Step 1.)

Go to “Overview”

Step 2.)

Go and find “Enabled APIs”

Click “View all APIs”

Step 3.)

Find “Additional APIs”

and

Click “Maps Javascript API”

 

Step 4

Click the “Enable” button

Step 5

After enabling the api. You should be presented with this .

Done

Maps Javascript API should now be enabled.
If you are following Step by step guide on how to register google map API  

You may now proceed to step 6. 

The post Step by step guide on how to enable Maps Javascript API (UPDATED December 2019) appeared first on Paperdino Technology.

Step 1. )

Open any web browser (internet explorer , firefox , google chrome) and type in https://cloud.google.com/console/google/maps-apis/overview and press enter

Step 2. )

If you haven’t logged in your google account yet you will be presented with this image. Just log in your google account. But if you have already logged in your google account go to step #3.

Step 3. )

After you logged in your google account, you will be presented with this dashboard .

Step 4. )

Click the APIs link located at the left side of the dashboard .

Step 5. )

In the list of Enabled API , you should see Maps Javascript API . Click that link. If you do not have Maps Javascript API enabled . Go to Step by step guide on how to enable Maps Javascript API.

Step 6. )

You should be presented with this Panel .

Step 7. )

Now click Credentials tab .

Step 8. )

Copy the google map API key .

The post Step by step guide on how to register google map API (UPDATED December 2019) appeared first on Paperdino Technology.

Yet, we strongly believe that graphic design matters in the workplace. Here are some of the reasons why small businesses should emphasise more on graphic design.

Statistics Don’t Lie – Design Converts

Are you someone who believes in solid numbers? Then take a look at these statistics that prove that graphic design is fiscally beneficial to your small business.

In the 2005 study done by a group called The Design Council, they discovered that companies that put more effort in their design did way better than the ones that didn’t : by 200%.

If you need further convincing, another finding that came out from this study shows that “every £100 a design alert business spends on design increases turnover by £225”.

Statistics don’t lie, design do converts. So, invest in graphic design for your small business because you will be winning in the long run.

Graph courtesy of Eglinski. Check out the performance of design-alert businesses (red) against businesses that aren’t design-conscious (yellow)

Packaging Design Changes how People Think about your Product

Yes, all of us know the proverb “Do not judge a book by its cover.” Yet, knowing it doesn’t make it any easier to prevent judging the product based on its packaging. That’s why graphic design matters in making the packaging work and the product sell.

In fact, Malcolm Gladwell found out that slight additions and changes to a certain product’s packaging actually alter the reaction and taste people had. Look at some of these findings summarised by blogger Joseph Putnam.

“If you add 15 percent more yellow to the green on 7 UP packaging, people report that it has more lime or lemon flavour, even though the drink itself was left untouched.”

All of these discovery further proves graphic design matters , especially when building your brand identity! Don’t underestimate this impact on your small business and make proper design decisions in your packaging to make it work.

Great Design = Memorable Brand

Let’s be honest here : you’ve probably bought a product over another simply because it’s ‘better-looking’.

Chances are, the great graphic design is what made this possible, be it the website layout of the video hosting site or the label of the snack bar you just picked up. So, what can make your brand unique is your sleek design.

Look at this example : Blk Water is uniquely different from bottled water brands because the water is black. Despite the blackness supposedly coming from the added minerals and nutrients, the black is the obvious design that sets them apart from the other competitors.

Truth is that, many people find this black water cool. People are happy to pay more for this specific brand despite this water tasting the same as your normal bottled water brands. This is a new experience for people that they’ll enjoy. Therefore, this design alone sets Blk Water apart from the pack and shows that graphic design matters.

Design is More Than How it Looks

Graphic design matters. Yet, good design is more than making it look pretty, it’s even more about making it user-friendly and ensuring it works well.

To make it simple, design is like a translation & communication service.

It isn’t just about making fonts on your letterhead look nice, it’s more about putting together colours, images and typography on your letterhead, turning complicated data and software capabilities into a simple user-friendly format, as well as figuring out the best way to convey your information and value to your audience.

Quick example to consider : Canva. Graphic design isn’t the simplest business with the endless elements to examine, tools to utilise and things to learn. Yet, with a simple interface on Canva, tedious task of selecting format and organising image are made easy with a click of the button, making the design process a breeze for most people.

Yes, these are the reasons why graphic design matters to your small business. But no, creativity and good graphic design don’t grow on trees. Do hire a professional designer to help your business be truly successful.

