As the United Kingdom continues to tussle with the prospect of a recession, economic experts are divided over whether or not a downturn is on the way. While inflation rates are beginning a gradual fall back to calmer levels, the assistant editor of the Daily Telegraph, Jeremy Warner warned that an “economic decline is coming.”

For many businesses, the cost-of-living crisis has hit sales volumes already as a downturn could force more consumers to batten down the hatches and curb unnecessary spending. 

With famous investor Michael Burry, the inspiration for The Big Short after betting against the US housing market in 2008, appearing to launch another ‘big short’ in anticipation of a recession ahead, it’s certainly worth firms seeking to learn from the lessons of the past. 

According to an Independent article from December 2009, as many as 26,978 businesses went into liquidation or had been declared insolvent since the beginning of the recession in Q2 2008. The downturn lasted for more than a year and proved a stern test for businesses worldwide. 

Should another recession hit, it’s inevitable that more businesses will be forced to close, but there are plenty of ways in which firms can continue to earn conversions and sales even as consumer spending falls. 

With this in mind, let’s take a deeper look at four creative marketing approaches to empower the businesses of today to avoid becoming the latest victims of an economic downturn: 

1. Build Authority with Guest Posting

Trust can be an important topic among customers when times are tough and every purchase means a lot more to the pocket of the buyer. 

This means that you’ll need to focus on building both your presence and authority online. While there are many ways that can help to grow your visibility, promote your products and services, or improve your traffic, none perform better than guest posting.

Why is guest posting so important for UK businesses in a recession? In creating quality content with backlinks driving traffic from a reputable publisher, your organic traffic will be immediately more trusting of your business having come from a popular referral site. 

In addition to this, you can position yourself as a voice of authority within your industry by having your content published on a high-ranking domain featuring you as an author.

Finally, search engine crawlers will come to view your website more favourably if you begin to accumulate backlinks from high-reputation websites. 

But how can you begin your guest posting journey? It’s important to share your industry knowledge on a topic that your target audience will find engaging. By embedding a keyworded backlink to your brand, you can position your business as a leading solution to industry issues or pain points for customers. 
Finding a host website for your guest post can be difficult if you don’t know where to look, but tools like Ahrefs can be a great resource for discovering potential publications that will accept your content.

Let’s say you’re a business that specialises in gardening equipment, and have identified GardenersWorld as a leading online resource for all things gardening. By exploring www.gardenersworld.com on Ahrefs it’s possible to view their dofollow backlinks in order of Domain Rating (DR) and even host site language. 

This helps to provide you with a list of websites that are publishing backlinks to an industry-relevant website. 

Although it can be tricky to offer your content to the highest DR websites, there will be plenty of options for all kinds of websites that post industry-relevant content that you can outreach to in order to secure a guest post. 

Many websites will have contacts pages that can put you in touch with editors while some websites allow you to publish content directly to their pages. When outreaching your content, it’s worth introducing yourself and explaining why your content could be relevant to them before sharing your suggestions for posts. 

While this process can be time-consuming, guest blogging agencies like Solvid can help streamline the process. Solvid has helped some of the most prominent brands in the world generate quality backlinks using guest blogging campaigns. 

Solvid is the only agency to offer placements on DR90+ and DA80+ websites, helping businesses reach the front page of the internet. Although you would need a decent budget to be able to get on some of the world’s most prominent publications, Solvid can help you get there. 

2. Host Competitions

Though the notion of giving away products or services for free during a recession may not seem like the best financial idea, competitions can be a great way of boosting brand awareness and earning mailing list conversions that could bring more purchase intent later on. 

In a recession, customers can be more receptive to the prospect of winning products for free and could be more motivated to enter competitions online. 

Competitions are also a great way of generating a social media buzz, and by encouraging your followers to send user-generated content (UGC), you’ll have the potential to attract a far greater audience while gaining valuable content that can be reposted online for free. 

One great way of building engagement on social media through competitions is by hosting a caption contest with a freebie as a prize. This helps you to welcome plenty of UGC that can then be reposted to help promote further engagement with your brand.  

