Category Archives: Design

5 Ways to Generate Exclusive Web Design Leads in 2022

Exclusive Web Design Leads (Blog Cover)

Exclusive web design leads are valuable for marketing agencies and freelance designers. Unfortunately, with so much competition, leads are harder to secure in 2022. Some agencies even resort to buying shared leads, reducing conversion rates, and limiting repeat customers.

The good news is that there are still effective ways to generate exclusive web design leads in 2022. You just need to know how to approach the lead generation process. Below, Nolen Walker Academy outlines five fantastic ways to bring in exclusive web design customers in 2022.

1) Make Contact Conveinenent

So many digital marketing agencies lose out on leads because of user inconvenience. When users find your website, it should be easy to submit a contact form. Your forms should appear prominently on the homepage and in the footer of other conversion pages. 

Not everyone wants to talk on the phone immediately, so provide different ways to contact your business. It’s even more essential to ensure easy contact via mobile device. Contact forms must be responsive to any smartphone or tablet so users can quickly contact your company.

A Great Website for Home Security SEO

A homepage contact form makes a big difference in lead generation

2) Stay in Touch With Email

Every dollar you put into your email marketing campaign can return $42. It’s true! Email marketing has one of the highest ROIs of any lead-generation strategy, no matter the industry. For web design agencies, email marketing is a must. 

But you must be careful with your strategy because you never want to be too spammy. So first, you must generate a good list of prospects based on past company interactions, impressions, and interests. Once you have a good list, try the following tips:

  • Be Personal: Studies show that people are more likely to open your email if it has a personalized subject line. You can personalize it by including their name or mentioning a service the recipient has expressed interest in. 
  • Use An Emoji: The average email user gets dozens of emails daily, so it can be tough to make yours stand out. A simple emoji can make it look like you put more thought and effort into your message than you probably did. 
  • Use Blog Content: You don’t always want to be too sales-y with your emails. Every once in a while, including an exciting snippet from one of your blogs entices the recipient. 
  • Don’t Send Too Often: A couple of weekly emails for web design agencies is probably enough. Remember that you don’t want to be too spammy. If you are, you risk your leads hitting the dreaded” Unsubscribe” button.

3) Delegate Lead Generation Tasks

Small web design agencies probably don’t have the workforce to spare on lead generation. But that might not be the case for you. So when possible, it’s always a good idea to appoint the lead generation task to one person or a small group. 

That way, you’re freed up to tend to more critical business matters. Be sure to check in with your lead-generation appointee(s) often and discuss their strategy to generate exclusive web design leads. Delegation is easy when you build an experienced SEO team for your agency.

4) Leverage Reputation & Reviews

Your agency should have a Google Business Profile at the bare minimum. But it would be best to use favorable reviews as a promotional tool. So, respond to as many reviews as possible, whether good or bad. 

You should also utilize reputation management software to display your reviews on your website. One great tool for reputation management is DataPins, which also helps boost your local SEO through schema markup.

Google Reviews Snapshot

5) Go All-in on Search Engine Optimization

SEO is the best way to produce exclusive web design leads. If you can rank for keywords like web design in miami, or web design seattle, you will pick up consistent leads. Web designers in smaller towns can more easily rank for these location keywords though fewer people will click.

Check out some of the basic tenants of SEO for web design agencies:

  • Keyword Research: Keywords are still essential in getting your website in front of people interested in your business. Research your target keywords and implement them throughout your site. 
  • Link Building: Links are an essential ranking factor, so make sure you have internal links on every page and reach out to colleagues, local business directories, and even HARO to get more backlinks.
  • Blogging: Create informational blog posts that target high-volume national keywords. These posts bring in traffic from all over the nation and naturally earn backlinks from authority sites.
SEO Roadmap Infographic

Why Are Exclusive Web Design Leads Important?

Exclusive leads are important because they convert at a much higher rate than shared leads. You will be the only person reaching out to the consumer with exclusive leads. Exclusive leads are much more valuable as they save you time, allow you to charge a standard or premium price for your service, and they are much more likely to result in a sale. 

