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Is Your Site Ready for Google’s New Security Ratings?

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Chrome is Tagging HTTP Sites as  “Not Secure” Starting 2017

In Google’s upcoming release of its popular Chrome Browser, there will be a number of updated features designed to make web browsing safer, quicker, and easier for all users.

But businesses and web-site owners should be aware – the newest Chrome version will also begin tagging all HTTP sites as “non secure.” Google’s security team describes the change here.

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Ground Control to Your Website… Is Anyone Responding?

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It was just over 6 months ago that Google announced that their world-leading search engine results would be making a big shift in favor of responsive websites. Since then, a lot of companies (including several of our own clients) have changed their approach to their online presence. But because it’s still a newer trend, we often get the question “What IS Responsive Web Design?”  

Responsive web design on mobile devices phone, laptop and tablet pc

So here are the basics:

Responsive Web Design (RWD) optimizes your website depending on the type of device being used to access it. So that means…

  • Site design automatically resizes and adjusts for desktop and laptop monitors vs mobile phones and tablets. No need to scroll or stretch or skew unnecessarily
  • Links are easily accessible even in small-space formats – which means appropriate spacing on small screens
  • Seamless form submissions across platforms – allowing for easy keyboard entry as well as interactive system pop-ups for completing forms and fields
  • Integrated browser add-ons or app functionality – if your customers need to download a PDF file, they should be able to do so regardless of the device – however desktops and laptops can add this functionality to browsers, and the Adobe app may be better for mobile devices.

Basics aside, RWD is also based in a number of technical aspects that aren’t often integrated into “standard” or templated websites. These are:

  • Proportion based grids – essentially the fluid sizing element that scales design automatically by using percentages or proportions rather than static pixels or points
  • Flexible images – also sized in relative units so they change when the rest of the site does
  • CSS3 media queries – which is how sites “know” what size screen users are viewing the site on
  • Use of Javascript or Ajax to run certain interactive portions of the site
  • Implementation of different URLs (such as /mobile) to ensure ideal UX for any platform.

So it’s a bunch of small things that add up to a big impact… but that doesn’t mean you should consider doing some responsive upgrades and not others. The truth is, there’s no downside to making your website more user-friendly – only upsides like increased traffic, better sales, and more repeat visits.

Adding an “X” factor to your website

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You’ll hear a lot of us in the design and marketing field talk about UX – and it may sound like a techy buzz word, but it’s quite possibly the most important aspect of what makes a website a success or failure.

UX is simply “User eXperience” and it goes well beyond how things look, what the content says, and how the back end functionality works. Actually – it’s how all these things work together, because UX is the “big picture” scenario of how well (or poorly) a website is received by its intended audience.

Take for example our own website, which we recently updated for a better UX. Previously, the Kompani Group site followed a format we’re all pretty familiar with – top menu navigation, linked pages, a somewhat linear flow of information. And while it was a solid, working site, it wasn’t addressing all the ways people come to KompaniGroup.com. Look at you, for starters… you’re here because of a link to this blog post in an email sent directly to you. Or, you’ve come directly to this page from a search engine link. Or you may have come to this page right through the front door of the site and navigated yourself here. We had to consider the many pathways people take when interacting with our site, and realized there were some things we could do better.

  • One of the first was the concept of infinite scrolling. We realized that scrolling to info is easier and faster on touch screens on tablets, mobile devices, and laptops. So we made sure it wasn’t just about clicking links.
  • We also rethought the way we present information. This meant featuring what we “do” rather than what we “offer.” It’s a small shift with big implications – and we used web analytics to drive that decision. Our users wanted to get to the “end solution” quicker – so we chose to lead with that in our messaging and navigation.
  • In rearranging and redesigning, we also found a few additional opportunities to update imagery and content to reflect a more active, dynamic, engaged side of our brand – the side that comes from our person-to-person approach to client service… so we wove that into the UX as well.

Of course, every business is different. We recently updated a site for our client V2T to have a better UX. Again, we focused on prioritizing the type of information people wanted and placing it within better reach, and then enhancing the visual aspect to draw people through that information. For an e-retail client, BSI Medical Supply, we had completely refurbished the back end functionality of the site, and needed the front-end UX to reflect that improved shopping and purchasing experience.

The next time you look at your own website, try doing so as though you’ve never been to it before. Visit from a different device than usual. Or, sit over the shoulder of someone who’s never once been to your site and see what they have to say. You may be surprised at what you learn about UX.

v2t-website-devices
V2T user experience on different devices

 

Google Search Goes More Mobile

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Make sure your website is set up for Google’s new mobile-friendly algorithm

There’s a change going on in web design right now – and the shift is caused by the growing use of mobile devices to access web content. What used to be fundamental truths about navigation, font size, page layout, and more are rapidly vanishing in favor of more fluid design.  With this in mind – Google has started evaluating mobile usage as part of its search engine rankings. Users searching for a resource from a mobile device will automatically receive mobile-friendly sites higher-up in their search results.

Here’s a list of the four most common issues you should be aware of:

  1. Viewport not configured / Fixed-width viewport
  2. Touch elements too close
  3. Small font size
  4. Content not sized to viewport

So why is Google doing this? Quite simply, they want to remain the gold standard in internet search. If users keep finding themselves at unusable or inconvenient sites, they may cease using Google for future searches.

How should you Respond? The answer is in the question itself. Make your website more responsive. If you’ve spent time and resources towards SEO and search engine rankings – your hard work could be for nothing if mobile users can’t (or won’t) use your site. Google has even provided a guide to mobile-friendly sites and there’s a mobile-friendly test.