Web Design Trends that are Changing the Internet Landscape in 2017

Last year, we saw a lot more businesses adopting the mobile-first approach and, consequently, implementing responsive design on their websites to make them mobile friendly. 2017 is shaping up to be another great year for Website Design, as we see many innovative trends are being adopted around the world. 

Here are some of the top web design trends that are transforming the Internet landscape in 2017: 

Layouts that bring the focus to the content

Content is still king, and more designers are waking up to the fact that people navigate to websites to read content and not just to view neat animation tricks. In 2017, we expect many sites to be redesigned to make the content more readable and clear, with elements promoting ease of readability. 

SVGs to improve loading times

Scalable Vector Graphics (SVGs) are relatively new technology. They are an alternative to traditional image formats like PNG, GIF, and JPG. They allow designers to produce images that can be scaled up and down to match any screen size without loss of fidelity (unlike other formats). What’s more, they don’t require HTTP requests, so pages with them load lightning-quick.

3D design elements

3D design isn’t new, but we saw the mainstream implementation of 3D elements on top websites via technology like Parallax scrolling. This year, we are going to see designers make websites that can be viewed on 3D wearable devices like Oculus Rift.

Colors helping the minimalist approach

There has been a trend in the market to build websites that have a minimalist interface and a clutter-free design. Bold and bright colors are being used to both emphasize the content as well as to promote a brand’s identity.

Constraint-based design tools

Developers usually have to create several versions of a site for different screen sizes. In 2017, the market is being flooded with tools like Figma that allow site makers to build a site only once and have it displayed correctly across multiple platforms.

Are you looking for to make a new website in 2017? Openwave’s leading Web Design & Development team can make you a custom website with leading-edge features at economical prices.

Mobile Marketing Statistics Indicate how 2017 is the Perfect Time to Advertise with Apps

A report by Nielson says that the number of mobile ads on target last year were 60 percent. That means that out of every 100 ads released on mobile devices, 60 were viewed by people who had high chances of being converted into paying customers. With the number of mobile users through the roof, companies from around the world are turning to the mobile advertising – especially via apps – in an attempt to boost brand recognition and grow revenues. Mobile Ad Campaigns Targeted at a Younger Crowd are Succeeding

The report tells us that ad campaigns that were directed at people between 18 and 34 and 25 to 44 years of age were more successful as compared to desktop campaigns targeted at the same 

age groups. 

This report - and general trends - indicates that the younger generation (with a high purchasing power) is amenable to receiving ads via their phones and is also eager to make purchases from them.

Why Should You Advertise Via an App? Many businesses are creating custom apps that they are using as an advertising medium. Here are some reasons why you should advertise with one:

• Ease of access: Advertisements can follow people wherever they go. It is easy for marketers to target on-the-go customers and not have to wait for them to log on to the net.
• Vast potential market: There will be over 3 billion people using phones by the year 2020. In fact, the number of phones in the world is already higher than the number of PCs. If you want to find more customers, smartphones represent perhaps the best medium out there.
• Real-time medium: It’s a perfect medium to promote instant discounts (flash sales) and to offer location-based services. When a person is in a section of a store, for example, you can offer them a discount.
• Low cost: It doesn’t cost a lot to offer personalized ads on applications, as compared to placing ads on social media, on TV, or in the papers. 

Are you considering building a custom app for your business? You can hire dedicated mobile app developers in Singapore to make you one at affordable prices.  

Avoid Making these Costly Rookie Mistakes When Promoting on Social Media

Reputation is everything when it comes to running a business. A bad reputation erodes trust among current and potential customers, which makes it less likely they will work with you or buy from you. In this digital age, mistakes can have huge repercussions. A single mistake can destroy in an instant something that was years in the making.

When promoting on social media, it's important that you keep your wits about you to keep your reputation intact. Here are some costly mistakes you should avoid making while engaging followers:

Posting inappropriate content

Many companies have gotten into trouble over inappropriate content over the years. It's important that your posts be free of political or religious content that could offend certain people. Create content that is relevant to your business and make it a policy to get multiple people to check a post before publishing it.

Attacking or abusing someone

No matter how impolite your customers get online, you shouldn't engage them - it can only reflect poorly on your business. Do what you can to assuage customers quickly. There will always be trolls on the internet, too - people who feed off negativity and attack your company for no good reason. If you don't pay them any attention, though, they will go away.

Not reaching the right people

Your content has to be tailored made for the clients you do business with or customers who want to buy from you. You must know what your customers like, what they are looking for, and what kind of posts they are likely to enjoy reading.

Paying money to get 'likes'

Some businesses make the mistake of paying for 'likes' or social media followers. Paying is a rookie mistake - it's very unlikely that these people care about your posts and you will be engaging an audience that is totally irrelevant to your unique business.

It's important that your content strikes the right balance between usefulness and promotion for maximum effect. A simple way to target users is to hire social media marketing specialists from leading Company or email to salesSG@openwavecomp.com, who’ll help set your campaign right on track.

Top SEO-Friendly eCommerce Platforms that can maximize Sales

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is crucial for your online business. Statistics tell us that almost 50% of all online purchases originate from a search query. By getting your online store to rank higher in search engine rankings, you will get more incoming traffic and ultimately make more sales every month.

What does Search-Engine Friendly design entail?

There are a lot of factors that affect SEO. Some of the top ones include:

• Independent navigational links
• Page titles
• Page URLS
• Meta descriptions
• ALT Tags
• H1 headings
• Canonical URLs
• Blogs
• Social sharing
• XML Sitemaps
• Domain names
• IP Address
• 301 redirects
• Robot Noindex

To maximize sales, you have to build your eCommerce store on an SEO-friendly platform. To help you out, here is a list of top platforms that align with the factors above and provide above average search engine optimization:

Magento

Over 500,000 businesses use Magento, and it has near perfect SEO scores. Magento is the platform of choice for big and small businesses alike.

Shopify

Shopify is a hosted solution, meaning you have to pay the developers a monthly fee to host your store. You can build beautiful stores on it, though, that always rank high in search listings.

PrestaShop

PrestaShop is used by over 250,000 businesses worldwide. The platform is perfect if you want to build a low-cost store with advanced features.

OsCommerce

With OsCommerce, you can build advanced stores with many features, but you need advanced programming knowledge to make it search engine friendly.

BigCommerce

The selling point of this platform is the ability to build megastores with no product limits at affordable prices. It also helps that the platform’s layout is easy for Google to index.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce stores rank very highly on Google. It allows you to turn a WordPress website into a high-performing online store.

OpenCart

OpenCart is a very cost-effective eCommerce platform. It is very cheap to set up and run a store on it, and they don’t impose limits on your products like some other platforms do.

You will need a fast-loading, attractive, easy-to-navigate store to convert a visitor from a search engine to a customer. You can hire an experienced eCommerce development team in Singapore to build a custom store with advanced features.