It takes a certain type of person to walk into a dive restaurant. The exterior is anything but enticing, leaving the food quality to question. But, it may hold some of the most savory eats— if you’re brave enough to take a chance.
Poor web development and design can turn a content marketing initiative into that dive: an unappealing exterior hiding bites of informative and engaging information. The last thing you need is another barrier between your content and your customer. These tools will help you set up and spruce up your website, attracting more customers to your door.
Set it Up
Digital marketing is in constant evolution, and your website needs to keep up. The best platforms offer plug-ins for continual creativity. You’ll also need to pay attention to where customers view your website. Tools can adapt your site to the growing field of mobile devices. Finally, set up tracking elements so you can see how users engage with your site.
WordPress
This tried-and- true platform is hailed for its adaptability. Beginning designers can easily understand the “My Site” view while advanced developers can tinker in WP Admin. The site offers a wealth of plug-ins and custom post-types to stay with the latest content display techniques.
Bootstrap
Focused on front-end development, this open-source framework provides HTML and CSS design templates and JavaScript extensions. Available stylesheets give sites a modern look and responsive mobile design. Plus, Bootstrap adapts your site’s framework for ideal viewing on multiple devices.
Google Analytics
Google’s well-known Analytics offers free and paid interaction tracking. Its intuitive design makes it a favorite— and it’s been expanded to include tracking for mobile apps. WordPress offers multiple Analytics plug-ins to integrate with your site.
Spruce it up
Now the fun part: designing your site to show off your product or service and draw in customers. With many CMS systems, there are aspects of design built into your site’s theme, but there are a number of ways to use images, fonts, and interactive elements make it unique.
Font Awesome
Despite its name, this site’s real focus is icons. Search hundreds of icons to find the best pieces to convey your messaging through universal symbols. This touch makes sites more visually interesting, drawing your readers’ eye to critical areas.
Font Squirrel
Developers know fonts make a difference (note the strong feelings about comic sans). Font Squirrel provides dozens of free web-safe font options and fee-based varieties as well. You can see which fonts work better for viewing on phones and other mobile devices, and the Webfont Generator is a huge time-saver. This feature sets up stylesheets for you and lets you download them for print use.
Search Everything
This WordPress plug-in does exactly what it says: allows users to search everything. Seems simple, but this tool is powerful in giving your customers what they want. The plug-in expands WordPress’ typical search functionality to include almost all elements of your site, with the option to exclude pages as needed.
Animate.css
This clever tool animates CSS site elements through a simple download. It gives you the chance to test out animations on its homepage, offering everything from bounces to “ta das.” Adding this visually stimulating effect is another great way to catch a prospect’s eye.
Spice things up
One of the best ways to keep your site relevant and engaging is through collaboration. Your whole marketing team should be in on the action, providing insight from their specific field.
At NuGrowth Digital, we know website development is part of the larger digital marketing puzzle. Our experienced team builds targeted marketing strategies around engaging content, tying in prospect engagement and sales strategy as well. Find out more about what NuGrowth Digital can do for your business at 800.966.3051.
Adam Rapp is SIS’ Product Marketing Manager providing sales and marketing leadership, consultation, and strategy. Adam’s experience includes sales, marketing, new business development, software, and much more.
He has a history of consistent top-level performance and has lead several NuGrowth Solutions client engagements.
Adam received a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from The Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University along with a second bachelor’s degree in Russian.
In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family, reading, volunteering, and many outdoor activities.