Very different. 

Contrastingly different.

Contrast in your website design

It’s a defining part of UX design, and It’s called the Von Restorff Effect.

Also known as the Isolation Effect, it predicts that when a grouping of similar objects, the not that stands out or differs from the others is most likely to be remembered.

Designers use high-contrasting colours, styles, and layouts that isolate certain elements or sections to highlight them and make sure it stands out. 

It’s why designers are resistant to change requests to bold, increase font size, or highlight yet another section.

Remember that UX design, which is the core of any well-performing website design, is closer to an Architectural composition than interior decorating.

How to add contrast to your website design

Adding contrast to your website design is essential for creating a visually appealing and user-friendly experience. Contrast helps distinguish different elements on the page, making it easier for users to navigate and understand the content.

Before you even start adding contrast to your website design, you’ll want to define your primary and secondary goals for your website.

• Is it to contact your business?
• Download a piece of content?
• Fill out a lead generation form?
• Sign up for a webinar?
• Register for a trial/demo?

Once you have your goals defined, follow the steps below.

Adding contrast to your website design

1. Understand the Types of Contrast:
   There are several types of contrast you can utilize in web design:

• Colour Contrast: Using different colours for various elements.
• Text Contrast: Making sure text is easily readable against its background.
• Size Contrast: Varying the sizes of elements to create a visual hierarchy.
• Shape Contrast: Using different shapes to differentiate elements.
• Contrast in Imagery: Employing images with varying levels of light and dark areas.

1. Choose a Clear Color Palette:
   Select a colour palette that includes both primary and secondary colours. Ensure that the colours you choose have enough contrast to be distinguishable from one another. Use tools like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) colour contrast checker to ensure your colour choices meet accessibility standards.
2. Use High-Contrast Text:
   Ensure that text is easily readable by using high contrast between text and background colours. Dark text on a light background or vice versa usually works well. Avoid using low-contrast combinations that strain the eyes.
3. Create Visual Hierarchy:
   Utilize contrast in text sizes, fonts, and element spacing to establish a clear visual hierarchy. Important content should be more prominent, while secondary information can be presented with less contrast.
4. Play with Font Weight and Style:
   Vary font weights (bold, regular, light) and styles (italic, underline) to distinguish different types of content. This can help guide users’ attention and improve readability.
5. Utilize White Space:
   White space (or negative space) is the area between elements in your design. Proper use of white space enhances contrast by separating content and preventing visual clutter.
6. Experiment with Backgrounds:
   Backgrounds can be solid colours, gradients, images, or patterns. Make sure the content placed on a background stands out. For example, if you have a busy background image, ensure that text and essential elements have enough contrast to remain readable.
7. Apply Consistent Styling:
   Maintain consistent styling throughout your website. This includes using similar colours, fonts, and contrast levels. Consistency helps users understand your design and navigate more effectively.
8. Test for Accessibility:
   Ensure your design is accessible to users with various abilities. Use tools like colour contrast checkers and screen readers to make sure that your design is usable for everyone.
9. Get Feedback:
   Before finalizing your design, gather feedback from colleagues, users, or design communities. This can provide valuable insights and help you identify areas where additional contrast might be needed.
10. Iterate and Refine:
    Web design is an ongoing process. After launching your website, monitor user behaviour and gather analytics to identify areas where users might be struggling due to insufficient contrast. Continuously refine your design based on user feedback and data.

Remember that adding contrast doesn’t mean using loud or clashing colours; it means strategically differentiating elements so that they are distinguishable and enhance the overall user experience.

Need to hire a pro? Look through our website design services tailored for small businesses.

Page Load Speed: Captivate with Speed

Website visitors have little patience for slow-loading pages. A fast page load speed enhances user experience and impacts search engine rankings. Businesses can create a snappy browsing experience that keeps visitors engaged and satisfied by compressing images, optimizing code, and leveraging browser caching.

Mobile Responsiveness: Reach and Engage on All Devices

Mobile devices dominate internet usage, making mobile responsiveness imperative. A website that adapts seamlessly to different screen sizes and resolutions ensures an optimal user experience across devices. It allows businesses to capture and retain the attention of a wider audience, ultimately leading to increased conversions and customer satisfaction.

Clear Navigation and User Journey: Guide the Way

A well-structured and intuitive navigation system empowers users to find what they need effortlessly. By implementing logical menus, clear labels, and consistent navigation elements, businesses can guide visitors through their websites, enhancing usability and reducing bounce rates. A smooth user journey builds trust, encourages exploration, and increases engagement and conversions.

