WordPress

The importance of web design

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In today’s digital age, having a website is essential for businesses of all sizes. However, simply having a website is not enough. Your website needs to be visually appealing, user-friendly, and optimized for search engines. This is where web design comes in. In this blog, we’ll explore the importance of web design and why it matters for your business.

First impressions matter When a potential customer visits your website, they form an opinion about your business within seconds. If your website is outdated, cluttered, or difficult to navigate, they’re likely to leave and go to a competitor’s website. On the other hand, a well-designed website can instantly capture a visitor’s attention and make a positive first impression. This can lead to increased engagement, longer website visits, and ultimately, more conversions.

User experience is key User experience (UX) is a crucial factor in web design. Your website should be designed with the user in mind, making it easy for them to find what they’re looking for and take action. A well-designed website should have clear navigation, prominent calls-to-action, and easy-to-read content. It should also be optimized for mobile devices, as more and more people are accessing websites on their smartphones and tablets.

Search engine optimization (SEO) In addition to providing a positive user experience, web design can also impact your search engine rankings. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). A well-designed website can improve your SEO by ensuring that your website is easy for search engines to crawl and index, as well as making sure that your website content is relevant and valuable to users.

Brand identity and perception Your website is an extension of your brand. It should reflect your brand identity and communicate your message effectively. A well-designed website can help build brand recognition and create a positive perception of your business. On the other hand, a poorly designed website can damage your brand’s reputation and make your business appear unprofessional.

Increased conversions and sales Ultimately, the goal of your website is to drive conversions and sales. A well-designed website can make it easier for potential customers to find what they’re looking for and take action. This can lead to increased conversions, whether that means filling out a contact form, making a purchase, or signing up for a newsletter.

In conclusion, web design is an essential part of building a successful online presence for your business. It can impact everything from first impressions to search engine rankings, brand perception, and conversions. If you want to stay ahead of the competition and attract more customers, investing in professional web design is a must.

What is web design

Posted on | by moocow | Leave a Comment on What is web design

Web design is the process of creating the look and feel of a website. It involves the use of various design elements to create a visually appealing and user-friendly website. In this blog, we’ll explore what web design is and what it involves.

Visual design Visual design is a key aspect of web design. It involves the use of colours, typography, images, and other visual elements to create a cohesive and visually appealing website. The goal of visual design is to create a website that is easy on the eyes and invites users to stay on the website longer.

Layout and structure Layout and structure refer to the organization and arrangement of the website’s content. This includes things like the placement of navigation menus, the layout of individual pages, and the overall structure of the website. The goal of layout and structure is to make the website easy to navigate and find information quickly.

User experience User experience (UX) is a crucial aspect of web design. UX involves creating a website that is easy to use and navigate. This includes things like ensuring that the website is responsive and works well on different devices, making sure that the website loads quickly, and making sure that the website’s content is easy to read and understand.

Content creation Content creation is also an important aspect of web design. The content on a website includes things like text, images, and videos. The goal of content creation is to create content that is informative, engaging, and relevant to the website’s target audience.

Web development Web development is the process of turning the design into a functional website. This includes writing code to create the website’s layout, structure, and functionality. Web developers use languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create websites that work well and are easy to use.

In conclusion, web design is the process of creating a visually appealing and user-friendly website. It involves the use of various design elements to create a cohesive and engaging website. Web design includes visual design, layout and structure, user experience, content creation, and web development. If you’re looking to create a website for your business or personal brand, investing in professional web design can help you create a website that stands out and engages your target audience.

Using WordPress as a Platform to Generate Leads and Sales

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow, we pride ourselves on having the most up to date knowledge on the latest web news, tips and trends. With technology and techniques developing daily in the new decade ahead, Moocow are continuously working hard to help find new ways to develop your business.

We believe WordPress ranks above all the rest as a hosting platform. The open-source CMS platform works as an ideal model for creating a wide variety of sites for both small and large businesses, and is ideal for generating new leads and boosting sales. Below are a few ways WordPress can help you network better, get your site up to scratch and allow you to create new business opportunities.

Contact

Make sure your contact information is up to date, you can display your details and a map to your location using the contact form and map widgets. This makes it much easier for potential clients to be able to get in touch with you and see if your location is within reach if travelling.

SEO

WordPress offers a good deal of SEO support, in the form of tools, plug-ins and guides. These can help you optimise your site personally for search engines. Yoast SEO is a particular favourite amongst users, providing excellent content and SEO analysis and helping you track your performance.

Social Icons

Making sure your website uses icons that easily connect to your social media is also a must. Social media is one of the most highly used search tools when discovering a business or service. Social media widgets help create options to directly link you to your Facebook, Twitter and other social network sites.

