Anime is a particular type of cartoon created or influenced by Japanese animation. The best-known qualifications of this special type of art are large eyes, tiny noses, wild hairs, and long limbs.
With these features, one can easily recognize anime style. For many, it is fun, but not that easy to draw anime. Here you can find the best tips to create an anime drawing step by step.
STEP 1: Drawing an Anime Head and Face
Before diving into details, first, you should create a structure. The basic principle for this is drawing a circle and extending the chin below the circle. Then you need to draw two lines, one horizontal and one vertical, passing through the circle’s center. Now, you can add ears and eyes symmetrically right under the horizontal line and eyebrows above the eyes. You can use simple curves for eyebrows, a little thicker in the middle. The mouth can be placed at the bottom, and the nose -a tiny vertical dash- between the eyes and mouth.
After finishing the facial details, you can start drawing the hair. Anime hair consists of different small parts instead of one direct line. Therefore it is better to divide it into pieces. Splitting into three parts may be the easiest way—basically, the front, the back, and the sides.
Adding several tufts from the front is a good starting point. Then you can draw sides, again separating the hair into clumps. Instead of drawing a straight line, you should add a slight curve to make it more real. Lastly, add relatively straight lines for the back. You can extend it under the shoulders for long hair. If you want to add a bun, you can do it right after this step. You can add one to the middle or two to each side. For the best bun, the starting point is a circle. After, it can be turned into natural hair by adding curved lines in it.
Again, you should start with a structure to create a perfect body. Generally, there is a rectangle for the chest, small circles for showing shoulders, leg, and arm joints, and finally, an oval for the hips. After completing that step, you are ready to connect these shapes. Draw curved lines from chest to hips and from neck to shoulders. In the end, the body should look like an hourglass. Then you can add legs narrowing from top to bottom and arms in any position. Here you can use small circles to help you when you are separating the upper part of the limb and the lower part of the limb.
After completing the big parts, you can start adding details like hands and shoes. For the hands, the first step is drawing two widening lines and adding a rectangle starting from the left side. The next step is drawing another line to show the knuckles. After that, divide the shape slightly symmetrical for the fingers and curve the straight lines. Now, it is time to connect all the lines you put before and create fingers. You can use different hand positions, but the fundamental principle is always the same: creating an outline and connecting the points.
Drawing shoes are easier than drawing hands. After drawing the feet in the desired position, create an outline for the shoes relatively wider than the feet. Erase the feet line. Then, add some details, such as shoelaces and designs on the shoes.
For an anime character, there are lots of options when it comes to clothes. However, for a beginner, the simplest option is a combination of a shirt and jeans or a shirt and skirt, depending on gender.
To draw a shirt/t-shirt, firstly, create a sketch as in the other parts. Draw loose lines around the arms and body. If you are having trouble doing it directly, you can use basic geometric shapes like a rectangle for a shirt. If you do so, you can curl the lines afterwards according to body shapes. Then add the collar if it is a shirt. Make sure to draw the collar’s outline far enough from the neck and body so that it appears to have some volume. After drawing the outside, keep going with the details. Add creases around the breast, armpit, waist, and elbow. Do not forget to add buttons to the shirt.
Drawing a jean might be seen as the simplest part. Since you already have the lines for the legs, all you need to do is to draw loose curved lines along the body lines. After finishing outlines, erase the leg lines and add creases, especially to the ankles. Finally, add the button and a small shape for the zip.
If you want to draw shorts, follow the same steps but instead of covering the whole part of the legs, make it shorter around the knees.
To draw a skirt, begin with the outline again. To show the folds’ dimensions, draw several vertical lines. It’s essential to remember that the folds in this specific pattern point in one way before gently curving in the opposite direction.
Knowing the body shapes of anime characters is an essential point in creating perfect drawings. When drawing a figure, always start with a scratch. In other words, do not forget to use a sketch as a starting point. Afterwards, you can add all of the details as you want. Also, remember that you will find your own technique over time; you just need to practice before becoming a master.
There’s no doubt that branding has become an important part of a business’s competitive edge in today’s economy. With so many companies competing for customers, it is essential to have a strong branding strategy. Read this guide to understand the benefits of using a branding agency for your business.
Access to Experience and Expertise
If you’re looking to achieve success with your branding efforts, you need access to the best expertise and experience. Branding agencies can help you with skills, a wealth of experience, and knowledge of making a successful brand.
Top branding agencies can provide you with the resources and support you need to create a successful brand, such as identity design, website, social media management, internal communication material, presentations, etc They can also help you identify and market your brand to the right people. They know how to create a strong reputation for your brand and how to attract new customers.
So stop reinventing the wheel, and start freeing up your time by hiring top branding agencies to tell your story to the rest of the world.
Eye-Catching Campaigns
Branding agencies can help you create eye-catching campaigns that promote your business.
The branding agency can help you create a campaign that is unique, and attractive to consumers and that brings more engagements to their business. They can help you design marketing materials that are effective and persuasive. Their efforts will result in campaigns that are well-executed, creative, and visually appealing.
Boost Awareness and Recognition
Branding agencies can help your business to boost awareness and recognition. They can help to create a unique identity for your company and help to promote it across the internet, in print media, and on radio and television.
