Take a look at your website and put yourself in the role of prospective customer or client. If you’re not sure what to do when you land on the home page, you should assume that this is how your prospective client will feel. At best, they will poke around until they find what they’re looking for. At worst, they will leave.

The online realm has become very crowded. There are hundreds of businesses like yours on the block, and they’re all screaming for attention. You have to give your ideal customer a reason to stick around — or they’ll end up knocking at your neighbour’s door.

One of the most effective ways to get someone to do something is to tell them what you want them to do. For example, Google makes it very clear that they want users to search. You can do the same with your website through strategic use of effective call-to-action (CTA) buttons.

A CTA asks users to take action on your website. It is usually a button or banner with text that features a verb (e.g. learn, click) and hyperlink. The link takes users to a landing page.

Before you can craft an effective CTA, you have to ask yourself what you want users to do. This depends on your goals. If you run an e-commerce store, you’ll want to include an “add to cart” button. If you are B2B, you should use lead generation tactics, like getting people to subscribe to your e-newsletter via a “sign up” button.

Here are 6 effective calls-to-action:

• Download our free e-book
• Save 20% on your purchase
• Reserve your spot, space is limited
• Start your free trial
• Sign up for promotions
• Buy the book

Telling users what you want them to do can work wonders. You’ll get even better results if you also tell them why.

Related Information: The best call-to-action copy comes from a strong web copywriter. That’s why you should hire a web design agency with a copywriter on staff.

The post How to Increase Conversions and Get Users to Take Action on Your Website appeared first on Vancouver Web Design Agency - KIMBO Design Inc..

YWCA’s Connecting the Community Award is a unique opportunity for nominees to raise awareness about social issues. Nominees select the YWCA program they want to support and promote it via social media, email marketing or other channels. Winners are determined by an online vote.

Kim has chosen to support YWCA’s preventing violence against women program. YWCA provides many programs and services for women who are victims of physical and mental abuse. This support is critical for helping women rebuild their lives away from their abusive partners.

Kim believes strongly that moving away from an abusive situation is something all women can do if they have access to a supportive team. She has chosen to raise awareness about this issue because she believes that YWCA’s programs and services are integral to helping women get the support they need to escape abuse and rebuild their lives. As a women entrepreneur who specializes in marketing to women, she understands the inextricable link between women’s issues and women’s business development.

This contest also presents a real opportunity to connect with and engage people through social media. Social media is a vehicle that should be exploited by non-profits, and Kim and the KIMBO Design team are thrilled to leverage social for a social cause.

How It Works

Help raise awareness and prevent violence against women by voting for Kim. Voting starts on April 24th and ends on May 17th at noon. You can cast your vote once every 24 hours at per computer. Vote for Kim here.

The nominee with the most votes will receive the Connecting the Community Award. The recipient will be announced at the awards event on May 28th and Scotiabank will donate $10,000 to the YWCA program of her choice.

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WordPress is a prime target for hackers largely because of its popularity. Often, WordPress sites are hacked to serve up malicious content. When you visit infected sites, you risk being roped into the botnet.

What is a brute-force attack?

A brute-force attack is a password attack that does not attempt to crack the password. Instead, it uses a list of different passwords and cycles through the words until it gains access to the account. A more complex brute-force attack involves trying every key combination in an effort to find the correct password that will unlock the encryption. Due to the number of possible combinations of letters, numbers and symbols, a brute force attack can take months (or even years) to complete.

Common ways to defend against a brute-force attack

1. Use a higher type of encryption: Since brute-force attack takes a long time to complete, having a higher type of encryption is one way to fend off the hacker (e.g. 64 bit, 128-bit or 256-bit encryption). The higher the type of encryption, the longer it can take the brute-force attack to succeed.
2. Create a complex password: Creating a complex password is another way to protect your site. Use a combination of letters, numbers and symbols.
3. Locking out accounts: The most common way to stop brute-force attacks is by locking out accounts after a set number of failed password attempts. Account lockouts can last a predetermined duration. Or the accounts can remain locked until the admin is contacted for a reset.

