Tag Archives: Web Design Wexford

Mobile-First Indexing and SEO

Mobile-First Indexing
April 23, 2019
Mobile-First indexing was introduced by Google as an effort to make websites on the internet more mobile friendly. According to trends more users use mobile than desktop when browsing, so in accordance with this user behaviour trend Google have placed a higher emphasis on how a website is designed and works on mobile than on desktop. At its core mobile-first indexing means that when Google index websites and determine their ranking on a wide range of factors that they are basing their judgement firstly on how the website looks and performs on mobile rather than desktop. Since Google now actually indexes sites on a mobile first approach it means that they are first ranking your site on how responsive and how well designed it is for mobile. If you are unsure whether your website is being negatively impacted it’s important to remember not to panic. According to Google themselves if your website is already responsive on mobile or if both versions on mobile and desktop are the same already then your rankings may not be affected at all. However, it should be noted that even if your website is a very responsive site to rank well with mobile-first indexing in practice you need to ensure that both your website’s mobile page speed and it’s load time are fast and efficient and that all images are optimised correctly so that the user experience on mobile is not compromised or hindered in any way. By ensuring that your website looks great on a mobile device firstly you can be safe in the knowledge that it will then translate brilliant to other devices. That’s because if you design for the smallest screen first it will be a lot easier to successfully replicate on a big screen rather than if you were to take the opposite approach. Designing for mobile first means that you have to design within it’s tighter limitations, while initially this may sound like a negative, it is actually a good thing because it will force you to really prioritize the content you display as you will have no room for extra fluff or fat. This helps to ensure that the all important user experience you deliver will be the best possible. When Google looks at your website as part of mobile-first indexing and determines that you are delivering an optimal user experience as well as having a website that looks and works well on mobile they will look favourably upon you and you will rank well so obviously it is great for your SEO. For advice and information on having a successful website get in touch with 2Cubed today! Please feel free to follow and interact with us on the following profiles. facebook icon twitter icon linkedin icon Instagram icon Google+ icon

3 Questions You Need to Ask When Getting a Web Design Quote

Web design quote
April 18, 2019
When you have made the decision to embark on the journey of getting your very own website for your business you may start to feel overwhelmed with where do you actually begin in this entire Web Development process. Well unless you are a web developer yourself the first step is to seek out a web design agency and get a quote from them to develop a website that you have envisioned. Getting a web design quote is easy, what’s hard is wading through the plethora of quotes and finding the right web design agency who offers you a web design quote that is not only suitable for your budget but also that you can entrust to make your vision of the perfect website a reality. Whilst money and cost is obviously a big deciding factor when choosing a web design quote there are also some other very important factors that shouldn’t be ignored when choosing which web design quote is the right one for you. In fact, ignoring these factors in favour of a “cheaper” quote might well cost you more in the long term when it comes to fixing website issues and problems that could have been easily prevented by going with the right web design agency for you. The following are questions one should always ask themselves:
    • Will the Website be bespoke? This is a very important question to ask as this well ensure that you weed out any web design agencies who simply just use templates when developing websites. By ensuring that the web design agency you choose creates bespoke websites ensures that your website will have it’s very own unique web design and style which will make it stand out from the competition.
      • What Platform will be used? It’s important to know what cms (Content Management System) your website will be developed on such as WordPress, Magento, Drupal etc… It’s important to know what platform your website will be designed and developed on because at the end of the project when you take control of the website you will need to be familiar with the CMS to actively be able to make changes and run the website yourself from a content management point of view.
     
    • What projects has the company worked on before, portfolio? Does the company have a portfolio of their previous work? If so make sure to check out some of these websites. By looking at how they are designed and working you will get a good insight into what your website will end up being like when fully designed and developed. If your website is focusing on a certain industry such as beauty or pharmaceuticals make sure to check if the web design agency has past experience with creating websites for other businesses in the same industry as yours.
Choosing a web design quote from a web design agency is a huge decision and one that shouldn’t be made lightly. By asking yourself the above questions you can minimise the risk that you make a bad choice. 2Cubed are an Award Winning Website Design company in Ireland with offices based in Wexford & Dublin. 2Cubed provide a range of online services for small and medium enterprises including Web Design, Web Development, and eCommerce Website Design. We offer well-designed and appointed websites for all levels of business. 2Cubed Web Design Wexford and Dublin also helps monitor and assist your progress post-launch, so that you’re given every chance of growing your website or application into a booming online business. Please click on the link below to get a web design quote. GET A WEB DESIGN QUOTE TODAY Please feel free to follow and interact with us on the following profiles. facebook icon twitter icon linkedin icon Instagram icon Google+ icon