CTA Buttons (Call To Action)

A ‘call to action’ button is always helpful in giving your clients an extra push to view certain areas of your site, particularly if you want to draw attention to a particular page or sale within your business. These buttons are also useful for adding “Buy Now” or “Search Now” buttons allowing customers to browse and purchase from your site with ease.

Testimonials

Having a testimonials feature on your site is a great way for potential clients to see reviews of your business. WordPress has excellent widget features that can create visually creative ways to present customer reviews instead of having an endless page of lengthy, written testimonials.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an eCommerce platform specifically designed for WordPress used by entrepreneurs worldwide. The entirely customisable platform is an extremely popular tool for businesses both large and small, making selling online a breeze and allowing you to create online checkout systems for all experience levels.

Why Bespoke Illustrations are Trending in Web Design

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At MooCow, we pride ourselves on having the most up to date knowledge on the hottest web trends. With technology and techniques developing daily, take a look at what 2017 has in store for the world of web design.

Whilst many businesses are still opting for a traditional approach of plumping up their sites with bold typefaces and pristine layouts, others are jumping on a slightly different bandwagon. Hand drawn illustrations are a hot pick for up and coming web sites, with many of the creative industries choosing to adorn their sites with hand drawn graphics and typography.

Not only is it a fun way to personalise your site, it allows your web page to be custom crafted and show off your talents if you’re a master doodler yourself. Brands often set themselves apart by having unique and off-beat logos, designs & layouts, so you never know – having your web page plastered in drawings and free-style artwork could actually make you the next web page super star.

A few of our favourite sites that showcase some serious talent when it comes to illustration include Legwork Studios, Future Living and Proud & Punch. Take a look at their sites or have a look at the Awwwards site for award-winning design inspirations.

 

7 Simple SEO Tips to Help Promote Your Website in Under 30 Mins

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Since opening its doors in 2006, Moocow have been working hard growing and developing our client base & expertise, offering a dynamic blend of creative thinking, experience and technical know-how. Here at Moocow we are dedicated to helping you get the best out of your website. We are proud to have produced amazing websites for our clients that boosted their brand and helped their businesses blossom. With these 7 simple tips we can help you be well on the way to efficiently marketing your website in as quick as 30 minutes.

1. Pick the right domain name
Making sure your website has a relevant URL is the first thing that stands out about your business. When clients go to search for you, they want a domain name that’s easy to understand and quick to search. It’s vital to pick this out before your website goes live, if you’re part of a company or brand it’s best to stick with whatever your company name is or at least a keyword or name that is relevant to your business. This is also the first place Google goes to determine exactly what your site’s about before choosing how to rank it. Make sure not to include any special characters/hashtags and remember to make your domain stand out from the crowd.

2. Create page titles and descriptions that help get you recognised
When creating a website, we will ask you to supply chosen titles for each of your web pages and a brief description of what that page includes. If you’re unsure of the importance of page titles and what exactly it is they do, hover on an open tab in your web browser and it will show you what title that page shows up as in search engines. The same goes for your page description – although you can’t see this personally, Google uses this description to filter down what your page is about. When your site is finalised and is picked up by Google, your page title and description is what viewers will first see when searching for relevant interests, so they will immediately know whether your page is something they are interested in or not – this is why it’s vital to make your page titles and descriptions relevant to your business.

3. Design your website around keywords
Keywords are important to your website as this is how Google directs searchers to your site when looking for similar interests. Picking keywords for your specific industry is helpful in putting you on the map and getting you the right attention. You can use free programs like Google AdWords to help you understand how and why keywords are important to your business. Use their Keyword Planner to access suggestions for keywords related to your business, helping your company reach the customer audience you’re looking for. AdWords also offers other options and extras you can pay for to give your site an extra boost such as graphic display ads, YouTube video ads or in-app mobile ads, so you have plenty of choice in how to reach out to your target audience.

4. Add text to your images
In the same way as mentioned above, picking keywords relating to your site is super handy for when customers want to search for you. This also works with images. Any image that you’re choosing to upload to your site, be sure to add a few words about each image that both describe the picture and are catchy to your search engines. Remember to always pick the right file name for your image and reduce file size for faster loading. Google states that the main reason a searcher leaves a web page before viewing the whole site is due to pages taking too long to load, which is often due to image files being too large to load quickly.

