7 Reasons We Updated SmartWebPros.com (And Why Your Site Needs An Update Too)
September 20, 2018 | Category: Tips for your Business
You may have noticed that we recently put together a new, beautiful website. There are a lot of reasons why a company might want to update their website, and there were plenty of reasons why we did it. Most revolve around you, the customer (and some are just more fun)! So here are some of the reasons we updated our website that you may want to think about.
1. Updated Look & Feel
What We Did
Technology is constantly changing right now. Every time you replace your cellphone or computer (which, let’s face it, seems to be every couple years) you’re presented with an entirely new suite of features. Instead of playing catch up, we need to be on the cutting edge of web design. We made the navigation more intuitive, the icons slimmer and more modern, and updated the appearance. The site is sharper and easier to use. It’s also a lot more fun!
How You Can Use It
Keeping your website updated will help you to ensure the latest technology and design are used to retain customers. If you’ve ever been to a really old website, and had trouble navigating, you’ll understand how easy it can be to lose customers because of a site that’s difficult to get around or confusing. Plus, keeping the technology up to date keeps the site fast.
2. Branding
What We Did
Notice any cute and smiling faces around the site? These are our new SmartWebPups and they add more of our personality to the site. We also updated the colours to match our brand better. SmartWebPros isn’t just a web dev agency! We’re a group of diverse, fun and often silly people and the site needed to reflect that.
How You Can Use It
Ensuring your website reflects your branding is an integral part of having a consistent brand. Often, your website is among the first points of contact between you and your customer. If they don’t find you online first, once they do hear of you they’ll probably check out your website. It’s important that your site shows them who you are, what you do and how you do it!
3. Chat Bots
What We Did
When you enter our site, the first thing you’ll notice is the SmartWebPup peeking out on the right side. That’s our chatbot. It’ll ask you a couple questions and get to know what you’re looking for so it can help you navigate the site or get in touch with a SmartWebPro.
How You Can Use It
A chatbot will help people navigate your site or find answers to questions they might have. It can also be a good place to ask people to reach out to you.4. Scrolling Portfolio
What We Did
We do some amazing work. All our websites are beautiful and mobile responsive, which is an incredibly important aspect of reaching the consumer these days. Erin came up with a brilliant way to showcase our work. In our portfolio, click on a picture of a site we’ve made and then hover over the desktop, laptop, tablet, and mobile versions to see what it looks like on that device and how it’s responsive to that size.
How You Can Use It
Having a place on your site to show off your work, whether that’s through examples and images, or testimonials is incredibly important. Don’t overwhelm your customer, but still give them proof that you do good work! More and more people are viewing sites on mobile. When someone visits your site from their smartphone, it’s important that they can navigate and get around.
5. Responsive Home page
What We Did
What are your favourite kinds of websites? The ones that are responsive to you, your interests, and your needs. That’s why our websites are always mobile responsive, for example, and have been for a long time. The chatbot is another example of catering to a user’s needs. But one of the more fun ways we did this was in the design of the home page. Hover over the “Start Today” then move the mouse over to the play button. The background moves with your mouse! Not only that, but the buttons both react as well. The moving background is something that sets our site apart and keeps things fresh when a new user visits.
How You Can Use It
There are a lot of things that make you and your brand unique. It doesn’t necessarily have to be moving parts, but it does come back once again to branding. Find a way to set your site apart and give people that feeling of freshness when they enter your site. Plus, more and more people are viewing sites on mobile. When someone visits your site from their smartphone, it’s important that they can navigate and get around.
6. Sticky Video
What We Did
That play button on the home page opens up one of our videos that details our services. If you scroll down the page, it actually appears in the bottom right corner, so you never have to scroll too far to watch it.
How You Can Use It
Having prominent video content is a great way to get people to engage with your website. People often prefer to watch videos over reading longform content, and it’s a fast and easy way to give them an overview of who you are and what you do, or to give a message. It’s also great to give people the option of whether they actually want to watch the video or read the content. That’s why it follows you, but doesn’t autoplay. Sticky elements on the page can also help the user to find things you want them to look at.