Other options could involve offering a prize for a customer who shares pictures of themselves using your product or creating funny images or videos with your products. 

Alternatively, tag-a-friend contests, and ‘like and repost’ competitions where users simply share your competition with a larger audience can all work well in boosting brand awareness at a relatively low cost. 

3. Embrace Video Marketing

Content may be king, but its power goes into overdrive during a recession where customers are less likely to be spending their free time travelling or trying their hand at activities. 

When consumer spending falls, the engaging content businesses churn out becomes a key source of engagement. 
According to HubSpot data, 50% of consumers would like to see marketers produce more video content, and this is only likely to increase in a cost-of-living crisis as users become more accustomed to video platforms like TikTok and Instagram.

The great thing about video content is that it’s a far less competitive environment to rank for. As we can see above, a Google query on ‘caring for your garden’ returns 1.46 billion results. Notice the video results at the bottom of the screenshot above? Well, a Google video search for the same term returns 206 million results–around 14% as competitive as the original search and still with the potential of landing on the search engine’s front page. 

It’s also possible to utilise video across different platforms, and whether you want to demonstrate a product on YouTube, share an unboxing experience on Facebook, offer an industry-relevant tutorial on Twitter, or explain a trending news story on LinkedIn, there are many different types of content and host websites you can utilise to keep your audience engaged and to build value in your brand. 

4. Personalisation Is Imperative in a Downturn

During the chaotic years punctuated by the Covid-19 pandemic, the University of London noted that a ‘consumer awakening’ took place whereby individuals became more expectant of shared brand values and a more personable touch from businesses. 

Recessions can be highly tumultuous times for millions of consumers, and as financial headwinds gather momentum, brands showcasing their more human side can resonate far better. 

Think about each customer individually, and add a personal touch within your marketing techniques that can help them feel as though you’re reserving special attention for them. 

This can be undertaken by using your existing website data and by building knowledge of which products and pages the visitor has viewed already. You can optimise their experience based on this background knowledge by showing them their favourite products. 

You can also create a personalised advertising strategy focused on retargeting your customers to bring them back to your pages. 

The best way to deliver more personalised marketing is through mailing lists. Whenever you send emails to your recipients, you should address them by their name as standard while paying careful attention to their interests, likes, and dislikes to help them feel more cared for. 

Recessions are a Cause to Market Smarter

Marketing in a recession should be about working smarter, rather than reinvesting your budgets or reinventing the wheel. 

Showing that you care about your customers and providing them with valuable content at a time when they may be feeling negatively about the economic outlook can help to provide a valuable service that helps them to feel valued at a time when circumstances may be getting the better of them. 

With almost 27,000 UK businesses succumbing to the 2008 market crash, a future downturn will herald a dangerous period for brands seeking to stay afloat. In showing that you care for your customers with creative and engaging marketing, your business will stand the best chance of having its customers care for you in return.

The post 26,978 UK Businesses Went Bust in 2008’s Crash: 4 Creative Marketing Approaches to Avoid a Similar Fate for Firms in 2024 appeared first on SiteProNews.

The question is, what can startups do to improve their own site engagement? As demographics become more demanding for hyper-personalisation, on-trend content and a push for immersive experiences, many small businesses are struggling to compete with industry giants.

On the back of a post-covid e-commerce boom, the number of online startups across the globe has all but tripled, making that all-important engagement strategy futile as consumers bounce from page to page in the search for the best deal.
In fact, Business Insider reports that a whopping 97% of all site visitors will now leave a page without converting.

Worse still, according to another study on Bounce Back by Industry from M16 Marketing in the retail sector alone, 20-40% of potential leads will bounce off of a page in just a few minutes, especially if you’re a new business on the block.

While bounce rates are high and the competition continues to soar, the key to success is to work on bringing your consumers back. Read on as we discuss the future of retargeting and delve into the strategies for success in 2023.

Are Demographics Getting More Demanding?

It’s no secret that modern-day demographics are becoming more demanding in 2022. In a post-covid era, where a global push for digitalisation has sent the world online, consumers now expect a fully immersive, personalised digital experience from the brands they interact with.

