Until recently, Google would rate your website’s SEO based on several factors, but the goal was to stick to one relevant term when it came to keywords. Unfortunately, keyword stuffing crashed that party, and Google began to penalize sites for using the keyword too often and inappropriately. So instead, algorithms developed to take into account semantically related words that would help the reader better understand the topic. These are called LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords.

What LSI Keywords Do

LSI Keywords help the reader and Google understand what your web page or blog post is about. They aren’t synonyms, but terms that help give the reader and Google context.

Take the keyword “succulent,” for example.

Are you talking about something juicy and moist, like a perfect steak? Or are you talking about the drought-resistant plants that retain moisture in their stems and leaves? This is where LSI keywords come in.
We are talking about the plant, so there will be words on the page like:

• Ecosystem
• Soil
• desert
• roots
• photosynthesis

These words make it clear that we aren’t talking about steak.

How to Find Semantically Related Keywords

You can do a Google search and see some of the related things on the search engine results page.

• Growing Succulents
• Succulent Care
• Succulent Types
• Jade Plant
• Propagating succulents

You can also check the People Also Ask section of the SERP

• How do you water a succulent?
• How do you care for succulents indoors?
• Do succulents need full sun?
• Do succulents grow better inside or outside

Remember Context Is Key

If you do an internet search, you will find plenty of articles that try to debunk LSI Keywords. This is because LSI technology is old-It has been around since 1988! Some of these articles will say that Google doesn’t look specifically for LSI keywords when your SEO is calculated.

However, related terms have long played an important role in whether your page is considered a good example of what someone is searching for. LSI keywords add context and variety to your content in a way that keeps the text interesting and readable. It helps you create relevant content without stuffing it full of the exact keywords repeatedly.

Ensuring Your Website is Optimized

The best thing you can do to ensure your website is optimized is to have the SEO specialists at Iceberg Web Design do their magic. Whether you need your site built from scratch or you need to ensure people find your existing site, we have the knowledge and tools to get it done. Contact us today!

The post LSI Keywords and Your Site’s SEO appeared first on Iceberg Web Design.

Is my Website Impacted By The log4j Vulnerability?

You may have seen news about the recent log4j vulnerability issue that is currently circulating. We’re hoping to provide some short insight, and help you ensure that your website is safe and secure.

log4j is a component for Java servlets. If your website is using WordPress, it is using PHP as its server side language (not Java). Most smaller WordPress websites themselves will not be affected by this vulnerability, however websites with third party integrations and plugins may be using software that relies on Java programming.

The best way to protect your website from any vulnerabilities is to ensure that your website software and all plugins are up-to-date. If you are concerned about this vulnerability, or future potential ones, our recommendation is to update your website software to the most recent, stable versions.

At Iceberg, we take security vulnerabilities very seriously, and have maintenance plans in place to ensure our customers websites remain secure.

If you need website help, or have questions about your website’s security, you can always contact our team online or give us a call at 763-350-8762.

The post Answering log4j Vulnerability Questions appeared first on Iceberg Web Design.

This week marks 16 years in business for our Anoka based website development company. We’ve grown a lot over the past 16 years, and continue to grow each year.

Today we have a committed team, each member contributing to our development, marketing, and support processes. Our staff is also dedicated to business growth, and we work hard every day to reach our goals. Here’s what the team looks like today:

16 years. I’ve been thinking about my own life at the age of 16, and remembering what a year that was. In the throes of my teenage years, I was developing deep friendships, getting my driver’s license, thinking about my future career plans… all while playing trumpet in the jazz band and rocking my collection of homemade pants.

Reminiscing on my 16th year got me thinking about the rest of our team. Imagine, if you will, every member of Iceberg being transported back in time to the age of 16. I’ll make this easy for you by providing a visual:

Who was this motley crew of 16 year olds? The team shared stories and fond memories of our teenage years with one another. Here’s what Iceberg looked like when we were all Sweet 16.

The owner of Iceberg, Jessi, was technically employed as a Box Office attendant at the local movie theater. Though she never actually worked – she was just in it for the free movies and popcorn, and gave most of her hours to other employees wanting to pick up shifts. She spent her days after school either in the band room or at theater practice, collecting Dr. Pepper cans to hang from her bedroom ceiling. You could find her cruising around with her friends, listening to 1990s Country (or the hit song of the year – “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls) in her Oldsmobile, decked out with glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. All while wearing those homemade pants.