Creative agencies can help you to create marketing materials that will help you to reach your target market. They can design logo designs, advertising campaigns, and even marketing slogans for your business.
By using a creative branding agency, you can ensure that your business is well-known and respected in the marketplace.
Build Brand Trust and Loyalty
When you choose a branding agency, you’re investing in its ability to create a unique and memorable brand for your business. This is essential if you want your customers to trust and be loyal to your product or service.
A branding agency can help you build trust and loyalty among customers by creating a strong brand identity for your company. They will create a logo, website, and marketing materials that reflect your company’s values and personality.
With a reputable branding agency, you can ensure your business has the foundation it needs to move in today’s competitive marketplace.
Improve Your ROI
When you’re looking to improve your business, it’s important to find a branding agency that can provide you with the best possible results. A branding agency can help you increase your ROI by creating a unique brand for your business.
Experience with Multiple Technologies and Methods
Branding agencies can provide a variety of benefits when it comes to using technology and marketing. They are experienced with a variety of technologies and methods, which can help you reach your target audience.
A good website design agency can help you create a website with a user-friendly interface and visual appearance to match your professional brand. By ensuring your website is attractive, they can also help you increase its visibility on the internet.
Branding agencies can help you reach the right person on social media. They create campaigns that are tailored to the individual or group of people targeted. They can also help you to manage your social media accounts effectively so that you remain compliant with all the laws governing social media platforms.
Easy accessibility to assets
Branding agencies offer a wealth of resources. This means that you can find the information you need without having to search through numerous websites.
Branding agencies can help create solutions that are specific to your business. This means that you can customize your branding strategy to fit your specific needs.
Branding agencies have years of experience in the area of branding. They can help you develop a successful brand by generating quality content and guarding your reputation.
A Fresh Perspective
Branding agencies can offer a fresh perspective on your company and help to create a unique identity.
Branding agencies can help you to ideate and brainstorm about your company in different ways that address its needs and goals. They can help you to develop a new identity for your company that will be unique and appealing to potential customers. This approach can help you to break through the clutter and make your company more visible.
A branding agency can also provide guidance on how to market your company effectively. They can give you advice on how to create marketing campaigns that are tailored to your company’s needs and target audience.
A Strong Brand Boosts Revenue
Many businesses believe that a strong brand is key to success. This is because a strong brand can boost revenue in several ways.
A strong brand can increase the demand for products and services. With a recognizable brand and established reputation, people are more likely to spend money on products or services that they offer.This means that the company will be able to sell more products and services than other companies in its industry.
A strong brand can increase the visibility of a company. This increased exposure may lead to more customers and more business opportunities.
Gain Access to a Versatile Talent Pool
One of the benefits of using a branding agency is its diverse talent pool. This pool contains experts in marketing, design, and other fields. They can help you create a special and efficacious brand.
Another benefit of using a branding agency is its flexibility & versatility. This means that you won’t have to waste time and money trying to create a brand that doesn’t fit your business.
Overall, branding agencies are an important resource for businesses of all sizes. Their versatile talent pool and ability to customize services make them valuable assets.
Rely on Creative Agility
When it comes to finding the right branding agency, you need someone who can provide you with creative agility. This means that the agency can quickly adapt to changes in your business and create a unique branding strategy that stands out from the rest.
Branding agencies have the skills, years of experience, and knowledge to help you market your business. They are likely to know what will work best for your business and can help you to reach your target market. In addition, they can help you to develop a consistent brand message that will be effective across all aspects of your marketing efforts.
Cost-Effectiveness
The cost-effectiveness of using a branding agency is hard to beat. Branding agencies can help businesses with a range of branding needs, from developing a new logo to creating a marketing campaign.
Branding agencies can also provide assistance with other strategic business decisions, such as choosing the right location for a business or determining the best way to market the company.
Branding agencies can also help businesses to attract new customers and increase sales in a cost-effective way
Conclusion
Branding has come a long way in the past decade or so, and there are plenty of benefits to using a branding agency for your business. From increasing brand awareness to creating more engaging content, a good branding agency can do wonders for your business.
CX (customer experience) and UX (user experience) are two important business strategies aimed at optimizing customer communication and engagement. The principles of UX have been around for centuries, but the term was first coined in the 1990s by Don Norman.
CX is a much newer concept that’s been gaining popularity as companies look to improve customer satisfaction. Many designers now argue that UX is a subset of CX, but there are some important differences between them.
In this article, we’ll look at where CX and UX differ and where they meet to improve the customer experience. But first, let’s define what CX and UX design are.
What is UX design?
User experience design focuses on the interactions people have with a service or product. This is usually a digital product such as an app, website, or software like PD DataFrame Python. But UX can also apply to non-digital products.
The aim of UX is to create better-designed products to improve the user experience. And it works: over two-thirds of businesses say UX improves customer satisfaction. Plus, 62% say it improves brand perception. So UX design is crucial for businesses to attract and convert customers.
UX design considers everything that shapes the user experience, from how the actual product feels to how easy the buying process is. An amazing product is one that’s efficient and easy to use, and that’s what UX is all about.