5. Anchor text can be helpful in guiding viewers around your site
A popular tip to get your website more noticed is adding anchor text to a page. Anchor text is where you click on a section of text highlighted in a ‘hyperlink’ or button that takes you directly to another page on your site or link to any other page on the web. It’s useful to use a short phrase or keyword relating to the subject of the page. It’s also helpful to choose words that are popular to your business or industry and are regularly picked up by Google. Despite being a clever trick to boost SEO, some sites go overboard with this however, which is something to avoid. Over use of linking can show up as a red flag on Google.

6. Get advertising through Google
If you want to maximise your chances of getting your business showing up in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) it’s a good idea to promote your brand on Google owned sites such as YouTube and Google Maps. Google pushes far more traffic towards websites that they own, so this will be an advantage for your company. A particular ‘must have’ for your business is setting up a profile on Google My Business. If you’re unsure what this is, this is the selection of info that pops up as a square in the right hand corner of your Google search on the web browser that shows the name of your business, photos, contact details and reviews. If your business has a lot of video related content that you use to promote your products or brand, setting up a YouTube channel can also add a large amount of viewers to both your website and help promote your products.

7. Mobile first sites are always top
Mobile-first responsive web design is now becoming a mandatory requirement for most sites. Over the last couple of years, there’s been a giant leap in what we call ‘internet browsing behaviour’, with thousands of people swapping from desktop to mobile technology. Google now gives preference to mobile friendly sites, prioritising mobile sites over desktops, and by the end of 2018 it’s predicted that 70% per cent of online shopping traffic will be mobile. Google’s Webmaster Blog stated “our algorithms will eventually primarily use the mobile version of a site’s content to rank pages from that site, to understand structured data, and to show snippets from those pages in our results.”

4 ways to maximise site security and prevent hackers without impairing UX

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow we’re all about knowing what’s best for your business, whether it’s the latest updates, design tips or marketing tactics. And when it comes to getting you your perfect website, we pride ourselves on making sites that are both manageable and secure.

Following the launch of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation laws (GDPR) which began May 25, everyone has gone a bit security mad, and businesses seem to be packing their site with security options that aren’t often necessary. This can in turn lead to problems with the speed of your site as well as making it easier for hackers to access your web page details. Our aim is to help you understand security options for your site clearly, allowing you to cut through the confusion and get to grips with the lingo, making it that little bit easier. Obvious options to take such as ensuring that your software is always up to date and backed up, are implemented by most. Below however, are a few simple steps you may not know about which may help pin down some good ways to make your site secure, without putting off customers to your site.

 

Restrict Your Plug-ins

We know it’s tempting, but try not to overload your site with various security plug-ins. Do your research, and pick two or three at most that do the job efficiently. Too many plug-ins will slow down your site and leave it vulnerable to hackers trying to access your private data. Researching what security plug-ins work the best and comply with GDPR regulations is the best way to establish this. It’s easy to be tricked by advertising telling you you need all sorts of different plug-ins, but ultimately many will end up doing the same thing, and it’s easy to find just a couple of plug-ins that will cover your site securely.

 

Use reCaptcha

When accessing a site, most of us know how frustrating it is having to declare we’re not a Robot… However, using reCaptcha does comes with a lot of benefits. It’s extremely helpful in protecting you from up to 95% of spam and data hack attempts. One downside is, using reCaptcha can have the potential to slow down your site. It’s a bit of a double edged sword. There’s both pros and cons to using it, but overall we feel the benefits outweigh any of the speed issues that may or may not crop up.

 

Implement Two-Factor Authentication

This method of security has become much more popular recently, especially with larger businesses and sites that hold especially personal data. For those who aren’t sure what this means, it’s pretty much the same as having to show two forms of ID when confirming your identity. In this case it will usually take the form of a password, and a personalised security code sent by text message to your phone. You’ll then be asked to submit this code on the website. Two-Factor Authentication can help significantly reduce the likelihood of hackers being able to impersonate your identity and log in to any accounts or personalised info.

 

Add a Concealed WP Log In Page

Most hackers will try to get into your site through your WP log in page or dashboard.

WordPress websites primarily all have a universal login URL of /wp-admin/ making it extremely easy for hackers to go directly to your log in page and use brute force cracking to hack your page. This is a trial and error form of hacking used to decrypt passwords and other types of log in details. To prevent this from happening, you change your URL to something more personalised using plug-ins such ManageWP. It allows you to customise your log in URL to something harder to guess, an easy example being /my-concealed-login/ but you can change it to whatever works best for your business. It may seem like a bit of a hassle, but doing this has the potential to stop almost 100% of hackers accessing your page.

 

5 of the Best WordPress Themes for Creating a Portfolio

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At Moocow, we pride ourselves on having the most up to date knowledge on the latest web news, tips and trends. With technology and techniques developing daily, Moocow are continuously working hard to help find new ways to develop your business.