As you can see here in this recent study from McKinsey, 66% demand tailored messaging and targeted promotions, while a further half of all site visitors expect a follow-up post-purchase with a link to new personalised recommendations.

As consumers become the new creators, brands must work harder than ever before to secure high levels of engagement and customer loyalty. As social media threats thrive with user-generated content, brand visibility, especially in the social platform scene, is low. 

In a digital world, potential leads now want to feel as if they truly know a brand before purchasing from them, making awareness across a wide range of sites and social platforms a must-have. 

This is where retargeting comes in. As a strategy that aims to build brand visibility through the use of retargeting popups, social campaigns and emails, it’s a quick way to keep appearing in an online user’s day-to-day digital activity.

The more you prioritise your retargeting efforts, the more you appeal to a demanding demographic.

What Is a Retargeting Strategy?

A Retargeting Strategy is known as a long-form marketing tactic, that aims to keep your consumers coming back. 

Defined by Sprout Social, “Retargeting, also called remarketing, is an online advertising method of reaching out to previous visitors of your website or app, often by displaying ads or sending emails. Retargeting offers an opportunity to recapture potential leads or customers if they left your site without converting or meeting a marketing goal.”

Rather than targeting a whole demographic, a retargeting strategy specifically speaks to consumers who have already shown an interest in a brand’s site, products or services. 

Pouring efforts into potential leads can often result in higher conversion results, as these visitors have already taken the first step themselves in discovering your brand.

If your product/service is already on their mind, they are much more likely to interact with a pop-up ad or email about your brand, making them prime candidates for a successful sale.

Building a long-lasting connection with potential consumers through a series of recognition and awareness, there are many ways to introduce a retargeting strategy to a marketing campaign.

While retargeting primary focuses on ad based connecting in comparison to remarketing, which tends to solely sell itself in an email format, both strategies are essential in a successful marketing campaign.

Retargeting and remarketing can be used to promote site best-sellers that will attract potential leads to trending products/services. Not only are these ads likely to generate the most return on investment for a small business, but they are likely to convert the most leads as you can be confident that these products will grab attention. 

On the flip side, retargeting ads are a great low-budget tactic for surplus product marketing too. Like all retailers, slow-moving sales are a common occurrence. If you’re gearing up for a stock clearout, retargeting inventory products at a sale price can also catch the eye of potential consumers. Not only will your sales start moving faster, but once a consumer is on the site, they’ll be sure to gravitate toward new best sellers as well!

However, don’t just take our word for it. New stats have shown that just under half of all brands now have a dedicated budget for a retargeting strategy. If you’re a small business, it might be time to jump on board.

Could It Be the Key to Engagement Success?

Did you know that the average click-through rate for retargeted ads is over 10 times higher than regular display ads? 

As you are targeting consumers that have already shown interest in your products/services, the CTR on retargeted ads has a far better success potential, and will likely boost your overall return on marketing spend.

Therefore, it’s no wonder that marketing experts claim that retargeting is the key to boosting site engagement. In fact, it could help you sell 50% more products in 2023. 

Let’s have a closer look at how you can revamp your own retargeting strategy in 2023 for higher levels of engagement and increased conversion numbers.

Retargeting Revamps You Can Make Before 2023

There are a number of revamps you can make to your retargeting strategy before 2023 for a spike in consumer engagement.

From targeted messaging to simplifying your content writing strategy, personalising your retargeting tactics could be the key to success in the new year. 

Get Specific With Your Targeting

While it may be desirable to target your whole demographic in a singular ad, pop-up or retargeting campaign, marketers often find that splitting your ad-based content into specific groups is a more cost-effective form of retargeting strategy in a social media-dominated landscape.

Instead of creating a broad strategy that aims to please each and every site visitor, why not segment your consumers instead into interest and product-based groups? While you may end up making more ad-based content, a push for hyper-personalised messaging that appeals directly to each small segment is much more likely to be interacted with.

Not only does this boost customer experience satisfaction, but you’ll watch your engagement rates soar.