Experience strategy aims to combine business and design strategies to create a holistic experience that gives value to both users and businesses at the places they interact. So ExS considers both digital and bricks-and-mortar experiences.
ExS roles include product designer and product manager. Their aim is to align the company vision with customer needs and technical capabilities. They help companies manage their teams and keep them focused on the user experience.
User research helps companies understand their users’ needs, motivations, and behavior. For instance, UR could help you understand why users are looking at alternatives for Grasshopper. This makes user research a vital part of UX design. In fact, integrating UR into product development boosts customer satisfaction by 30% and brand perception by 31%.
User researchers collect qualitative and quantitative data to create user personas. This involves collecting feedback from customers with surveys, interviews, and usability testing. They then use these personas to inform product development.
Information Architecture
Information architecture focuses on the structure of digital products. This includes how content is organized and the type of language used. The goal is to help users quickly find information with minimal effort. As such, you can use IA for wireframing to plan the layout of a product.
IA roles include data analyst, content strategist, and information architect.
Interaction Design
Interaction design focuses on the way users interact with a system. IxD considers all the interactive elements of a product, such as buttons, animations, and transitions. Interaction design roles include product designer, interaction designer, and experience designer. Their aim is to integrate ExS, UR, and IA into an interface that’s intuitive and effortless to use.
The role of UX designers
The role of UX designers is to make products and services accessible, user-friendly, and enjoyable. They usually work as part of a product team and bridge the gap between the user and the company.
The most common uses of UX design companies are discovering usability issues (68% of companies) and validating designs (66% of companies). But UX designers perform a variety of tasks, including:
User research
User testing
Wireframing and prototyping
Presenting designs to stakeholders
Creating user personas
Designing the information architecture of a product
Depending on the company, UX designers may focus on UX for non-digital products. They may also be service designers that focus on the experience of using services like public transport. But whatever their area of focus, it’s their job to ask questions like:
Is this product/service easy and intuitive to use?
Is this product/service accessible to a range of users?
Will this product/service make users happy?
Is this product/service what users want?
What is CX design?
Customer experience design includes all the interactions a customer has with each of a business’s touchpoints. CX considers a company’s advertising strategy, reputation, pricing, customer service, delivery, sales process, and the usability of a specific product or service. In this sense, UX is part of the broader experience of CX design.
Let’s use a VoIP call center solution as an example. The customer experience isn’t only what it’s like to use the software, but also:
What it’s like to buy the software
How easy it is to access support
How effective is the company’s marketing campaign
What it’s like to upgrade or replace the software
What it’s like to receive notifications or offers from the company
CX design also considers a customer’s emotional satisfaction. That is how they feel about a business. So, CX design is crucial to a company’s success. For instance, three-quarters of customers say it’s important to have a good experience on digital channels. The same goes for offline channels.
CX design considers three levels of customer experience:
Single-interaction
Customer journey
Lifetime relationship
Single-interaction
The single-interaction experience is the customer experience during a single interaction or task. This is usually a short-term interaction with a product or service, such as ordering something from a website or signing up for a mailing list. Experiences at this level are only a small part of the total customer experience.
Design at the single-interaction level is what most people associate with UX design. In other words, this is the level most UX designers work at.
The journey level of customer experience focuses on the series of interactions that take place to accomplish a goal. An example is buying journeys. It usually involves several channels, so a CX customer journey map may look something like this:
You want to return a sweater, so you log in to your account and request a return.
You print out the return label and take your parcel to the post office.
A few days later, the company emails you to confirm the return and refund your money.
Many companies are now adopting an omnichannel approach to improve CX at the journey level. In fact, over one-quarter of companies say improving the omnichannel experience is a top CX priority.
Lifetime Relationship
The lifetime relationship level takes into account the single-interaction and customer journey levels to consider every interaction a customer has with a company. Each customer exchange with a company affects their perception of the company. So, CX design at this level is about nurturing the customer relationship.
For example, a software company that sells call center enterprise solutions would optimize their product to make it attractive to buyers and easy to use, upgrade, or uninstall. But they’d also look at improving their customer service and advertising campaigns.
The role of CX designers
To create a bulletproof CX strategy, CX designers analyze how customers feel about a brand. They also look at ways to improve the quality of interactions with them. This means problem-solving skills are a must.
CX designers may have backgrounds in advertising, marketing, psychology, management, sales, and customer service. They perform a variety of tasks, such as:
User research and testing
Collecting and presenting data
Creating customer personas and empathy maps
Mapping the customer journey
Creating storyboards and workflows
Defining business goals
Tracking performance
In other words, CX designers focus on the who, what, where, when, why, and how of the customer experience.
UX is an important part of CX, but there are some key differences to be aware of. These differences include:
Focus
Responsibilities
Metrics
Audience
Testing
Focus
UX designers focus on how a user interacts with a single product or service?whether that’s an enterprise security solution or a hotel room. Their aim is to help users interact easily and successfully with a product. They want products to be accessible and give users a sense of satisfaction.
CX designers focus on the customer’s entire experience with the company. Their goal is to ensure customers have a good experience whenever they interact with a company. This includes both online and offline channels. They also want to boost brand revenue by nurturing customer loyalty.