While Jessi was already dabbling in web design, Iceberg was still a far-off dream. She never imagined that one day she would be working with Shane, who heads up the Sales & Marketing department today. Right around the same time, Shane at age 16 was living in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with Outkast’s “Spottieottiedopaliscious” on repeat on his Walkman. He was into camping, fishing, road trips, and enjoyed soccer and football. Shane gained some career experience at the age of 16 working as a dishwasher at The Irish Democrat – and he was sure he was on the path to become a teacher one day.

But the fun doesn’t stop there! Our head of Operations, Kari, was living the life at age 16. Imagine her rocking out to “The Sign” by Ace of Base. She spent nearly all of her time at the mall, though she also worked occasionally at her local movie theater in Crystal, MN. She didn’t have a car to take her to the mall or to work, but luckily Kari was an athletic teenager, and Track & Field was her jam. She had her sights on becoming a physical therapist or a lawyer.

Moving right on to our Project Manager and Head of Finance, at 16 Mariann was a David Bowie die-hard, growing up in Cambridge MN – not too far from where she lives today. Mariann was (and still is!) an avid sewer, and dreamed of one day becoming a fashion designer. Her billing finesse comes from her experience working unpaid during the summers, helping out her mom with filing, mailings, and other admin work.

Our developers, Kyle and Josh, had no idea they would land in their careers in development at the ages of 16. Kyle lived in Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri – and his childhood filled with travel and cultural experiences had him convinced that he was on the fast track to becoming a Bush Pilot. Kyle was a soccer player, and he spent his summer breaks working on a gas dock, filling up and cleaning boats and yachts.

Josh spent his mid-teenage years listening to the Grateful Dead, and playing in a really bad garage band. Destined to become a musician or a writer, you could find Josh and his guitar cruising down the streets of Minneapolis in his parents’ minivan. He made a few dollars on the side bagging groceries, while studying Literary Arts and attending a writing camp the summer of his 16th year.

Speaking of writing – we wouldn’t be where we are today without our content writer, Heather. An ambitious teenager, Heather lived in the dorms at the Perpich Center for Arts Education, and coincidentally Josh was in the same writing class as she was in 1993! At home on the stage, Heather lettered in theater by the age of 16. She also drove a family car – her dad’s Nissan Sentra. Her passengers had to climb through the driver’s seat, as the passenger door didn’t open, and she got really good at driving with a muddy windshield, as the washer fluid never worked. Heather spent her summers working for $3/hour at an Arabian Horse Farm, while dreaming of one day becoming…a writer.

What’s an agency without an SEO and Marketing specialist? Hattie handles marketing for Iceberg and our customers – but when she was 16, Hattie lived in Clinton, IA and was busy with with orchestra, choir, drama, and ballet. She played the string bass and was center stage in musicals, including “Into The Woods” and “Chorus Line.” Another teenager with a worn-down car, Hattie drove a Ford Aerostar with no heat and a broken gas gauge. When she wasn’t stranded on the side of the road after unknowingly running out of gas, Hattie worked at the local radio station and dreamed of one day becoming a radio personality.

And, if you’ve called Iceberg recently, you’ve definitely had the pleasure of talking with our CSR Jessie. A cheerleader from Ogilvie Minnesota, Jessie spent her 16th year dancing to Prince’s “Raspberry Beret” and crushing on Magnum P.I. She daydreamed of becoming a private investigator just like Magnum, while working as a cashier at the local Holiday station. Jessie loved hanging out with friends, visiting their family cabin near Brainerd, and driving her sister’s 1975 red Pacer when she wasn’t around.

And there is your peek into the teenage years of the Iceberg Penguins. While we are definitely all skilled in what we do today, I can’t help but imagine a company run by a bunch of kids with an eclectic taste in music, with jobs ranging from teaching to fashion designing to practicing law, all while getting around in bush planes and borrowed minivans.

If this sounds like the kind of group you’d like to get to know, give us a call at 763-350-8762. Today, we are proud to be your website developers who answer the phone (and sometimes still make their own pants)!

The post Celebrating Sweet 16 appeared first on Iceberg Web Design.

We’ve talked with thousands of small business owners about their experiences building a website, and we understand the struggles that you’ve gone through. In this article, we’re going to lay out the common struggles that you may have encountered, trying to create a professional marketing or e-commerce website for your business.

