It is a service that provides everything a seller needs, all in a single location: website creation, payment processing, product management, and analytics. Both newcomers and experienced users can use Shopify, thanks to its easy interface and wide range of pre-built tools. 

Local brands, dropshippers, manufacturers, and even big companies that appreciate scalability and stability use it. The most important benefit of the platform is the ability to focus on sales rather than on technical aspects. This is why Shopify has gained one of the most popular sources of online store creation in the world.

What is Shopify?

Shopify is a web store-building tool that enables companies to sell their merchandise online without coding or managing complex infrastructure. It is a service that includes everything needed to open and develop an e-commerce project: the creation of a website and uploading products, as well as payment and sales statistics. 

Shopify offers an all-in-one version, meaning the user does not need to install individual systems or set up servers – everything is built into the platform. 

The overall concept about Shopify is to provide entrepreneurs with a way to enter the market quickly and without additional technical obstacles. With a convenient interface and intuitive settings, even someone without prior web development experience can build a functioning store in a few hours. This has formed one of the major reasons why Shopify has occupied a significant position among the top e-commerce platforms. 

Shopify fits the various businesses: local brands, start-ups, dropshippers, retail shops, and large companies requiring scalability and reliability. The platform facilitates the sale of both tangible and digital products, services, subscriptions, and print-on-demand products. Shopify is flexible and lets you build any type of business without complex programming.

The other useful benefit is the applications and theme ecosystem. The entrepreneurs have thousands of ways to enhance their store’s capabilities: marketing tools, logistics solutions, loyalty programs, social media integrations, CRM, and more. This enables you to deliver only the functionality the specific store requires, whether you want a simple solution or a fully customized one. 

Multi-channel sales models are also supported in Shopify. It implies that sellers not only have an opportunity to sell the products via their own site, but also via Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, marketplaces, physical shops, and so on. All sales are organized in a single control panel, which makes it very easy to work with orders and analytics. 

How does Shopify work?

Shopify’s work is based on a full cloud platform. The user will not have to install software or operate a server; everything is online. To establish a store, create an account, select a design template, and add items. After that, you can ship, set tax, select payment options, and set the page layout. 

What does Shopify do? Once the store has been established, it can be accessed instantly by buyers. Shopify is responsible for the site’s stability, speed, security, and system updates. This will enable the business owner to concentrate on promotion and sales. 

The platform has an inbuilt product control system (where you can create product cards, upload images, add textual information, set prices, and specify options like sizes or colors). Any change is automatically updated on the site. 

Shopify also provides its own Shopify Payments, as well as third-party payment gateways, for accepting payments. Customers have the opportunity to use bank cards, digital wallets, PayPal, and other payment options, depending on the country.

Order management is also offered in Shopify: order confirmation, order status, delivery, and customer notifications. All the data is gathered on a single administration panel that is easy and intuitive to use, even for beginners. 

Key features that make Shopify famous

1. Ease of use 

What is Shopify used for? This platform is easy to use for all non-technical users. The majority of the features can be configured through a user-friendly panel, allowing you to set up a store quickly without developer involvement. 

2. Professional ready-made themes 

The platform offers free and premium templates that are mobile-device adaptable and brand-style customized. 

3. Large variety of integrations

In the application marketplace, you can add functions of SEO, marketing, shipping, CRM, automation, and so forth. 

4. Security and stability

Shopify provides hosting, security, data encryption, and regular updates without human intervention. 

5. Multi-channel sales

The capability to sell in social networks, marketplaces, offline points, and other locations with centralized management. 

6. Scalability

From small stores to large brands, Shopify is an application that can handle high traffic and support business growth. 

7. Analytics and reporting

In-built options help gauge performance, monitor traffic sources, examine buyer behavior, and strategize sales.

What is a Shopify Store?

Understanding Shopify Store, it is a web-based online store built on the Shopify platform that enables a seller to sell their products or services in a convenient, controlled, and safe online setting. Essentially, it is a complete site with sales capabilities, built-in payment systems, a product management system, and marketing tools. 

The principal concept of the Shopify Store is to provide businesses with the chance to sell online without necessarily coding, leasing servers, or developing a webpage. The platform already has everything that you require. 

Shopify Store is very versatile. This type of store may be minimalist, simple, or complex and multi-story, depending on the shop owner’s requirements. It implies that both startups, local businesses, and large brands can utilize it. Shopify offers a single management system that lets the entrepreneur manage orders, products, payments, deliveries, and customer contact. 

To build a Shopify Store, one first has to select a theme – the pre-designed design that can be adjusted to the brand image. The site offers dozens of free and premium mobile-friendly themes. Once the theme is installed, the seller adds their products, places photos, description, sets collections, and page layout. This is quite easy even for those individuals who have never dealt with websites. 

The payment acceptance system is also built into the Shopify Store. The seller can integrate Shopify Payments or third-party services. This will enable buyers to use cards, electronic wallets, or other possible methods to pay for orders. All transactions are automatically captured in the store, thus making it easy to report and control finances.

What’s Shopify order management? It is another significant feature of the Shopify Store. Once a buyer purchases something, the system generates an order that the seller can see, verify, mark as complete, and provide a customer with a status message. All activities are performed in the administrator panel, where orders from the sales channels (if more than one) are aggregated. 

Shopify Store also gives you an opportunity to integrate various delivery options: local, international, courier, and self-pickup. The platform includes tools for configuring delivery rates and areas, as well as integration with shipping services. This makes the logistics easier and manual work less. 

The owner of a Shopify store can sell virtually anything: physical products, digital products, services, subscriptions, event tickets, training courses, and print-on-demand products. The platform can be integrated with any business model due to the wide range of applications it supports. 

For example, you can add such functions with the help of applications, such as pre-order options, loyalty programs, product recommendations, marketplace integrations, or email marketing tools. 

Analytics are useful to Shopify Store owners. The system reveals the source of traffic, the most-visited pages, the least-selling products, and those that require more focus. Such analytics will assist in creating a strategy, collaborating with advertising, and working on stores intuitively.

Security is another critical point. Shopify provides security for customer information, encrypts customer data, and implements all required security measures. The store is also automatically equipped with an SSL certificate, which helps shoppers see that the site is secure and can safely enter payment information. 

Shopify Store supports multi-channel sales. The seller can link his online shop to Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Google, Amazon, and physical points of sale. This leads to a single ecosystem in which all orders are consolidated and easy to manage. Multi-channel is a major strength of Shopify for most brands. 