Responsibilities
The responsibilities of UX designers revolve around the product or service. They spend most of their time on product design, usability testing, and improving the product based on user feedback. Both CX and UX design involves user research. But UX research tends to be smaller in scale and focuses on individual personas or groups.
The responsibilities of CX designers are more to do with boosting brand perception and customer loyalty. Their goal is to optimize marketing, communication channels, customer service, and all other business touchpoints. So, CX research tends to involve large-scale studies and surveys.
Metrics
Because CX and UX focus on different aspects of the customer experience, they use different metrics to measure their success rate. For instance, over 50% of UX designers use product and site analytics like cart abandonment rate and engagement rate. Also, 48% use outcome metrics like app store ratings, conversion rate, and support tickets. But CX designers use metrics like:
For example, 63% of designers measure customer satisfaction, and 31% measure NPS. They may also look at how many customers the company gained or lost in a certain time frame.
The target audience for UX designers is the product’s end-user, whereas CX designers target customers. What’s the difference? Customers aren’t always the product’s intended user.
For instance, say a company’s CEO is buying software to reduce their employees’ data privacy risks. A UX designer would focus on the employees (the users), while a CX designer would focus on the CEO (the customer).
By focusing on the customer, CX designers look to enhance the business-customer relationship to make it mutually beneficial. The customer gets good service, while the business gets more income and a better reputation.
In contrast, since UX designers focus on the user, any business benefits are more of a by-product.
Testing
UX design mainly involves usability testing. Usability testing ensures the product or service is intuitive and easy to use in the way the designer intends. It involves observing real people using a product. For instance, watching people use a work schedule app to see if they get confused or frustrated. UX designers can then use these insights to make improvements.
CX testing looks beyond usability to create a holistic view of the customer experience. This usually involves studying key metrics and mapping the customer journey with diary studies, interviews, and surveys. Once CX designers understand the current customer journey, they can look at ways to optimize it.
Where do CX and UX meet?
Although CX and UX are different, they’re also similar. They both focus on improving the customer experience, and without one, the other won’t succeed. If a user isn’t happy with a product, they may not use that company again. And if a customer isn’t happy with a company’s buying process, they won’t buy the product in the first place.
Companies should use CX and UX together to optimize the whole customer experience. After all, 64% of customers stopped doing business with a company because of a bad customer experience. In contrast, a great customer experience increases customer satisfaction. This in turn improves brand reputation and revenue.
It’s important businesses pay attention to customer feedback, including how customers use, buy, upgrade, and troubleshoot a product. As we’ve said, a great product isn’t enough unless a customer also has a great lifetime experience. For this reason, many companies are now looking to hire designers with skills in both CX and UX.
It should now be clear that although there are differences, UX is an integral part of CX. For businesses to succeed in an increasingly competitive market, they should use CX and UX together as part of their business optimization strategies.
Designers that consider both CX and UX will not only create better products. They’ll also enhance the customer experience at all stages of the customer journey.
Google’s job is to help people find content on the web.
Not just any content, however. It must be relevant and a good match to the search query.
Have you ever tried searching for important information and the sites that come up are just full of badly written blogs or articles? Or, you click a link only to be annoyed by the pop-ups and ads that make it impossible to easily locate the actual info that you are looking for.
Sure, you need to use keywords so Google can match you with the appropriate user search. However, Google is also looking for something of quality using important SEO fundamentals.
This is where TrustRank comes into play.
Understanding TrustRank
When you start to make blogs, Google needs to trust you before it can promote your blog.
So, it uses TrustRank, a system that grades sites in terms of their authority, trustworthiness, and overall quality. It is Google’s and other search engines’ way to combat web spam. The higher your website’s TrustRank, the better it’s likely to perform in search results.
How does it work?
TrustRank is calculated using the distance between the page on your website and a “seed site”. This is a trusted and known internet source chosen by Google and honored with a perfect 10 Trust Score. The closer your website is to the seed site, the higher your trust score.
They developed a metric system called MozTrust. It is the closest thing you can try to measure your TrustRank directly. It may not be perfect, but it is a helpful starting point.
Why TrustRank Matters?
TrustRank is not an official term from Google. In fact, it was built by Hector Garcia-Molina and Zoltan Gyongyi, Standford University researchers, in collaboration with Yahoo!.
But it is a real thing. It gives credibility and weight to how trust plays a vital role in both virtual and real-world relationships. A healthy relationship is built on trust, after all.
If consumers trust a business, both parties enjoy mutual benefits.
With regards to web content, trust helps evaluate if the “trust signals” a website has is legitimate.
For these reasons, you should ensure your website has a high trust rank.
How to Improve Your Google TrustRank
How can you optimize TrustRank and stay on Google’s good side?
1. Optimizing On-Page Trust
You will need to make sure that your web pages themselves are trustworthy and speak of quality. This is the first place that Google will look at and determine if you’re worth promoting.
So…
How do you improve your on-page optimization in line with TrustRank?
Linking To Authority Sites
What better way to show you’re trustworthy than buddy-ing up with an already trustworthy site?
When you link out to other authority sites, you’re essentially showing Google that you are referencing authority sources and building up trust in its eyes. Also, when you reference authority sources, people can learn more from these trusted sources and can verify your claims.