You’ve tried SquareSpace, Wix, Google, or another DIY Website Builder

There are many, many low cost website builders on the market today. For the most part, they offer different template design options and the ability for you to set up your own website without knowing anything about graphic design or website code. These can be a great option for businesses just starting out, and with prices ranging from free to $500/month, they slide right into most small businesses marketing budgets.

We talked with dozens of business owners who have taken the DIY route and worked with an online website builder. The pitfalls we hear over and over with this solution are:

It takes a lot of time to build your own website.

While the dollar investment may be low, the time investment that comes with DIY website builders is high. Most business owners we know who have gone this route don’t have someone on staff that can dedicate full time work to a new website project, so it often takes months – or years – to complete, or it’s done too quickly and quality suffers.

 You struggle writing your own website content.

Writing engaging marketing content that makes your customers want to shop at your business is a challenge for even the most experienced content writer. When you’re trying to write website content for your own business, while also trying to run your own business, you’re sure to run into at least one frustration.

You’re limited by what the template has to offer.

Do you want to swap out your custom branded graphics, shake up the header, or rearrange the layout to match your content and business? Not so fast! DIY builders will often make you work within their set designs and layouts, leaving you little room for creative enhancements.

Customer support can’t help you with your web design problems.

DIY website companies don’t have web designers or developers immediately accessible to you, so if you hit a roadblock building your website, you’re likely on your own.

You don’t own the website, and there’s no room for growth.

If you manage to get through the initial hurdles with a DIY solution, you’ll run into this barrier as your business grows. Online website builders lock you into their software, and onto their servers. So if you want to bring in a developer to customize your website, or move it to a new hosting provider in the future, you will likely need to start from scratch with a brand new website project.

You’ve worked with a freelancer to design you a new website

Freelancers and solopreneurs are a dime a dozen these days. We’ve had more than one customer come to us with a website that their nephew, or their daughter, or the neighbor built for them. Many freelancers today use WordPress, so if you have gone this route you’re a step farther along than the DIY route, as you can likely find another developer to take over in the future, if your freelancer finds a new job.

A freelancer will definitely produce a higher quality website than a DIY solution, at a price that is less than what you’d typically pay at an agency. Most of our customers have worked with freelance designers in the past, and these are some of the common issues they have faced:

You have a website with a theme that limits customizations

Most freelancers build WordPress websites using third party themes like Divi, or something that has been downloaded from Themeforest or another marketplace. From a cost standpoint, a purchased theme allows for a fast website setup, and will definitely lower the price point of your project. However, the downside of this is that you may be locked into what the theme has to offer, making future website customizations and add-ons difficult, or even impossible.

Your freelancer is an excellent designer, developer, or content writer – but not all three.

When working with a one-person shop, you will likely be working with a person who excels in one part of the website process, but lags in others. For example, you may have a freelancer that is great at setting up and coding websites, but requires to provide much of the design, and all of the content and pictures. This reminds you of the time you tried one of those DIY website builders…

Your website may take a long time to complete

A successful freelancer, who can assist with all aspects of building a website, will need to take on a lot of customers to keep their costs low for their customers. With just one person running the show, this means a lot of projects to juggle at once. We’ve asked our customers about this – and it’s not uncommon to see a simple website design project take 6 months to a year, or more, when working with a freelancer.

It’s difficult to get ahold of your freelancer

This is the most common pitfall we’ve run across with customers – it can be very difficult to find a freelancer that is available during business hours, or that will entertain a conversation on the phone at all. Communication gets lost in long email threads, and questions often go unanswered for days, even weeks, at a time. Many freelancers don’t provide ongoing maintenance plans, so future updates can be another struggle.

You’ve approached a web design agencies about developing a custom website

If you’ve moved past the DIY and freelance stage with your business, then you’ve likely spent some solid time talking with web design agencies about building your website. You’ve learned that agencies will offer all parts of the website process – content, design, and development – taking much of the heavy lifting off your plate. Communication barriers are also lifted – need to talk to your project manager? They are likely just a quick phone call away.

However, a custom website built with an agency does come with its own share of struggles that may impact your business. Here are a few we’ve encountered.

Agencies are expensive.