Our design team believe WordPress ranks above all the rest as a hosting platform. The open-source CMS works as an ideal model for creating a wide variety of sites for both small and large businesses, and is ideal for showcasing portfolios and products. Having a portfolio that’s professional, visually captivating and clearly showcases your work is vital for your business to achieve success and gain interest from new clients. So below, we’ve hand-picked some of the best WordPress themes for putting together a high end portfolio, that will grab your audience’s attention and gain you new clients and sales.

 

Oshine

Creates beautifully fresh and contemporary portfolios with 12 unique layouts to choose from. Comes with access to over 500 fonts, colour choices, shortcode modules and so much more. Oshine also supports a large variety of plug-ins, including WPML, BuddyPress and Gravity Forms. A great choice if you’re looking for a stylish and modern way to display work visually.

 

 

Adios

A great theme that’s easy to use, extremely fast loading and is ideal for those working within the creative industry. An elegant and artistic approach to portfolio design, you’ll have access to hundreds of fonts, colour choices, layout elements and designs and you’ll be able to use a variety of great options for animation. Adios allows for superb compatibility with all devices and browsers, and will ensure your site is noticed worldwide.

 

 

Art.

Perfect for colourful, chic and customisable design, this theme comes with a coding-free content builder for ease of use. Ideal if you’re looking for an artistic and simplistic portfolio design, it’s packed with beautiful layouts with drag and drop options, fashionable headers and plenty of options for blog posts. You can also create stylish home sliders to showcase large images, and with SEO by Yoast you’re sure to have plenty of great options for getting noticed in search engines.

 

 

Kalium

A sensationally designed theme for those looking for a cool and contemporary twist to showcase their work in style. With numerous options for layout, images and blog posts, this WordPress theme also includes Revolution Slider, allowing users to display work through slideshow. You’ll be able to personalise the slides and create your own unique animations and visual effects too.

 

 

Studio 8

Rated as one of the best WordPress themes on the market, Studio 8 has a superbly sophisticated and stylish design. Beautifully fast and responsive, the theme provides great portfolio options to businesses of all backgrounds. You can upload custom headers and access built in short codes to make editing and designing easier. Known for creating attention-getting websites, this theme will help put your portfolio on the map.

 

 

5 Brilliant Social Media Plug-ins for WordPress You May Not Know About

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow, we’re constantly striving to make sure we’re ahead of the game when it comes to having the most up to date tech and web knowledge. When it comes to digital marketing and social media, it’s important to fully take advantage of social media platforms, plug-ins and widgets to allow you to achieve greater sales potential and expand your following. Below we’ve compiled a list of what we believe to be the best in social media plug-ins for WordPress to give you a helping hand in getting started.

 

Social Snap

This social sharing plug-in allows you to increase engagement and take control of how well your social media performs. With over 30 social networks to choose from, you can place share buttons wherever is easiest, be it a floating side bar or via short-code or widget. You can also use animations and colour coordinate your layouts. Insights are easily available to track web traffic and you have the option to control how your social media posts look on any device.

Social Warfare

Great for speed and won’t slow down your site, Social Warfare has been specifically built by marketing and web developer experts. Although more limited in how many media platforms you can access, it’s an extremely well designed and powerful little plug-in. You can display how many times your content has been shared, pin images, use analytics to track your progress and use short codes to place social media icons anywhere you choose.

Add to Any

Increases traffic and works alongside over 100+ social media platforms, so this is the one for you if you’re connected to a huge variety of media channels. You can access share counters and floating share buttons, use email sharing and customize appearance. There’s also great analytics integration, with simplistic support for WooCommerce and other eCommerce platforms too.

Social Icons by WPZoom

A 5 star rated plug-in that supports both Skype and WhatsApp with over 80 social media platform choices to share from. You can edit over 400+ customised icons with FontAwesome integration. The plug-in has easy to use drag and drop options to help you position your sharing buttons across your site. There’s also newly updated colour options to help alter and mix and match the colour schemes for your social media share buttons too.

ShareGrapes

Easily customisable, ShareGrapes also has over 80 social networks you can access for your site, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. With multiple design options for sharing posts and links to social media, the plug-in comes with easy to use guides and help to get targetted traffic to your sites. It’s mobile compatible too, which means you won’t find the layout of your posts and share buttons suddenly changing when switching devices.