Get Simple With Your Messaging Strategy

Pop-up ads are pop-ups for a reason, they should be short, snappy and grab the consumer’s attention in seconds. 

For a retargeting strategy that gets all the clicks, focus on creating simplified messaging within the ad, email or campaign, that directs a viewer straight to a call-to-action and displays minimal copy.

A/B Testing

Better still, why not A/B test your ad structures in order to sample out your best use of messaging techniques? Each consumer group is different, meaning your messages should differ depending on current trends, ages, and platforms your demographic revolves around.

Using A/B testing methods, you create two versions of the content you desire to put out, both in different formats and both with alternative messaging and targeting styles. Measuring which content form performs best with your demographic is a great way to further prepare a retargeting strategy in the future. 

Looking Forward

As we step into an e-commerce-dominated future, retargeting is becoming more popular than ever before in the marketing industry.

Not only can it aid sales lead conversion rates, but making constant appearances on social platforms, website popups and email inboxes significantly increases brand awareness. In a saturated content environment, small businesses must be putting in the effort to stand out.

Revamping your retargeting tactics in 2023 could just be the extra push you need to jump up that organic search string and become a front-runner in your industry niche. 

The post How to Revamp Your Retargeting Strategy for Widescale Demographic Engagement appeared first on SiteProNews.

In fact, on the back of Covid-19’s push for digitalization, addressing a new, global online audience has become one of the greatest challenges for startup entrepreneurs. Battling against a plethora of new platforms, an e-commerce boom, and consumer demand for increased personalization, many small business leaders are falling victim to startup failure in 2022.
After a recent National Business Capital Study found that 1 in 5 startups are failing in their first year, many entrepreneurs are turning to social media marketing for success. With over 4.6 billion users on board, social platforms have become the new targeting arenas for small businesses hoping to make it big.

From an article about Startup Failures on Failory, 22% of startup failures originate from a poor marketing strategy. Coupled together with a lack of market fit and cash flow issues, entrepreneurs must work on their market angle and digital skillset if they are going to survive in a new online playing field.

Read on as we explore the startup scene in 2022 and discuss how some of its greatest challenges can be addressed using the powers of social media marketing.

Exploring the Startup Market in 2022

It’s no secret that the startup market is thriving post-pandemic. With a digital shift making it easier than ever before for hungry entrepreneurs to start their own ventures, the number of new business applications has peaked since 2020 according to a study on Oberlo.

While the beginning of 2020 remained stagnant for startup ventures, lockdown freelancing saw numbers shoot up in Q3 of 2020, and business applications have been flying in ever since. With a 70% year-on-year growth jump, the startup market is quickly becoming densely populated and significantly competitive.

In fact, studies show that only 40% of all startup ventures are currently profitable as entrepreneurs continue to speed money on funding rounds, increased marketing spending and digital automation for improved productivity levels.

The problem is, that more than half of all new businesses have less than $25,000 at their disposal at the beginning of a venture, rendering cash flow issues one of the top challenges faced when battling increasing competition within a niche industry. 

Could social media be a saving grace for startup marketers or another cash-draining strategy? 

Are Social Media Strategies the Key To Success?

Social media has certainly played a large role in startup success in the last decade. Amongst its most well-serving platforms, Facebook, Instagram, and now, TikTok, marketers have used these consumer-dominated sites to promote products and services, create interactive and engaging content and, most importantly, connect with potential sales leads.

With over half of the world’s population using at least one form of social media in 2022, It’s no longer a case of if a startup should use social media within their growth strategy, but rather when.

In fact, 93% of marketers claim that using social media as a tool for promotion has significantly increased their business exposure, and has been the key to connecting with their demographic in the wake of Covid-19’s online shift.

Easy or Expensive?

The question is, can these platforms provide speedy success for a low payout?

The answer is yes, and no. Social media marketing can be a costly process when investing in paid forms of advertising, influencer partnerships and increased platform exposure. In fact, a number of startups have reported buying increased forms of paid advertising in 2022 in order to compete against both industry giants and user-generated content.