Shopify offers a scaled store. If the business grows, the owner will be able to switch to higher tariff plans, connect new applications, or build more stores. Shopify Store is also applied by large companies because of the stability of the platform and high performance. 

Therefore, the Shopify Store is a sales platform and complete online space that helps a company develop a brand, manage products, market, and expand into other markets. The site handles the technical aspects, and the seller can focus on the most significant issues: business development and customer service.

Shopify pricing and plans explained

Shopify also offers a flexible pricing model that is affordable for businesses of all sizes, from small to large, including beginners. The key benefit about Shopify is that every plan includes essential tools to build a store, manage products, and accept payments. Their variations are the features offered, charges, and scalability. 

To select the most preferable plan, you should be aware of what each plan offers and what problems it can help resolve. 

The simplest is Basic Shopify, which is suitable for startups, small businesses, and entrepreneurs who are just starting to sell online. Everything is included in this plan: the creation of a store, unlimited extension with the addition of an unlimited number of products, the ability to accept payments, simple analytical tools, and the opportunity to unite multiple sales points. 

The transaction fees in this case are marginally higher than those of the more costly plans. Yet, it is the most suitable plan for small businesses, offering all the essential features without any redundant expenses. 

The second strategy is the Shopify Growth, which is suitable for businesses that already enjoy a stable flow of sales. It has enhanced analytics, improved transaction rates, and tools that simplify the management of a medium-sized or expanding store. 

This is the most reasonable choice for many brands: it offers sufficient features to develop actively, and the price is not excessively high. Moreover, this plan offers more opportunities to collaborate with the staff, which is essential as the team expands. 

For large stores, Shopify offers Advanced Shopify, a scaling tariff. It provides deep analytics, higher automation, enhanced shipping features, and the lowest transaction charges compared with regular plans. 

Advanced reporting and more precise data in financial and marketing analysis are also possible with this tariff. This solution will be useful for handling significant order flow and minimizing excessive operational processes in small and medium-sized businesses. 

In the case of businesses with high volumes of sales, Shopify has a different version called Shopify Plus, an enterprise-level solution. This is not a simple tariff; it is an all-around, priority-supported solution, highly customizable, automated, and faster store-operating solution. Shopify Plus is applicable to brands involved in global sales, with complex business processes and stability as a top priority. 

Besides the subscription fee, one might have to pay extra for paid themes, applications purchased on the Shopify App Store, and payment-related costs and third-party integration services. It is a common phenomenon of scaling an e-commerce business, and these costs must be accounted for in the budget. 

Thus, what’s Shopify pricing? It offers various plans that let every merchant find the best solution for them. Be it opening a new store or running an established brand, the platform will offer a tariff that gives the business the capabilities and stability necessary to operate.

Is Shopify right for you?

Despite being one of the most widely used online sales platforms, Shopify is not appropriate for all types of businesses. Examine your objectives, financial constraints, sales strategy, and degree of technical proficiency to determine if Shopify is the best option for you. 

The platform is frequently chosen by business owners who need a rapid start and minimal technical work because it is designed to make opening an online store as simple as possible. Shopify does have certain features, though, that some people may find advantageous and others may find restrictive.

If you want to concentrate on your business rather than the technical aspects, Shopify might be the best option. It only takes a few hours to launch a store, and no prior web development or coding skills are needed. 

An easy-to-use control panel handles every step of the process, including adding products, scheduling shipping, taking payments, and processing orders. Because hosting, security, and updates are all included in the price, the platform also relieves you of these concerns.

What is Shopify used for? Shopify can be used with a variety of business models. The platform has all the tools you need if you sell digital or physical goods or services, or operate a dropshipping business. Because the system can easily handle high loads, Shopify is beneficial in niches with regular sales, seasonal peaks, and scaling.

Multi-channel sales are another significant reason to choose Shopify. Shopify will enable you to consolidate all orders into a single system if you intend to sell not only on your website but also on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Google, and physical locations. In addition to making accounting and customer service much easier, this also helps the brand grow across multiple channels at once.

However, Shopify might be a less practical option for people who require total customization flexibility without the need for apps. Many specific features require paid integrations, even though the platform allows extensions through its own App Store. Platforms with open access to servers might be more appropriate if you need complete control over the store’s code.

Another thing to consider is Shopify’s pricing plans. The platform is not free, and there might be additional charges for paid apps, themes, or transactions on top of the subscription fee. Although these are typical operating expenses for most businesses, it is still worthwhile to plan for them. 

Overall, Shopify is a platform for people looking for a reliable, practical, and understandable tool to expand an online business without the need for complex technical solutions. Shopify is probably just what your company needs if you value security, scalability, ease of management, and rapid launch speed.

Final thoughts

Thus, what is Shopify? Shopify has transformed the process of opening an online store, making it easy and accessible to any business. It is a platform that takes on the majority of a seller’s day-to-day activities and enables you to build a brand at your own pace. Shopify can be used to sell in any niche because it is flexible and customizable, has numerous integrations, and provides access to a broad selection of tools. 

Our WHA team will make you ready to take the next step, whether launching your first product or expanding an existing business. Shopify is much more than just a website builder, but an ecosystem that helps merchants at every stage of developing their store.

FAQ

The post What Is Shopify? Everything You Need to Know to Start Selling Online appeared first on Web Help Agency.

Webflow focuses more on design and flexible customization. It attracts people who want their website to look different without being limited by templates. Shopify is known for being easy to use and having a lot of ready-made e-commerce tools.

This article will look at the two platforms and compare them based on important factors like cost, scalability, customization, and ease of use. This will help you choose the platform that best meets your needs and goals.

Understanding Webflow for e‑commerce

With Webflow, you can create a full-fledged online store and a flexible visual designer. This allows you to develop websites without pre-made templates, with full control over their appearance. This makes Webflow a top choice for businesses that want to stand out.

In fact, Webflow has tools for e-commerce that let you add and manage products, make separate product pages, and change categories and collections. You can change any part of a page, including where images go, animations, and interactive effects. This means that the template doesn’t limit the design, and the store’s display can be changed to fit the needs of the business.

Webflow comes with a built-in content management system (CMS) that makes it easy to change product information, add a blog or news section, and more. Webflow works with well-known payment systems like Stripe and PayPal to process orders quickly and safely.

Comparing Webflow ecommerce vs Shopify , Webflow is better for stores with a unique look than for big trading platforms with thousands of items. The platform’s strength is that it lets you be creative, but the e-commerce part isn’t as scalable as platforms that only focus on sales.