Compelling Visuals and Imagery: Capture Attention

Visual content plays a significant role in creating an impactful online presence. High-quality images, videos, and graphics enhance the visual appeal and effectively convey a brand’s message. Compelling visuals capture attention, evoke emotions, and leave a lasting impression, helping businesses stand out in a crowded digital landscape.

Call-to-Action Optimization: Prompt Action

A strong call-to-action (CTA) prompts visitors to take desired actions, such as purchasing, signing up for a newsletter, or scheduling a consultation. Businesses can drive conversions and achieve their goals by optimizing CTAs with persuasive language, prominent placement, and clear benefits. A well-crafted CTA inspires visitors to take action, turning them into loyal customers.

In a highly competitive online world, these five areas—page load speed, mobile responsiveness, clear navigation, compelling visuals, and optimized CTAs—play crucial roles in determining the success of a website. By prioritizing these aspects, businesses can enhance user experience, increase engagement, and drive conversions. Remember, a well-performing website not only leaves a positive impression but also helps build long-lasting relationships with customers, fueling business growth in the digital real

Having a brand style guide is crucial for small businesses because it helps to ensure consistency across all of your marketing efforts. Clear and consistent brand identity makes it easier for potential customers to recognize and remember your brand. 

But the most important reason to invest in your brand is TRUST.

A consistent and professional brand is crucial to building trust with your audience; that doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, effort and consistent repetition to build the trust customers need to give you their money.

Here’s the catch: most small business owners and entrepreneurs are not the best at repetitive work, which is one characteristic that makes them strong entrepreneurs, especially in the early stages. 

And that’s where a properly designed brand style guide can help. It contains all the elements you need to visually represent your business in marketing and promotion – logos, imagery, colours, fonts, etc.

Let’s dive a little deeper into what a brand style guide includes. Here are some of the key elements that you’ll typically find in a brand style guide:

1. Logo: Your logo is the centrepiece of your brand identity. Your brand style guide should include guidelines for how your logo should be used, including size, placement, and clear space requirements.
2. Colour palette: Your brand’s colours help create a unique visual identity for your business. Your brand style guide should include your primary colour palette and any secondary colours you use.
3. Typography: The fonts you use in your marketing materials can greatly impact the overall look and feel of your brand. Your brand style guide should specify which font to use for headlines, body text, and any other text in your marketing materials.
4. Tone of voice: Your brand’s tone of voice refers to the personality and style of your brand’s communication. Are you casual and conversational, or more formal and professional? Your brand style guide should include guidelines for your tone of voice in your marketing materials.
5. Imagery: The images you use in your marketing materials can also help to create a visual identity for your brand. Your brand style guide should specify what kinds of images to use (e.g. photographs, illustrations) and any stylistic requirements (e.g. colour filters, image sizes).
6. Brand messaging: Your brand style guide should also include guidelines for the key messages and taglines you use in your marketing materials. This will help ensure your messaging is consistent and aligned with your brand identity.

By including these elements in your brand style guide, you can ensure that your brand is consistently presented across all your marketing materials. 

This makes it easier for potential customers to recognize and remember your brand quickly and helps build trust and credibility with your audience. 

When your brand is presented consistently and professionally, it shows that you take your business seriously and care about delivering a high-quality experience to your customers. 

Interested in your brand style guide? Reach out to us and get more info on how it can help you build more trust in social media posts, ads or any other marketing you are doing.

A responsive website adjusts its layout and content to fit the screen size of the device it’s being viewed on. So whether you’re using a desktop computer, a tablet, or a smartphone, you’ll have a great browsing experience.

Why is responsive design so important? For starters, more and more people are using mobile devices to access the internet. More than half of all internet traffic in Canada comes from mobile devices. If your website isn’t optimized for mobile, you could miss out on a lot of potential traffic.

More than just traffic

But it’s not just about traffic. A responsive website also improves user experience. Have you ever tried to pinch and zoom to read tiny text on a website that wasn’t mobile-friendly? It’s not a great experience. A responsive design ensures that the text and images on your site are easy to read and interact with, no matter what device your visitor is using.

So how does responsive design work? The key is in the CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) code that controls the layout and presentation of a website. With responsive design, the CSS is written in a way that allows it to adapt to different screen sizes.