Learn How to Start a Web Design Agency

If you have web design skillsets but lack the knowledge to start your own agency, enroll in Nolen Walker Academy. NWAcademy helps students create their own digital marketing agency in 2022, including extensive courses on lead generation, sales, and branding your agency.

7 Appealing Design Elements of the Best Veterinary Websites

Veterinary Websites (Blog Cover)

As a veterinarian, your job is to help animals. But how can you help any animals if their owners can’t find you? If you seem to have few patients walk through your doors, the problem may be with your website. A lot of veterinarians overlook the importance of an attractive and functional website. But in the digital age, your online presence can make or break your business. That’s because an astounding 97% of consumers use the internet to research local businesses and services – this includes veterinary offices. 

It may seem counterintuitive but in order to help as many animals as you can, you need to focus on digital marketing – namely, your website design. Your website should be inviting, easy to navigate, and have all the information your patients (and potential patients) may need to make their animals well and keep them healthy. 

In the following guide, we will be going over the most important design elements that veterinary websites absolutely need to utilize.

1) Pet Insurance

A growing number of Americans are investing in pet insurance. With nearly 70 billion dollars being spent on pet medical bills in the United States annually, pet owners and employers are wising up. More and more companies are offering pet insurance to employees as part of their benefits packages. So what does this have to do with your website? When a pet owner visits your site, they should be able to find out whether you accept their pet insurance. Be sure to have a page or section of your website that lists all the pet insurance plans you accept.

2) Practice Photos

We all love our pets. And as pet owners, we need to feel comfortable with the veterinarians we bring our furry friends to because they can’t speak or choose for themselves. Some high-quality photos of yourself with some animals you have treated, happy patients, and your smiling staff will go a long way in instilling trust in potential patients.

3) Exceptional User Experience

While this design element isn’t exclusive to veterinary websites, it is still very important. The fact is that every website, including yours, needs to be responsive. It has to load fast, be easily navigable, and be accessible across all platforms. Invest in a UX designer to help you with your site. Things like first contentful paint, mobile device access (being able to easily navigate your website from a smartphone or tablet), and flat architectural site design are some points of emphasis you should discuss with your UX designer.

4) Essential Pages

There are a few pages that every veterinarian should have on their website: an about page, a contact page, and a services page. The about page should be written to convey what it is that makes you stand out among other vets in the areas. This is a good opportunity to list your credentials, certifications, education, and areas of expertise and to tell patients about your bond with animals. The contact page should have all the necessary info like office hours, email address, phone number, physical address, and any other contact information. The contact page should have links that enable a visitor to send an email or make a phone call with a single click (if they are on a mobile device). You may also want to install a message reception system where people can simply type in a message right on your website without having to send an email. And your services page should provide a clear list of all the medical services you provide (check-ups, x-rays, vaccination shots, emergency care, etc.).

5) A Blog

One interesting phenomenon that is occurring among pet owners is that more and more, they are turning to the internet for help concerning their pets. In a recent study, it was revealed that 70% of participants (pet owners) have used the internet to research information about pet health. In fact, many pet owners take to the internet first before they consult vets, general practitioners, or even friends and family. So in order to capitalize on this trend, you may want to start a blog that focuses on pet health topics. This will draw a ton of traffic to your site form concerned pet owners seeking your specialized knowledge.

6) Local SEO

SEO stands for search engine optimization. It is a method of getting your website noticed and ranked on internet searches. But as a veterinarian, you are probably focusing on your local market. So your website should emphasize local SEO. Localized keywords (a good example would be something like “veterinarians near me”) are a good place to start. But schema markup, geo-location functions, and review management are also helpful local SEO tools that will bolster your click-through traffic. 

7) Patient Reviews

While your business should be claimed on all relevant third-party review websites like Yelp and Google My Business, you should incorporate patient testimonials on your own website as well. Patient testimonials go a long way toward instilling trust in the minds of potential patients. In fact, 84% of people surveyed in a poll run by Inc reported that they trust online reviews as much as referrals from their friends and family. Having a healthy amount of reviews readily available for visitors to read on your website will not only make your website look more attractive but draw in new patients as well.