If you’re keen to make your business stand out from all others, contact us today!

The post Why Great Graphic Design [Really] Matters for your Small Business appeared first on Paperdino Technology.

In today’s modern world of technology, your website is the digital storefront of your business, and it should be as functional as it is good looking. If your website has a 10 seconds site load time or an awfully outdated design, it may be pretty obvious that your website needs a revamping.

But if you’re unsure, here are 5 key signs that indicate you need a new website. 

1. Your website looks like it CAME OUT OF THE 90s

Simply put, if your website looks out of date, people probably wouldn’t bother checking it out, let alone stay for long. Given 15 minutes to read a website, two thirds of people would rather spend time on one with aesthetic designs, instead of a plain one. Attractiveness of your site is the key credibility of your business.

And let’s be frank, a website that looks like it came out of the 90s is probably hard to navigate, lacking of functionalities and practical elements as well. Everyone wants to be able to find things easily and effectively on a website. Yet, an out-of-date website defeats all of these.

So if your website looks something like this….

Then it’s probably time to revamp your website.

2. Your website DOES NOT work well on mobile devices

Non-responsive website

Mobile-friendly website designed by Paperdino

Get your phone and type in your website URL into the search engine. How does your website look? Is it easy to view or navigate?

On your mobile device, if your website looks like the one on the left, instead of the one on the right…

Whoops. Your website probably isn’t performing too well then.

With more than 50% of web visits come from mobile, there’s no excuse to not have a mobile-friendly website.

Do keep in mind though, mobile-friendly doesn’t mean that you should have a separate website for mobile devices. What a responsive website means, is one that adjusts accordingly to fit large and small screens and works perfectly across all kinds of devices, be it a desktop, tablet or mobile device.

 3. Your business services has changed, but your website content HAS NOT

Yikes! This is a big one.

Along the years, if your business has pivoted or certain services have changed, it’s important to reflect your changing services on your website.

Think about it, if you’re no longer repairing computers, yet your website showcases you as the ‘computer repairing expert’, this website just won’t cut it. You’re giving wrong signals of the services your business provide to people who came across your website.

To sum up, small tweaks and updates are necessary to keep your website content aligned with your business services. In fact, when you have a WordPress website, it’s so easy to manage yourself that there is no excuse to leave your site out-of-date. We’ll even show you how next up.

4. Your website takes FOREVER to load

When you think about the expected page load time for a user who has just arrived on your website, a good rule of thumb is “faster is better”.

Studies show that 47% of users expect a site to load in 2 seconds or less, and 50% of users will actually ditch a site that takes more than 3 seconds to load. That’s a crazily big loss of web traffic. And that’s why it’s so important to have a website with a fast site speed.

Try avoiding these typical cases for a slow load time in your new site :

• Large, uncompressed images
• No browser caching
• Too many redirects
• Slow server response time
• Too many redirects
• An out-of-date CMS (check out the next point!)

5. It’s WAY too difficult to update content yourself

Long gone are the days in which you’ll need advanced HTML skills or a computing degree just to add a new page to your site or update site content.

These days, Content Management System (CMS) is king, making it possible for anyone in your office to update content on your page. Go with an easy CMS platform like WordPress, and have control over your users’ experience and new site’s content.

And if you ever need to tweak pages for SEO purposes, edit text copy and photos, or just change a certain format on your site, you can do it easily on your own on your new site.

Ticked all of these boxes and now looking for a team of experts you can trust for a website revamp?

Give Paperdino a call now at (+03) 8597 8957 or send us a message online, and let us help you to improve your online presence with a new website. 

The post 5 Signs You Need a Fresh New Website for Your Business appeared first on Paperdino Technology.

It may be a little intimidating to find a graphic designer without understanding much about the design industry. But relax, we’ll get you rolling on the right foot.

Here are our top 4 secrets to find a great graphic designer!

1. Find someone you can work with in the long run

When you’re choosing a designer, think of it as the start of a long relationship. The optimal outcome of an design project comes from strong collaborative work between your you and your designer. Ideally, your designer will be your go-to person who understands your brand and delivers amazing and reliable results. 

That’s why it’s so important to work with a graphic designer that you like, get along with and trust. If possible, try to meet and talk your potential designer, be it in person or through a phone call. All of these will make it easier to look for someone you can work well with in the long term.