It’s about a good user experience

For example, let’s say you have a website with a sidebar that displays on desktop screens. On a smaller screen, like a tablet or smartphone, that sidebar might take up too much space and make the website hard to read. With responsive design, the CSS code would detect the screen size and adjust the layout accordingly. On a smaller screen, the sidebar might move to the bottom of the page or disappear altogether.

Of course, it’s not just about layout. A responsive website also needs to consider things like image size, font size, and navigation. For example, if your website has a menu bar with many items, that menu might need to be condensed or reorganized on a smaller screen.

So, what are the benefits of a responsive website?

1. Improved user experience: As we’ve already mentioned, a responsive website makes it easy for visitors to navigate and interact with your site, no matter their device.
2. Better SEO: Google has stated that mobile-friendly websites will rank higher in search results than those not optimized for mobile. So, if you want to improve your search engine rankings, responsive design is necessary.
3. Increased conversions: A website that’s easy to use and navigate is more likely to convert visitors into customers. If your website isn’t responsive, visitors may get frustrated and leave before they can purchase or contact you.
4. Cost-effective: Instead of creating separate websites for desktop and mobile devices, responsive design allows you to create one website that works for all devices. This can save you time and money in the long run.
5. Future-proof: As new devices with different screen sizes and resolutions are released, a responsive website can adapt without requiring a complete redesign.

So, how can you make sure your website is responsive? If you’re building a new website, choose a web design framework or CMS (Content Management System) that supports responsive design. If you already have a website, you may need a web developer to make the necessary changes.

Testing your website on different devices ensures it looks and functions correctly. Many online tools, like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test, can help you do this.

So, do you need a responsive website? I hope this is a clear and resounding YES, and you don’t hire anyone to build a website that doesn’t intend to make it responsive.

Working with a wide range of small businesses over the last 25 years, we’ve learned a thing or two about what goes into operating a business in today’s fast-paced world.

1. Password App

Passwords are the first defence against cyber attacks, yet many small business owners still use efficiently guessable or recycled passwords. A password app can generate and store complex passwords for multiple accounts, reducing the risk of security breaches.

2. Google My Business Profile

A Google My Business profile is a free and powerful tool that helps small businesses increase their online presence and visibility. By optimizing your profile, you can enhance your search engine rankings, attract new customers, and showcase your products or services, all with just 20-30 minutes of setup.

3. Proper Email Service

Email is the number one tool for small businesses, period. And it’s essential that you have a professional email service in place. Google Workspace and Microsoft Office 365 are two leading providers that do email properly. Ensure your email service is tied to your business’ domain name and not to an internet services provider like Bellnet, Cogeco or Rogers.

4. Backups

Data loss can cripple a small business, so it’s crucial to have a stable backup system in place. Can you imagine if you lost access to all your emails or sales records? Cloud-based backup solutions are affordable and convenient, allowing you to automate backups and store your data securely off-site. Any decent IT professional can help narrow the options and recommend the best solution for you and your business.

5. IT Support

The business world is tech-based, and there is no getting around it. Regardless of your type of business, you will need proper tech at some point or another. And having the right advice is essential to spending on the right technology for your business. And having a go-to source for troubleshooting or advice is the best way to keep your business operating and moving forward. Also, don’t rely on your cousin’s nephew’s friend for your IT support. Take your business seriously and hire professionals.

6. Security Software

Small businesses are increasingly vulnerable to cyber threats, so it’s vital to have security software installed on all devices. Antivirus, anti-malware, and firewalls can protect your business from cyber-attacks and data breaches. See item number 5 above for help in this domain.

7. A Defined Target Customer(s)

Identifying and understanding your target customers is an overlooked essential for small businesses. Most of your activities are customer-facing, and you should take action and make decisions that lead your business toward dealing with the right customers and not just “any” customers.

8. Bookkeeping

Accurate and up-to-date bookkeeping is essential for managing your small business finances effectively. And since most of us would prefer to avoid the mounting stack of paperwork that needs attention, you’re better off investing in a bookkeeping service to keep you up-to-date.

9. Inspiration

Running a small business can be challenging and stressful, so it’s vital to find sources of inspiration and motivation. This might include attending networking events, joining a mastermind group, or seeking mentorship from successful entrepreneurs. And inspiration doesn’t always have to be work-related. You might find inspiration from personal activities like watching movies or reading fiction.

