Original Source: https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/ftp-free-clients-and-alternative-connecting-methods/
When it comes to transferring large files over the internet, FTP/SFTP is what almost everyone prefers. Although there are a lot of paid FTP (File Transfer Protocol) applications that are highly…
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Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Designrfix/~3/x8xmKYTxhbo/top-conversion-rate-optimization-techniques-to-boost-your-website-sales
The development of an e-commerce website is mainly dependent on acquiring customers along with most significantly, retaining those customers. E-commerce has grown into a trillion dollar business, and it continues to grow exponentially each year. Therefore, it’s vital for e-commerce business owners to focus proactively on their niche and enlarge it. However, merely spending lots […]
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Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreativeBloq/~3/a8-rkQGkRV4/apple-sale-event-the-best-deals-on-ipad-pro-and-pencil-from-best-buy
Apple's latest iPad Pro is, without doubt, one of the best tablets a creative person can own. And right now it's even more affordable, with Best Buy running an Apple Shopping Event, which offers up to $200 off the latest models.
There are some fantastic offers on all models of the iPad Pro, as well as a great discount on the Apple Pencil, an almost essential buy if you're going to get the most out of the iPad Pro. And, if you're looking for something more traditional in the shape of a laptop, there are some great offers on recent MacBook Pro models too.
In order to get the full discounts advertised here, you'll need to sign up for a Best Buy account, which only takes a few seconds if you login with your Google account. Below, we've picked our favourites from the sale. Oh, and be sure to take a look at our pick of the best cheap Apple products deals for iPads, Pencils, iMac and MacBook Pros currently available online in your region.
Not in the US or UK? Here are the best iPad Pro deals in your area…
Original Source: https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/guide-to-client-pursuing-you/
When I first began my career as a web pro, I thought that all I had to do was to create amazing websites, and then the phone would start ringing off the hook with new business. Sadly, this…
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Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Designrfix/~3/8qwMzMGK2Oo/10-smartest-local-automotive-seo-strategies-for-dealers
Car dealerships can no longer rely on traditional advertising methods to gain foot traffic. You can’t rely on mailers and television ads to bring in business anymore. Instead, the focus must be on automotive SEO and digital marketing. The trouble is that many dealerships don’t know how to implement automotive SEO strategies, and might even […]
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Original Source: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2019/12/should-a-web-page-have-a-single-cta/
Does adding multiple CTAs to your web pages just confuse your users? That’s a heavily debated question in the digital design space.
Some web designers believe that multiple CTAs give visitors more choice on how they convert. Others feel that leads can only handle a single CTA at a time without getting overwhelmed and abandoning ship.
So, what’s the truth?
Well, that depends. Every consumer has unique browsing habits, and different people act uniquely depending on the situation. That means that how you choose to use CTAs will depend on a lot of different things, including the client you’re working with.
While it’s true that multiple CTA buttons could lead to decision paralysis for leads, there’s also a chance that an extra CTA could keep someone moving further down the buying funnel if they’re not yet ready to purchase.
Perhaps the question isn’t “Should a web page have a single CTA?” but “When and why should a web page have just one CTA?”
Defining the Marketing Call to Action
Let’s start simple, by looking at what a CTA actually is.
A call to action is a button or link that tells the user on your website what to do next.
When a potential customer scrolls to the bottom of your landing page or home page, they might see a CTA telling them to “Create an Account”, “Buy Now”, or “Download Here”. CTAs are all about one thing: action.
The mystorytime.com website simply uses the CTA “Start” on its homepage:
Regardless of the end goal of your CTA, the goal is always to drive conversions. For instance, you might be encouraging:
Awareness: “Learn More”, “Find out how”
Consideration: “Download Now”
Decision: “Contact us”, “Book a Demo”
Retention: “Become a Member”, “Sign up Now”
Advocacy: “Share your Thoughts”
The most important thing to remember about CTAs is that every one of your marketing assets should have one. Without a CTA, you’re not pushing your customers to the next stage in their buying journey – which means that you have a roadblock on your path to conversions.
Think of it this way, WordStream found that a single CTA in an email increases clicks by 371%, and sales by up to 1617%. You want those kind of results for your web pages too!