2. Ask to see their design portfolio

Check out Paperdino’s portfolio first when you’re interested in getting a graphic designer.

Look at previous work samples in designers’ portfolio, and you’ll gain certain insights of their style and approach. Review deeper into their design portfolio and you’ll be surprised at what you can find.

Here’re a few key things to keep in mind while looking at designers’ work samples.

• Make sure there’re ample amount of samples since a low amount may indicate lack for experience
• See if they’ve done designs for similar businesses like yours for a great design fit
• Ensure their strengths goes along with your immediate and long-term goals

Yes, examining their design portfolio takes time, but it’ll make your decision much much easier. Because from here, you’ll get a glimpse into whether this designer’s style aligns with your preferences – or not.

3. Work Out your Budget

Understand how much you are willing to spend on a design. Be ready to spend time researching typical rates for design services. These are two key elements in figuring out your expected budget for a design project.

Recognise and appreciate the value of the services you’re searching for. Even if less-experienced graphic designers charge a lower rate, you may find them needing more time and direction on a project, leading to more of your time required to assist as well.  On the other hand, despite the higher rates of an experienced designer, they tend to work more efficiently and produce quality-assured work, without much of your direction.

Cheaper doesn’t necessarily means better. Ultimately, it just comes down to how important the design is to the success of your business and how much are you willing to spend on it.

4. Be clear with your expectations up-front

Outlining your expectations right from the start is essential for any successful design project.

No designer would like it if you just went up to them and say “I need a website design” and little else. Instead, lay out a detailed creative brief about your business, the objective of your project and any other requirements. Basically, the more information you provide, the easier it is for your designer to give you exactly what you want.

Another thing to discuss up-front is your basic parameters, such as anticipated response time to emails, potential obstacles, or even just when you work and when you don’t. Being clear with requirements and desired results will definitely enhance the communication and efficiency of the project.

Instead of doing a DIY project using low cost print suppliers, choosing a graphic designer is actually an exciting part of your business!

If you need any help with any of your design projects, our graphic design agency – Paperdino is more than happy to discuss more with you regarding your design requirements and budget.

The post Top 4 Secrets on How to Find a Great Graphic Designer appeared first on Paperdino Technology.

So, if you want to be ahead of the game, here are 5 Must-Haves Features for your Small Business Website.

1. Have an Easy Navigation Bar right at the top

Clear and concise navigation bar on top of the page.

A happy customer is one that comes to your website and manages to navigate through the site easily to find what they are looking for. That’s why it’s vital to have a clean and easy navigation bar with clear website features at the top of every page.

If you look at the image above, the options in Paperdino’s navigation bar are clearly stated, including : Home, Services, Portfolio, Blog & Contact Us. 

Be customer-focussed. Think about where a customer should go if they need to contact customer service or what will they do on a specific page. On designing site navigation, try to view things from a customer’s point of view and make it as easy as possible for them.

2. Optimise Local SEO

SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is important for any small business website. If SEO is done well, users who are searching for services or products like yours will be able to find your business in the search results, based on relevance to search terms.

Since your website is for a small business, focus more on boosting local SEO, so that when users look up for similar businesses within your service area, your website will show up.

A few simple ways to boost local SEO include : 

• Optimise title and meta descriptions tags with local keywords
• Claim and optimise Google My Business
• Create local business profiles on online directories, such as True Local & Yellow Pages

Optimising Google My Business to increase website local SEO

3. Don’t forgot your CTAs

Nothing can replace a good Call To Action (CTA) on your website. You need to encourage visitors to take action after visiting your website.

However, a mere “Submit” or “Price Quote” button isn’t enough to convert users. Instead, the CTAs on your website should elaborate on your value proposition. Describe the value users will get by taking the action you want them to take, such as “Sign up to learn the secrets of being productive at work with less effort” or “Use the smartest way to get around with Uber”.

4. Have a responsive web design

One thing to keep in mind for your small business website, is to have responsive design that is mobile friendly. Currently, almost 60% of all website traffic comes from mobile devices and tablets. With the growing likelihood of customers viewing your website from a mobile device, it’s vital to have a responsive website design that automatically adjust to screen size perform great on screens of all sizes.

If you’re still not convinced, take a look at these key benefits of a responsive web design

• Cost Effectiveness
• Provides a better user experience
• Improves SEO rankings
• Ease of management

The case study below is a clear example of how Paperdino designed an interactive and responsive website for Chefavour, that looks great on all screens, be it tiny smartphone screens, medium-sized tablets, or giant desktop displays.