Linking out is a fundamental on-page SEO tactic. But doing so with an authority site garners attention from TrustRank.
In addition, a study found a significant correlation between linking out to authority sites and a higher Google ranking.
So, what would Google consider to be an authority and trusted source? The answer is any domain that ends in .edu or .gov. These websites synonymous with authority and linking to them shows that you are seriously reliable.
Or you can also link out to journal studies, like this one:
As you can see, the page includes all its references. This ensures that they are not making claims without backing them up with facts. These links lead to recognized and high-quality journals hosted at .org and .gov domains that create credibility and greatly improve their TrustRank score.
Mind Your Bounce Rate
Google’s RankBrain algorithm now places user interaction as a ranking factor. If people are not spending more than a couple of seconds on your website, then this does not communicate anything positive to Google. Such behavior will negatively affect your TrustRank score.
Think about it, if your website offers trustworthy information, then why is everyone in a rush to leave?
Make sure to keep an eye on your bounce rate and the time on page rate in your Google Analytics. Then, do whatever it takes to keep people sticking to your website like superglue. Here are some tips:
Ensure ease of navigation
Optimize page load time, making sure that your site loads up quickly.
Ensure readability
Include sources and references. People are more likely to stay on sites with well-researched, accurate, and quality content.
Make sure that your site is device responsive
Include visuals and visually appealing graphical objects
While traditionally thin content was found on many websites, this is no longer the case. With Google’s Panda algorithm, sites that have little to no content are penalized. So, if you want to rank on Google and improve your TrustRank score, make sure that the content on your site is high quality, well researched, and informative.
This can be implemented on any site in any industry. For example, Unscrambled Words, a site that unscrambles words for people, not only provides a great service, but also has in-depth information on its homepage that helps people understand how it works.
With information about what a word unscrambler is, the benefits of using such as a word solver, information on how to use it, the rules for playing scrabble, and much more, this provides everything that a user needs to know about the site, without having to search for it elsewhere.
Copyright, Terms, Privacy Policy
These are the lengthy, boring pages that you should take seriously.
The fact that Google actually pays attention to these so-called boring pages should be enough to convince you to update that copyright notice to 2020.
There’s a fair amount of consensus that including these policies, terms, and copyright information all means further credibility to your website.
Plus, if you’re using Google Analytics, then a Privacy page is a must on your website, according to Google Analytics Terms of Service, Section 7:
Content on these pages actually protects you from any legal liability, so don’t even think of ditching these lengthy terms and notice. Since the beginning Google has been notorious for having lengthy contracts and terms and conditions.
2.Fix Your Domain
Fact: Google is a domain registrar.
It is not because it wants to sell domain hosting (at least for now), but it wants to look at your WHOIS information to determine who are the registered assignees or users of your website’s registered details such as the domain name.
When approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) like Google, you can check WHOIS information all day long. This is so, big G can once again ensure that you are indeed trustworthy.
So, here’s how you can gain more trust from your domain info:
Go Public
There’s no real company with private WHOIS. When a company has nothing to hide, why would it keep its WHOIS a secret?
Google wants to know if you are in this for the long-term. Although the debate of domain registration in SEO hasn’t reached a conclusion yet, it is something that cannot possibly hurt your site and might even help you.
Include WHOIS info on your Contact page
In order to really show Google that you’re all about openness and transparency, you can place your WHOIS address and phone on your privacy notice page or contact page. Doing so is another signal telling Google that you actually have an “office” somewhere.
These may seem a minor detail, but which site would you trust more:
A site with private WHOIS, no contact page and is expiring in 3 months, or
A website with a real phone number and address that matches the site’s official contact info, plus a 5 year or so domain registration.
I don’t know about you, but I’ll surely pick the latter. Choosing a domain name that’s perfect for your business leads to trust signals that improve your Google ranking.
3.Be a Brand. Act Like a Brand.
Google has been into brands recently.
It makes sense that Google prefers a brand name for your URL instead of “howtobeacontentcreatorandearnmoney.com”, right?
So, how can a small business look like a big-time brand?
Improve your brand signals. No matter which online business you started with, you should ensure that your brand is perceived as important:
Produce content that showcases your brand’s expertise. It doesn’t matter if it is written, video, screencast, or audio. Your product type will determine the channel type.
Get press coverage to build authority
Become a guest contributor to influential media outlets
Build your brand’s social media following
Keep in mind that Google is a website ranking machine, and it can identify ranking by reading signals. So, to identify brands, you need to give them online brand signals.
One more thing to note, Google takes brands very seriously. Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO, even said, “Brands are the solution, not the problem. Brands are how you sort out the cesspool”.
So, let’s help you step out of the cesspool, clean you up, and make you look like a big-time brand.
Branded Site/Domain Name
Don’t focus on the phrase match or exact match domains. The EMD update, short for Exact Match Domain, has made it very clear that exact match domains will not do you any good.
Rocking a branded domain screams “unique brand” and that you’re not just some SEO-freak trying to rank for a keyword.