Thus, Webflow is the best choice for people who want to make a modern, stylish online store with full design customization and a good user experience (UX). Webflow is a great place to start if you want to make a store that stands out from the rest.

Understanding Shopify for e‑commerce

Shopify is one of the most popular platforms for making online stores. It focuses on e-commerce. The best thing about it is how easy and quick it is to start. Even someone who doesn’t know much about technology can set up a store, add items, and start selling in a matter of days.

The platform has a lot of pre-made templates that are easy to change to fit the brand. You can change the colors, fonts, images, and block layouts, but you need to make sure that customers can still use and understand the interface. Shopify also has its own ecosystem of apps and extensions. These are thousands of plugins that help with marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), connecting with social networks, customer relationship management (CRM), and other services.

Shopify has everything you need to run an online store, such as keeping track of orders and products, automatically calculating shipping costs, and accepting payments through well-known services like PayPal, Stripe, and Apple Pay. The platform lets you sell on your own site as well as on marketplaces and social networks because it integrates with many channels.

Discussing the Shopify vs Webflow differences, Shopify is also a good choice for e-commerce because it is safe and stable, which is another reason why it is better than Webflow. Sites are hosted on cloud servers that are very secure, and updates happen automatically. This lets business owners focus on sales instead of technical details.

Shopify is great for small and large businesses that want to grow their sales. You only need to think about the monthly subscription fee and the transaction fees, unless you use Shopify Payments, which is its own payment system.

In general, Shopify is a great choice for people who want to quickly set up a successful online store and focus on growing their business because it has ready-made tools and is easy to use.

Design and customization options

The design and customization options of a platform are very important when picking one for an online store. Webflow vs Shopify take different approaches to this, which work for different kinds of businesses.

Design freedom with Webflow

This platform gives you the most freedom when it comes to designing. You use a visual editor to change everything on the page, from the fonts and colors to the complicated animations and interactive effects. This is a great option for people who want a website that is different from others. You don’t have to just use templates with Webflow; you can make your own design from scratch or change existing ones a lot.

Easy setup with Shopify

On the other hand, Shopify makes things easier. You can pick a template from a huge library of pre-made themes and then make it your own by changing the colors, logos, banners, and blocks. If you want to open a store quickly without spending a lot of time on the design process, this is faster and easier. You can change the theme code (HTML, CSS, Liquid) if you want to, but you will need to know how to do it.

When comparing Shopify vs Webflow, the last onelets you easily change the layout of pages and add interactive elements, but some features will need to be added by hand or through integrations. There are a lot of apps on Shopify that can help you with just about anything, from marketing to automating processes.

Webflow is the better choice if you want complete visual uniqueness and control over every pixel. Shopify is better if you want to launch quickly and have sales tools ready to go.

Ease of use and learning curve

When picking a platform for your online store, think about how quickly and easily you can learn how to use it. In this way, Webflow vs Shopify are very different from each other.

Shopify: a quick start for everyone

People know that Shopify is easy to use. The platform is made so that anyone, even those who aren’t very tech competent, can easily set up a store. You can quickly add products, set up payment and delivery, and manage orders with the easy-to-use interface. 

A lot of tasks are automated, which lets the user focus on growing the business instead of on technical details. There are also a lot of educational materials, video tutorials, and help that can help you get started quickly.

Webflow: deep control

This platform, on the other hand, is for people who want to be able to fully control how the site looks and works. This means that the platform is harder to learn, especially if you haven’t done web design or coding before. To use Webflow well, you need to know how to use HTML and CSS and how websites are built. Webflow lets you make unique and complex projects without any limits once you get used to how it works.

Shopify is the better choice for businesses that want to open a store quickly and without any extra technical issues. If you’re willing to spend time learning how to use Webflow and want to have full control over how it looks and works, it will give you more options.

If you’re not sure which platform to use, our professional agency can help you choose and train you so that launching your store is as easy and quick as possible.

What will it cost? Pricing breakdown

Price is one of the most important things to think about when choosing between Shopify vs Webflow. Both Shopify and Webflow offer various pricing tiers with varying features and expenses. Let’s examine each option’s features and pricing in more detail.

Webflow plan costs

The plan you select for your website and store will determine the cost of Webflow. There are three main kinds of e-commerce plans: Standard, Plus, and Advanced.

The Standard plan is good for small stores that don’t have a lot of products or features. To begin with, it costs around $29 a month. The Plus plan, which costs about $74 a month, has more advanced features that can help you sell more. The Advanced plan is for big stores with a lot of bandwidth and the most features. It costs $212 a month to start. All plans come with hosting, an SSL certificate, and help.

Shopify pricing plans

The Basic plan for €27 a month is the first of several pricing plans that Shopify offers. The Grow plan costs €74 per month, the Advanced plan costs €384 per month, and the Plus plan costs $2,300 per month. All plans come with customer support, the ability to add unlimited products, and order management. Shopify charges a monthly fee and a transaction fee if you don’t use its own payment system, Shopify Payments. The fee ranges from 0.6% to 2% based on the plan.

You should also think about extra costs, like paid themes, apps, and other services you might need to make the site work better.

Comparing  Webflow ecommerce vs Shopify, Webflow might be a better choice if you want a platform with a flexible design and are willing to pay to have it customized. Shopify will give you the level of support you need, but it will cost more if you want ready-made solutions that are easy to set up and have a lot of features.

Core features and scalability

When picking a platform for your online store, you should think about what features it has and how easy it will be to grow your business in the future. Webflow vs Shopify are good for different kinds of projects because they each have their own features.

Main Webflow features

Webflow is all about design that you can change and make fit your needs. With this platform, you can create unique online stores and have full control over how they look and work. The main features are managing products, making custom product pages, linking to payment systems, and having a built-in CMS that makes it easy to update content.

Webflow is actually better for small and medium-sized stores where creativity and uniqueness are important. You can grow, but if you have a lot of products or complicated processes, you’ll need to hire outside help or make your own solutions.

Common Shopify attributes

Shopify is a platform made just for online stores, and it comes with a lot of tools right out of the box. It can handle an unlimited number of products, automatically manage orders, offer different ways to pay and ship, and sell through social networks and marketplaces.

Also, Shopify has a lot of apps that work together to help you add features as your business needs change. This makes Shopify perfect for growing from a small business with a few products and a few customers to a huge business with thousands of products and a lot of customers.

Webflow and Shopify integration

To get the best results, a business might need to use the best parts of more than one platform. You can connect Webflow vs Shopify, which lets you use both Webflow’s unique design and Shopify’s powerful e-commerce tools at the same time.

