Everyone now days is taking their business online and equally new business owners are starting of with having a detailed professional website to gain more revenue. So, get in touch with a web development company in Auckland or the region your based in to get started.

Let’s share some tips below that you can implement to create a result driven website.

Tip #1: Story telling

Set up your home page such that it tells a story to your visitors, it helps to get your visitors interested in the content and convert them into customers. This tip also helps getting your visitors to understand more about your business and what you have to offer.

Storytelling is a great method used as us humans love stories and when your story can relate to your visitors, it helps by giving them confidence in your product and convert that lead into a sale.

It is equally important to also have a good layout when your setting up your home page and that your story has a good flow throughout. Most eCommerce companies use this effective method as well as other businesses.

Tip #2: Use pictures

As well as telling an informative story to your website audience, it is beneficial to use good quality pictures which can also help tell part of the story in a more effective way.

A good image can help your visitors get a feel for the product and highlight your brand. An image gives the audience a good first impression of your website and hence why every website page you open will have an Image that helps grab the user’s attention. A good story followed by a detailed good quality image can increase user traffic and hits to your website.

You can pick a few free good quality images online if you don’t have any available. Check out Unsplash for some good high-quality free images.

Tip #3: Insert call to action buttons

You might be able to tell a good story and provide good images to gain user attention but leading your visitors down to the correct path where they are most likely to convert into a customer. This is highly important because you want visitors to know they can purchase your product, contact you, know more about the product etc.

Call to action buttons are aligned with your visitor’s mindset to get them even more interested into your product. When writing your call to action button focus on making your reader feel like as they are being spoken to directly.

The color of your call to action button is also very important and the two most widely used colors you will see on websites are orange or green. Some say orange works better then green and the others may say green trumps orange.

To be very frank use the color that best fits your website and it doesn’t have to be orange or green but make sure you pick contrasting/bright colors. The contrasting/bright colors for your call to action button will help make it stand out, so that your visitors know exactly where to click to convert.

Keep in mind that upon arrival of your visitor to your page, they should always be able to find the call to action button immediately.

Tip #4: Improve user experience

Create a website that is very user friendly and has easy navigation. The audience to your website could be of any age group, but they all want one thing in particular for your website to be simple and easy to navigate from one section to another or one page to another page.

You want the audience to stay, so make your website effortless and convert user traffic into customers. A user-friendly website is a combination of using proper taglines, informative content, attention grabbing images, etc.

Speed of your website matters a lot for a user-friendly website. Visit Googles PageSpeed Insights tool for checking the speed of your website. Below are the metric scores that identify your page speed with color codes.

0 to 49 (red): Poor

50 to 89 (orange): Needs improvement

90 to 100 (green): Good

Aim for your website speed to be between 90 to 100 to provide a good user experience. Achieving a 100 is very hard work and complicated, so focus on being above 90. The speed of your website is also one of the factors that google considers when ranking your website and has a positive effect on your website SEO.

Tip #5: Implement https/SSL certificate

A secure website is what visitors want and to identify a secure website look for the ones that have the “s” at the end of the http or a padlock next to it when you do your next search.

Https means the website you are visiting has an SSL (Secure Socket layer) certificate and in simple terms it means that the website is secure and encrypted. So, you can be at peace of mind when you share any information on that website.

Visit GoDaddy for your SSL certificates to secure your website and build trust with your audience that are searching for you.

Tip #6: Optimize submission form

Your website may include a request a quote page or contact us page and for either of the forms it is best advised to ask as fewer questions as possible but make sure that the information you collect is important. The user prefers it to be simple and straight forward and might not feel safe to share every single detail about themselves.

Complex and frustrating submission forms cause a negative experience for the user. Keep it simple, only ask for information that you really need and have the fields set in a logical way and what is most important.

These are our top tips to get the most effective results from your website provided by the best Web development company in Auckland, Swaich Infotech.

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No matter the company maybe big or small, keep your website healthy and error-free. Especially new start-ups need to take extra care and avoid shortcuts. For your business to run smoothly you need to regularly monitor the health of your website. It is just like looking after your own health and going for regular check-ups at the doctor. Get in touch with experienced website developers across New Zealand and if in Auckland then contact website developers Auckland to review your website and have a well reputed web development company look after your website maintenance.

Updating regularly is the key point and there are things that can be done weekly, monthly and yearly. It is kind of like a repeated cycle every year. Things that could be done weekly involve backing up your website so that a previous version of your website is always available, check the website is working as it supposed to and all pages are loading without errors, update the website software and get rid of any spam on your posts/pages.