Digital Marketing for Veterinarians

So what makes us qualified to talk about the most appealing design elements of veterinary websites? Here at Nolan Walker, we specialize in digital marketing for veterinarians. The veterinary industry is one we have a lot of experience with. We have helped hundreds of veterinarians all around the country implement effective digital marketing strategies and expand their practice – and we can surely do the same for you. We know what goes into effective marketing for veterinary practices so put our team to work for you right now!

What is First Contentful Paint and How Does it Impact SEO?

First Contentful Paint (Blog Cover)

Google has been in a ceaseless war with shoddy UX for over a decade now. User experience means pretty much everything to Google, and they have the resources to throw at it. And since Google’s job is to organize and display what the internet has to offer, their crosshairs may be pointed at your site. In the past, we have talked a lot about the different factors that affect Search Engine Optimization and Google ranking. So today we want to continue that discussion by explaining something called first contentful paint. And in explaining first contentful paint, it would help to familiarize and refresh our memory as to what user experience is.

First Contentful Paint and User Experience

First contentful paint is an important aspect of user experience. First contentful paint has to do with the loading speed of your website. When someone types your URL into their address bar or clicks on your link from a search engine or other source, the first contentful paint is the first element of your website that begins to render on their monitor. Usually, first contentful paint is your website’s header or top navigational menu. 

This is the first thing that people see when loading your website and it lets them know that the content that they came in search for is on the way and will render soon. You may be starting to see what first contentful paint and user experience have to do with one another. When your site loads fast – when the first contentful paint shows up quickly and in turn, renders first meaningful paint quickly – Google considers that part of good user experience. When people have to wait multiple seconds for your website to start showing signs of life, Google considers that you guessed it, part of bad user experience. 

The New Era of Google Ranking

We are living in a significant era as far as digital marketing and SEO are concerned. On Thursday, May 28, 2020, Google announced that they would be using a set of metrics called “Core Web Vitals” to incorporate into their ranking algorithm. Core Web Vitals are criteria that judge websites based on user experience. This includes “load time, interactivity, and the stability of content” as Google puts it. And while these changes are not set to roll out until 2021, smart marketers will begin to adapt right now so that they are ready to rank when Google officially makes this change.

In essence, though, Google will now be looking at SEO and the overall user experience when ranking websites. That means that first contentful paint is going to be a huge decider on how high your website gets placed on Search Engine Results Pages. 

This represents a shift toward more “human-centric” metrics that Google is using to rank websites. You can probably see how this is going to have an effect on the current standards or Search Engine Optimization.

What FCP this Means for SEO

Before you throw out all your SEO textbooks, understand that current SEO practices are still very much valid. As Common Places Interactive lays out in their article, SEO is still going to be the first signifier to the Google bots. In other words, just because Google is getting more UX and human-oriented, doesn’t mean that they are going to start using humans to comb through the millions of search engine hits it pulls up on a single query.

In short, this means that computers are still going to be used to index your website, and what do these computers use to index? That’s right, SEO signals. In 2021 the process of Google rankings is going to go something like this:

  • A search is made using keywords
  • The Google algorithm will scour the internet in search of those keywords and relevant data
  • Google will then comb the sites based on Core Web Vitals and other metrics
  • Google will display results based on the relevancy of SEO and Core Web Vitals

So as you can see, SEO is still very much part of the game. As things stand now, it looks like SEO will still be the initial signifier for the Google algorithm. The results that are indexed in this initial search will then be further scrutinized using Core Web Vitals.

Going Forward With FCP

While this may sound like a bit of frustrating news to a lot of webmasters out there, it should nonetheless come as no surprise. Google’s job since its inception has essentially been to improve the way their system provides relevant content to its users. One just needs to take a look at Google’s update timeline to see how much effort the company has put into improving its search engine. It’s obvious to see that Google is an ever-changing machine. So not only should this latest update come as no surprise to you; you should also expect more changes very soon. 

But don’t stress out. There are some very helpful tools out there that you can use for free to improve the speed of your first contentful paint. Google itself launched Lighthouse in 2008 which lets developers test their website loading speed and see how it loads as visitors experience it. Lighthouse will essentially audit your page based on SEO and UX and let you know where and how you can improve.