There’s just no way around this. Web design agencies have a significant amount of overhead – they have full time employees with benefits to play, they invest a lot in marketing and sales, and they often have a physical office building with furniture, computers, utilities, and other expenses. You can expect to pay 5-10 times more for a marketing website when working with an agency than when working with a freelancer.

The process is lengthy, and requires a lot of input from you.

When you work with an agency on a custom website, they will be in close contact with you every step of the way, making sure that you sign off on each piece. This comes with the definition of “custom” – they are building something uniquely for your business, and need to make sure you are happy. This requires a significant amount of time on your end, approving and requesting revisions to their work. If you’re busy running your business and have limited time to be part of the process, your website build could take many months to complete.

Change orders can be expensive

Most web design agencies will deliver a very clear scope of work prior to starting on your project. Once you are involved, and have committed a lot of time to the custom development process, it’s likely that you’ll think of a feature, or an add-on, part way through. Or, perhaps you want to continually tweak the design so that it is just right. While agencies can handle these types of changes, time to complete them adds up – as does the price tag.

We have a solution for you.

Enter the perfect blend of professional website design, done-for-you content writing, and fast turnaround – backed by an agency that answers the phone, at a price tag your business can afford.

At Iceberg Web Design, we have a turnkey website development process to create a professional website with minimal time and cost investment required from you. Our goal is to remove the barriers that you have faced with a professional website build, so that you can focus on running your business. Our process is very straightforward:

We write the content.

We just need 45 minutes to an hour of your time at the start of the project. Our in-house content writer will ask all the questions we need to write clear, succinct website marketing copy for your business. After a quick review and approval from you, your message is ready to deliver.

We find the pictures.

Got photos you want us to use? Great – send them on over! No? No problem. Our team has access to hundreds of thousands of stock photography and images, to add depth and interest to your website.

We design and develop.

At Iceberg, we have more than 70 years of combined experience in graphic design, marketing, and website development, Our team knows what we’re doing – and we know how to design and build a website that will work for you. After a quick discussion about layout, colors, and graphics at your kickoff meeting, you can rest assured that our team will deliver a professional website that showcases your business in its best light. The best part? Most turnkey websites are complete in less than 6 weeks.

We are here for maintenance and updates.

Technology changes quickly, and you need to make sure that your website is regularly maintained and updated. Our turnkey model includes monthly updates and quarterly software maintenance, so you can sleep easy knowing that your website is in good hands. Need updates or help? We have a full staff dedicated to ongoing support requests, and a solid reputation of delivering changes quickly – typically on the same day you ask for them.

The price tag is right.

Our pricing is comparable to many of the higher end DIY solutions, allowing you to roll your website costs right into your monthly marketing expenses. No need to take out a business loan or extend your credit limit. We have options for both basic marketing and e-commerce, depending on your marketing strategy and growth initiatives.

Is a turnkey website right for your business?

There are definitely benefits to every different approach to building a website. While the turnkey model we offer isn’t right for everyone, we’ve found it to be a great fit for business owners who are busy, and have tried to tackle updating their website in one or two different ways in the past.

Our marketing team here at Iceberg would love to talk with you about your past struggles with building a website, and tell you more about our process and options – letting you make the choice that works the best for you. Want to learn more? Give us a call at 763-350-8762, or drop us a line in the form below. Let’s see what we can create together!

The post Is a Turnkey, Semi-Custom Website Right for Your Business? appeared first on Iceberg Web Design.

The post Mastering your Company’s Brand Image appeared first on Iceberg Web Design.

A number of our customers have been calling with questions about this update. The email from Google states:

Product Updates

Today we introduced granular data retention controls that allow you to manage how long your user and event data is held on our servers. Starting May 25, 2018, user and event data will be retained according to these settings; Google Analytics will automatically delete user and event data that is older than the retention period you select. Note that these settings will not affect reports based on aggregated data.

Action: Please review these data retention settings and modify as needed.

General Data Protection Regulation

This update follows stronger regulation for protecting personal data in the European Union. In a nutshell, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a regulation requiring businesses to protect the privacy and personal data of EU citizens. The GDPR also regulates how data can be exported out of the European Union. Failure to comply with this regulation could lead to lawsuits, and could be detrimental to businesses.

Companies like Constant Contact and MailChimp are informing customers of this regulation, and are preparing themselves to handle the new EU privacy protection rules.

My Business is in The United States. Why Does This EU Policy Apply to Me?