Active Social Media
All big-time brands are active on social media platforms including Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and the like. And even if you’re just a small-time entrepreneur growing your business, you still should get your social accounts up and rolling as it helps with brand awareness.
Don’t Skimp On The About Us Page
You might think that this is one of those pages that users don’t bother looking at, but it matters anyway, at least to Google.
And real brands have lengthy About Us pages that talk about the company, mission and vision statement, and even the people that keep it running. So, make an epic and thorough About Us page that tells your brand story.
With tools like WordPress or Clickfunnels you are able to build a great looking About Us page fast.
Brand Name as Anchor Text
Naturally, people link to brands with brand name anchor text. So, if your website is SEOPowerLine.com, then you better get some links with the “SEO Power Line” anchor text.
Branded Searches
People search for brands.
Awesome videos? YouTube.
Quality furniture? Ikea.
Beauty and cosmetics? Maybelline or Loreal.
SEO practices? Neil Patel.
Best Webinar Platform? Zoom.
4.Get Quality Links
So, previously we talked about how linking out to trustworthy sites can improve your TrustRank score. But what about receiving a link from one?
This is the best way to catapult you up the ranking ladder.
Like everything in the Google world, trust revolves around the links. And you will need to work really hard to get quality links from credible sites. This way you can level up your trustworthiness and get more juice for your website.
Basically, getting a link from the highly trusted “seed sites” (Google’s handpicked sites with 10/10 TrustRank score) is the best. But, if you receive a link on a website, that has a link on a website, that has a link from these seed sites, then you still get a lot of SEO juice from that.
Another good example is to link on an industry site or a news site. Google said that news sites are highly reliable, particularly the sites from Google News.
Bottom line? Do what you can to get links from highly trusted sites.
How?
Do guest posts on sites with a higher Domain Rating in your niche.
Hire a freelance SEO specialist.
Use LinkedIn to do some influencer marketing.
Use press releases to get a Google News placement.
Ask your university for a story in the student paper.
Final Thoughts
You should now have a better understanding of Google TrustRank and why it is so important. These are just some of the best ways to improve your TrustRank score. There is so much more to it, but a lot of it comes down to common sense.
Every time you want to update your website or publish an article, ask yourself this: “Does it make my site more trustworthy and credible or not?”
And perhaps the best question to ask is: “Does this prove any value to my audience?”
Because at the end of the day, Google only wants its user to have a quality search experience so that they will keep using it.
So, that means that it needs to provide sites offering quality experiences by relying on various ranking factors such as TrustRank.
So, start improving your Google TrustRank today using the methods mentioned above, and you will soon see the fruit of your labor.
Now that you have read all about TrustRank, let’s hear it from you.
Have you tried to optimize your website for TrustRank?
First impressions on websites matter. Make them matter.
66% of individuals would rather view something wonderfully designed than something straightforward if they had only 15 minutes to view the information. Thus, the design of your site is an essential component. For your business website to be successful, you need to understand the importance of web design.
Your website is a gateway to business through which visitors connect with your business. That’s how visitors view the business as a whole. A poor website can seriously damage a business’s reputation, whereas a good website can increase its influence and generate leads. A study found that 38.5% of web designers believe that users leaving a website is primarily due to the outdated or non-appealing design.
Additionally, responsive web design is extremely important in this. There’s a strong possibility a visitor will simply leave your website if they have to pinch to zoom in and out. Making changes that alter how people view your website the first time they interact with it can make all the difference between these two results for you.
This shows why web design is a crucial aspect to boost your business. Now, let’s know what are the key components for a great web design.
Latest Trends To Keep In Check
Well, as we discussed above, how impactful can the design of your website be? Now, your website must adapt to the latest trends. But what are these trends?
Designing your website should take into consideration some current trends. Such as:
Claymorphism
Memphis Design
Complex Gradients
Behavioral design
Visible Borders
Glass Morphism
By keeping these trends in mind you can start designing your websites. Although there are some future web design statistics that you shouldn’t miss.
So, let’s check the stats now.
Web Design Statistics To Keep In Check
Your company website is more than simply a place where people can learn the bare minimum about you and your brand. It becomes a helpful marketing tool and valuable addition to your company.
Additionally, your website design should build trust and inform the target audience, in addition to meeting the fundamental needs of your business. For a successful manufacturing website overhaul or facelift, keep these things in mind.
Well, to make sure you design a proper website, you must be aware of the latest trends and statistics. Here, you will find some interesting and crucial stats on web design that will help you understand the various aspects of designing a website.
Now, let’s begin.
The web design of your site accounts for 94% of first impressions
“The first impression is the last impression”. Well, even in the world of web design, 94% of first impressions are design-related. Thus, it is one of the most important & crucial aspects to keep in check.
As per the research, users will form a judgment about a website in about 0.05 seconds. You want to make a positive first impression when someone discovers your company for the first time. This may affect how they view your company going forward. The bulk of first impressions made of your website is based on its design. Therefore, it’s important to make a good impression with your web design, create a stunning website, and engage your audience with your page.
To make a lasting first impression, design a visually striking website that attracts and draws in your viewers. 75% of people acknowledge evaluating a company’s credibility depending on the layout of its website. Build a website that represents your business, is aesthetically pleasing, and offers users a great first experience on your site, whether you do it yourself or employ a web design firm.