Different Web Pages Require Different Numbers of CTA
Just because every web page should have a CTA, doesn’t mean that it’s a good idea to use the same strategy for everything.
Each asset in your digital portfolio, from your home pages to your landing pages plays a role in the customer journey. While some assets, like your homepage, need to give your audience members plenty of choice, others should be as focused as possible.
Let’s look at how many CTAs are appropriate for the different pages on your website.
Homepage CTAs
A homepage is going to have multiple CTAs because it’s the first page introducing customers to your brand and whatever you have to offer.
The people who visit a company or client’s homepage won’t necessarily have a single goal in mind. Some of them will want to learn more about a brand, while others will want to check out your client’s products.
Take a look at the King and Mcgaw homepage, for instance, there are plenty of options to click on:
With a homepage, you want to give customers as much freedom as possible. They’re at a stage in their buyer journey where they don’t want to be pushed into a single decision.
Sure, some customers might arrive on your website and decide to immediately buy something, but it’s not likely. Give leads a chance to enter a journey of nurturing with your client business before you push them into doing too much, too fast.
Product Page CTAs
Most product pages will have at least a couple of CTAs available, because there’s a chance that your site will have more than one kind of visitor. On the one hand, you could have a buyer that wants to add your product to their basket and continue browsing; On the other hand, you might have a lead that just wants to check out straight away.
Depending on the kind of product that your client is selling, you might even have people visiting a website’s product pages that just want to talk to a customer service rep. There are plenty of product pages out there that include a link to the contact page.
Check out this page from Karimoku Cat for instance. It comes with a link to both a product page, and an Amazon page, so customers can choose how they want to continue their journey.
Support Page CTAs
Support or contact pages on a website will also probably have a number of CTAs.
After all, most businesses don’t just give their customers the option to call a service rep when they have problems today. Instead, they might want you to design a page where users can answer their own questions through an FAQ, reach a chatbot, or connect with other users in a forum.
The onwards.agency support page comes with access to an email address for users, a phone number, and links to Google Maps, Twitter, and Instagram:
As a designer, you can choose whether to present those links as buttons, or just basic hyperlinks for customers to click on.
Landing Page CTAs
Now here’s where everything starts to change.
While many of the web pages on a site can get away with having more than one CTA button, your dedicated landing pages can’t.
A landing page isn’t just another part of a client website website, it’s focused strategy intended to drive specific action from a customer. Because of this, most landing pages should only stick with a single CTA that tells the audience member exactly what they want to do next. That’s the case with this simple Squeeze page here:
When your clients put a lot of time, effort and focus into getting their users to arrive on a certain page, it’s your job as a designer to make sure that they stay there. Focus on a specific conversion request that keeps the visitor focused.
If you do decide to place an extra CTA on a landing page, make sure it’s something that will drive a similar outcome to the fundamental call to action. For instance “Buy now” could be accompanied by “Enquire today”.
Choosing The Right Number of CTAs for Any Page
There’s a common belief in the digital design world that you should only ever design a web page around a single call to action. However, that’s just not the case.
While some pages should definitely have a single focus – others shouldn’t.
A single call to action is the best route for dedicated pages where you want your customers to do one thing and nothing else. Squeeze pages, landing pages and lead capture pages often perform better the more focused they are.
If a customer has clicked on an add or an email link to arrive at your landing page, there’s a good chance that they’re already ready to convert. There are other pages on a site that might require a single CTA too. For instance, a particular service page might just offer the option to send an inquiry to a team.
However, there is room in website design for multiple CTAs too.
A home page, store pages, and even contact pages might include more than one CTA button – and that’s okay.
It’s all about adhering to the experience your client needs at different stages in the buying cycle when they’re trying to reach their customer.
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Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/abduzeedo/~3/ZbuZ37TXgzA/blank-poster-volume-1-book-pure-poster-design-inspiration
Blank Poster Volume 1 Book is Pure Poster Design Inspiration
abduzeedoDec 20, 2019
Blank Poster Volume 1 is a poster design and inspiration book featuring 700+ posters made by 393 designers from 53 nationalities. The posters featured are a selection of experimental, minimal, weird and interesting posters submitted to blankposter.com and were all based on random one-word design briefs.