How does it work to integrate?

You can make stylish and one-of-a-kind websites with Webflow, and you have a lot of freedom when it comes to design. But its e-commerce features aren’t great, especially when it comes to scaling or sales processes that are hard to understand. Shopify, on the other hand, is a website that lets you sell things online. It has a lot of options and is easy to use for handling orders, payments, and products.

When you connect these two platforms, you can use Webflow to show off your brand and products and Shopify to handle sales and payments. This is especially helpful if you want to keep full control over how your website looks but don’t want to give up the power and reliability of your store management system.

You can use special plugins and services like Zapier or Integromat (Make) to connect Webflow and Shopify. These services automatically move data between the two platforms. 

For instance, orders made through Shopify will automatically show up in your system, and product information will be kept up to date on both platforms. You can also add the Shopify Buy Button to Webflow pages. This is a simple way to add a cart and checkout without having to move everything over to Shopify.

It’s important to know that integration needs some technical know-how and might cost more to get help with. If you want to use Webflow and Shopify together, you should talk to professionals who can help you set up the system and make sure it works right.

The decision: Pros and cons

Before choosing which one is best for your business, you should think about the pros and cons of both Webflow and Shopify.

Webflow is a great option if you want to have full control over how your site looks and you value a unique design. You can make beautiful, personalized pages with lots of interactive elements on the platform. Webflow, on the other hand, needs some technical know-how and isn’t very good at growing in e-commerce.

If you want to start an online store quickly and have a lot of sales tools right away, Shopify is a great choice. The platform is simple to use, has a lot of apps, and lets you sell on more than one channel. There are some drawbacks, such as a monthly fee, transaction fees, and limited design options in basic templates.

Choose Webflow if design and control are the most important things to you. If you care most about how quickly you can get started and how well it works for sales, Shopify is a better choice.

Final thoughts

Comparing Shopify vs Webflow for ecommerce, each platform has advantages and is appropriate for certain uses. Webflow might be the ideal option if you value distinctive design, extensive customization, and total control over the website. You can make intricate animations, interactive blocks, and visual solutions with greater freedom thanks to it.

For people who want to start an online store quickly and get all the tools they need for sales “out of the box,” Shopify will be a great choice. The work is significantly made easier by its intuitive interface, well-developed application ecosystem, and integrations.

Your budget, technical expertise, and business objectives will all influence your final decision. The key is to realize that the correct platform not only facilitates site creation but also aids in business expansion and profit maximization. Get in touch with our agency for professional assistance in making a decision, and we’ll identify the best course of action for you.

FAQ

The post Webflow vs Shopify: How to Pick the Right Platform for Your Store appeared first on Web Help Agency.

This article gives you simple tips and tools to improve your Shopify speed optimization that will help you get real results, like more sales, fewer people leaving your site, and happier users.

How important it is to speed up your Shopify store

If your Shopify store takes longer than three or four seconds to load, you might lose almost half of your potential customers before they even see your products. A slow website isn’t just a minor annoyance; it can cost you a lot of money.

Shopify page speed optimization is very important for getting people to buy. A user is less likely to buy something if it takes a long time for a page to load. Google says that in retail, every extra second of delay can cut conversions by as much as 20%. That could mean hundreds of missed orders every month on Shopify, which is a very competitive place.

Also, how fast your site loads has a big effect on your Google rankings. When deciding where to put your site in search results, search engines look at how long it takes for pages to load. If your site is slow, it will drop in the rankings, which will make it harder for people who might want to buy from you to find you. So, Shopify speed optimization is a vital part of your search engine optimization (SEO) plan.

Since a lot of sales come from mobile traffic, it’s important to remember that most visitors are using their phones to browse. When mobile connections are slow, loading problems are even more obvious. People will probably just close the tab and move on if your site doesn’t load quickly.

The Shopify platform is pretty fast right out of the box, but using apps you don’t need, images that aren’t optimized, or “heavy” themes can quickly slow it down. That’s why it’s important to regularly speed up your Shopify store so that your online business can keep growing.

Main components that affect Shopify store speed

To improve Shopify site speed optimization, you should focus on many technical and visual characteristics. Even with an optimized theme, uncontrolled actions can slow down page loading. Below are the fundamental components that have the most significant impact on site performance.

1. Images

Large, uncompressed, or inappropriate image formats are the most common cause of slow loading. Shopify automatically scales images, but does not reduce their weight. It is necessary to optimize them manually or using applications before uploading images. Employ modern formats like WebP, and set the correct dimensions.

2. Themes and templates

Each theme has its own set of styles, scripts, and components. Some of them are either heavy or written inefficiently. Also, often after design changes or installing applications, unnecessary code fragments remain. In general, the cleaner the theme, the better the loading. Pick lightweight, optimized themes and periodically check the code.

3. Applications

Each application adds its own JavaScript or CSS file that is executed on the pages. The code for the app may still be running even if the app isn’t being used. This puts a strain on the browser. You should check the apps you have installed on a regular basis and get rid of the ones you don’t need.

4. External scripts

Using outside services like chats, analytics, and social widgets often sends extra requests to third-party servers. If there are many such scripts, this delays page rendering. They should either be asynchronous or minimized.

5. Shopify Liquid and JavaScript

Unoptimized Liquid code, too many loops, or complicated conditionals can also make the site slower. Heavy or unmerged JavaScript files also slow things down.

Thus, optimizing these components is the key to a fast and efficient Shopify store. Shopify store speed optimization is about speed, stability, and quality of user experience.

Step-by-step guide to Shopify site speed optimization

Shopify speed optimization can feel like a complex task, as it involves both technical and visual elements. Here’s a straightforward step-by-step manual to help you boost your store’s performance while keeping its design and functionality intact.

Step 1: Conduct a basic speed audit

Kick things off by checking how fast your site really is. You can use these handy tools:

• Google PageSpeed Insights
• GTmetrix
• Lighthouse (found in Chrome DevTools)

These tools will pinpoint what’s dragging your site down (whether it’s images, scripts, or markup). Be sure to save the reports; they’ll serve as a reference for your next steps. 

Step 2: Optimize images

In fact, images are often the biggest reasons behind slow loading times. Before you upload, compress your images using services like TinyPNG, ImageOptim, or Squoosh. Opt for modern formats (WebP works wonders for Shopify).

Make sure you’re not uploading images in higher quality than necessary for your site. To make the rendering go faster, don’t forget to add width and height attributes to your image tags.

Step 3: Remove any code from your theme that you don’t need

Many themes have features that you might not even use, which can make your site slower. Take the time to remove any sections, scripts, or CSS styles that aren’t needed.