Adapting to SEO’s Evolution

If you haven’t figured it out by now, it really pays to be adaptive when it comes to digital marketing. The value that Google has placed on first contentful paint and UX, in general, is just another shift that the company has made to keep developers honest and to keep their own users happy. It was preceded by past changes and it will be succeeded by future ones. 

Here at Nolen Walker, our job is to help you be adaptive in the ever-changing digital market. With our tools and guidance, you can stay on top of the latest changes in search engine algorithms. 

5 Best Web Design Practices for Your Homepage

At Nolen Walker, we talk a lot about empowered local SEO, paid search campaigns, and successful content marketing tactics! These all heavily impact lead generation, especially in highly competitive metropolitan environments. Some of the most crucial website design practices however, revolve around stimulating visuals and smart organization. While a pretty colors and fancy features don’t always make for a lead-driving website, they certainly make a difference!

Today, we’re going to discuss five of the best web design practices businesses can incorporate in their company homepage (and beyond). Not only do these features typically improve conversion rates, they also make for a pleasant user experience. If you’ve been looking to update your web design, be sure to read along carefully!

Web Design Utilizing Open Space

Open Space Draws More Attention to the Menu Elements and Calls to Action.

5 Best Practices for Web Design

Best Practice #1: Consolidate and Prioritize

Empty space can be more powerful than you realize! Not only does it keep readers sharp and focused, it naturally draws the eyes to important elements on your homepage. In the picture above, this company’s web design professional utilizes white space to highlight the visually striking menu text and company logo. The calls to action  clearly stand out from the rest of the text as well (more on this later).

Many contractors mistakenly believe that cramming more services and colors into homepage top will ease the search process for site visitors, when it actually creates the opposite effect. Congested menus and overly stimulating pictures make it more challenging to focus, slowing the search process. If you’ve ever landed on a website, seen a crowded page, and instinctively looked away from the screen (or clicked the back button), you already know the danger of overstimulation.

Try to leave plenty of space to highlight your menu, headers, and contact information!

Text walls, large blocks of uninterrupted paragraphs, also produce the same result. As tempting as it is to try to explain how great each and every one of your services is, remember that less can be more! This conveniently leads into our next pro tip…

Block Formatting Web Design

Notice the Natural Balance Between Text and Imagery. The Original Photo is a Nice Touch Too!

Best Practice #2: Format Your Text

Above is yet another screenshot from one of our favorite website designs! As mentioned before, huge blocks of text make it challenging for readers to effectively digest information. That’s why breaking up your text into short paragraphs, then sprinkling images into the mix, creates such a powerful combination. This particular formatting tool is called a media and text block, a recent addition to WordPress since the Gutenberg update. The bolded and colored text also makes it easier to navigate onto other pages and call the business.

Powerful Tools for Formatting Text

  • Varied headers (H3s and H4s)
  • Mixed text/media blocks
  • Bullet point lists
  • Numbered lists or how-to’s
  • Isolated quotes and key points
  • Occasional bolding, italics, and underlining
  • Carefully spaced out exclamation points

Text is just one more facet of your homepage that benefits from consolidation and prioritization. You can easily create more invested readers by breaking up large, bulky paragraphs into shorter, focussed sections. Add in a quirky and enthusiastic header every few paragraphs, and you’ll naturally have site visitors staying longer to consume your stimulating content!

One last note: be very careful with how frequently you add emphatic formatting on text.

Bolded text, exclamation points, and even italics should be used sparingly. This makes the instances you incorporate them especially powerful. That’s why emphatic formatting is best saved for key points, calls to action, and humorous moments.

Call to Action Web Design

Two Clear Calls to Action, Each With Their Own Way of Drawing Attention.

Best Practice #3: Call Them to Action!

What’s the most frustrating oversight for an experienced web designer? Probably the lack of a clear call to action. That’s because all the hard work that goes into crafting an engaging user experience and beautiful aesthetics goes out the window if your reader has can’t find their next steps. Calls to action (CTAs) direct site users on how to respond to your content.