However, for startup leaders looking to gain organic exposure for less, the key to success in 2022 is content marketing. There are a number of ways online entrepreneurs can use a social media platform to their advantage, without investing in paid advertising formats. From newsjacking to jumping on consumer trends, generating success is all about changing the content angle and knowing what will get your target consumer’s attention.

As new platforms such as TikTok quickly emerge as a front runner for startup marketing, the key to success on these consumer-dominated applications is to blend in. Engage with video-based trends and replicate viral content with an original angle.

TikTok’s Rise To Fame

One social network, in particular, that has seen a sharp rise in popularity is TikTok. Now named the fastest growing platform in the last decade, with a 105% user growth rate, it’s no surprise that marketers across the globe are clinging to its success.

Flying higher than both Facebook and Instagram, social media’s once hottest platforms, TikTok has taken the world by a storm since the onset of the pandemic in 2020.

Made up of short video-based content, TikTok’s user-defined algorithm gives every account that posts a video the chance to go viral. As trending sounds and video trends surface, all users can create their own versions of current TikTok trends? For their chance to feature on the all-important For You Page.

For startup marketers, in particular, TikTok is the place to be. After 85% of smart marketers revealed that video-form content was their most effective social tactic in 2021, the key to high levels of engagement is most definitely found on TikTok’s video-based app.

However, it’s one thing to post a video on TikTok, but how can a startup make their video stand out from the crowd?

How To Make Your Startup Go Viral on TikTok

Startups than want to go viral on TikTok need to tick three key boxes when creating platform-based content. These are sound, speed and satisfaction. TikTok content needs to be fast-paced in order to grab attention, filmed under a viral sound for a chance to appear on the For You Page, and most importantly, satisfying for a demographic, making them more likely to share the content with their peers.

Here are some of the key elements startup leaders should consider before posting their first TikTok:

• Is It Platform Specific? Over 62% of TikTok marketers claim that platform-specific content is key if they want to connect with consumers. Videos need to be in line with platform trends and fit the viral video structure. 
• Do You know Your Audience? TikTok has a wide and diverse demographic. Entrepreneurs need to be using sounds, trends and hashtags that directly address their consumer group if they want to end up on the feeds of potential leads.
• Is The Content Original? While it is smart to jump onto platform trends, creating original content is key for startups. Why not newsjack a viral story and use it to promote a product or service with a humorous twist?

As TikTok’s platform evolves, so do its users. If you want a chance at success on the platform, your content needs to be fresh, exciting, and easily adaptable in an ever-changing social media landscape.

The post Is TikTok the Key To Startup Marketing Success? appeared first on SiteProNews.

As E-commerce booms and social platforms multiply, it’s clear that a digitally native world is only around the corner. With the demand for all things digital consistently growing, the demand for tech and design innovation comes hand in hand.

As virtual evolution continues to become more prominent on the back of new forms of VR/AR technology revolutionising the online sphere, user experience has become key essential as we form our relationship with new technology. As new software continues to extend the capabilities of digital immersion, it’s no surprise that UX has become a hot topic for virtual reality experts.

As we see consumers shift from users to players as the metaverse era begins, traditional forms of marketing continue to become redundant. From content design and 3D tools to new communication interfaces that promote immersion, read on to find out how the metaverse could change UX design like never before.

What Is the Metaverse? 

So what is the metaverse? We’ve all heard the term thrown around on tech platforms and during Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta reveal, but what does this actually mean for the UX designers who will need to pave the way for the future of effective marketing online?

The term metaverse was first mentioned in the 1992 science fiction novel, Snow Crash, written by Neal Stephson. Using the word metaverse to describe his image of a 3D world that users could virtually exist in, he predicted that technology would one day enable us to live in a real-time, online environment that we could change, grow and interact within.

In the modern-day, the Influencer Marketing Hub define the metaverse as “something that is always active, exists in real-time, players have individual agency, it’s a self-contained and fully functioning universe and contains user-generated content.”

As we toy with this shift from consumers to players in a user-generated content dominated online environment, it’s clear that the metaverse will continue to transform consumer attitudes and demand a more active user experience design across a number of sectors.