Also, check for traces of old plugins. Sometimes their code lingers even after you’ve uninstalled them. You might want to change to a minimalist theme or one that the Shopify Theme Store has officially optimized.

It’s best to get in touch with a developer if you’re not comfortable with editing code. Thus, making the wrong changes can decrease your Shopify speed score.

Step 4: Check and optimize plugins

Every plugin you add to Shopify brings its code, which can really impact your site’s speed. Go through your list of installed plugins. Uninstall any that you don’t actively use. Instead of having multiple plugins that serve the same purpose, try to find one that can do it all.

After uninstalling, check your theme code. Sometimes plugins leave behind unnecessary “garbage.” If possible, use lighter versions of apps or those that don’t load third-party scripts.

Step 5: Cut down on external scripts

Chatbots, trackers, analytics, and social widgets send requests to third-party servers, which can really slow down your site. So, it’s a great idea to remove any unnecessary widgets.

Stick to the essentials like Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel. Also, consider adding ‘async’ or ‘defer’ attributes to your scripts so they don’t hold up the loading of your main content. 

Step 6: Turn on Lazy Loading

This is an agile feature of Shopify store speed optimization that lets the browser load images only when they’re in the user’s view.

In Shopify, you can set up lazy loading for:

• product images
• banners
• galleries 

If your theme doesn’t support it, you can manually add the loading= “lazy” attribute to your <img> tags or use a lightweight script to get this functionality. 

Step 7: Minimize CSS and JavaScript files

Having a few large CSS or JavaScript files can really slow things down. Try to combine styles and scripts whenever you can. Also, remove any unnecessary CSS classes and JavaScript functions.

Using Shopify Online Store 2.0 can help, as it separates CSS and JS per page, meaning code is only loaded where it’s needed. 

Step 8: Utilize a CDN

Shopify automatically uses a CDN (content delivery network). If you’re using custom scripts or loading resources from elsewhere, make sure they’re also routed through a CDN.

In general, using a CDN can help you:

1. Cut down on loading delays;
2. Boost the site’s stability globally. 

Step 9: Optimize your fonts

Opt for system fonts that don’t require downloading. If you need a custom font, only connect the ones you actually use (for instance, you don’t need all nine variants of Roboto). Using font-display: swap will let the page load immediately, with the font adjusting later.

Step 10: Regularly monitor speed after changes

Every new app, banner, or redesign can impact your site’s speed. Make it a habit to check Shopify performance optimization after any changes you make. Keep track of the metrics in a table to see how your speed evolves.

Reminder: don’t try to implement everything at once. Go gradually. This means change, test, fix the result. Even 2-3 small steps can often give a noticeable improvement without risking the store’s functionality.

Tools and apps to help with Shopify speed optimization

There are plenty of tools and applications out there that can either automate or significantly simplify the Shopify speed optimization. The key is to pick the right ones that won’t bog down your site but will genuinely help. In this section, we’ll explore the most effective solutions you should consider to boost your performance.

1. Speed analysis tools

Before you dive into Shopify site speed optimization, it’s crucial to pinpoint where the issues lie. These services will help you uncover the “bottlenecks” in your store:

Google PageSpeed Insights

This is Google’s official tool for evaluating site speed. It provides a Shopify speed score ranging from 0 to 100 for mobile and desktop versions, highlighting issues with rendering, resource loading, fonts, and more. Plus, it offers straightforward recommendations that you can implement right away.

GTmetrix

A handy tool for a more in-depth analysis, GTmetrix shows loading times and presents a waterfall chart of requests, allowing you to see which resources are causing delays.

Lighthouse (built into Chrome)

This tool is easily accessible right from your browser and generates a detailed technical report that lists issues along with potential solutions. It’s also great for testing progressive web apps (PWAs) and checking site accessibility. 

2. Image optimization plugins

Images often contribute the most to page load times. Since Shopify doesn’t automatically compress them, these plugins will be incredibly useful.

TinyIMG

One of the most popular plugins for automatically compressing images without sacrificing quality. It also offers features for optimizing alt texts and creating SEO-friendly file names.

Image Optimizer & Compression (Avada)

This user-friendly tool allows for bulk image processing. It also helps optimize ALT descriptions and removes duplicate files.

Crush.pics

This plugin automatically compresses all uploaded images and supports manual and automatic Shopify page speed optimization. This gives you the flexibility to adjust the compression level as needed.

3. Code cleanup and script management apps

Having redundant or outdated code in your theme can really cause issues, especially if you’ve been on a plugin-installing spree.

Shopify Theme Inspector for Chrome

This handy developer extension lets you pinpoint which parts of your Liquid code are impacting page rendering and where those delays are sneaking in. While it’s not a Shopify app, it’s incredibly useful for theme work.

SpeedBoostr

This service is all about optimizing Shopify stores. They offer code audits and theme cleanup services. While there are some paid features, it’s definitely worth it for professional-level Shopify speed optimization. 

4. Caching and Lazy Loading

Shopify doesn’t give you full control over cache management, but there are some great solutions out there to help.

Booster: Page Speed Optimizer

This plugin “preloads” your site’s main pages before users even click on them, creating the illusion of instant loading. It works seamlessly without altering your code and won’t clash with other plugins.

LazyLoad by Lazysizes

This tool implements lazy loading for images with a simple script that doesn’t require any complicated setup. Also, many Shopify themes already come with lazy loading built-in, so be sure to check your theme documentation. 

5. JavaScript and CSS optimization

Plug in Speed

This tool combines, minifies, and asyncs scripts, helping to shrink your page size and speed up rendering. Just be cautious and test after installation to avoid any conflicts.

Hyperspeed

This is one of the most robust plugins for comprehensive Shopify website optimization. It works with JavaScript, CSS, images, lazy loading, font preloads, and more. This offers flexible settings, but make sure to test carefully. 

6. Font management

Fonts can slow down how quickly your page displays. Proper Shopify speed optimization can significantly reduce the time it takes for everything to render.

Opt for system fonts that don’t require loading. If you need Google Fonts, only select the ones you actually use.

Tools like Fontify let you manage fonts without having to dive into the theme code.

7. Shopify Online Store 2.0

While it’s not just an add-on, it’s vital to highlight the fresh take on theme structure. With Shopify 2.0, you can: 

1. Load JS and CSS only on the pages that actually need them.
2. Manage templates and sections in a more streamlined way.
3. Cut down on the overall amount of code.