10. PTO

Small business owners work long hours and sacrifice personal time, often away from family and friends, to grow their businesses. However, taking time off to rest and recharge is essential for preventing burnout and maintaining work-life balance. More importantly, time off gives your brain time to incubate ideas and sort through your thoughts, making you more efficient and productive during work hours.

Of course, this isn’t the exhaustive list of essentials a small business needs, but it’s a round-up of the most prominent things that a small business is usually missing.

Along with our team, we’ve been busy in the past 12 months reshaping our project workflows and internal processes to create more value through our services to you, our clients. More on that later.

Even before the sale, Webtech has been on a growth path for the past few years, and 2022 has been more of the same.

One of the key areas of growth is the range of services we offer. 

Long gone are the days of Webtech offering simple websites and web hosting.

Webtech of today

Today, we’re providing a wide range of web design solutions, complete website support services, brand design, SEO, advisory services and helping clients with social media.

Keeping in step with our growth, we’re updating our name and branding to Webtech Agency. 

Along with a name change, you’ll notice an updated logo, a new website and more ways for us to help you get more value from the web.

The good news is that your current services remain intact and as they were.

The better news is that we’re working on a few new projects aimed at helping you get more value from our team.

New projects

A few of the upcoming projects are:

• Newsletter with insight and advice
• More tailored solutions for you
• New services packed with value
• Better reporting to keep you current

We also want to take a moment to thank you for your positive reviews and referrals. It means the world to us knowing our clients continue to support us since the company’s start in 1997.

We’re continuing to build, and you’ll hear from us again soon with more updates and news.

Cheers,

Melissa & Joey.

Google Ads gets a lot of attention and advertising has long-been a staple of marketing your business.

And there is much discussion over SEO and writing content to rank better in search results.

So what’s best for your business and your market?

Like most things, it depends on your goals and timelines but we can help you with a bit of clarity here.

PPC and Google Ads are better for shorter timelines and low-to-mid competitive markets where your cost-per-acquisition is still reasonable. But it’s a pay-for-play model where you have to keep investing in it to continue the flow of traffic.

SEO and Content Marketing is a longer-term tool as it’s investment takes a bit of time to show progress but the results compound month after month. The investment you make today will continue to work for you next month through to next year and beyond.

These strategies are just couple of tools to help with the early-stages of your customer journey (Awareness, Interest, Affinity), and they aren’t always the right fit for all businesses.

Reach out to our team to discuss what options are right for your business and your goals.

When it’s done properly.

In today’s world, there are tonnes of apps and plugins that can help you with email marketing, all with their own take on what’s important – from small list managers, to full-blown CRM tools. If you’re starting out, I recommend taking baby steps and upgrading when needed.

Email marketing can:
Improve customer retention
Improve customer onboarding
Increase average customer value
Introduce new products
Increase community engagement
…and more

Email marketing, when done well, can help you increase new sales, but its real value comes in improving engagement with your current audience or community.

Too often we focus on getting new business in the door and overlook the value in our existing customers or contacts.

I would argue that there is more value to gain from existing contacts than there would be in trying to acquire new business because half the work is already done.

The next question we get is “how is email marketing different than social?”

The main difference is that social is passive and email is more active.

For example, the average retention rate for a website visitor landing on your website from social media is ~10-15%.

The average retention rate for a website visitor coming from email is closer to 40%.

The figures are relative to the amount of traffic to your website, but the difference is clear: audiences reading emails are more engaged than when they see your message on social.

If you haven’t already, consider adding email marketing to your mix. And reach out to an expert if you need guidance on how to get started quicker and easier.

What is a secondary domain?

It’s an alternate domain sometimes used in place of your primary domain. For example, applecomputer.com(secondary domain name) automatically redirects you to apple.com(primary domain name).

Why use a secondary domain?

There are several reasons to use a secondary domain:

1. Promotional campaigns;
2. Sub-brands within a parent company;
3. Product-specific content;
4. To prevent another entity or person from impersonating the brand;
5. To intentionally redirect traffic to another website with malicious intent;
6. Region-specific domains (like .ca here in Canada);
7. To hoard domains from every new “project” you think up.

That last one is all too common, and we’re certainly guilty of that one from time to time.

Do I need a secondary?

It depends, but generally speaking, the answer is no. It’s typically much better to direct all traffic to your primary domain, and secondary domains can cause more fuss than they’re worth.

You should speak with an expert (like us) who can help guide those decisions if you think you might need a secondary domain.