Defending yourself against a brute-force attack

1. Inject random pauses when checking a password: Adding a pause into the login screen (even for a few seconds) can greatly inhibit the completion time of a brute-force attack. But it will not bother most legitimate users as they log in to their accounts.
2. Use a CAPTCHA: CAPTCHA is a program that differentiates between a human and a computer.
3. Assign unique login URLs to blocks of users: This will prevent all users from gaining access the site from the same URL.

Signs that indicate a brute-force attack

Although brute-force attacks are tough to stop completely, they are easy to detect because each failed login attempt records an HTTP 401 status code in your web server logs. It’s important to monitor your log files for brute-force attacks. In particular, look for the intermingled 200 status codes that mean the attacker found a valid password.

Here are some signs that indicate a brute-force attack:

• Countless numbers of failed logins from the same IP address.
• Logins with multiple usernames from the same IP address.
• Logins for a single account coming from many different IP addresses.
• Unnecessary amounts of usage and bandwidth consumption from a single use.
• Failed login attempts from alphabetically sequential usernames or passwords.
• Logins with a referring URL of someone’s mail or IRC client.
• Referring URLs that contain the username and password in the format shown here: http://user:password@www.example.com/login.htm

Here is a list of WordPress plugins that protect against brute-force attacks:

Limit Login Attempts
Simple Login Log
BulletProof Security
Better WP Security
Lockdown WP Admin

Talk to your web development agency today and make sure your site is battle ready.

The post Preparing for Battle: WordPress & Brute-Force Attacks appeared first on Vancouver Web Design Agency - KIMBO Design Inc..

Mobile Purchasing…the way of the future
Mobile purchases are now greater than desktops sales, and mobile Internet use is predicted to exceed desktop use by 2014. In addition, 67 percent of smartphone and tablet users say they are more likely to make purchases when websites are mobile-friendly.

SEO advantages over Distinct Mobile Pages
If your business is to adhere to consumer demand, it is essential to embrace responsive web design. The only other option is to create a separate mobile version of your website, but this lacks many of the advantages found with responsive web design.

There is a reason why Google recommends responsive web design for mobile configuration and calls it the best industry practice. Not only is it easier for their search engine to crawl, index and organize the content of your site, it is also much simpler for you to keep the same URL and HTML. You also do not need to manage two separate sites and two different SEO campaigns.

A better and positive User Experience
If you have two different sites, or if your site is not configured for mobile use, when a customer shares content from your desktop site and it is viewed by a user on a mobile device (or vice versa), the second user will receive a lower quality experience. In contrast, responsive web design allows users to easily share interact and link content through means such as social media.

Responsive web design ensures that all users receive an optimal experience with all devices and screen sizes. Furthermore, it ensures consistency: all users have the same experience. Users are likely to become frustrated if they need to find a different URL from a friend’s referral or from when they were browsing on a different device. For you, this could mean the difference between making or losing a sale (or even a potential customer).

Google recommends responsive design
Responsive web design is recommended by Google for Search Engine Optimization as well as user experience. Implementing responsive web design will make it easier for you to manage your site and campaigns now, and will most likely be even more necessary in the near future as mobile Internet usage continues to expand.

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Great. But even committing only to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn seems like a lot of work.

The good news is that there are ways you can be efficient with your time on social media. Here are a few ways to beat the clock:

1. Create a social media strategy: A strategy will save you a lot of time in the end. With a well-planned strategy, you will always know what to post and how often. Creating a social media strategy is a good exercise for your team. It forces you to review your target audience and the best methods for engaging them. A strategy brings a sense of order to the social space (which can often seem daunting and disorganized). It creates consistency and order. But be careful not to be too rigid. Social media is, by nature, rather unpredictable.

2. Delegate social tasks: Give your employees the freedom to engage online. It helps to split up the work. After all, they are your brand advocates. Use your social strategy to help determine roles and responsibilities online. Create guidelines but, again, don’t be too rigid. Social media is all about engagement and interaction between real people. Make sure that your team interjects some personality.

