Author: Eliyahna

5 Tips for Choosing A Web Developer

Choosing a web developer can be a daunting task.
Everyone from your cousin Eddie to Mr. Gotrocks seems to think he’s the one for the job. But there are some good ways to determine whether the person you’re considering really is the one for the job or not. Gain some perspective by reflecting on the practices of your top ten competitors. Would the CEO of Nike or Toyota hire his cousin Eddie to develop his business’ website? Would he simply settle for the most expensive option, hoping that he’ll somehow get what he paid for? No. And if you’re serious about your entrepreneurship, you shouldn’t either! Here are 5 tips to help you select the web developer that’s best for your project.
1.) Experience – How much experience has the candidate had? A complex development project with goals regarding sales funnels, load time, responsive frameworks for mobile devices, analytics, and conversions might be a bit much for a junior developer. For someone who is serious about obtaining the best for their business, a senior developer is a better investment. Most senior web developers will indeed measure the forecasted return on investment against the cost for completion to ensure that you come out on top. A senior developer can also foresee obstacles with coding longevity or interactive elements in order to keep things running smoothly.
2.) Compatibility – Check out some of the work that this individual has completed in the past. Keeping in mind that the developer is not necessarily responsible for the graphic design, everything should at least be functional and viewable on any sized device without just shrinking so small that nothing is legible. Try to gauge their work ethic. Are there many incomplete projects? Do they mention the ability to keep projected deadlines? Will they be around two or three years from now? Are they willing to commit to maintaining the build for you after publication?
3.) Availability – When choosing a web developer, keep in mind that many developers are hired for multiple projects at a time and work on them in tandem. Get at least an estimated date of completion… ideally as part of a greater outline of the phases involved so that you can follow along to ensure that everything is progressing as you require.
4.) Clarity – Your web developer should provide you with a proposal that clearly outlines the project details including tasks involved, phases, cost, estimated date of completion, options for additional requirements that might come up, any payment plan arrangements, and all of their pertinent contact information should you have any further questions or concerns.
5.) Accuracy – Communication is the key to success in any endeavor. If your candidate cannot speak or articulate accurately via email or telephone, that is a red flag. How will they correctly convey your message via code or UX design if you are unable to understand their words, their work is sloppy, or they are unwilling to clearly define objectives.
Working with a web developer on your business’ website or application project should be an enjoyable experience that helps your business grow. Contact us to discuss how we can help with your app or web development project today!

May 14, 2018
Function vs Form… for Profit

Most people believe that what they need to succeed online is to have the most beautiful website. While beauty and aesthetic appeal are important, they are not always required to turn a profit. Craigslist, for example, generates millions of dollars per year but looks extremely unappealing. While still profitable, many people do not feel safe and the sparse design sends them back to search for something that looks a bit more trustworthy.
While a brilliant design can be magnetic and attract some tire-kickers, content ultimately remains the most imperative factor to consider. Are they finding what they expected to see? Can they accomplish any short or long-term goals that bring them closer to their objective?

The best website will marry something both from design and function to not only further success online but offline as well. Professionally designed media that feature a consistent representation of your brand will go a long way to ensure potential clients that you care about your business enough to put the time and/or money into this venture. It reflects your work ethic as well as your perceived value. Anyone can throw up a Wix or Shopify site online and be here today and gone tomorrow. What function vs form impression does your site lend about your journey as an entrepreneur? Functionality is very important once the visitor arrives and must be clearly guiding your potential customer at least a little further toward that end goal whether it be to utilize your services or to purchase your products. Make sure your website is filling that need.
Form and function alone, however, will not generate revenue automatically. A superior layout with the best sales funnels will fail without a good attitude, a hard-working commitment to bringing the best value to your customers and the willingness to go over and above to achieve a strong reputation. After obtaining a site that has a strong sales funnel designed to draw visitors in the direction you require that is both beautiful and functional, you need to make it visible. Millions of people have pretty, functional websites that sit like paperweights where no one finds them.