If you have a public website, or manage an email newsletter, chances are that you are not only receiving website traffic and email signups from people in the United States. The GDPR protects all EU citizens, and if there is a chance that your business is reaching them, you need to comply with these policy updates.

Google Analytics is a platform that collects a myriad of information about website visitors: location, age, gender, occupation, and more (depending on each individual’s Google Privacy settings). Even though your business targets customers in the United States, you likely have a visitor or two coming to your website from other countries. These users may opt in to your newsletter, or they may register to view content on your website, or they may submit a contact form. You need to make sure that your business is handling this information appropriately.

One thing is for sure: Google tracks those visitors, and passes their information on to you in Google Analytics.

So, What Changed, And What Do I Need to Do?

In your Google Analytics Administration, you now have the option to control how long you keep data about your website visitors. You can access this setting in your Google Analytics Property Administration section. Here is a screenshot of what your Admin view should look like, and where to click to edit your data retention length:

Here, you will have the option to choose how long you would like Google Analytics to retain information about your website visitors:

It appears that the default setting is to save user data for 26 months. If you do nothing, Analytics data about your users will likely be removed after 26 months.

Do I Need to Do Anything Else?

In general, we strongly recommend that your website includes a Privacy Policy, so that your website visitors know exactly how much information you collect about them, how you obtain that data, and what you do with it. You can view our Privacy Policy for an example of what this may look like.

If your website includes e-commerce, online forums, or memberships, we strongly recommend that you consult with your business attorney to ensure that the privacy policy on your website is adequate, and that you are doing everything in your power to ensure that information your business collects about website visitors remains secure.

The post Google Analytics Update: Data Retention Controls appeared first on Iceberg Web Design.

In our fast-paced, technology-driven world, we anticipate 2018 will see some exciting new website design trends. Here are a few design features that we expect to see become more popular in modern 2018 website design:

1. Animated Logos

(Move your mouse over the logo above to re-animate)

One of the largest up and coming trends for websites in 2018 is the use of animation – particularly animated logos. Businesses can accentuate their brand, or add a bit of fun to their website, through the use of some simple animation.

2. Animated Website Elements

As flash website elements are nearly extinct, new technology is allowing for animations that are compatible with every web browser and mobile device. Animations are a great way to keep users engaged in your website, and they will likely click around more, navigating to other pages to see what else they can find. They may even increase the number of social media shares your website receives!

We expect to see businesses creating SVG and jQuery animations on their websites to draw attention to specific services or special offers. Eventually, animations will be common place on nearly every business website.

3. Better Photography

Pictures can be the only difference between a mediocre website and a great website. With so many options for free stock photography (Unsplash and Pixabay are just a few), and lower cost stock photography subscription services like Envato Elements, web designers have more access to great photos than ever before.

Companies are also investing more in their own brand image, working more and more with professional business photographers to create custom images for their website. In 2018, we will continue to see large photos dominating the web space, and we predict to also see full website color schemes revolving around the photographs used.

4. Improved Mobile Friendliness

As we approach 2018 it is no secret that website mobile friendliness is an important factor to any business that relies on generating business online.  On April 21st, 2015 Google rolled out changes to its algorithms that expanded its use of a websites responsiveness and user friendliness on mobile devices as a ranking factor.  According to Statista, 43.03% of online traffic Q3 of 2017 was from mobile phones.  While that number can vary depending on industry it is obvious that to succeed mobile friendliness can’t be ignored.

How do we maximize mobile conversions?

1. Think with your fingers.  Make sure the user doesn’t have to zoom in our out to find information.
2. Be Responsive.  Keep all devices and sizes in mind.  In this day and age there are a plethora of screen sizes visitors will be viewing your website.
3. Make it fast.  Your customers don’t have a long attention span.
4. Make it easy to find your location, name, phone number and contact form.
5. Keep the design simple on mobile.  Its ok to have a big beautiful website display on large desktop monitors, but make it easy for your mobile visitors.
6. Take advantage of geolocation.  Geolocation can be used to give directions, check in-store availability, offer targeted promotions, and connect to social platforms among other features.
7. Test, Test, Test!  (and then test again).  Check on all devices regularly.

Take advantage of your mobile presence by optimizing your website to make it easy for your visitors to use.

5. Big, Bold Typography

Aside from your physics professor, no one wants to read a term paper when landing on your website. In 2018, we will see more websites using large, bold text as design elements.