From e-commerce and the corporate market to gaming and entertainment, it’s clear that the metaverse expects more of marketers, but just how much could this revolutionise the industry?

How It Will Change the Future Of Marketing

For smart marketers, the metaverse could be a game-changer in regards to gaining exposure and boosting revenue online. As VR continues to slot itself into a number of sectors across the globe, the metaverse’s advertising potential is infinite.

The key here is prioritizing new forms of immersive design and smart consumer content that can not only easily insert itself into the virtual world but encourage consumers to interact and communicate with it.

Especially for Gen Z demographics, where 87% of young users are already interacting with current metaverse platforms such as Fortnite from the comfort of their smartphones, the benefits quickly outweigh the costs for companies aiming to gain exposure. In fact, providing an immersive experience within the metaverse that enables a player to connect and interact with a virtual version of a product or service will translate into higher conversion rates in the real world.

For example, the London startup fashion agency, Dimension Studio saw their profits double in 2021 as a result of experimenting with new forms of UX marketing in the metaverse. The User Experience focused company that specialises in the future of volumetric content and creating immersive experiences within the metaverse is one of the first pioneers in the future of 3D forms of UX design.

Partnering with Balenciaga’s Afterworld game, they created a new form of virtual production that enabled a player to step onto a platform within a virtual environment and physically test out Balenciaga’s pieces on their augmented avatars.

Using new forms of 3D UX design to their advantage, dabbling within the metaverse has made them $6.5 million in revenue as a result.

Commenting on the success, Metaverse expert, Cathy Hackl stated that the future of marketing and advertising needs to be thought about in 3D.

“The professionals of today need to start thinking in 3D because the professionals of tomorrow will already be thinking in 3D,” commented Hackl in a recent interview with Vogue. “Agencies will need to partner with people that have game design experience and game theory. They’re going to need those people that not only know how to create beautiful things but actually know how to make things work in a gamified way inside virtual worlds.”

What Does This Mean For UX Designers?

It’s clear that UX designers will need to shift their mindset in the wake of the metaverse. Rather than designing for passive consumption, the future will centre around active design that encourages consumers to act on their creation and continue to blur the lines between what is real and what is virtual.

Shifting From Users To Players

Designers will need to think of consumers as players, rather than simple users of technology. 

In order to improve user experience across online platforms, UX designers need to create a wholly immersive experience that enables a player to live and interact with a virtual world, rather than simply experiencing it.

Immersive design will need to be applied to all forms of UX, even outside of metaverse world-building. This applies to website design, content creation and advertisements too. As the line between the virtual and real continues to blur, designer decisions need to focus on inserting a product, service or advertisement within the metaverse seamlessly. Consumers are much more likely to interact with UX design that feels natural, authentic and consumer-created.

As technology continues to make metaverse players increasingly smart. It’s time for designers and modern marketers, to get smarter.

How To Improve UX Design For the Metaverse

So how can you start preparing for metaverse design? A fully virtual world may only be around the corner, but UX designers still have time to adapt. Here are some of the tweaks you can make to your UX initiative as metaverse design continues to revolutionise the industry.

Start Storytelling With Your Design

The metaverse is massive and is only predicted to expand in the coming years. With a large following comes a large number of experiences across a diverse consumer group. The key for UX designers is finding a way to connect all of these user experiences to create a compelling story that hooks an audience amongst competitors.

Therefore, it’s time to start prioritising storytelling within your content. In order to gain awareness and exposure, telling a story with your design will not only immerse your consumers but distract them from a product or a service, for a more natural consumer-led experience with your brand. 

Better still, learn how to integrate your UX design into their existing virtual stories. Find a way to promote or advertise using an existing narrative within the metaverse.

For example, on gaming platforms such as Roboblox, skateboarding brand Vans, introduced a skatepark into the metaverse, the purely existed for users to interact with during their own virtual narratives. After seeing 48 million visitors that boosted revenue for the brand outside of the metaverse, story integration can be considered a key tactic for UX designers.