Search engine optimization and submission along with networking to backlink with relevant businesses in your genre and community, coupled with a good social media presence are usually key for good function vs form. If your website is not meeting your current objectives, don’t be afraid of change. Allow a professional web developer, designer, and SEO to put their skills to work for your success online.

May 5, 2018
How To Know If You Need A New Website
Every website owner comes to realize pretty quickly that truly, a website is never complete.
You can think of different improvements constantly whether they be code or design related. A website is an ever evolving conglomeration that grows with your business needs and digital technology every day. The use of mobile devices has greatly impacted the need for a proper design online.
Aside from personal preference, when do you really need to replace your website? A completely new build may not be necessary. Fortunately, sites built on what is called a “content management system” which use a database like WordPress or Joomla can most times get by with a new template integration. A new template installation and formatting would leave the current content intact while changing the appearance, element arrangements, and enhancing functionality.
Here are a few reasons to consider an overhaul or new build:
Your site is not responsive to mobile devices – 60% of your visitors are now showing up on something other than a desktop computer. Your site needs to do more than just shrink really tiny. It should have an alternative layout that is optimized for mobile viewers.
Your code is deprecated – While a website written in an expired coding language version might still look okay to the eye, search engines will not rank these dinosaurs since too many of the newer viewing devices are not able to utilize them correctly. If your code has been compromised by hackers, your site can be cleaned or rebuilt and replaced.
No call to action – If your website doesn’t tell the visitor who you are and what you want from them on the top section of the front page, you need a redesign. Again… the popularity of mobile devices have done away with long-winded explanations and stories. You need to make your point fast from the first page load. Contact information should always be included there as well.
Too much text or whitespace – Nobody wants to have to read war and peace on their cell phone. Visitors who have to scroll through huge sections of text or whitespaces will become frustrated and will likely, click away. Keep your sections tight and make your margins responsive using percentages instead of hardcoded spacing. Use collapsible sections or excerpts with links to more information.
You’re not getting a return – If your website design is not accomplishing what you built it for, of course, you might consider a new build. Consider the possibility that your current site could be optimized for better search engine optimization or visitor flow as well. A/B testing can be used to determine the best path to guide the viewer through from arrival to purchase or contact.
If your site has any of the problems listed above or you just want something more beautiful, functional or competitive for the new year, contact me. I’ll be happy to work with you toward achieving your online goals and would love to surpass your expectations.
Best,
Eliyahna
December 17, 2017
Selling Online. Surviving The Retail Apocalypse

Are you selling online?
Everyone’s talking about the retail apocalypse and how to survive.
If your products and services are not being sold online, you may have to consider a website overhaul. Did you know that many of our most familiar retailers here in the U.S. are closing hundreds of stores? According to Google, 50% of Google searches are done on the go using a mobile device. That’s more than 20,000 search queries per second!! Those are a lot of potential shoppers. If you’re not selling online yet, don’t worry.
There are plenty of options available to get your products and services into a secure online shopping environment. It’s really a very inexpensive addition to a website that can make the difference between fly and flop. But putting your products and services online for purchase isn’t the end of the story.
Brick and mortar shops really need to buckle down and analyze their customer base and what appeals to them now. Brick and mortar stores should decorate accordingly both on and offline and even offer entertainment options while shopping. Things like videos, “try me on” software, games or sharing discounts are just a few ideas. Staying relevant and attractive to your demographic is more important now than ever with digital retailing.Businesses who don’t actively engage in the modern online world of social media, genre networking, local business meetups, search engine optimization and submissions and regular blogging or posting to keep content fresh are still going to feel the pinch. Like it or not, these have become necessary components to the retail industry and for some, these concepts are very unfamiliar.
There are quite a few options available to achieve the online presence necessary to succeed in today’s retail climate, however, they can be confusing for newcomers. Achieving higher traffic with a top listed site is one of the first objectives but keep in mind that what visitors find when they get there is equally important to consider. Free or low rate web, blog or post designers will likely increase your bounce rate… sending potential sales back to Google. Design is key!
There is a lot to say about proper design, visitor flow, text and image optimization, size, placement and even shape and color combinations matter a great deal. Taking the time and effort to ensure a pleasant appearance and visitor flow will determine campaign results directly. Think of your website as the first welcoming face that your business shows others. What would it say? Should it be in jeans? A suit jacket?
If you don’t have the business for a full website, selling one or two products through an already successful brand like Facebook, Ebay, Amazon or Etsy are also alternatives. Many better established businesses also use them for flash sales to gather analytics for their site and social media accounts.
As always, if you need help with anything related to website flow, coding, website design, social media headers and icons, ecommerce, security or analytics give us a call at (530) 683-5463 for web development projects in Tucson Arizona and worldwide.