Catch your website visitor’s attention with your tagline, a good question or a creative snippet that is easy to read and delivered in a unique way.  Pick a font that makes your brand stand out and drives the message home.  The human attention span is not one that affords us the time to have a long message to absorb.  Make your message big, bold and creative and it will be easily digestible by the average web visitor.

6. High-End Graphic Design Elements

More and more, companies are engaging graphic designers to be part of their website development project. We predict that high-end graphic design will be used on websites, engaging users and creating more interest.

7. Increasing Use of Video

Since the inception of the TV era, video has become an integral part of our everyday lives as the medium to convey information.  This is no different as it relates to your website.  Video is an easy way for your visitors to engage in your message. Using a video is a great way to showcase your brand’s personality in a way that sticks with potential customers.

Search Engine Optimization is another benefactor of well thought out video content.  The longer your visitors stay on your website the better Google rankings will be achieved.  Hold your customers’ attention and the search engines will see that your website has good content relating to specific search terms.

Use video to tell your company’s story, display powerful testimonials or demonstrate a product use.  The more often you provide content that captures your potential customers attention, the better results your website will produce.

8. Search Engine Optimization and Social Media Marketing

While not technically a website design trend, we believe that business owners will become more aware of how customers are finding them online, and will pay more attention to their search presence. Increased investment in SEO and online marketing services has been a trend for the last few years, and will most definitely continue into 2018.

Many business owners will hire in-house Marketing Managers to work on their SEO and social media. Others will work more closely with their website development or SEO company to help bring their website higher up the search ranks. We predict that the average amount a business owner spends on social media advertising will peak this year as well, and social media websites will again adjust their algorithms for business pages to keep up with the influx of paid ads.

Will You Take Advantage of New Web Design Trends?

Graphic design elements and animation can add a lot to an otherwise static website, but they can be costly to implement. Will your company invest more in their website design this winter, to stay on top of the up and coming website design trends for 2018?

To learn more, reach out to our skilled website development team. We are constantly learning new tricks of the trade, and look forward to the challenges that 2018 brings to our design team!

The post Our Predictions for 2018: Up and Coming Website Design Trends appeared first on Iceberg Web Design.

Thank you.

Our staff at Iceberg Web Design extends a sincere message of thanks this holiday season. We are truly thankful this year for you, our customers, supporters, and community members. Again this year we have added new employees to our team, and have worked hard to support each and every one of our customers. In 2018, we are dedicated to become more involved in the community, and support local organizations. We look forward to 2018 as our business enters our 14th year.

Warm wishes to you, your family, and your business this season and always!

The post Happy Thanksgiving from Iceberg appeared first on Iceberg Web Design.

Google notified website owners of this important change via Google Search Console and through a series of e-mails to webmasters. Many businesses were scrambling to get their websites converted to HTTPS – a development task that could take many hours, depending on the size of the website being converted.

Back Up. What is HTTPS Again?

In technical terms, HTTPS (HTTP over SSL) is the use of Secure Socket Layer (SSL) as a sublayer under regular HTTP application layering.

In other words, HTTPS is a secure connection between a website and your computer. Information passed between your computer and a website running under HTTPS is encrypted before it is sent, and information coming from the website to your computer is encrypted as well. On a HTTP connection, information is not encrypted.

This is important, because if the connection between your computer and a website is interrupted, or somehow picked up by a third party, sensitive information could be viewed by the person or software application looking in. Putting your name, e-mail address, phone number, credit card numbers, password, and other information into a non-HTTPS website could, potentially, put you at risk for identity theft.

IP With Ease has a few graphics that make the distinction more clear:

Google’s Deadline: “October”

Google wasn’t incredibly clear when the “HTTPS doomsday” would hit, but they did reference a few different dates for HTTP treatment. This isn’t new news – Google has been telling business owners since September of 2016 that this change was inevitable.

Now that October is here, the staff at Iceberg Web Design has been monitoring non-HTTPS web pages to see if we can highlight the changes. Surprisingly, Firefox seems to be ahead of Chrome with their non-secure warnings!

Current Behavior: Google Chrome

Published on October 9, 2017 – current/most recent Google Chrome version on macOS Sierra is 61.0.3163.100

When visiting a website running under http:// with a contact form, the Google Chrome browser’s address bar prominently displays “Not Secure”. This is the same behavior that Chrome was exhibiting in September.