Sit Back and Observe 

The metaverse is still relatively new, so a smart move for new UX designers on the block would be to simply sit back and observe. 

Take a closer look at your competitors and start user testing. Taking an audit of your current engagement stats, audience characteristics and site analytics using tools such as Google Analytics and Finteza is a great foundation for success.

Designers need to see how their audience currently interact with the metaverse and understand how their products will behave in new virtual surroundings.

Incorporating 3D Tools & VR Design 

In order to effectively design for the metaverse, UX professionals are moving towards new 3D modelling alternatives such as Tvori and SketchUp that will enhance modelling and prototyping in a 3D virtual world.

It’s also important for UX and UI designers to get more equipped with the new forms of VR/AR tech on the market. Utilising elements of augmented and virtual reality within daily life will allow designers to step into the shoes of their consumers and visualise the image they want to create for immersion success.

The Future of Metaverse Marketing

Did you know that 58 million people in the US are currently engaging with at least one form of AR/VR tech at least once a month?

As the demand for virtual immersion online continues to grow in line with the metaverse, traditional forms of marketing just dont cut it anymore. Interactive experiences and communication is now a must if you want to stay on top of online competitors, and UX design stands at the forefront of this.

On the back of Facebook’s 2021 Meta rebrand and gaming platforms such as Fortnite and Roboblox leading the way, the metaverse is expected to transform consumer advertising and interaction design within the next 5 years.

The post From Users To Players: The Future Of UX Design In the Metaverse appeared first on SiteProNews.

Today, there are many ways to build a unique website without spending too much time or resources. These easy tweaks will help boost user experience and boost the website’s conversion rates.

Note: there is not a one-size-fits-all solution for improving UI. As we move into an increasingly connected world that has seen the most significant shift to online since WWW was introduced- it is now even more crowded and competitive. The Total Internet Users Worldwide was compiled by Broadband Search.

Getting in front of consumers ahead of your competitors has never been easy. And now, thanks to social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and Pinterest, social and online presence have become one of the most vital parts of a business today.

What is UI?

The user interface is the website’s design that supports the user’s experience (UX) when browsing. Therefore, almost all website elements, including buttons, search bars, CTAs, icons, and text layout, can be considered UI design elements.

Researching and refining how your users interact with your site is a great place to start to boost conversions and generate more leads. User experience ensures users find valuable services and products on your site as efficiently as possible.

For all businesses, one of the main aims is to generate more sales. More sales equate to steady growth and better financial outcome. UI, along with UX, plays a vital role in this growth.

There are some fundamental components of UI that make for a more effective website when placed together.

The site’s usability and its visual design and interaction design affect users’ interpretations and use of a site. Therefore, the site’s information architecture is vital as it ensures users can access the information they need.

Wireframing is an integral part of UI. It is a visual guide representing the site’s design framework, outlining how buttons, tabs, and menus respond to users’ actions. It helps to make sure users can easily navigate throughout the website.

When building a substantial brand value and reputation, businesses must emphasise a high level of user satisfaction across all areas, including the website. As e-commerce continues to grow, online shoppers have higher expectations when it comes to the online experience. Therefore, online stores opt to push to satisfy the needs of their customers as the top priority.

The need for a brand to get its online presence and site right has never been more critical than now. In addition, a well researched and thorough UI can effectively grab consumer attention and enhance user experience, thereby improving ROI.

UI Design Elements

UI elements of a website consist of parts and elements that designers use to improve the development of apps and websites.

An online study found that improving a site’s navigation may help increase the conversion rate by as much as 18.5%. Therefore, all websites must pay attention to the UI and UX. Here is a look at four practical ways to improve UI:

1. Improve Conversion with Persuasive CTA

A highly effective call-to-action (CTA) button does what it says on the tin and helps to deliver a direct yet straightforward statement for the user. In addition, it gives clear directions to the user concerning what to do next, and upon clicking the button, it provides the users with the idea that they are visiting a different website.

With great design and UI that is simple yet catchy, CTAs are crucial as they guide consumers into the sales funnel where conversions happen, some great tips are in this post on GoSquared.