The importance of an SSL Cert & HTTPS for your Website

SSL Cert
April 15, 2019
If your website does not have an SSL cert then you are severely limiting the chances of your website being successful. In August 2018 Google began to flag websites who had not gotten an SSL Certificate for their website. This means that Google will mark all websites that have not already migrated to HTTPS as being “not secure”. An SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private and integral. If you don’t have the SSL certificate, a secure connection cannot be established, that means, your company information will not be digitally connected to a cryptographic key. When you wish to ensure that your website ranks consistently well on search engines you need to make it clear not only to Google but also potential new users that your website is safe to use and to browse on. By having an SSL Certificate your website will display as HTTPS and will not have the “Not Secure” message which will instill confidence in all users on the website that it is safe to browse and to use their credit card details to purchase any products/services that you may offer. Having HTTPS also instills confidence in Google who will reward you by pushing your website up the rankings higher than it would if your website was still HTTP. Switching to HTTPS is simply the logical move, not only does it give your site more security, but it will also improve your rankings. To get your site to switch to HTTPS you will need to have an SSL Certificate. To inquire about getting an SSL certificate for your site get in touch with us today! Please feel free to follow and interact with us on the following profiles. facebook icon twitter icon linkedin icon Instagram icon Google+ icon

The Importance of Great Web Design for Great User Experience

Great Web Design Wexford
March 28, 2019
In the world of Web Design & Web Development the goal of User Experience (UX) is to ensure that all users who visit your website have a positive experience whilst browsing on it. To ensure they have a positive User Experience the Web Design of the website should be done in a way which means the user can easily interact with the website and all of its respective functions and that none of their time is wasted and they are not frustrated in any way. Basically at its core the goal of delivering a great User Experience is to get your website successful conversions and repeat traffic because the users who visited the website had a good experience.      To ensure your website has a web design that will deliver a great user experience the web and graphic designers working on it need to put themselves in the mindframe of the target demographic of users who will be visiting the website. User Experience is so important as it is what bridges the gap between users and the website and when done well it will hold their attention and keep them on the website. To ensure that your Web Design will create a website with a great User Experience one should do the following:
  • Take on board fully all user feedback when testing the website and all information about user behaviour from tools such as Google Analytics 
  • Ensure that your web design is consistent throughout the entire website which will give the website a natural flow 
  • Ensure that your website page speed is very fast and that the page load times are good so that users will not get frustrated/bored/leave the website. 
  • Tailor your web design always with the user experience in mind
By having a website that has a Web Design that delivers a great user experience you will actively increase your chances of gaining followers to your website and making it a success. The best way to achieve this is to have consistent web design that is easy to navigate, easy to use with great functionality all developed always with the user in mind. If you would like to inquire about improving your website’s design and user experience please contact 2Cubed and get your business the traffic and success it deserves. You can call us on 01-9058114 or 051-440425, email hello@2cubed.ie or else get in touch using the live chat on our website! Please feel free to follow and interact with us on the following profiles. facebook icon twitter icon Great Web Design Wexford Instagram icon Great Web Design Wexford