 

10 Free WordPress Marketing Plug-ins That Are A Must Have For Your Business

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow we’re all about knowing what’s best for your business, whether it’s design, branding, SEO or marketing. And when it comes to getting you your perfect website, we know exactly how to get you there. We’re huge advocates of WordPress, and we believe they have the tools to really launch your brand towards profit. Below is a list of 10 of the best WordPress marketing plug-ins that are a must have for your business site.

With WordPress you can take away the hassle of creating lengthy marketing plans, by using their plug-ins to create new strategies and interact with others at the press of a button. They’re ideal whether you’re a small, local business or a nationwide company and there’s plenty to choose from. We’ve narrowed down what we think will help you the most.

Jetpack

Great design, marketing and security features. Comes with customisation tools, mobile integration and options to edit CSS. You can also access SEO and Ad tools, and monitor your stats and statistics to see how well your site is performing. There’s also security extras for spam and malware protection.

Yoast

The number 1 plug-in for SEO, Yoast gives you complete power over how you use and access site breadcrumbs, with great tips and templates for title and meta descriptions which you can edit and alter for better branding and snippets in Google and other search engines.

WooCommerce

An open source e-commerce plug-in for WordPress, WooCommerce lets you sell both physical and digital products online, with ease to use shipping and payment options including BACS and PayPal. Adaptable for both developers and beginners, it’s perfect for store owners, whether your business is large, small, local or worldwide.

WPReview

This little plugin helps you create reviews or testimonials with ease, without any problems loading your page or alterations to site speed. You can create reviews with a choice of using stars, percentage or a point rating. It also includes support for translation, WPMU, Google rich snippets and unlimited colours.

Google XML SiteMaps

Rated as the best ever WordPress plug-in, Google XML SiteMaps helps improve SEO and allows search engines including Google, Bing and Yahoo to index you site more clearly. This makes sure your business is on the map when it comes to web traffic and will help move you up in search rankings.

Editorial Calendar

If you need a bit of help getting yourself organised when it comes to posts and marketing, the Editorial Calendar is a handy extra. You can create helpful schedules for when you want your posts to be published, with easy to use drag and drop features and an easily visible calendar to help you keep track.

W3 Total Cache

This plug-in aids website performance and boosts download times through content delivery network (CDN) integration and is recommended by web developers and web designers worldwide. It vastly improves conversion rates, and in turn helps boost your rankings on Google

Google Analytics by MonsterInsights

If you’re wanting to link your WordPress site to Google Analytics to manage site conversions, this plug-in by MonsterInsights is the way to go. It shows you stats, site performance and how easy people are accessing your webpage and products. You can access the Google Analytics dashboard inside your WordPress dashboard also.

Envira Gallery

Envira is a “drag and drop” photo gallery plug-in, great for sites that are using a lot of hi-def photography or product images. Envira will ensure your images will look great on all devices whether it desktop, mobile or tablet. There’s also great options for watermarking your work, creating video and slideshow galleries and linking with social media platforms.

Popups by OptinMonster

OptinMonster helps you grow your email list and get more subscribers with pop-up opt-in forms, templates and email marketing services. Take your pick from forms, floating bars, slide-ins, sidebars and more, this nifty plug-in is compatible and works alongside many popular email marketing sites including Mailchimp, Aweber, MailPoet and many more.

 

GDPR and The Launch of WordPress 4.9.6

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow we’re all about knowing what’s best for your business, whether it’s trending tech news, the latest updates, design tips or marketing tactics. And when it comes to getting you your perfect website, we pride ourselves on making sites that are both manageable and secure.

Following the launch of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation laws (GDPR) which began May 25, WordPress have made some important updates to privacy and maintenance options for site users. GDPR requires businesses or web page owners to be clear and upfront about how they’re using, collecting or sharing your personal data. It also means users have more choice and control over how their data is stored and shared.

Due to this, WordPress have decided to release WordPress 4.9.6 – the Privacy and Maintenance release. Features that can be found within the update include automatic changes to the comments section where users will be given options to whether their details will be saved on the browser. You can now also create a privacy policy page using a new default menu feature on the WordPress dashboard.

Although allowing for a speedier process, WordPress still recommends to add the privacy policy manually to the footer on each page of your website also. Webpage owners can also export or erase a clients data and send automatic requests asking for permission via email. WordPress have also created a handbook that guides you through privacy policies when using plug-ins which you can learn more about here.

95 other updates and modifications have been included in WordPress 4.9.6. including:

  • “Mine” included as a filter in the media library.

  • When displayed in admin, plugin-ins will now show the minimal PHP version required.

  • New PHP polyfills for forwards-compatibility and proper variable validation have been added.

  • TinyMCE updated to newest version (4.7.11).

Take a look at the WordPress site here to read up on the more in depth details on all the updates included.