August 2, 2017
Why Tucson Web Design Is The Best In The West

Why consider Tucson web design and development services?
If you’re a Tucson web design company, you know why this area is one of the best in the west.
In Tucson, we’re surrounded by mountains in every direction… the Santa Catalina Mountains and the Tortolita Mountains to the north, the Santa Rita Mountains to the south, the Rincon Mountains to the east, and the Tucson Mountains to the west. Our gorgeous horizons, beautiful sunsets and open spaces are really a hotbed for creativity and entrepreneurship which is the ideal environment for many types of projects. Close to both California and Mexico, Tucson web design and advertising campaigns benefit from a very diverse audience and are often bilingual with both English and Spanish versions.
With more than 350 days of sunshine every year, Tucson web design teams like ours here at Eliyahna Creative never get snowed in or held up by bad weather. Compared to much of the USA, Tucson is relatively free of natural disasters. No tornados, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, etc. to keep our team down. There are a few on-record, but they are very, very rare. Inspirational architecture and the local cuisine add a little southwestern flavor to the culture and Tucson website design while people tend to lend one another a hand in advertising and business to business affairs with a smile.
Tucson is one of the oldest inhabited settlements in North America.
The Hohokam Native people settled here first thousands of years ago. The name “Tucson” comes from the name given to Sentinel Peak (“A” Mountain) by the O’odham Tribe, Ts-iuk-shan, which basically meant that it had a base darker than its top. We work on Tucson web design and development projects to the tune of more birds than any other region on earth beside the Amazon Rainforest! In fact, we often work here with the doors and windows open just to hear them sing while we’re working. Tucson web design is a reflection of the great diverse beauty in the desert surroundings.
According to the American Lung Association, Tucson has the third cleanest air of all cities nationwide. That’s pretty awesome! Tucson web design companies benefit by residing in a rich and diverse desert which is also right in the middle of the world’s largest concentration of saguaro cacti. We’re ultra-close to California, Mexico, and Yuma County which is the 3rd largest vegetable producer in the nation, so the grocery stores are always bursting with fresh produce… perfect fuel for hungry developers.
With Phoenix web design projects just a couple of hours away, we spend a lot of time working for businesses in the valley there as well providing Phoenix web development services just like we do here. Although we continue to give excellent remote development services to businesses worldwide, we always enjoy the local flavor and sunshine of the local Tucson web design and development and Phoenix Arizona web design clients and projects.
Tucson’s population runs the spectrum from young to old, with people moving here not just from around the country, but around the world.
The population feels younger thanks to the large number of students attending The University of Arizona which brings students to study a myriad of subjects. Tucson web design reflects the attitudes of the people here which put an emphasis on community and culture. The region’s popularity as a retirement destination brings the average age back up to 38. Tucson web design and development application is often required for both civilian and military events and is home to a large number of military members and their families, as Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is located here. Many residents spend their spare time pursuing their love of aviation.
Tucson web design and Phoenix web designers are much like the web designers in other areas but have the advantage of becoming an integral part of a growing community that offers so much in so many ways. There are so many advantages to offering services like Phoenix web design and Tucson web design because for one thing, we don’t turn our clocks forward or backward for daylight savings time. DST started when “war time” was established in the U.S. in 1918 to save fuel during World War I. In Arizona, Maricopa County supervisors refused to accept the change. However, the Navajo Nation in the northeast quarter of the state does observe daylight-saving time. So whether we’re offering web development to cities to the east or the west, Tucson web design firms are often available during off-peak hours.
All in all, if you’re not a Tucson web design or developer and are considering becoming an entrepreneur with either valley as your base of operations, you’ll find a real artistic, trendy and supportive atmosphere awaits. Tucson web design and Phoenix web design communities may not be as large as those in Los Angeles or San Diego, however, the constant growth and the perfect weather make for a pristine environment.