Monthly items could include posting one or more blogs giving information related to the customers and drive more of the traffic to the website with improvement in SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Checking for broken links and fixing them, searching your website using SEO optimized keywords and see visibility. Other things such as website speed, website statistics, content is up to date, design is updated could be done weekly/monthly. Also, important to restore your most recent backup and see if it is healthy.

Renewing your website domain name yearly, ensuring each page and its content is reviewed, blog performance and updates are well studied will help keep your website up to date and in line with googles algorithm. Also consider any big changes on the design that maybe need updating. The more you do the better the results you will accomplish.

Benefits of website maintenance

• Better business reputation
• Greater customer experience
• Excellent SEO (Search Engine Optimization) results
• Savings on cost
• Your brand is well protected
• Website is always up-to-date
• Better revenue
• Lets you focus on your core business
• Secure website

Website maintenance can be done by yourself but be prepared to spend a lot of your time and need to have great patience. It is always recommended that you hire a professional to do it for you while you focus on our core business. There are a lot of website developers in Auckland and it is important to research the web development company before you get in business with them. Ensure you are getting a good result for the money you will be spending.

Let’s have a chat about how we can help your business. Get in touch >

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Why does my website need SSL certificate?

SSL certificate provides security for your website and protects the sensitive information being passed via the computer network. A SSL certificate ensures that only the intended recipient receives the sensitive data to protect us against hackers and identity thieves.

The SSL certificate secures:

• Credit card transactions.
• Personnel information submitted via contact forms.
• Login details.
• Data transfers.

The cyber-crimes are increasing day by day as the technology is evolving and it would be a great idea for every business owner to invest into a SSL certificate for their website. The price of a SSL certificate can range from $100/Year to $300/Year depending on the type of certificate required for your website.

SSL certificate types:

• Domain Validation (DV) SSL Certificate.
  • A DV SSL certificate comes with 256-bit encryption and is compatible with most web browsers.
• Organization Validation (OV) SSL Certificate.
  • An OV SSL certificate provides a high assurance SSL certificate to validate your business.
• Extended Validation (EV) SSL Certificate.
  • An EV SSL certificate provides top level of security to enhance customer confidence with your website.

How can I tell if a website has SSL certificate?

It is really easy to find out if a website has a SSL certificate and this can be done by simply looking for the lock symbol or “https” written in front of the website URL address at the top of the website page.

Website with SSL certificate installed:

Website without SSL certificate:

You might not have noticed it, but all the bank websites will have a lock or https in front of their URL.

Does SSL certificate improve my website’s google ranking?

Google recommends every site to use SSL certificate so that the users feel secure and protected. The key factor for google is the user experience and if anything can be done to enhance that experience then surely google will reward you for it. In this case the user will feel more secure using a website with SSL certificate installed and seeing the lock next to your website’s URL.  Thus, google will trust on a website with the SSL certificate installed and which in turn should improve your website ranking in google search.

Overall, the SSL certificate will be beneficial for your business website and for the customer as well who will be visiting your website. Installing a SSL certificate is really easy and can done by yourself or you can get a website development company to install it for you.

Let’s have a chat about how we can help your business. Get in touch >

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Swaich InfoTech is a web development company in Auckland and we make this process seem very easy and hassle free. We will involve you from the design phase and keep you updated throughout. One of the key focuses of our website development company is our client. We believe that the website should showcase the client’s business effectively and help them grow by reaching out to the appropriate audience.

Let’s have a look at a general website development process and what it involves for a basic website:

Domain Name – Simply put, it is the web address (www.swaichinfotech.co.nz) for your website. Purchasing a domain name is the very first step towards building a website. This is usually purchased by the business owner as it is very straight forward and easy to do but can also be done by the website development company. When purchasing the domain name, you should bear in mind that it should be unique and match your registered business. It will be beneficial if the domain name is simple and catchy, which will make sure that your targeted customers remember your web address easily. Some of the main domain name providers in NZ are godaddy, crazydomains, domins4less, etc.

Web Hosting – Now that you have purchased your domain name, it will need a web host which will provide the service to broadcast your website onto the internet. In another words the web host will help you in getting your website up and running on the internet. The web hosting part is usually taken care of by your local website developers in Auckland and has an annual fee to keep the website up and running on the internet. It is important to have a web host which provides fast response time to upload your website quickly. Having a website with a fast loading speed will be advantageous as it is one of the many things that google considers for ranking your website.