Making the switch to Online Store 2.0 is a big step toward boosting Shopify performance optimization, especially for stores that have a lot of pages and custom features. 

Thus, the proper tools can enhance speed and make your store more user-friendly and secure. Remember, it’s not about having a lot of add-ons; it’s about using them wisely to improve speed. This comprehensive approach will help you keep users engaged, boost your SEO, and ultimately drive more sales.

Measuring the success of your Shopify speed improvements

So that you know that your efforts are actually paying off in remarkable results, you need to measure the success of these Shopify website optimizations. It’s not just your Google PageSpeed score, but whether or not speed is driving user behavior, sales performance, and overall store performance.

This chapter will go through how to actually know if your Shopify store has, in fact, accelerated and how this has influenced your business.

Defining metrics to track

Before you can measure, you need to understand what metrics show improvement:

• Page Load Time: how long it takes to fully load a page.
• Time to First Byte (TTFB): how long it takes to receive the first byte of the server response.
• First Contentful Paint (FCP): time to paint the first thing on the screen.
• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): load time for the main element of the page (image, header).
• Total Blocking Time (TBT): time during which the page is unable to react to user input in a timely manner.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): movement of page elements during loading (viewability score).

All these can be tested using Lighthouse, PageSpeed Insights, or GTmetrix. Google focuses on these aspects while measuring Shopify performance optimization.

Best technical speed monitoring tools

Google PageSpeed Insights

This tool shows detailed technical measurements for mobile and desktop, e.g., FCP, LCP, CLS. It is perfect for weekly testing.

Lighthouse (built into Chrome)

It lets you test locally, compare before-after change test results. Best suited for technical diagnostics.

GTmetrix

It is about detailed graphs and waterfall analysis (step-by-step load of each page element). This lets you spot “heavy” resources.

WebPageTest.org

It provides in-depth stats of real Shopify performance optimization on different browsers and with different connection speeds. This mimics real-user behavior very well.

Shopify Admin Dashboard (Analytics)

This dashboard tracks bounce rate, session length, conversion to understand how speed impacts sales.

Real impact on user behavior

Even if the technology metrics are improved, the true question is – have users even noticed? Track this through:

• Lower bounce rate. Slow sites cause people simply to close the page. After Shopify website optimization, this number ought to be lower.
• Longer session duration. With a fast site, visitors will be more likely to read more pages.
• Improved conversion rate. In fact, speed quicker = user experience = higher chances of buying.
• Boosted SEO rankings. Site speed is among the ranking factors as per Google.

You can track these metrics using Google Analytics, Hotjar, Clarity, and other analytics. 

Impact on mobile performance

Mobile is where the majority of users view Shopify stores. Speed is critical there. 

Inspect the mobile version independently, as it possesses different technical requirements. Smartphones have larger LCP and TTI (Time to Interactive) values (optimized specifically for smartphones). 

Also, use Mobile Speed Score in Google Search Console.

A/B test to see the impact of changes

One must compromise between Shopify performance optimization and design when concentrating on speed in certain situations. To make the correct decisions:

1. Perform A/B tests (compare pages both before and after changes).
2. Track the difference in load time and user behavior.
3. Conduct testing for individual pages (e.g., home page, product card, cart).

It allows you to directly view what optimizations are truly impacting your business.

Visual inspection through session recording

All such software, like Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity, allows you to see how the user is engaged with the site. If following optimization the false clicks have gone down, the clicks on buttons are getting faster, or the users are filling out forms faster, this is instant evidence of successful effort on speed.

Keeping a change log and comparing results

To better understand the effectiveness of the Shopify speed optimization in the long term:

• Keep a change table where you record each step: what was changed, when, and what results it yielded.
• Record the before and after values of significant parameters.
• Check the dynamics from time to time: is speed going up or down, what could be the reason.

This is especially useful if there are large numbers of users on site or there are changes frequently happening.

Therefore, the measurement of Shopify website optimization success is rather a strategic approach to Shopify store growth. Proper comprehension of metrics, analytical thinking, and continuous monitoring with Web Help Agency will be used to speed up your site and make it more efficient in all the fundamental areas: from SEO to sales.

Bottom line

The Shopify speed optimization requires continuous work which demands precise attention in every step. Site performance improves substantially when you reduce image sizes and eliminate unnecessary code from your theme while minimizing scripts and selecting appropriate plugins. Better user satisfaction leads to improved conversion rates while search rankings increase.

Your Shopify store will achieve fast performance on all devices by following a step-by-step approach which requires testing each modification. Web Help Agency stands ready to assist you with optimizing the speed performance of your Shopify store.

FAQ

The post Shopify Speed Optimization: Improve Your Store’s Speed appeared first on Web Help Agency.

As essential as it is, accomplishing a site plan that changes over possibilities into devoted clients is an extreme errand. You have to take a gander at it from numerous points of view.

In this manual, we will show you the insider facts of the expense of website composition.

Which is web design cost?

Considering the features you add and the additional factors that have an effect on the web design cost, designing a website may come with a hefty price tag. The type of cooperation you have with the design team, the type of website you are looking to create, the expertise of the design team, the size, and scope of the project, as well as the long-term value of the work can all play a role in how much it costs to create a website. With Web Help Agency, you can rest assured that you will get the best possible website design service for a great cost.

When you choose Web Help Agency, you will receive a project manager, business analyst, and UX/UI designers, all with years of experience in the field. Here are some estimated costs for different types of websites based on the length of time it takes to create:

Web Help Agency charges $35 an hour for website design, while there are various other pricing models which you can consider. Flat Rates can allow you to focus on the final value of the deliverables, however, accuracy in estimation of time is also important. Meanwhile, Monthly Rates are best when you are looking for recurring work. As you rise above in experience levels, you might want to switch to other pricing models providing more value for the web design cost.

Factors Impacting web design costs Having outlined the key elements influencing the pricing of website design, let’s delve deeper into the analysis of each determinant.

Factor 1: Website’s Purpose

The second factor that exerts an impact on the average web design cost is the intricacy of the business logic. Let’s delve into the various facets that contribute to this complexity.

Factor 3: Involvement Level of the Team

This stands as a pivotal determinant in shaping the pricing dynamics of website design. But how does it wield its influence?

Engaging a proficient in-house team for your design endeavors entails the highest cost, yet it yields superlative outcomes. Although enlisting the expertise of a professional web design agency escalates the design expense, its long-term benefits are substantial.

