Pinterest has been gaining popularity among designers for its innovative visual features. This platform allows its users to pin images from other websites onto a board. This can help to increase traffic to these sites, as well as serve as a virtual portfolio for designers. So how can you use Pinterest for your design business?

Building your brand

Pinterest is just as useful as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn at building your own unique online brand. There are some great ‘About Me’ sections to communicate just who you are and what you do. You can also link to your Twitter, Facebook, and website.

Finding design inspiration

Inspiration is critical for designers. You can get design block just like writers do. Pinterest is great because you can pin any cool websites to your board that you come across. When you need inspiration all you need to do is come back to your board. Make sure to use keywords like ‘web design’ in each pin board’s name so that people looking for web design can view your profile.

Creating a unique portfolio

Pinterest is awesome for showcasing your portfolio. You can create separate boards for different market segments, or different skills you have. Another thing you can do is post images from projects to your website, and then pin these images to your board. If anyone shares your images on Pinterest they will still link back to your website. This is a great way of turning Pinterest into a traffic source for your business. You can also just upload screenshots of your work, but this won’t link back to your portfolio.          

It’s absolutely important to keep page load times in mind when building your new business website. Users will leave if your website doesn’t load quickly enough, and traffic will begin to decline. Less traffic means less leads. Check out these five tips on how to minimize loading times:

Avoid Redirects

Some redirects are unavoidable, but you should do all you can to get rid of any that are unnecessary. Redirects increase page load times by adding an extra HTTP. Make sure to look for broken links and fix those!

Optimize Image Size

Images can end up taking a lot of your page size and significantly impact loading times. You should resize the images you plan to use with an image editor like Photoshop.

Image File Format

Always stick to standard formats for your images like JPG, PNG, and GIF! This will minimize any display problems.

Optimize Caching                  

Whenever a user visits your website they need to load its image, Java, and CSS files which can significantly increase page load times. Enabling HTTP caching on your website will let these files be saved by a user’s browser. Next time they visit your website they can simply retrieve the cached files instead of downloading them all over again. Optimizing caching can also reduce bandwidth and hosting costs.

Update your CMS Software

Content management systems like WordPress, Joomla, and others will release updates from time to time to their software. These will help to improve overall performance. Make sure to keep up to date!

Web design has changed a lot over the years, but it is surprising how many businesses make the same mistakes over and over again. The good news is you can learn from their mistakes and not repeat them! Let them drive away potential customers, while you laugh all the way to the bank. Here are a few things to avoid:

Not adhering to the Martian Man rule

If a man from Mars saw your website would they be able to tell what it was about in four seconds? For many websites, the answer is no. Your website should effectively communicate what your company does/sells/is all about quickly and concisely. Use appropriate images, taglines, and titles to do this. Keep it concise.

Having pages that are too ‘busy’

Do you remember that thing called MySpace? If you do, then you will recall how there were thousands of things you could add to your profile to customize its look. Some people thought this meant they had to use every single widget, and made their profile look like a collage of neon colors, sounds, and ridiculous images. Your website needs to be the opposite of this. Sometime a simple, minimalist approach is best. It’s actually en vogue now. You don’t want to distract users from the core content they should be paying attention to. Avoid a clutter, auto-playing music, among other things and you should be fine.

Failing to make navigation intuitive

A user should be able to get from point A to point B quickly and intuitively. Don’t make getting to an important section a cumbersome process for a user. Keep your navigation simple, intuitive, and prominent in your website. Use tabs for the most important sections, and avoid including unnecessary links or buttons.

Opening new browser windows

Pop-ups aren’t fun for anyone. They are distracting, and impede you from surfing the web easily. Some designers think that pop ups are alright because they keep the user on your site longer. That’s like saying it’s okay to for a restaurant to take 30 minutes to process your bill because they want you to order more food. If anything it’s going to drive business away. Avoid using pop ups at all cost on your business website!

Not answering users’ questions

This mistake ties back to the Martian Man rule. Every user should be able to tell what your business does right off the bat. They also need to have any questions regarding your business answered easily. Making important information readily available is key. Including things like an About Us, Contact Us, FAQ, and Blog sections are great for providing users with all the answers they need. A well-informed visitor is much more likely to seriously consider your company when making a purchase.

Capitalism is all about beating your competition to a pulp. It’s dog eat dog, and not all dogs go to Heaven. I understand that every industry is different, but for the sake of this article let’s assume that you and your competitors are more or less the same. Similar prices, product, strategy etc. So how to you beat someone that is a mirror image of yourself? By going the extra mile of course!

