit a single issue, most customers will leave. One easy way to prevent this is to test your own site. (It...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Barry the mascot for Serious Business company. Meet Barry. (All names have been changed for privacy reasons.) Barry was the mascot for Serious Business. Serious Business helped smaller companies run their business. Barry was everywhere. He announced sales in emails, appeared on every page of the site, and was in a decent chunk of the printed catalog. Employees even had Barry-sonas. A lot of time, energy, money, and love was spent on making Barry happen. There was a problem, though: Barry was...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Last time we discussed 3 ways you can impact accessibility without touching code. Today, we'll go over 4 ways to write in more accessible ways. All of these elements combined help make your website clearer. Every bit of clarity helps your customers decide on your product over others. Use plain language Flowery and fun descriptors are great for a game. Using "Journal" to describe your customer's past purchases will make it harder for them to find information they might need to reorder. Basic...
3 months ago • 1 min read
A lot of accessibility requirements are built into how the website is coded. Only a developer (hobbyist or professional) can make those changes. Thankfully, some of the changes that anyone can make have a big impact on the usability of your website. Alt text Alt text is a written description of an image. Screen readers use it to describe pictures to the visually impaired. In some websites, the alt text appears when the image is broken, which allows all users to make sense of the content....
3 months ago • 1 min read
Customers will leave a site in 3-5 seconds if they don’t find what they’re looking for. (This also includes loading time, so be careful!) You can use tools like BrowserStack to test your site in many different sizes without needing individual devices. Check your analytics to see which sizes your customers use most and then test your pages against those sizes first. What does a customer first see when opening up one of the pages you use in your marketing? Are they able to see your product...
4 months ago • 1 min read
If each page of your website is supposed to have a single goal... How do you define a goal for your homepage? Many people would consider your homepage the front door of your shop, but that’s not quite accurate. Your customers usually find your product page first. Think about how you market your art. Are you more frequently linking to a specific product or are you linking to the homepage? Most organic traffic will also likely go to your product page (because they were searching for a type of...
4 months ago • 1 min read
There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to building and maintaining a website. One way I reduce overwhelm is asking myself: What is the goal of this specific page? (And it should be ONE goal per page. Minus a couple exceptions.) For example: The product page’s goal is to get the customer to Add to Cart. Or at least... That’s your goal. Your customer’s goal is different. They’re using your product page to determine if your product is the one they want to buy. To achieve your goal, you...
5 months ago • 1 min read