Moreover, the experience quotient of the team members significantly impacts the equation. Opting for a freelance UX/UI designer may incur lower overall charges, but the assurance of quality work is less certain. This hinges on variables like a designer’s location, hourly rates, and more. The recruitment of full-time personnel for a project translates into increased costs and time investment.

The typical remuneration range for an average website designer or web developer spans between $15 to $25 per hour, with distinctions potentially arising for backend developers. The quest for proficient freelance web designers online, often sought on platforms like LinkedIn, presents its own set of challenges.

Should your project transcend the realm of a basic website, it becomes imperative to allocate upfront budgets for web design, search engine optimization, social media, and content marketing expenditures.

Opting for an offshore design firm emerges as a judicious choice, delivering requisite quality at a reasonable price point.

It remains evident that a professional team inevitably commands a higher fee structure, with the average designer rate approximating $30 per hour.

Furthermore, by engaging our wordpress design and development services, you gain access to a dedicated lineup, including:

• Project Manager
• Business Analyst
• UX/UI Designer
• Layout Developer
• QA Tester
• On-demand Marketer

In summary, the average website design cost encompasses a spectrum ranging from $5,000 to $30,000 contingent on factors such as features, type, and an array of other considerations. Beyond website construction, provisions should also be made for website hosting expenses.

Anticipate allocating budgets for a domain name, SSL certificate, employed templates/plugins, and all other components intrinsic to your website and overarching marketing strategy. But first, what is domain analysis? It includes evaluating the availability, history, and value of a domain name.

What’s Next?

We’ve just discussed an outline of web design costs; if you are searching for additional information on website design and development, you might want to examine our guide on website development costs.

The post Web Design Cost in 2024 appeared first on Web Help Agency.

Analyzing CMS Hub, WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal? Research demonstrates CMS Hub is preferred for enterprises, WordPress for blogs, Joomla for memberships, and Drupal for high-traffic sites with lots of data.

These are just a few of the website possibilities with a CMS. Here we’ll explain different criteria for selecting a CMS platform for your firm. Then, we’ll go over some CMS systems so you can find the perfect match for your specific website needs and objectives.

Picking the Right CMS Platform

Freelancers and businesses that don’t possess the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript required to code a website may find that an easier method of creating a custom web design is by using a CMS platform and website builder. These offer a variety of features, pre-designed templates, and extensions to make customizing a website simple and straightforward. Alternatively, you can hire the best web developers to ensure your website meets all your specific needs and objectives.

Each of these tools presents different approaches for building and managing a website, so let’s examine them more closely and determine which one is correct for your site.

CMS vs. Website Builder

If you’re looking for a comprehensive web host and website construction platform, try a website builder. You can acquire a custom website domain, personalize your page’s outlook, and create interactive, multimedia websites with features such as animations and scrolling impacts. While you concentrate on design and material, your hosting platform will manage your website’s maintenance, security, backups, and much more.

In exchange for this uncomplicated usage, you must make a few sacrifices. Website builders lack the content organization features, functional expansion, and individualization settings that you can find in CMS programs. Thus, website builders are great for conventions, musicians, eateries, and other users who want to form multimedia-rich websites with speed.

For more custom settings and feature updates, use a CMS. By utilizing a CMS, you can direct the design of your webpage, add media, arrange content by labels and classifications, handle distinct users, alter your website’s code foundation, and many more. Although setting up and launching your site will take longer, you can craft and supervise a larger and more intricate website, with the ability to expand eventually.

If you have determined to build a website with a CMS, then you can further limit your choices with the subsequent criteria.

5 Criteria for Choosing a CMS

Selecting the right CMS platform for your business is a crucial step and should be aligned with your site’s requirements and objectives. Key factors to keep in mind include user-friendliness, customizability, security, pricing, and popularity. If a platform offers the features you’re seeking but comes at a hefty cost, then it’s not the ideal choice. On the contrary, a low-cost solution that would require immense maintenance and additions to fulfill your needs isn’t optimal either. Now, let’s delve into each of these criteria a bit more.

Ease of Use

Usability holds a prime place when deciding on a CMS since it considerably affects the adoption rate and workflows of your organization. A perfect platform should be easy to access and manage for all stakeholders in your team. For example, if both content marketers, and developers, will be active in the backend of the CMS, you need features that enable hassle-free work for both. Search for a CMS that sports a WYSIWYG editor for practical content creation and editing as well as modules for developers to quickly add custom code.

Customizability

Despite prioritizing user-friendliness, customizability mustn’t be overlooked. A highly flexible CMS like WordPress, which offers a myriad of customization options, is ideal for businesses that plan to expand gradually. Consider what customization options are available in the dashboard, how many extensions can be integrated, and if you are allowed to make adjustments to the source code. If you want to build a website with limited development resources, most CMS have pre-designed themes that you can customize accordingly.

Security

When deciding on a CMS, you ought to ascertain your content, users, and visitors are safe. To do this, enquire what role the platform will assume and what role you will have to assume to protect your site. Do you need to manually back up your site? Update the software? Put in place security add-ons? Purchase an SSL certificate? If you don’t have the time or knowledge for security best practices, then you need a system with foremost security protocols, features, and teams in place.

Pricing

Budget is an integral element of almost every business decision. With CMS, you need a solution that meets your needs, the expectations of your visitors, and your finances. Fortunately, multiple platforms offer different tiers of plans with adjustable resources, like WordPress’s free CMS. Furthermore, most of them allow you to upgrade according to your growth, indicating that the CMS can handle changes in the business.

Prevalence in the Market

Having knowledge of what other successful brands in your industry are using can help refine your choice. Looking at the CMS platform and websites of these brands can give you insight into their strategies and yours. Additionally, you can ascertain the value of a particular CMS from the list of prominent clients. Hence, researching security standards, the features of different CMS, and the market trends in your industry will help you make the right decision.

Popular Content Management Systems

• WordPress
• Drupal
• Joomla
• Shopify
• Magento
• Magnolia
• Optimizely
• PrestaShop
• TYPO3
• Crownpeak
• Contentful
• Storyblok
• concrete5
• Contentstack
• Webflow

1. WordPress

Originally intended as blogging software, WordPress has become the most popular CMS platform to date. Open-source in nature, WordPress is often used in industries that focus on editorial features like articles and blogs. Its simple user interface and website themes make it great for small businesses that are just starting out with web strategies or have limited design knowledge.

Best CMS for

For small to large businesses that require editing teams, personal websites, and blogging needs, WordPress is a great option.

Key Takeaways

• Beginner-friendly and easy to use.
• The largest collection of plugins and themes.
• Can take time to maintain the plugins and site.
• Varied costs including domain registration, hosting, and premium plugins and themes.