3. Use a social media management tool: There are many tools that can help you manage your social media activity. One of our favourites is Hootsuite. With Hootsuite, you can schedule posts, cross-post to different profiles, analyze your stats, collaborate with team members, and more.

4. Hire a social media consultant: A social media consultant can help you create your social media strategy. They can help you identify your goals and how best to reach those goals. A consultant provides an outsider’s perspective, which can help you realize avenues and opportunities you may have otherwise missed. Plus, they are experts and can help you execute your strategy — which saves you time and money.

Related Information: Do you want to work smarter, not harder? Consider hiring a web design agency with a copywriter on staff.

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Customers are more likely to engage with a company that has a sleek, stylish and user-friendly design. It reveals professionalism and expertise. And since you want to remain competitive, you’ve allocated the funds to hire a website design agency. But what about website writing?

You probably wouldn’t call yourself a writer. But as the owner of a company, you write every day. You’re also the expert on your business. So why not write your own copy?

Here are 5 reasons you should hire a web design agency with a copywriter on staff:

1. Language: Being an expert may mean you use a lot of jargon to explain your business. But your customers and potential customers may not speak the same language. A professional copywriter can explain your business using objective, accessible language (or, Plain Language).

2. Customer Benefits: A copywriter can help you focus on the needs of your target customer or client. As a business owner, you probably focus a lot on your achievements and what you do well. Which is great! But what the customer cares most about is how you can help them. A copywriter can make this distinction more easily because they are able to see things from the customer’s perspective.

3. Time: Writing copy for every page is a lot of work! This can be an overwhelming realization once you get started. As a business owner, you have many responsibilities. Hiring an agency with a professional copywriter on staff might get you home earlier on week nights (or at least, no later than normal).

4. Expertise: Website copywriters are trained in writing for the web. You might be an excellent writer, but website writing is different than regular writing. Customers read differently online, and a copywriter knows how to engage them and encourage them to take action.

5. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Most importantly, hiring an agency with a copywriter on staff can get you found online. With strategic SEO copy, your website will rank well in search. Which means an increase in leads and ROI.

Work smarter, not harder. This means hiring the right professionals for the job — leaving you to do what you do best.

Related Information: Looking for other ways to stay competitive? Learn about responsive web design and how it can enhance your business.

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What does this mean for companies?

It is no longer sufficient to have a website that is only optimized for desktop computer screens. And it is inefficient (not to mention costly!) to design separate versions of your site to accommodate every screen. Even desktop screens are changing (they’re getting bigger). Technology in general is rapidly changing and companies need to adapt.

So what’s the solution?

Responsive web design is becoming the only viable option for those who want to preserve their online presence. A responsive website will adapt regardless of the device. And if the designer uses a fluid grid layout, they are better able to preserve their design across varying screen sizes.

What is a fluid grid?

To put it simply, fluid designs “flow and adapt to the user environment”.

Adaptive grids, by contrast, require that designers manually modify the dimensions to suit specific screen sizes. Fluid designs can demand minor adjustments from the designer, but they should be easier to create in the end.

What’s the bottom line?

The success of your website depends largely on its design and functionality. Responsive design will keep you competitive. Hiring a website company to design a responsive site using fluid grids will save you time and money.

Related information:

Looking for other ways to stay competitive? Here are 4 mobile trends to add to your marketing mix.

The post Responsive Web Design & Fluid Grid Layouts: Our Solution to a Growing Issue appeared first on Vancouver Web Design Agency - KIMBO Design Inc..

Here are 7 questions clients ask before they pick you:

1. Can this company build my website? Do they have experience building the kind of website I need?

When clients look at your portfolio, they are drawn to work that is similar to what they’re looking for. A combination of industry, style and functionality is generally what catches their attention.

2.  Do I like their work? Are their websites user-friendly and attractive? Is their style appropriate for my business?

Ensure that your websites follow the best usability practices, and that quality assurance testing is part of your process. You can’t really ensure that your style will appeal to prospective clients, but you can employ certified graphic designers who are aesthetics experts.