Branding – A unique identity is very important for any business to stand out. The website development company can provide their expertise and help you create a tailored logo for your business. Most households now days have apple products with that distinct logo of a bitten apple on them, have you ever wonder what it means or how it came about?  The apple logo represents the forbidden fruit from the “Tree of knowledge” from the biblical story of Adam & Eve and the bite in the apple stand for the computer term “Byte”. This shows that there was a proper thinking process that the designer went through to design a simple yet meaning full logo. Branding goes beyond just a logo, it also includes business cards, pamphlets, flyers, marketing banners, etc.

Design & Functionality – At this point the website development company will research and find out in depth about their client’s business. They will also involve the client to gain further understanding about his business and his requirements for the project.

The website design part will involve the aesthetic appeal of the website which will include the colour scheme, layout, content and images. The functionality side of the website development will ensure that the website will include all the important feature such as blog, social media, members’ login, e-commerce capabilities, advertising, etc. This part can evolve as the customer’s requirements can change throughout the process. These changes can be minor or major and should be well document so that there no miscommunication between the website development company and the customer. This part will determine the type of bells and whistles your website will have, so take your time and outline all the necessary requirements for your website.

Web Marketing – This is the deciding factor for your business presence online. One of the major aspects of web marketing is SEO. SEO stands for search engine optimization and it will help your website to get higher ranking in search engines such as google, bing, etc. Swaich InfoTech use white hat SEO techniques to ensure that your ranking is improved using the right methods as per the guidelines outlined by google, bing, etc.

The web marketing also involves Google/Bing Ads, Social Media Ads, blog posts and more quality web marketing services. Google/Bing Ads will help your business advertise for targeted keywords that relate to your audience. This will help your business to reach out to more customers that are specifically interested in your products and services. The Social Ads using Facebook, Instagram & Twitter will achieve the same outcome of reaching more customers but require a slight different setup. Lastly the easiest and effective way to get noticed on the web is by writing informative blogs. The blog if written strategically can improve the SEO for your website and improve your ranking significantly.

Testing – The website development company will provide testing for your website as well. The testing will ensure that there are no issues with the website and that it runs smooth on every device. The testing phase is the last milestone before the final project is delivered to the client. Testing is carried out by a professional QA (Quality Analysis) person and a number of different tests are carried out. The testing phase needs to be detailed and needs to follow a detailed plan to ensure that the website/software is bug free.

Swaich InfoTech team is a well-known website development company in Auckland and we ensure that the website development process is easy and hassle free.

Get in touch with us!

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What exactly is SEO?

SEO basically stands for Search Engine Optimization, also sometimes implemented as “search engine marketing” (SEM). It is best applied to your website for search engines such as google/yahoo/bing so that when interested audience enter search terms relatable to your website, it will improve your website’s ranking in the search engine result pages.

Why use SEO???

Google is the most used and reputable search engine in today’s world and having a SEO expert investing time in your business and website will get your website towards the first page on google search results. A well reputable SEO expert will take interest in your business and help you optimize your site in such a way so that your website attracts more traffic and your business gets better returns on your investment.

If SEO used effectively on your website, then it will put you ahead of your competitors but be very wise as there are some companies that guarantee first page ranking but they might take some shortcuts and use black-hat techniques which can have a negative effect on your sites ranking.

There are a few key strategies that can be implemented to drive SEO as listed below:

Responsive website – This will be taking the lead as majority of us now search online using smart phones, tablets & laptops and google recognizes this by giving priority to the websites in the search ranking which are responsive and mobile friendly. So, to have a website that is responsive will help you boost your business.

Content – While your website may be responsive it is also very important to have quality content that provides your customers and search engine crawl-bots with ease of navigation to gain valuable information. A well written content will get your website higher ranking and help you achieve your goal of getting on page one of google or any other search engine.

Keyword placement – To make it easy for people and search engines to find your site, you should have relevant keywords in your web content. It is always about getting visitors to your site, but getting the right kind of visitors will help you convert those visitors into customers. So, to attract the right visitors to your site will require some research about what keywords the customers would type in search engines to find your business. The keywords must relate to your website content so that the search engines can relate them to your business website and help the visitors find with what they are looking for.

Backlinks – Another site that is linked to your site is known as backlink. The backlinks help gain trust with google and other search engines as it verifies that your website is genuine and appealing to a wider audience.

One of the easiest backlinks that you could create is using social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google +, etc). It is obvious that social media has taken over the world over the past years growing effectively and it is the most perfect strategy to be used to help gain success in your business. Social media also encourages more external sites to link to your content and the more diverse external links you have, the more you will be recognized by major search engines such as google, bing and yahoo.

Swaich InfoTech is a well known SEO agency in Auckland.

Get in touch with us!

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