April 4, 2017
Retargeting Your Ads for Previous Visitors

Retargeting your ads to people who’ve visited your website previously is an important part of a successful campaign.
34% of consumers cite a store’s reputable brand name for being their reason for shopping with a brand, while 38% cite social media interaction as their reason for visiting a retailer’s website. By retargeting previous visitors to your website with ads via social media, you are combining both statistics to your advantage. Your branding and presentation will be familiar and ads can be sent directly to the visitor’s Facebook or Twitter stream.
Pixels and cookies shared with your visitor via your website, email link or through search retargeting can be used to create an already familiar audience via social media networks, email or searches.
70% of website visitors who are retargeted with display ads are more likely to convert.
eMarketer estimates that 73% of US Internet users ages 14 years old or older will buy online this year!
Get Rolling!
We’ve got Social Media Marketing and Search Engine Optimization packages for a variety of budgets. Contact us to get your branding and ads rolling for 2017 at Eliyahna.com (530) 683-5463 or email info@eliyahna.com

December 15, 2016
How To Lower Your Websites Bounce Rate
If you need bounce rate reduction, go back to basics.
Try to re-evaluate to get bounce rate reduction… what do you want your visitors to do?
Space can be an expensive commodity, especially online. Viewing screens get smaller every year and no one wants to read “war & peace” before they can buy or try your products or services. There is some psychology to color use and element placements for greater bounce rate reduction… but without getting in too deep, here are a few easy tips to help you keep it together!
Use accordions for grouped lists. Set them to “closed” until someone clicks on the title of the section they really need to see. This can be a great way to hide huge gobs of information that may be entirely relevant but not always necessary. The visitors who have come to find the information will still get what they came for and much faster since they won’t have to wade through multiple volumes of other data to find it.
List your options with bullet points that are linked to their own respective product or service description pages. This is always a great way to highlight information of interest and creates a bounce rate reduction by
assisting the viewer in finding the particular subject they’re searching for
much faster
Especially with multiple products
and service options.
If you’re using forms to interact with your visitors, try conditional fields. Conditional fields stay hidden until they’re needed and help to save a lot of room by not displaying options that are irrelevant to the user. Sometimes a very large form with too many optional fields gives the impression that it will take “too much time” to get through it. Keeping the optional fields hidden until necessary is a great way to accommodate users that might send you correspondences for a multitude of different reasons without forcing them to evaluate pages of unnecessary form fields.
Use descriptive titles and subtitles to organize your data so that if you do need to present a lengthy bit of text, it can still be skimmed through effectively if someone’s in a hurry. Kind of like the way we made our bulleted topics in bold text on this article. You can quickly skim through to get the gist, or you can linger and read more about each topic in greater detail… either way, the user should come away with something applicable.
Utilize submenus to offer more information as an option on central topics of interest. Again, submenus can be used to further refine the subject relevancy to specific requirements freeing the viewer from wading through too much useless data. You’ve most likely already begun using your site’s menu system to organize things and manipulate traffic flow. Keep this technique in mind when parsing your copy for visual digestion.
Embed small descriptive paragraphs in a bold font and/or images into your articles periodically to convey key concepts and break up long text areas. You can really get bored fast with all text. Especially when it’s all the same size, color and without any inflection or alteration. Too much of that will send readers running for the search engines.
Eliminate or rearrange extraneous text on smaller screen sizes while allowing larger resolutions to retain full sized elements. Google’s new algorithm is checking for mobile device load time. 60% of viewers show up on a mobile device. There’s no way around it. You must accommodate them in order to reduce your website’s bounce rate effectively.
Provide pdf files or ebooks with full-text pages as instant downloads in exchange for an email address. This will give you an extra option for future contact or information exchanges.
Use videos – but only as an option. Those visitors whose devices that don’t support videos or for visitors who don’t have the privacy to play your videos out loud will still want a viewing or download link. A lot of people have even begun providing video libraries. Organized by topic with a thumbnail and excerpt description is a wonderful way to showcase this kind of catalog.