How to Improve Your Website Page Speed

Website Page Speed
Category: Tips and Tricks
March 19, 2019
Website page speed is the measurement of exactly how fast the content on your page loads. This means how long it takes to fully display the content of your page. One of the best ways to evaluate your page speed is to use the free tool Google PageSpeed Insights. In one of our most recent posts we went into great depth on how important having good results on Google PageSpeed Insights really is. In that post we made the point that page speed is a very important factor for SEO as it is known that Google uses page speed as one of it’s many signals used by its algorithm when ranking pages. As well as being important to Google, page speed is very important to user experience also which plays a part in how your website ranks. There are many ways to improve your website’s page speed such as: Fully Switching over to https: Ensuring that your website has an SSL Cert not only shows that your website is safe to browse on and to purchase products/services safely with your credit card but it will also help with your SEO as Google looks favorably on websites who have an SSL Cert over those who have none. Where this affects page speed is when the http version of your website is cached and redirects to your https version. By ensuring that your website automatically redirects to the https version you can greatly enhance the page speed. Rectifying Image Related Issues: Images tend to be a common issue that cause an unfavorable page speed. Images can cause issues unnecessarily as they can be a huge size and of too high of an image quality than required or needed. To rectify these two issues it’s recommended to take a look at all your images and to both compress and resize them as necessary. By resizing them to a more appropriate size and by compressing them to a more appropriate image quality you will reduce your page load time which will in turn improve your page speed. Browser Caching: By implementing browser caching on your website you are telling visitors to your website exactly how long their browsers should retain information/memory of your website for. This means that a message would be sent to the users browser that images on the website should be cached (remembered) for three weeks so that when this specific user visits the website again within this three week period your website will load more quickly as the resources to remember the images are being pulled from their device instead of your website. This takes some of the workload away from your website and in turn this will improve your page speed also. Improving your page speed is a never-ending goal and something that should be continuously worked on to improve it as much as possible as it is so important not only to SEO and User experience but the overall success of your website. If you would like to inquire about improving your website’s page speed please contact 2Cubed and get your business the traffic and success it deserves. You can call us on 01-9058114 or 051-440425, email hello@2cubed.ie or else get in touch using the live chat on our website! Please feel free to follow and interact with us on the following profiles. facebook icon twitter icon linkedin icon Instagram icon Google+ icon

The Importance of Ecommerce for Retail Businesses

The Importance of Ecommerce for Retail Businesses
Category: Tips and Tricks
March 15, 2019
Ecommerce has grown dramatically in its importance and its ability to be the deciding factor between whether a business is a success or not. This was more clearer than ever from the findings in the 2019 PwC Irish Retail & Consumer Report which provides a vast array of interesting insights about consumers and the current state of the retail sector in 2019. One of the prevailing recurring themes of the report was the need for retail businesses in this day and age to not only have a website but an Ecommerce website where customers can purchase products online. Two key insights found in the report in relation to Ecommerce was that 20% of Irish consumers shop online weekly or more often via their mobile devices and also 30% of consumers purchased online weekly or more often in 2018, compared to 24% in 2017. There are many reasons why you should consider having an Ecommerce website for your business if you haven’t already. Here are 3 great reasons why you should have an Ecommerce website: Better Customer Experience By having an Ecommerce website it is extremely convenient and easy for customers to browse your online store and purchase a product whenever they wish. By having an online store you remove the need for the customer to make the journey to your bricks and mortar location and purchase their product of choice. By giving them the convenience to do this at home they will be more at eased and relaxed. A happy customer is a buying customer. Reach a Broader Global Market By bringing your retail business into the digital market you will open yourself up to a whole new market that can potentially have a global reach. When you are a bricks and mortar business your customers will be generally just those in the immediate area as it would be inconvenient for others from further afield to travel just to shop at your store. By restricting yourself to only the local populace you have not only greatly reduced your target market but also reduced your potential earnings. By having an Ecommerce website you remove this restriction and your market is virtually endless in its reach. Passive Earnings By having an online store you are always open for business 24/7! This is a great advantage over a traditional shop which is open for a certain amount of hours and usually only on certain days also. When your store is online and always open for business people can purchase off you any day at any time. By giving them this convenient option you have endless opportunities to earn money as you are no longer restricted by traditional business hours. While there is and will always still be a place for traditional physical retail businesses it cannot be denied that those choosing to shop online are increasing and will continue to do so into the future. By not having an Ecommerce website you’re not only restricting your potential earnings but you are ignoring an ever growing and important part of the retail market. If you would like more information or would like to inquire about getting an Ecommerce website created and developed please contact 2Cubed and get your business the traffic and success it deserves. You can call us on 01-9058114 or 051-440425, email hello@2cubed.ie or else get in touch using the live chat on our website! Please feel free to follow and interact with us on the following profiles. facebook icon twitter icon linkedin icon Instagram icon Google+ icon