75% of website legitimacy comes from design
You want people who find your company online to recognize it as a legitimate operation. Because a poorly designed website may give the impression that you are spamming or unreliable. Unattractive layouts or content will turn 38% of users away.
Therefore, it is quite important to put time, money, and effort into creating a professionally designed site to ensure that you increase sales as well as credibility and trust with your audience. Because if your website isn’t beautifully designed, you run the danger of losing your audience’s trust and discouraging them from using it.
For your website, invest in top-notch design. To develop ideas on how to create a top-notch website, you can look for samples of excellent design to obtain a sense of how your site should appear. You may build a trustworthy website by picking the appropriate colors, aesthetic components, and layout.
Websites that are well-designed can have a visit-to-order conversion rate of 200% higher than those that are poorly designed.
You should also ensure that your website is safe. To guarantee that you’re giving your audience a secure browsing and buying experience, check to see if your website has HTTPS and an SSL certificate.
When consumers have a bad user experience, 89% switch to a competitor
You must be preoccupied not only with creating a positive first impression but also with maintaining that impression as visitors browse your website. Even the most nicely crafted website will be rendered useless if users are unable to navigate it and find the information they seek.
44 percent of consumers share negative online experiences with their friends. Users will leave if they are unable to quickly access the information available on your website. If you don’t want to start losing leads to the competition, you must prioritize user experience on your website. You get a $100 return on each and every dollar you invest in enhancing the user experience on your website. The key to success is an advanced website that is simultaneously appealing and functional.
Focus on features that will improve the user experience for your audience while you construct your website. As per the research, 42% of visitors tend to leave a website due to inefficiency. Thus, pay attention to details like creating a well-organized navigation system, including visual elements to break up the text, and making sure your website runs quickly. The website design must be easy to navigate.
The viewer should constantly be aware of their location on the website and have quick access to any location they desire. If one is accessible, it would be a great idea to use it. Although it seems simple, most websites might be made better in this regard. Functionality should be the goal because there is a thin line between an interactive menu and one that is obtrusive.
85% of adults believe that a company’s mobile website must be at least as good as its desktop website. Thus, you may build a more user-friendly website with the aid of all these components.
On their homepage, 70% of small company websites lack a Call to Action (CTA)
Contrarily, whether you’re a Fortune 500 firm or a Small/Medium Business, implementing Calls to Action incorrectly can have a major impact on your turnover. In actuality, CTA errors are unaffected by the size, age, or reputation of the organization. Depending on the type of business you operate, the type of CTA you include on your homepage will vary, but users will leave if there isn’t one. Users would like to know what your website intends them to accomplish, whether they realize it or not.
When creating a CTA, you need to comprehend the psychology of the customer. As you can see in the image above, ThemeSelection has placed CTA buttons very properly. As a visitor when you land on the product page you will definitely look for the demo or preview button to get an overview of the product. Thus, this is the exact area where you can use the CTA that navigates to where exactly the user wants to go.
According to research, most people base their decisions on whether their acts are reasonable and likely to be in their best interests. It’s surprising how frequently businesses lose out on opportunities to connect more deeply with potential customers. Almost 70% of small companies don’t have a proper Call To Action, which leads them to poor business.
Thus, You must pay attention to Call To Action design to prevent a serious loss. Through CTA, You may convince your visitors to read your emails or do particular actions, like making a purchase or joining the mailing list, by using a well-written CTA. You can create great CTAs by placing text on a button or just a link with the appropriate anchor text.
A website’s layout and navigational links are viewed by 38% of consumers
Visitors to websites wander all over the place, therefore your website’s navigation must be logical, approachable, and simple to use. If customers have even a slight difficulty locating what they’re looking for on your website, they won’t hesitate to leave and find another. As per the research, 38% of users who visit a website for the first time examine the page’s design or navigational links.
When visiting a website using a mobile device, 83% of users expect a faultless experience. Even though it now seems obvious, using a responsive website will guarantee that it will appear beautiful on every device a website visitor may use. Thus, it is crucial to provide proper navigation. However, users might not always use it. But still, chances are high that they will be impressed by the easy and flawless navigation. In addition to informing visitors about your products or suite of services, your website also acts as your primary point of sale online.
74% of users are more likely to return to mobile-friendly websites
People spend 70% of their Internet time on mobile too. With more people acquiring access to mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, it’s crucial to have a website that works well on them.
If businesses’ mobile websites or apps offer pertinent product recommendations, 63% of smartphone users are more inclined to purchase from them. Reactive design is one of the most important components of a mobile-friendly website. By using responsive design, you ensure that your website is compatible with any device a user may be using. As you can check the graph below, smartphone users are rapidly growing. Thus, you should not avoid these stats.
More than 54% of all web traffic worldwide is currently generated by mobile devices. Therefore, you risk losing up to 50% of your potential clients if your website isn’t mobile-friendly. Consider a smartphone user accessing a desktop-friendly website. It’s nearly impossible for potential consumers to locate what they’re searching for if text, photos, and buttons don’t adjust to fit touchscreen controls and smaller screen sizes; after a few incorrect clicks, they’ll probably go somewhere else.