Responsive website design for Chefavour, done by Paperdino.

5. Create a Blog Page

Nothing beats having a blog page for your website since it provides free quality content for your customers. With a blog, it’ll drive traffic to your site, possibly convert those visitors into buyers and establish your authority as an expert in the field.

A few things to keep in mind to optimise blog platform.

• Encourage visitors to subscribe to your newsfeed
• Have a catchy title, quality images, two to three internal links, and a good call-to-action
• Choose suitable categories and quality metatags
• Update often! At least once weekly, and Google will reward you for your constant updates. 

Paperdino’s Business Blog

To sum up, these are some key elements to having a great small business website.

How does YOUR site measure up?

If you need help in setting up a website that stands out from your competitors, Paperdino can help you here.

The post 5 Must-Have Features for your Small Business Website appeared first on Paperdino Technology.

Why so?

Well, it’s the first thing people see. It tells a story about your business key benefits and values. And it affects people’s purchase decisions and impressions.

Think about it. Nike’s swoosh and the classic Apple – these are stunning representative of the brands itself. 

So, that’s why having an effective logo design is so important. Want a logo that stands out yet represents your business well? Read on to find out.

1. Choosing the Right Colour Matters

Even if purple is your favourite colour, that still doesn’t mean you should use it as your logo colour. Colour can communicate a brand’s message and evoke certain emotions. Therefore, the selection of colour is vitally important.

Take a look at this logo design here.

TopLife Fitness Club logo designed by Paperdino.

Since Toplife Fitness is a fitness centre, hence the bright red in the logo represents the excitement and bursting energy of athletes and bodybuilders. 

Now, think about it. What meaning do each colour below represents?  

Each colour has their own meaning, and look at how each brand used them differently! 

2. Avoid Cliche

This is easier said than done. Every few years or so, a couple of new fads come along in logo design and you’ll see everyone jumping on the bandwagons. However, a lot of times, these will lead to blatant cliches.

Remember this simple archetype shown above?

Although it used to be great, it’s way overused and is getting old fast. Why not get creative with the design type rather than just ripping off what everybody else is doing?

If you’re keen to know more about logo design cliches, check out these 5 logo design trends to avoid to make sure you’re not just following the crowd.

3. Playing with Negative Space

According to Creative Blog, negative space is “the space that surrounds an object in an image.” It’s one of the sneakiest yet most effective logo design because it keeps one’s attention from what’s not there.

Few ways of relying on negative space : 

Create a Symbol by Combining Letters

The classic example of this approach will be the FedEx logo and its hidden arrow.

Don’t see it yet? Look closer. Between the “E” and the “X”, there’s a white arrow pointing to the right. By combining these two elements, it makes the logo forward moving, reflecting FedEx’s mission of providing  speedy parcel delivery.

Play a Mind Game

Notice this Guild of Food Writer’s logo.

At first sight, it’s a simple logo design that showcases the nib of a fine ink pen with the name of the organisation below.

But if you’re more observant, you’ll notice that there is a shape of a spoon in between the space of the two prongs of the pen nib. This simple yet powerful message shows the concept of amazing food and writing.

Create a Cut-out

If you already have a business icon, why not try placing that icon on a white or solid colour background and really look at it? You’ll be surprised how you can cut out a part to showcase another shape, then link it back to the business’s value proposition!

Similarly, making a cut out, the Girl Scouts organisation focuses on the shape of a girl’s face in the logo design, reflecting back to their girl-focussed mission.

4. Keep it Simple

Admit it, not everyone can create gorgeous, hand-drawn illustrations on the spot.

But why fret?

What you have to do is easy, just keep it simple!

Point is, simple but effective logo designs are the ones that create an lasting impression in the world.

Let’s look at the Apple logo for that matter. 

The silhouette of an apple is nothing special. 

Yet, that missing bite is what took this logo off the ground. It gives the logo character and injects the meaning to it (computers and bytes, get it?) With the bite, the apple became one of the most well known icon of Apple computers ; but without it, the apple is nothing.

A complicated logo design is hard to understand and less engaging. So keep it simple and flip your boring yet complicated designs into iconic trademarks.

5. Know What the Logo Design Means

Every logo has a story to tell. You just have to use it to showcase your business’s value proposition. We’ve went through this from several examples above. The Apple logo is missing a “byte”, the arrow in the FedEx logo represents fast and proceeding onwards.