Get to the point. What do you want from your visitor? What do you want them to know, buy or try? Explain your mission or offer in plain language right away without a lot of irrelevant images or sections of text that only add confusion. Keep your objective clear and concise and don’t be afraid to strip out all the fluff.
Keeping these tips in mind should keep your mobile visitors happy to use your page and should also help you to better meet your bounce rate reduction objectives with your visitors.
Best Success!
November 29, 2016
Conversion Optimization and How To Achieve it

So you have a beautiful website that’s responsive to mobile devices with a great sales funnel in place to successfully convert all of your traffic to potential clientele… what next?
Is it still possible to improve your website’s customer conversion rate?
First, determine your site’s existing customer conversion rate. This is the total number of leads generated from your website divided by the number of visitors over a certain period of time. For example, if you have 100 visitors per day and 2 of those fill out your form, that is a conversion rate of 2%.
Conversion optimization can be achieved by tweaking many aspects of your site or sales funnel that many site owners aren’t aware of. For example, if the contact form that you’re using to collect visitor information features a submit button that says “Submit”, that button will get fewer clicks than a button that says something like “Sign Up Now”, “Learn More” or “Get More Info”.
Studies have also shown that red buttons are clicked more often than green buttons. Colors, language, font choices and even the shape of the page elements can have a direct impact on conversion numbers.
Because too many choices can work to scatter your visitor’s attention, sometimes taking things away can improve your numbers more than adding new or different content. Removing the navigation bar from your landing page for example, can work to increase your conversion percentages right away by simply narrowing the clicking options down. Remove unnecessary images that take up valuable real-estate above your contact form. Remove images that are obviously “stock” images that do little to add aesthetics but draw attention away from the form.
Be sure to include a clear bold headline with a short paragraph of copy. A subheading with some bold elements thrown in to draw attention to and confirm key features might not look as clean but it can actually increase your conversion by up to 35%.
Arrange your landing page copy and key phrases to match the ad that directed the viewer to this page. Something like “You’ve Arrived!” or “Now for step 2” will also increase conversion.
Videos are a wonderful addition to your sales funnel pages to impart information in a slightly more interactive way, however, placement is paramount. A landing page with the video all the way at the bottom and the signup form all the way at the top of the page will win out over one that is vice versa every time. The objective should be to minimize elements that will draw the user’s attention away from the form or push them down to the bottom of the page.
There are many more tricks to increasing customer conversion optimization on your site besides increasing traffic. If you need help optimizing your sales funnel to increase your customer conversion rates, contact us today!

March 25, 2016
Is SEO good for lead generation?

I’m going to say something that may shock you; “SEO is NOT for lead generation.” That’s right I said it. Search Engine Optimization is essential for any website looking to be found but indeed it is limited in its reach and is not intended to be a means of lead generation. For years business owners have made a crucial mistake that other web ventures who achieve a great return on investment do not make. Good SEO is essential for being found. It is very important to have your web venture indexed but if you are looking for a flood of traffic to overcome your website by a trail blazed from a search engine for quick lead generation, you are making a mistake.
SEO is not ROI friendly.
When you spend funds on good SEO (which you should) the measure of those funds and the cost of customer acquisition cannot be accurately measured. This is because of the very nature of SEO, which is casual and organic search. Which means there is no way to accurately measure who has come to your site, where they have come from, which funds paid for that conversion and more. Impossible.
When you launch a marketing campaign your business focuses on the actual return on investment via conversion minus the total cost of the marketing campaign. The data is clear, concise and efficient. With SEO this is not the case. SEO is not measurable. Period.
SEO is built for marketing
Ok, think on this for a moment. What reward is there for good SEO? A good ranking? A continual ranking? Okay. But this makes my point; for primary keywords Google and other search engines are giving up large space for pay per click ads. And why are businesses buying them? Simple; they know it is far easier to list their business for keywords that have HIGH commercial intent (i.e. intent to buy), search engines are giving more room to paid advertising.
Also When you index your site for primary keywords, thousands of other businesses are doing the same so the competition is intense so filtering through the competition is tough and a long process which leads me to my other point;
SEO is slow
By comparison to social or pay per click marketing, SEO is a lengthy process that involves many steps that take time; Content creation, optimization, link building, submission and more.
This process can take months to perfect and for any result to be seen. This is why SEO is not a good idea for start-ups and can kill any business just relying on SEO for lead generation or customer conversion.
Paid Traffic is Good Karma
Paying for a spot gets immediate results and measurable results. For lead generation I always recommend paid marketing for ROI driven results. Nothing else. SEO is a great way to list your business and hey, if you have a good ranking? That’s great but SEO is NOT for lead generation.
However…
SEO IS an essential building block for any marketing campaign. A website must be optimized and healthy in order to succeed on a paid listing anywhere. If your web venture is not primed for your keywords and market, your marketing campaign will ultimately fail.