Book Description
The very first Blank Poster publication is here and it’s filled with experimental, funny, interesting and creative poster designs. It features 700+ posters made by 393 designers from 53 nationalities and 5 interviews with participants of the Blank Poster project.
With this publication we aim to demonstrate a wide variety of designs found within Blank Poster and show the creative potential in this random and experimental exercise.
Specifications
Pages: 272
Dimensions: 213 × 298 × 20 mm
Format: Softcover
Language: English
For more information check out https://blankposter.com/
Poster Design
Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/abduzeedo/~3/hx3lCI3M0cM/amazing-pure-css-multicolor-gradients-gradienta
Amazing Pure CSS Multicolor Gradients with Gradienta
abduzeedoDec 21, 2019
Gradienta is one of Shahadat Rahman, a Bangladeshi product designer, graphic designer, speaker & passive happiness earner side project that he made for both designers and developers to use ultra lightweight, colorful, responsive backgrounds for their personal and commercial projects. It is free to use, open source and requires no credit or attribution at all.
All of these gradients are available as CSS codes, SVG and JPG images. If you are a designer, you can use SVG or JPG image in your projects. Therefore, a developer can use all CSS/SVG/JPG (even SVG codes) version in a website or app.
Some SVG file or CSS code render differently in different browsers and OS. In my opinion, this is beautiful. Why a webpage or app interface should look the same in different device? And otherwise, you have the option to use JPG image for accuracy.
CSS Backgrounds
Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreativeBloq/~3/VoUF-Xcgf0s/surface-laptop-3-review
Microsoft has just refreshed its range of Windows 10-based Surface devices and sitting at the top of the new models is this – the third generation of the Surface Laptop; Microsoft’s traditional ultraportable clamshell laptop. It doesn’t have a removable screen like its sister devices, but it still boasts a superb touch panel and you can use it with Microsoft’s Surface Pen stylus – as such it has a distinct differentiator versus Apple’s notebook lineup.
Its closest competitor is undoubtedly Apple’s MacBook Air, though as with the specs across Apple’s MacBook Air range, some of the Surface Laptop configurations are similar to what you’d get inside the MacBook Pro. There are more rivals then ever in this space and Dell’s XPS 13 and HP’s Spectre range definitely join Apple and Microsoft’s efforts at the top table.
The Surface Laptop 3 – like its predecessor – is available in 13.5 and 15-inch versions, but it’s the smaller model we’re reviewing. Although Microsoft’s Surface devices are available in various colour options, it’s the matt black model we’re looking at here.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3: Price
The Surface Laptop 3 is a premium device and is priced accordingly. It sits above the Surface Pro in Microsoft’s range but underneath the Surface Book 2 with its detachable tablet display (where the whole screen comes off and can be used as an independent tablet). Our Core i5-based, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD review model (£1,269) sits above the base level with its brushed black metal finish.
The cheaper (£999) version uses Alcantara fabric around the keyboard and has a 128GB SSD instead. Further up the lineup you can upgrade to a Core i7 processor with 16GB RAM (£1,389), and you can also choose to upgrade the 256GB drive to 512GB (£1,679) or 1TB (£2,114). It doesn’t take a genius to deduce that the lower priced models represent decent value, but things start to get rather expensive further up the tree and you’re paying a lot for factory-fitted storage.
Again you also need to pay £99 if you want to add the Surface Pen accessory but unlike with Surface Pro devices (which don’t have a trackpad) it feels less essential. You’ll probably want to get one to complete the experience, though.
The metal version of the laptop is available in the aforementioned black, sandstone and platinum, while the Alcantara fabric is available in platinum and colbalt blue.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3: Power and performance
In use, the Surface Laptop 3 always feels nible and quick – you’re certainly never left waiting for anything to happen. One of the advantages in buying the Surface Laptop is that you know it comes loaded with the very latest hardware under the hood. Both processor choices inside the 13-inch are from the latest 10th generation series of Intel Core processors – the 1.2Ghz Core i5-1035G7 used here and the upgrade option, which is the 1.3GHz Core i7-1065G7. Both are quad core chips, launched in late 2019. In Geekbench 4 and CInebench benchmarks, the Surface Laptop 3 comes out favourably thanks to its new processors – comfortably beating the MacBook Air and previous Surface Laptop 2.