If you look at this logo design. 

Meltour logo designed by Paperdino.

Meltour Aus is a travel company in Melbourne for the younger generation. Therefore, this logo design uses a flying “M” to illustrate flying off from Melbourne, while utilising bold colours to appeal to the younger target audience.

How about this logo design for Quality Flooring – a  company offering quality timber floor with great service and price?

Quality Flooring logo designed by Paperdino.

Little story behind the design.
With the shape of letter “Q”, the logo design was created.
And guess what? The logo pattern reflects the growth rings in trees, linking back to the business’ value of providing high-quality timber. 

Therefore, before you start designing the logo, give some thought about the branding and unique values of a business. No effective design inspiration will come without properly understanding the company.

If you’re curious how to create logo designs with meaning, check out this well-written blog post which reveals 25 brilliantly designed logos with actual meanings behind.

6. Hire a Professional Designer

While it’s tempting to try designing your own logo, creating a logo design completely on your own is not an easy task and not worth skimping in.

That’s why, if you are actually considering to design your own logo, it’s a better option to seek help from a professional designer. I mean, we all love doodling, but probably our weird drawing of a giraffe/horse probably isn’t anywhere near a logo design.

Therefore, keep your art skills to yourself and trust a professional designer with your logo design.

That being said, if you want to save costs from going to a well-known big design firm, why not go for smaller design firms, like Paperdino? With that, you’re more likely to save some cash yet get a decent logo.

If you’re interested, check out our logo portfolio. 

Conclusion

Now that you’ve read our tips on logo designs for business owners, and you’re happy to test and implement these logo design ideas, in no time you’ll have a good logo for your business.

If not, you can always hit us up at Paperdino to seek for professional logo design help.

The post 6 Things Business Owners Know about Logo Design that You Don’t appeared first on Paperdino Technology.

First impressions last.

You have seconds to ensure a positive first and strong impression.

That’s when business cards come into the picture. A nicely designed, unique business card is an ideal way to create a good impression and establish a solid connection. Who knows, isn’t real life about unexpectedly meeting a lady in HIIT lessons who produces the exact gadgets your new product requires to be great?

Get the ideal card that represents your business, your brand values and yourself by learning these greatly-compiled business card design tips. 

1. Settle on your idea

This card remains classic with a few fun and bold touches. By Paperdino.

Flip your brand values into a business card design.

Think about your needs and wants then figure out the best way to the tell the story of your business.

Keep your images (if you use any), colours and textures consistent with present advertising materials, and make sure they align with the brand values that distinguish your business from everyone else.

If your company is all business, your cards need to be too; stick to classic designs with minimality look and stylish fonts and hues.

If your brand appears more creative or playful, that’s great! You have the freedom to use striking images, bold colours, unique shapes or humour to get your message through.

2. Sort out your specs

You can’t begin without understanding the simple parameters of your project, so figure these out first. Or at least know what your choices are so that you know what’s crucial to your and your budget.

Size

There are a couple of ‘standard’ sizes for business cards, with the typical one being 55x85mm. 

You can go bigger, but if you do, your cards are less likely to be kept. If you go smaller, you have a higher shot of being kept, as long as they fit in a typical card folio.

Any non-traditional size will cost you more money.

Orientation

This means the way individuals see your cards.

Landscape

Landscape business card by Paperdino.

A landscape layout is more traditional, yet it’s still the most common orientation. It is easy to view, works properly in card holders and you can print it on any printer. However, it is not as unique as other alternatives.

Portrait

This is a clean and classy look that became more popular recently. You can print it on any printer too. On the down side, it is harder to keep in a card holder.

Square and Custom cuts

Unique business card with a custom cut that works perfectly for the brand.
Photo : César Santiago Molina via Flickr

These unique cuts look cool, yet they’re usually much highly-priced. They are also likely to seem gimmicky for your business. However, if it works with your brand image, it will be a powerful decision. If you’re interested, here are more innovative business card design. 

3. Keep in mind essential design tips

It may appear apparent but it’s worth reiterating that a business card is a piece of print like all others. Therefore, the simple concept of paper-based outline applies to business card design.