With a focus on mobile users, presenting a large area responsive to a tap or a click on a call-to-action button is essential to leading the user to the right destination.

Unfortunately, many buttons on a website are purely graphical and embed small link texts, which work well for viewing sites on a desktop but are not very mobile-friendly. Designs like this can cause frustration to users and deter them from using a website altogether.

Also, we advise you to use a standard colour of red for each type of call-to-action button. If your website visitors get used to a particular colour for a specific button, they will subconsciously be more attached to it.

When designing a template, make sure to pick the right colours for each type of CTA button. If a call-to-action button is too small and not clickable, chances are there will be fewer clicks, and conversion rates can drop significantly. Make sure that all-important links incorporated into the button are identified quickly and have a correct anchor.

Tip: Do not play around with button colours too much. If your “Get Started” button is colour blue, try keeping everything consistent (i.e. avoid using a different colour for the same button on a separate page) – this may confuse the user.

2. Use White Spaces Effectively

The first step in improving conversion rates is to pay attention to the psychology of colour.

Make it the goal to remove all excess clutter and noise from a page. Then, replace the white space with the images that matter. Adding a background image to one page is possible, but it is essential to ensure it doesn’t distract users from the aspects you want them to see.

White spaces allow users to scan the website smoothly without being too distracted by any clutter or unnecessary elements on the page. White areas are a great way to increase click-through rates. For this reason, keeping an adequate amount of white space on a page can lead to more leads and a higher conversion rate.

Furthermore, white spacing makes information on the page look more clear and defined.

However, using colour in the right way can be tactical leverage for any business with this in mind. Using colours is effective to help focus the user’s attention to specific parts of the page and work well for actionable elements such as CTAs.

Tip: Using warmer tones like orange and yellow attracts the eyes the same way red does, expanding against darker, colder tone colours such as blue and green. Highlighting these crucial elements of the page ensures they do not get lost.

3. Link Padding

Anchors and links present on the site by default are usually the same size, keeping in line with the rest of the elements on the page. Unfortunately, this means they can only span that specific area to remain clickable, such as the height and width of the text.

Expand the clickable area for superb usability of the link. Adding extra padding to the text can also be done by converting the link into a block element, making it appear more extensive and inviting.

You can use the following simple code to increase the padding of the link:

a {
display: block;
padding: 6px;
}

A larger area will, for obvious reasons, be more clickable and easier to use. This method also makes these links more mobile-friendly, giving users less chance of missing the link. Converting links into blocks also helps make the text area span the entire width of the box, making the theme ideal for sidebars.

Adding a healthy amount of padding to the link is essential as it ensures the link itself is visible enough to be clicked.

Tip: Do not overuse padding on text links (i.e. links that are not buttons). These may confuse and frustrate mobile users when scrolling down. Users can accidentally click the link without intending to do so.

4. Design Based on Users

Sometimes it is easy to get carried away with designing your new website. However, it’s increasingly important to offer your user what they want compared to what your business thinks they might like. Thinking about the consumer, what they need, and the types of things they would look for will help construct a better, well-thought-out website tailored to users’ needs.

A timeline indicating progress on the site is one of the best UI elements to include on a site. The timeline helps users understand where they are in the sales funnel and essentially helps them in and out sooner.

Use tools like Google Analytics and Finteza to determine the pages your users stay on, how they go from page to page and where they drop off.

Unfortunately, design elements are of much concern to users. Yes, they help make sites look attractive. Still, the baseline is that consumers want to get things done in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of hassle and frustration. A good design will have all these elements integrated. In addition, the easier the sales process can be, the more inviting it is for users, giving them a positive shopping experience and making them more likely to come back.

Tip: Use heatmaps to determine the website areas where your users seem to be focusing most. Determine the areas that need tweaking, then use them to display the most important CTAs.

One of the main points to consider when creating and having a website is that it needs to constantly be updated to work best for those interacting with it. Make sure to run tests and audits, helping you keep on top of the competition.

The post 4 Effective UI Improvements to Skyrocket Website Conversions appeared first on SiteProNews.