Wexford Social Media & Digital Marketing Excellence Award 2019

Wexford Business Awards 2019
March 11, 2019
The Wexford Business Awards which are now in their eleventh year, are county wide awards which recognise the entrepreneurialism, innovation, diversity and talent of businesses across all sectors in the county. The Wexford Business Awards honour Wexford’s industry leaders through the acknowledgement of their innovative business processes, product development, enterprise, sustainability and overall business success. This year 2Cubed are delighted to be the official sponsor for the Wexford Social Media & Digital Marketing Excellence Award. The purpose of the Wexford Social Media & Digital Marketing Excellence Award is to recognize and honour Wexford based businesses who have achieved success in their sales and marketing by successfully utilizing the very best of the latest business thinking, creativity and technology to put themselves apart from all competition and to be number one in the frontier of social media engagement. An independent panel of Judges will come together to discuss and decide who will be the lucky recipient of the 2019 Overall Wexford Business of the Year Award. They will choose the recipient of the  2019 Overall Wexford Business of the Year Award from the pool of winners of each existing category. The winners and runners-up in each of the award categories and the overall Wexford Business of the Year Award 2019 will be announced at the official County Wexford Business Awards Gala Ceremony, on Friday, 24th May 2019 in Clayton Whites Hotel, Abbey Street, Wexford. 2Cubed wish the best of luck to all involved in the 2019 Wexford Business Awards. For any and all website support and queries please contact 2Cubed. You can also call us on 01-9058114 or 051-440425, email hello@2cubed.ie or else get in touch using the live chat on our website! Please feel free to follow and interact with us on the following profiles. facebook icon twitter icon linkedin icon Instagram icon Google+ icon  

Google PageSpeed Insights and why it’s so important!

Google PageSpeed Insights
Category: Tips and Tricks
March 6, 2019
Google PageSpeed Insights is a free tool offered by Google which is designed to report and make an informed determination of the performance of a specific web pages performance on both Desktop and Mobile devices. Google PageSpeed Insights also provide suggestions on how that specific web page can be improved. The report that is provided by Google PageSpeed Insights provides you with information such as field data and lab data about your submitted web page. Lab data is a type of data that can be used to aid with debugging performance issues whereas field data’s main use is that it captures real-time user experience metrics which can be helpful. As mentioned previously since PageSpeed Insights are a free tool offered by Google anyone can simply search “Google PageSpeed Insights” and enter their website URL to get a live up to date results for their PageSpeed on Desktop and Mobile devices. Entering a URL and hitting “Analyze” will quickly get you a detailed report of what’s slowing that web page based on two parameters and this report will also come with recommendations on how to fix it. When you enter your url your website will be analyzed and within a few seconds you will receive a score for both desktop and mobile which will be a percentage out of 100. 0%-49% is considered slow, 50%-89% is average whereas 90%-100% is considered fast by industry standards. The reason these scores are important is because they play a factor alongside general SEO optimisation when it comes to google’s algorithm of ranking websites. Basically the better your Google PageSpeed Insights score is the more likely you will be to rank higher than others provided your general SEO optimisation is done efficiently as well of course. Google recently changed how PageSpeed Insights judge websites and since Google have made this change a lot of websites are finding that their once higher score has now fallen and they are struggling to get it back to it’s once former glory. When your website is analyzed by Google PageSpeed Insights as part of their analysis summary they will provide diagnostics and opportunities for improvement. By following these suggestions you can improve your overall score again. Google PageSpeed Insights true to their name provide a great insight in to the health and strength of your website by giving you accurate reports on it’s page speed. As it’s a free tool there is no excuse to not avail of it and use it’s useful information.

IMPROVE YOUR GOOGLE PAGESPEED INSIGHTS SCORE

To inquire about improving your score on Google PageSpeed Insights please contact 2Cubed and get your business the traffic and success it deserves. You can also call us on 01-9058114 or 051-440425, email hello@2cubed.ie or else get in touch using the live chat on our website! Please feel free to follow and interact with us on the following profiles. facebook icon twitter icon linkedin icon Instagram icon Google+ icon