• Maintain your key copy at least 5mm from the trim edge

• Work under the most favorable conditions picture generation

• Keep work at 300dpi for ideal image reproduction

• Make sure your typography is in minimum size to ensure card quality

• Design in CMYK unless you’re working only with spot hues

• Numerous designers discover that grids help in laying out cards, seeing that grids can assist you to obtain the proper hierarchy of data and guarantee correct alignment (in case you need a reminder, check out this guide to grid theory)

4. Experiment with unique materials

Most business cards are printed on card stock. This is the most practical choice for printing your cards.

If you’re willing to get more creative, trying printing onto various unique materials, including transparent plastics, metals, wood and even slate.

This cheddar business card serves as a grater as well.

So keep in mind that business cards should be easy to carry around and keep in a pocket or bag, yet don’t be afraid to be imaginative with your decision of card material and you’ll instantly standout from ordinary business cards.

5. Double check your design work

If you cards have words, make sure that they are spelled accurately.

This tip applies to each and every print work you do. However, it’s so crucial that it’s really worth reminding for business card design. Before sending off your art work to the print store, make sure you’ve double checked every single detail.

There’s nothing more regrettable that getting back your cards and coming across a typo in the name or email address. Check twice, print once. It’s true advice.

At Paperdino, we help you with your business cards design.

There you have it. By now, we hope you can use these incredibly useful business card design tips for your small business!

Want more business card design inspiration? Check out some of our favourite Paperdino business card designs!  

The post 5 Incredibly Useful Business Card Design Tips For Small Business appeared first on Paperdino Technology.

As a designer, we are looking for images that bring emotions to our designs and it has become an every day challenge to find the best photos and images for our clients.

That is why many companies have taken note of this fact and created amazing images stock databases to sell online and as you may know they can get pretty expensive.

So we decided to make a list of websites from which anyone can download free stock images. I use them all the time and you can do the same for your projects without getting into any trouble.

All these photos and images can be used on blog articles, product pages, videos, images collections galleries or any other place you may see them suit for.

Let’s get started with these 10 amazing websites to download free stock images:

1. Pixabay

Pixabay don’t just offer free of copyright images but also videos! You may download, modify, distribute, and use them royalty free for anything you like, even in commercial applications.

2. Pexels

Pexels is the direct competition with Pixabay as they also offer videos for free. Their database of photos and videos is huge and for sure you can find what you are looking for here.

3. Unsplash

Free, do what ever you want, high resolution photos.com be used anywhere you need. They have a huge database with all kind of images and new photos are added every day.

4. Realgraphy

Realgraphy is ideal for designers because they manage probably the largest database dedicated to stock images and they are all free!

5. Real Light

These guys bring Free high-res photos for commercial and personal use including amazing posed shots photos that are beautiful or for any online store website.

6. Splitshire

This website provides all kind of beautiful images to be used commercially for free, great quality photos, Beautiful images and colorful images considered trendy today. It is all free I’m they’re ready to be using any prorated or to edit them on Photoshop to use in any matter you need.

7. Skitterphoto

Skitterphoto is the best place to find and share public domain photos. They have an extensive database of free stock images and don’t matter what you’re looking for it can be found here. Some of the images had been already edited as some others are raw I’m beautiful.

8. Fancycrave

Full of categories and minimalistic layout on free images from professional photographers is the main thing Fancycrave bring to us. there is also guarantee of two new photos everyday.

9. Foodies Feed

Foodies Feed Half an beautiful collection of free stock images dedicated food they have felt beautiful search engine that is really efficient and easy to use.

10. Free Nature Stock

Free Nature Stock provides royalty-free nature images updated everyday they are 100% unedited and ready to be edited by you. As the name state all images are based on nature and their uniqueness and beauty are unequal across the Internet.

Conclusion

Definitely there are a lot more that I’m leaving out because they don’t update often or they don’t offer good quality images. In any case this is a great start point for anyone looking for enhancements on their websites, blog, articles, products or anything else you may need.

This article has been created based on requests from our clients that are always looking for ways to improve their websites with beautiful images and amazing photos.

If you have any reference to any other website to download free stock images that you’ll consider to be useful for this list please leave the link in the comments below.

The post 10 Amazing Websites to Download Free Stock Images appeared first on Paperdino Technology.

Have you ever visited a website on your mobile device or tablet and found yourself zooming in/out or changing the aspect of your device just so that you can read the text or see the whole site?

Well, you are not alone.

This is an example of non-responsive web design, and this scenario has been experienced by 96% of mobile internet users. Responsive web design is when a website, including its images and text, automatically resizes (or responds) to the device on which you are viewing it. The result is that you have a beautifully functional website on all devices; phone, tablet, or desktop.