According to Google’s research, almost 75% of users say they prefer a mobile-friendly website, and 96% of users claim they have come across websites that were not made for mobile devices. For businesses looking to interact with mobile users, this is both a major issue and a major opportunity.
Each year, slow-loading websites lose $2.6 billion in revenue
Yes, you heard correctly. A slow load time can increase shopping cart abandonment by 29.8% because their websites don’t load quickly enough, websites lose out on over two billion dollars in revenue each year. People dislike having to wait as websites load information, which discourages them from completing a purchase. This website statistic is important because it demonstrates how urgently your audience needs to acquire content. Make sure you’re on the winning side of the fast-loading website vs. the slow-loading website battle.
It has been reported that websites that load in five seconds earn 70% longer user sessions. Without a quick website, your company will be left behind. Fast-loading websites from your rivals will bring in more visitors and money. Your conversions will rise by 7% simply by speeding up your website by one second.
Design statistics indicate that 47% of users anticipate a web page to load in 2 seconds. To determine how quickly your site loads and where improvements might be made, you can utilize tools like Google Pagespeed Insights. You may also spend money on page speed services to hire a third party to optimize your website so you can concentrate on managing the influx of new visitors.
In 2021, 9 out of 10 viewers indicated they wanted to see more videos from brands and companies, while 96% of consumers increased their online video consumption. In fact, by 2023, it’s predicted that the average individual would watch 100 minutes of online streaming daily. Well, that’s why you shouldn’t neglect the importance of videos regardless of your business type. Automatically playing videos can significantly boost a page’s intrigue. They can be utilized to tell a narrative and greatly minimize the quantity of additional text required to describe your company.
When optimizing your website, you should include visual areas of interest to draw viewers in and encourage interaction. Consequently, it is wise to include videos when designing and optimizing your website. It will capture the attention of your visitors right away and persuade them to get in touch with you. This is known as “conversion,” and it’s likely the ultimate objective of your website. As per the research, users spend 88% more time on your site if you have videos on it.
This will enhance the visual attractiveness and interactivity of your website. But there’s no need to go overboard. Your audience can benefit and the user experience will improve if you make videos for difficult ideas or lengthy material. The degree of interaction should never surpass the benefit because, as previously said, there is a thin line between “interaction” and “annoyance.”
The most appreciated elements in website design are color (40%), and photos/images (39%)
According to survey data, companies looking for new clients can employ marketing color tactics to boost sales. Color preferences are ingrained instincts that may not be reasonable but have a significant impact on our decisions. Therefore, a person’s perception of a website’s color scheme may influence whether they decide to buy something or use a service.
When buying a product, According to a study, 84.7 percent of customers claim color as the main reason they choose a particular product to purchase, and 93 percent of consumers emphasize a product’s visual appeal when making a purchase. Thus, color plays a really vital role to boost the business. 46% of individuals think blue is their favorite color to see on a website, while only 23% say yellow is their favorite color for website design. Businesses should consider color selection closely and customize color schemes to user preferences.
Photography engages users and captures their interest when it comes to site design. Websites with poor photos have a higher chance of having a higher bounce rate from uninterested visitors. Beautiful photos of your business’s facilities, staff, and products help you come off as professional. Nearly 39% of respondents mentioned photos/Images as the affecting elements while visiting a website. Photos engage users and capture their interest when it comes to site design. Do note that websites with poor photos have a higher chance of a higher bounce rate from uninterested visitors. While using photos of your business’s facilities, staff, and products help you come off as professional.
Thus, your company should start by adding photographs and choosing a color scheme for your website. Then, concentrate on incorporating not just the previously listed visual components, but also typography, infographics, and animation.
Visitors to the website first browse the top left corner.
Users’ eyes naturally travel from the upper-left corner of your website down and to the right after they arrive. Similar conclusions were reached by a Yahoo study. Look at your website to see what is available in these zones. To the top-left corner, reposition the value proposition. When someone does choose to read a page, their eyes move horizontally from left to right, frequently focused on the upper-left corner of a webpage or the main content section of the webpage, which is generally triangular.
You can get a general description of the eye movement pattern when gazing at (often text-heavy) content as in the Gutenberg diagram. Except for the region at the bottom right, it generally fits this zoning conclusion. The top left is the major optical area, the top right is the strong fallow area, the bottom left is the weak fallow area, and the bottom right is the terminal area. The user’s eyes naturally start at the main optical area and move in sweeping motions across and down the display to the terminal area.
However, this pattern varies according to the design and function of a page. For instance, a person’s eyes will move differently over a page with a two- or three-column layout, a blog with a lot of text, or a slideshow with a lot of photos.
Thus, it is necessary to place things in the right area.
Conclusion:
As you can see, website design is constantly evolving and changing. Some aspects that were popular years ago (such as picture sliders) are falling out of favor, and it’s difficult to forecast what websites will look like in the future.
Whatever “best practices” you follow, keep in mind that a website isn’t “done” after the first design. People are more likely to trust websites that have recently been updated or evaluated.
Commit to researching web design statistics and keeping trends in mind. Use them to demonstrate your responsiveness when rebuilding your website.