January 24, 2016
Why you shouldn’t buy a website for your business?!

Why you shouldn’t buy a website for your business?!
You’re probably thinking we’ve lost our minds. But it’s true! Don’t ever buy a website for your business. It’s a losing proposition for quite a few reasons. First off, your website is not a commodity, it’s an integral part of a greater process. The belief that “if you build it, they will come” has been proven false over and over again. Buying a website as a stand alone “product” does nothing but provide an online flyer that no one ever sees. Owning a website alone is sort of like owning an empty car body. It might have a great paint job and potential for capacity, however, without a properly integrated motor and fuel system and a mechanic with the experience to put it together and maintain it, it’s going nowhere fast. The same holds true for your online web presence.
When considering your digital agenda, don’t stop at the pages and ecommerce functionality. If your webmaster or service provider is offering you a great build without the fuel system, you’ll be back at the drawing board when it comes to putting that build to good use. Before choosing a webmaster or agency as your e-marketing provider, you’ll need to ensure that they’re including every element required to make the project a success. A website is more than a simple business card for reference on the internet. A website is a revenue generating point of contact for customer conversion. If your website is not designed, developed and used as an integral part of an online marketing campaign that will funnel potential customers to your business’ front door, the entire exercise of designing a webpage or website is pointless.
Every new build should include a multifaceted marketing program that will facilitate your business’ needs in obtaining the exposure required to facilitate conversion. The rules are always changing and your competition restructures their initiatives accordingly. In order to stay competitive in the online ranking game, your SEO, PPC and social media marketing services require constant supervision and structure alteration on at least a monthly basis. Online marketing plays a crucial part in exposing your goods and services to your targeted audience world wide. Your webmaster is the best person to put this process to practice since these efforts are all integrated within your site’s coding. If your website provider does not have any knowledge or experience with online marketing or doesn’t include any marketing for your new build, you may wish to reconsider approval and locate a provider instead who has this knowledge and expertise.
While a great website with stellar marketing will blast your business off nicely, your ranking will still drop without the proper website maintenance. Deprecated code, broken links and outdated content will not be given top rank on any search engine or directory. Fresh content in the form of relevant articles and documents should be added to your site on a regular basis since fresh content is re-ranked. A website that does not have the proper content will not achieve the desired result from an online marketing or networking campaign. Buying a website as a stand alone “product” does nothing but provide an online flyer that no one ever sees. Problems created by malware, old or broken coding can get your website banned from being listed altogether and have to be immediately addressed at the appropriate time. Is your website provider offering ongoing maintenance to ensure your site and server are up to date and secure? This is an important issue that shouldn’t come as a balloon expense only after things have piled up to the point where you are paying a heavy price later on down the line.
So why shouldn’t you buy a website for your business? With so much to think about regarding maintenance, marketing, advertising, code and server security and updating as well as regular backups and content integration you need more than someone who “sells websites.” Buying just a website will become more of a liability than a benefit without the accompanying services and expertise required to keep your digital “vehicle” winning races over your competition and standing the test of time.

December 27, 2015