However, the increased performance does mean a little hit on battery life– we got around 8 to 9 hours in general use and that’s a touch under last year’s model and the Dell XPS 13, though it’s not that much to worry about (there’s also fast charging with this new model, too, so you can get it to 80 percent in an hour). It’s worth noting that if longevity is your wish, the MacBook Air has low power processors and will last significantly longer. The MacBook Pro is probably a better comparison in this instance and, again, you’ll get 8 to 9 hours out of that,.
The 13.5-inch model has some disadvantages versus both the 15-inch model and some rival laptops in that it doesn’t have an option for dedicated graphics, instead sticking with Intel’s Iris Plus graphics. The 15-inch models boast AMD Radeon Vega or RX Vega graphics running alongside Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 processors.
To be fair, that’s a similar situation on the MacBook Pro, where the 13-inch relies on Intel graphics with AMD Radeon Pro only available on the newer 16-inch (alongside Intel processors, though). Intel’s on board graphics are extremely capable these days, but you’re still going to want something with a bit more poke if you’re using it for intensive graphics or video work. As such, the Surface Laptop 3 isn’t a complete do-anything machine like the new 16-inch MacBook Pro or the more powerful versions of the Surface Book 2, but it’s not far off.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3: Display
The 13.5-inch PixelSense display is unchanged from the previous two generations. This is a bit of a growing trend in the laptop space and clearly manufacturers feel boundary-pushing isn’t necessary at present. Remember that brighter and more pixel dense displays always have a hit on battery life, so it’s probably a compromise not willing to be made by consumers.
The good news is that the 13.5-inch PixelSense display is still absolutely superb with a 2,256×1,504 resolution which works out at 201ppi. The one disadvantage of this display compared to some rivals such as the HP Spectre x360 is that it does not fold flat and that’s a little bit of a disadvantage for creatives. Microsoft would obviously argue that with the Surface Pro and Surface Book it offers other options for that market.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3: Other features
So what else is new with this version of the Surface Laptop? One of the headline features is undoubtedly that Microsoft has joined rivals in including USB-C as a key method of connectivity on its latest Surface devices instead of Mini DisplayPort. However, it has decided to stick with its proprietary Surface Connect standard for charging.
This is unnecessary and by having Surface Connect on board alongside a solitary USB-C and one USB-A port, it shows that Microsoft is hedging its bets rather than having the conviction of rivals to move to USB-C for power, data and video. Worse still is the fact that the USB-C ports included don’t include compatibility with Thunderbolt 3; that’s a big miss for those who need to speedily access large amounts of data.
The trackpad has also been improved this time – it’s now 20 percent bigger than it was (not that it was small previously) – while Surface keyboards remain some of the best around. There’s also compatibility with the new Wi-Fi 6 standard, too. And yes, you get a headphone jack.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3: Should you buy it?
The headline is that one of the best ultraportable laptops on the market just got better. There are still a couple of niggles – like the lack of Thunderbolt 3 support – but broadly the picture painted by the Surface Laptop 3 is a rosy one.
It feels great to use and beats the MacBook Air on performance. However, it isn’t the cheapest as you move up the model lineup. And it will only appeal to a subset of the creative market, too – because it doesn't have the option to take things a step further with the graphics, its not an option when you compare it to the higher end versions of the Surface Book 2 and MacBook Pro series.
In a way, plumping for a Surface Laptop means you're prioritising portability. That may be no bad thing if, say, you've got another machine that you can use as your main creative tool. Certainly, video editors will need to look elsewhere.
But, as an ultraportable, there are few better on the market and there's not a lot to choose between this, the MacBook Air and another of our favourites, the Dell XPS 13.
Original Source: https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/get-clients-to-pay-your-rate/
If you’re a freelancer, you are probably getting paid much less than you’re worth for the following reasons. One, you are influenced by what your competitors are charging – why…
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