Responsive Web Design

Kayla Knight of Smashing Magazine may have summed up responsive web design best:

“Design and development should respond to the user’s behaviour and environment based on screen size, platform and orientation.”

Whilst you do not have to be aware of the technology behind such website magic, the result is achieved via a mix of flexible grids and layouts, images and complex use of CSS media queries (sorry for the technical mumbo jumbo). It is important to remember that responsive web design is not simply having a mobile version of your website (e.g. m.yourbusiness.com). In fact, as you will learn below in many cases a mobile version of your site can be a disadvantage.

Let me explain.

Below, you will read the 5 eye-opening benefits of responsive web design for small businesses.

1. SEO Benefits: Higher Search Engine Rankings

Quite simply, Google prefers responsive web design.

They said so, and they are kind of a big deal.

As reported by Search Engine Land, Google has suggested the superiority of responsive web design, as opposed to a mobile version of a site, is a consequence of 2 primary reasons:

Search Engine Optimisation Globe – Paperdino web design

Each page of the website has only one URL, rather than a desktop and mobile version of each page. This improves user interaction with website content (discussed further below).

Improved efficiency when Google evaluates your site as it doesn’t have to “crawl” multiple web pages.

Accordingly, a representative from Google has suggested that responsive web design gives your website “the best chance of performing well in our search results”.

2. Social Media Benefits: Improved Engagement and Sharing

There are clear benefits social media benefits of responsive web design. They are best illustrated with some statistics to illuminate the mobile social media landscape. Research reported by Unified Social has shown that mobile users are:

Nearly twice as likely to share content on social networks than desktop users (7.7% vs 4%)
66% more likely to retweet on Twitter
3 x more likely to share content on Pinterest
39% more engaged in Facebook fan page posts

Impressive.

I knew that mobile social media shares were higher but I didn’t know that it was double!

Social Media on Mobile – Paperdino web design

Thus, it is imperative that your content is delivered efficiently and beautifully to both mobile and desktop users. Furthermore, all users will be accessing the same content on the same URL, and you won’t have desktop users accessing a mobile version of your website.

3. Conversion Rate Benefits: More Customers and Sales

What are small business websites for if not improved sales?

In a research report from Google, What Users Want From Mobile Sites Today, it was clear that a mobile friendly site converted more visitors into customers. Users reported that when encountering a mobile friendly site (as compared to non-responsive) they were:

74% more likely to return
67% more likely to buy!

Client ready to pay – Paperdino web design

What was even more concerning was the consequence of a business not having a mobile friendly website. When users encountered a business website that was not responsive, it was reported:

48% felt frustrated and annoyed
50% stated they will use the business less (even if they like them!)
52% were less likely to engage with a company
Quite obviously, if your business is not utilising responsive web design – you are leaving business on the table.

Think that these statistics are all theoretical? Here are 14 examples of real business that improved their conversion rates with responsive web design.

4. User Experience Benefits: Happier and More Loyal Customers

Consider the website experience that I discussed above, in which you were required to zoom in and out, up and down, left and right on a website that was not optimised for mobile.

It leaves a bad taste in my mouth. And I know it’s not just me.

Responsive web design for mobile – Paperdino web design

Social media on smartphone | Central Coast web design
Social Media Examiner reported on the improved user experience that responsive web design provides, and they suggested:

78% of users want to find what they’re looking for in just one or two clicks
64% of users only want to scroll up and down on a business’ mobile site (i.e. not zoom in and out or scroll left and right)
People want convenience, not a challenge. I am certain that the improved user experience will also contribute to the benefits in SEO, social media, and conversions rates as discussed above.

5. Development Benefits: Faster Development with Lower Costs

When it comes time to develop or update your website using a responsive web design framework means faster development and lower costs for your business.

How?

Maintaining a responsive website means that your web developer is only required to work with one piece of code for your small business website. In the event of one website for desktop and one, or even multiple, mobile website versions the web developer will have to work with and update each of the sites – increasing the involved amount of work, time and subsequently dollars.

Business Expenses – Paperdino web design

Given the evidence for superiority of responsive web design presented above, it could be suggested that these may be extra costs for your business for no gain.

What Should I Do Now?

This is a choose your own adventure:

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To discuss your businesses requirements for a mobile-friendly or responsive website contact us

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