CTAs Direct People To…

  • Phone Call
  • Direct Message
  • Email
  • Continue Reading
  • Consult a Directory
  • Check Out Another Page
  • Perform an Action Offline
  • and More

In the image above, this roofing contractor effectively draws attention to two separate calls to action. One directs readers to call the listed phone number, by using vivid red text to grab attention. The other uses a large text box for a more generic “Contact Us”. Both provide ample opportunity for site visitors to connect with the business.

Make sure your company website’s calls to action are clearly visible. Too often, these crucial tools get lost in a sea of text or obscured by colorful backgrounds. If an average visitor can’t locate your number and other CTAs within a few seconds, your homepage web design may be too crowded!

A Schema List Web Design Feature

Schema Lists Offer Clear Directions and Descriptions for Key Services.

Best Practice #4: Use Schema Lists

Schema coding helps Google identify the purpose of different elements around a page. It can also turn boring text lists into clearly visible and productive directories. In the picture above, this schema list feature incorporates hyperlinked services and descriptive text in a very legible format.

Where can you use schema lists?

Most businesses that favor these features often use them multiple times on the homepage alone. They can be broken up by service category, making it even easier for users to find their desired page(s). With that being said, they also make great navigational tools on your top level parent pages too (example: “Residential Roofing”).

As you use these schema lists, just make sure to not overdo it and cram dozens of services into a single roster. Again, these special coding features work best with a handful of solutions related to a single service category.

Web Design Features Called Category Blocks

Category Blocks Work Very Well Near the Top Fold of Your Homepage.

A similar design feature is the service category block. These blocks offer an even more visible way to connect website visitors with their desired pages. Many companies add them towards the top of the homepage, either on or below the first page fold. Hovering over the blocks causes them to change color, display a new picture, or show descriptive text.

Four to six blocks of popular categories can transform any sluggish website into an efficient user experience!

Best Practices #5: Integrate Your Reviews

Word of mouth makes a way, especially when it comes to contractors! Online reviews are one of the purest forms of digital currency these days, but most businesses don’t understand how to use (or even collect) them correctly. That’s why even top ranking businesses sometimes lack any reviews on their local search listings.

When it comes to web design, reviews naturally fit inside the scope of your homepage. The process of review integration can take some specialized coding skills, but it’s certainly worth the time and/or money investment. At Nolen Walker, our web design professionals favor a tool that cycles some of the latest reviews from our clients’ customers.

Web Design Utilizing Integrated Reviews

Our Righteous Reviews Tool Also Pulls Feedback From Multiple Sources, Such as Facebook Reviews.

Of course, you can utilize reviews almost anywhere in your homepage web design. Some companies even take their favorite client feedback and display it at the top of their landing page. Cycling reviews tend to have a greater impact however, since they include unfiltered reviews from a variety of clients. This scares many businesses however, as they fear a client might leave a scathing, low star review.

Remember this: limited negative feedback can be a good thing!

How so? Negative feedback shows that your company is open to accountability. The smartest company owners get excited about negative reviews, because it gives them a chance to improve their customer service. A tactfully-worded apology can make turn an angry individual into a lifelong customer.

Plan Your Web Design!

No website is perfect. Successful business however, learn to take their web design shortcomings and transform them into strengths. If your website has struggled with poor conversion rates, poor user experiences, or even Google penalties, our team at Nolen Walker would love to help you transform it!

Our seasoned design team incorporates…

  • Schema Coding
  • Rich Imagery
  • Convenient Navigation
  • Striking Calls to Action
  • and More

Find out why our customers throughout the US earn better rankings and stronger lead generation than their local competitors! Give us a call at (866) 356-8198 to consult with one of our SEO experts. We can’t wait to serve you.

How Can I Improve My Conversion Rate?

Did you know that getting people to your company website is only half the battle? Only a small percentage of people visiting your company page will transform into clients. That’s a daunting truth to face, especially when you spend so much time and effort getting people to visit your company site in the first place. You can spend all the money in the world on off-site advertising and promotions, but that won’t necessarily enhance your conversion rate.