Using data and research to drive website design decisions

Data is king these days. Everyone wants actionable data that they can use to make informed decision. When it comes to website design, there are some different types of research you need to focus on. First of all, you need to truly understand who your customers are, and design your website around their needs, not yours. Using customer surveys or doing online secondary research can provide valuable insights into what your target segment wants/needs from you. Secondly, learn to use programs like Google Analytics, and truly become a master in interpreting the information they provide. Factors like abandonment rates, and hotspots on each page can help you identify how users are using your site, and where problem areas are. Use data like this to continually optimize your site design, so that you always your finger on your customers’ pulse.

Responsive Design

 One of the latest trends in website design is responsive design. This basically means designing your website so that it adapts to fit any device’s screen. More and more people are using mobile devices to access the Internet, which makes this new trend all the more important. Companies are steadily making the changes necessary to optimize their websites for mobile devices, but it hasn’t necessarily become industry standard yet. By utilizing responsive design in your website you will be going the extra mile, and making sure that anyone and everyone can use your site.

Strong Central Message

Content is arguably the most crucial part of website design. Your site may have a great layout, but customers won’t be coming back if the content isn’t compelling. Having a strong central message is critical. You need one that will resonate with your customers. This is true regardless of industry. Create a compelling reason for your target segment to think that your company has more to offer than anyone else. Focus on benefits over pricing. Pricing can change, but a strategy that revolves around identifying customer pain points, and responding with benefits is harder to imitate.

Awesome Branding

Branding is critical at every stage of a company’s life. As a small fish in a big pond it is even more important. You need to convince potential customers that you can hang with the big boys, and beat them at their own game. One of the easiest ways of doing this is through successful branding. Make sure your site looks as professional as possible, and be sure to select a strong logo. This will help to make your company look bigger than it is, and instill more confidence in users.

Simplicity – Less can be More

Trying to do too much at once can oftentimes inhibit your ability to be successful at anything. It’s the same idea when it comes to websites. Minimalism can be a great approach. Make it easy for your customers to see the important points, while giving them the option to read more details if they want to. Try to keep website copy concise, without babbling. Also avoid going overboard with media. This can really impact the professionalism of your site. Stick to what is absolutely necessary. Focus on readability when it comes to font choice, color, and size. There can be people with varying degrees of vision viewing your site, and maximizing accessibility is important.

Transparency

Another key area to focus on in your company's website design is maintaining a high degree of transparency. Since people don’t know much about you, you need to be really upfront with everything. This means providing easily accessible contact and business information. Anticipating any questions your customers have before they ask them is crucial. Make sure to address typical ones like what you sell, who you sell to, pricing, benefits etc.

Designing a great website for a client is extremely rewarding. It's even more rewarding when your customer thanks you for your excellent customer service and promises to refer you to others in their network. Providing great customer service is crucial if you want to be able to retain business and gain access to new clients easily. So how do you go about improving your customer service? Check out these three tips:

Go above and beyond the status quo to understand their business, industry, and vision.

As a designer you need to interpret words and ideas, and turn those into a visual masterpiece. This is not an easy task if you don't understand what their business is about. A great way of improving the quality of your designs is to do background research on your client's industry. Get to know what sort of design approaches sell well for their target market. Also, make sure to sit down with them and go over their business vision. This is important because you want your design to evoke their ideas. Your clients will undoubtedly be impressed with your dedication.

Make sure you clearly communicate your pricing and deliverables before starting work.

No one likes surprise charges. That's why people are always complaining about cable companies or banks. You agreed to pay $100 per month for cable/internet and now it's $145. That's terrible customer service on their part. There should be no surprises for the customer. As a designer, make sure you all of your pricing and deliverables are communicated upfront. The client needs to know exactly what they are going to get with their investment. Surprise charges drive away business. Don't be like a cable company.

Be available on different channels of communication so your customer can easily reach you with concerns.

Being available to communicate with a client is also very important for web designers. Web design is a back and forth process. Being on hand to deal with customer concerns or questions is critical to improving customer satisfaction. It's also important to use multiple channels of communication. Sometimes your client won't be able to reach you by phone, but can ping you on Skype. Maybe their e-mail isn't working, so they need to call you instead. As a designer you need to facilitate communication, not impede it. By being available on multiple channels you avoid customers getting frustrated.