We anticipate this warning will change in the coming weeks, as Google indicated this on their blog post from September 2016:

Current Behavior: FireFox

Published on October 9, 2017 – current/most recent Firefox version on macOS Sierra is 56.0

Interestingly, FireFox has actually taken a firmer approach to HTTPS than Chrome has. When visiting a website running under http:// with a contact form, Firefox’s browser address looks like this:

A little bit more noticeable than Chrome’s warning, we think. Firefox takes this one step farther: when entering a password into a password form on a non-HTTPS website, there is an AJAX pop-up warning the website visitor that their connection is not secure. Here is a visual of what that looks like:

Current Behavior: Safari

As far as we can tell, there are no indications on Safari that a website running under HTTP is not secure.

Now What?

It seems the Internet is still slowly catching on to Google’s requirement. Most well-known brands moved their websites to HTTPS early in 2017, if not even before (Facebook moved to HTTPS way back in 2013). But not all large websites have made the switch – IMDb, for example, is still just running under HTTP. We speculate that the reason they haven’t yet made the switch is because they have such a massive website, pulling in a lot of ads and media files. For a website to function entirely under HTTPS, all embedded media must, in turn, be hosted under HTTPS.

Questions About HTTPS?

Some of this is pretty technical. We’re happy to answer any questions you have – just drop us a line to support @ icebergwebdesign.com, or give us a call at 763-350-8762.

The post Update On Chrome’s HTTPS Requirement: Firefox Takes The Lead! appeared first on Iceberg Web Design.

Enhanced mobile responsive design

What is mobile responsive design? This method of web design helps optimize the customer experience by adapting the layout and content to the user’s device (e.g. desktop, laptop, phone, etc.).  Although mobile responsive design is not new, there is a steady increase of using mobile devices for browsing and shopping.  It is highly recommended if not mandatory that your site be built with responsive design in mind.  As this demand continues to increase, it will be important to consider developing websites for mobile platforms first, with other devices made responsive and adaptive second.

Semi-flat design

Flat design uses stylistic elements like typography and flat colors in a minimal way to provide a two-dimensional illusion. In 2016, flat design was popular, but the trend is moving toward semi-flat design. This design style enhances the functionality and simplicity of a flat design, with a more attractive and engaging user experience. Semi-flat design in conductive to responsive design and can aid in speeding up loading times, an important consideration for customer ease of use and Google ranking alike.

Material design

This is a design language that was developed by Google for Android devices in 2014.  Material design quickly caught on with the masses because the design is so simple and clean, and the trend continues to grow. From an eCommerce standpoint, online stores are embracing this card-like layout and incorporating responsive animations and transitions, and lighting and shadows to create an enriching experience for their shoppers.

Long scroll pages

Look for this to be a huge trend in 2017, as customers now prefer to scroll through the entire product category rather than paging through subsets of content. For mobile devices, this design style is critical as it provides a more elegant and simple user experience. With laptops getting lighter and smaller and mobile devices like the Apple Watch depending on scrolling users have to come to expect long pages.

Typography

Typography is how typefaces, font size, tracking, kerning, color and other elements affect the design type. This trend continues to evolve toward the use of large and flexible typography, as using the right message with this tactic has a huge impact on customers. This aids in steering customers towards your products and services while developing a strong brand identity.

Imagery and Bright Colors

Buyers are visual, and that’s no secret. However, research indicates 92.6% of consumers use visuals as a major influencer in their purchasing decision. It only take two seconds to make a good impression, so clear, crisp, and interesting images that tell a story about your brand, products and services is important. Additionally, you want to consider how these design elements connect to your audience and their demographic.  You’ll want to choose these elements wisely.

Animations and cinemagraphs

Customer like to be engaged and entertained, and the use of animations, cinemagraphs, and GIFs are becoming an integral part of eCommerce websites. What, exactly, is a cinemagraph? Cinemagraphs are still photographs of repeated movements used to form a video clip. They can be an animated GIF or some other video format that mirrors animation. User interest and engagement are key, and using these elements on homepage banners, within product images and other areas of the website usually gain a lot of traction.

We feel that these are important trends to embrace with your eCommerce website design.  If you’re looking to launch a new site or enhance your existing web presence, please give us a call.  Iceberg Web Design is ready and able to assist at one of our locations in the Minneapolis, Chicago, and Toronto areas. Contact us today!

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