In case that makes you feel like throwing up your hands in despair, don’t worry! Companies have lucrative ways to improve their website lead management and build business. You just have to know where to look. Today, we’ll explore how to enhance your site conversion rate at little to no extra cost. Let’s dive right in!

What is a Conversion Rate?

Before you can identify why your conversion rate is low, we need to define the term. If you have enough marketing and/or sales knowledge to know what a conversion rate is, go ahead and skip ahead to our next section. You won’t hurt our feelings!

In this context, your website conversion rate measures the percentage of people (in a given period) who contact your business for service after visiting your website. Keep in mind that viewers may be coming from numerous sources, from localized Google searches to promotions on your social media account. Right now, we aren’t concerned with where these leads are coming from so much as how they are being handled on your site.

Google Analytics Tool for Checking Conversion Rate

Google Analytics Offers Free Tools for Small Businesses to Monitor Their Site Conversion Rate, Among Other Things. Source: Google Marketing Platform

If you currently have no clue what your site’s current performance metrics are, that’s okay. You can easily check your conversion rate in Google Analytics, a free tool for small businesses for gauging site activity. After checking out our tips, try testing out this helpful service!

Starting With the Basics: Web Design

Web design plays such a crucial role in both your site’s user interactivity and your search rankings. Every element must maintain a careful balance between advancing SEO (search engine optimization) and making visitor experience more amenable. That can be a strenuous challenge, especially when balancing daily operations and your website development. If you don’t have the time or energy to enact these changes, there are plenty of highly-rated development services that are willing to do the work for you!

Call to Action

Give a Clear Call to Action on Every Page

Every…single…page on your website should contain a clear call to action (CTA) for visitors, preferably above the page fold. If you’re wondering “What is a call to action?”, it refers to an object or verbiage that prompts a desired action from a site visitor. As you can see below, a page can have multiple CTAs in a single page (even just above the fold). They may ask for direct communication through a call or indirect via email.

Calls to Action That Boost Conversion Rate

Notice the 3 Separate CTA Elements in This Homepage Alone. They are Clearly Visible and Fairly Commanding.

Businesses need to understand something: it’s okay to tell people what to do to. When it comes to navigating a new and unfamiliar site, readers are more than happy to receive guidance in the form of a call to action (especially if they are looking for service). Well-crafted CTAs will almost always increase your site’s conversion rate.

Navigation

Simplify Your Navigational Menu

Nothing tanks a conversion rate like muddled site navigation. Even the most sophisticated Adwords campaigns and social media marketing can’t save a poorly designed menu system and infinite link loops. If your site receives plenty of traffic every day, but your conversion rate still drops, you might be stuffing your site with too many services.

Simple Dropdown Menu

Finding the Perfect Service is the Ultimate Goal for Site Visitors, So Make it Easy for Them.

Don’t try to get too fancy. Stick with a simple top banner and dropdown menu navigation. Your visitors will appreciate how easy it is to find their services, and you’ll appreciate the higher conversion rate!

Mobile Optimization

Optimize for Mobile Browsing

More than half of all website traffic in 2018 was run through mobile phones, according to a study conducted by Statista. Here’s a startling question: what if over half (52.2%) of your visitors turned away because your site wasn’t optimized completely for mobile browsers? With so many tools to analyze and convert your site into a mobile-friendly format, it’s no wonder Google inflicts serious rank penalties on sites that aren’t suited for the majority of online viewers.

Results for a Mobile Friendly Page Test

Google Offers Free Tools to Make Sure Your Company Site is Mobile-Friendly. Source: Google

WordPress and other site development tools usually contain options to convert your site into a mobile-friendly format. Unless your company is using a desktop-exclusive format, it shouldn’t be too difficult to convert your site. Of course, there’s always professional services to help you!

Want More Tips on Improving Your Conversion Rate?

Check out the Nolen Walker guide for keyword optimization, another crucial element of improving your commercial website’s conversion rate. Our team at Nolen Walker provides invaluable services for developing commercial websites optimized for search, crafting engaging and keyword-rich content, and formulating successful online marketing campaigns to promote your business! Our clients dominate the top results of their local search engine rankings, creating growth and a higher quality of leads.

To learn more about Nolen Walker’s SEO services, contact us at