3. Does this company understand my business and industry?

In order to design a website that communicates effectively to a client’s target audience, you have to understand that audience.

4. What is the chain of command? Will I be able to communicate directly with the designers and developers?

Clients like to be able to speak directly with the account managers and designers handling their project. This reduces waiting time and improves communication.

5. Has the company provided any innovative ideas that will enhance my website?

Clients are usually looking for suggestions and recommendations — as long as your ideas are creative and insightful.

6. Does the company provide any value-added services?

Do you offer any services that could enhance their website or business? Clients should be able to envision a relationship with you that exceeds the duration of their website project.

7. Am I confident that this company can build a website that will improve my search engine ranking, drive leads and convert leads into sales?

This is the bottom line. Clients appreciate a well designed website, but they also want it to enhance their business. Can your solutions deliver the results they’re looking for.

Related Information

Is your client-to-be looking for website design or website development? Do they know the difference?

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First of all, if you are selling a product or service, you must advertise. There’s no way around it. Whether it’s through magazine ads, Google AdWords or word-of-mouth, you need to let your target know what you are offering and why they should buy it from you.

Since we’ve established that advertising is a must, here are 5 reasons to advertise on Facebook:

1. Reach: With an estimated 1 billion users, Facebook is the place to be. If you are in business, this means that you have customers. If you have customers, they are more than likely using Facebook. And the same is true of your customers-to-be.

2. Targeting: Your product isn’t for everyone. You need to advertise to the people who are most likely to buy. Facebook allows you to aim your ads at your target demographic. You can filter by age, location and interest. If created properly, your ads won’t fall on deaf ears. And if they do, Facebook’s ads manager makes them easy to tweak.

3. Endorsements: Often, there is nothing more powerful than word-of-mouth recommendations. How likely are you to purchase a product that has been recommended by a friend? Facebook’s Sponsored Stories make it easy to surface organic recommendations. When a fan Likes or comments on your ad, their friends will see it, thereby extending your reach.

4. Efficiency: Did I mention that Facebook advertising is easy? It’s true that it can be a learning curve. But compared with more traditional forms of advertising (like newspaper and online banner ads), Facebook ads are easy to set up and adjust. If something isn’t working, you don’t need to wait. You just log in and fix it.

5. Affordability: Facebook advertising can be surprisingly inexpensive. Especially when compared with traditional advertising. (Do you know how much TV spots cost?) You can promote posts to highlight your marketing message for as little as $20 or $30. And the productions costs are zero.

Related Information

Your advertising strategy depends on your position and goals. Pair Facebook ads with other advertising ingredients for the ultimate campaign.

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Many people confuse “web design” with “web development.” They also assume that a web developer is a designer, and vice versa. But the two are not interchangeable. So before picking up the phone to hire that web designer you Googled, you should understand the difference.

Web Design

Web design is the look and feel of a website. Web designers create the graphics and style elements, and they also design the visual layout. They must have a good grasp of user experience, as they are also in charge of content organization and site structure.

Web designers often have degrees and designations in graphic design. They tend to be creative and intuitive. This is sometimes in direct contrast to the logically brained web developer.

Web Development

Web development is the functionality and execution of a website. Web developers are programmers, proficient in one or more programming languages (PHP, C#, etc.). They are primarily concerned with whether or not the website and web applications are functioning correctly.

In the web design/development process, the web designer passes her website mock-ups (the look and feel) to the web developer. The developer, then, executes the design and required functionality.

The Bottom Line

Some web developers may have web/graphic design skills. Similarly, some designers have an understanding of front-end development. Generally, however, most professionals are stronger in one area. This is why you need both a web designer and a developer.

When you hire a web agency, you ensure that your design and development needs will be satisfied. At KIMBO Design, we employ trained web designers and developers. They work together, but their roles are different. By combining their strengths, they create flawless designs, seamless user experience and functional solutions.

Related Information

Now that you understand the difference between web design and development, you may also want to wrap your head around the difference between graphic design and communication design.

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