Ease of Use

WordPress is user-friendly for those without coding knowledge. Its dashboard is simple to use with options to tweak the site’s appearance, install a plugin, change the permalink settings, add blog posts, and more.

The new editing interface, Gutenberg, uses drag-and-drop capabilities so users can develop pages with media without the assistance of custom code or plugins.

But if you need anything more advanced such as a list of random posts in the sidebar, you will need to install the appropriate WordPress plugins or add code to the files. This can be a challenge for those without coding knowledge.

Customizability

WordPress is highly customizable with 57,000 plugins available from the official directory and 31,000 WordPress themes available from the official repository and third-party marketplaces.

These plugins and templates let anyone with limited technical knowledge create fully functional websites.

Ensure that the plugins and themes are up-to-date and compatible with the site to help keep it secure.

Security

Any CMS is susceptible to hackers and malicious users and outdated code increases this risk. WordPress sites that are out of date account for 49% of the infections in 2019.

Moreover, outdated plugins can compromise security. In 2019, plugin vulnerabilities accounted for over half of the known entry points for hackers.

It is not only important but mandatory to keep all software and plugins up-to-date. WordPress’ built-in update system makes this process easy. However, some updates may not be compatible with all extensions on the site which can take more time to upkeep and manage, especially for larger projects.

Pricing

WordPress is a free download. The costs occur from domain registration, hosting though, and any premium plugins and themes.

Average Cost: $11 to $40 per month + one-time fee of $200

Brands Using WordPress

TechCrunch

TechCrunch is an example of a website that uses the WordPress CMS to publish tech-related news, articles, and videos. Its homepage is centered on one large image with highlighted stories appearing with just text-based headlines. There’s also easily-navigable space for ad space.

In a 2018 announcement of the site’s redesign, TechCrunch noted why they’ve stuck to WordPress. “It handles content authoring, delivering, and caching very well. Plus, its massive community makes it so that our small team doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel and do it better than WordPress already has”.

IKEA

Internationally-recognized furniture and home goods retailer, IKEA, also makes use of the WordPress CMS. Being a highly visual brand, Ikea’s pages make use of a grid system with most page space being occupied by images with text overlays.

2. Drupal

As an exceptionally versatile, open-source CMS, Drupal is an ideal choice for developers, marketers, and agencies. It lets inexperienced marketers quickly create a website from a template, while developers can utilize it for tonnes of data and high traffic.

Best CMS for

Those with significant technical resources

Key Takeaways

• This applies mainly to developers
• An extensive selection of configurable modules and themes
• Significantly higher security for open-source platforms
• Customizing the site may cost thousands

Ease of Use

Developers designed Drupal for developers, so if you want to take advantage of its full potential, you’ll need a basic knowledge of HTML, PHP, and CSS. Also, setting up and configuring the site takes longer than with WordPress.

Customizability

Drupal’s directory has more than 46,000 modules and its theme repository contains thousands of free themes. Even though the number is smaller than WordPress, most modules and themes are highly adjustable, allowing you to create a site precisely as you envision it—if you possess the necessary coding skills.

Security

Data from the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures survey shows that Drupal has fewer incident-to-market-share instances than any of the other open-source platforms (including WordPress and Joomla). To make sure of the platform’s secureness, a devoted group of 40 community members release bug fix and security updates per month, and further on an annual basis.

Unfortunately, site owners will have to download the latest update manually and stick to best practices if they are to stay on the safe side.

Pricing

The Drupal download is as free of charge as WordPress, but the amount of money needed for building and managing an adequate website tends to be much higher. Unlike most WordPress plugins and themes, Drupal’s are particularly adjustable, but demanding coding skills are required to make the website how you initially intended.

Average Cost: $15,000 to $42,000, depending on the scale of the web project.

Brands Using Drupal

UNICEF

The UNICEF page is a clear demonstration of how adequately open-source platforms can be used to set up a high-functioning website with an attractive design.

Pinterest

Pinterest’s business page is powered by Drupal, too. It showcases various promotional tips and resources related to advertising on the platform. Unconventionally, this page was designed for scrolling, relying on minimal text and with an emphasis on visuals, color, and calls-to-action. Such layout makes the webpage feel more immersive and entertaining.

3. Joomla

Designed to lie somewhere between Drupal and WordPress in terms of ease of use and cost, Joomla combines versatility and user-friendliness in one package.

Best CMS For

Suitable for larger companies and tech-savvy individuals alike.

Key Takeaways

• 6,000+ extensions available, though installation & management can be tricky.
• No built-in features for scheduling automatic updates, leaving sites vulnerable.

Ease of Use

Joomla has impressive built-in features, allowing users to manage hundreds of users, build pages in multiple languages, and create custom post types. Settings for articles, banners, menus, media, and SEO can be adjusted as necessary.

Complex sites can easily be built with Joomla, though doing so can be challenging for beginners. Those with experience in web development can better leverage the features Joomla provides for more substantial websites.

Customizability

In addition to the features Joomla includes, 6,000+ extensions can be downloaded for enhanced control over your site. Unfortunately, CVE data on WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal shows that Joomla has the most found vulnerabilities since 2005.

The platform’s security team regularly releases security patches, but without any built-in features for scheduling updates, your site may remain vulnerable. In fact, Sucuri’s 2019 report indicates that 90% of websites with infections were running outdated versions of Joomla.

Pricing

Joomla requires payment for domain registration, hosting, themes, and maintenance to create and run a website. Website hosting and design costs tend to sit somewhere between WordPress and Drupal. Overall, as reported by CMS2CMS, Joomla sites cost around $700-$6,500.

Average Cost: $700 to $6,500 to create and maintain

Brands Using Joomla

Nintendo Nordic

Nintendo’s Nordic sites are powered by Joomla. Similar to the American sites, this CMS allows them to remain consistent with their branding, while still being visually appealing.

4. Shopify

Shopify is an e-commerce platform designed specifically for online retailers, allowing them to create and manage their stores.

Best CMS for

Ecommerce and beginning sellers

Key Takeaways

• Ideal for novice shopkeepers
• Limited range of themes and apps
• Comes with automatic backups and software updates
• Offers three premium plans, with prices from $29 to $299 monthly

Ease of Use

Much simpler than creating a site on WordPress.com, Shopify makes it easy for novice shop owners to set up and run an ecommerce store, although some may eventually decide to migrate Shopify to WooCommerce for greater flexibility. Although they’ll lack some of the control over appearance and functionality, a suite of features, security, and customer support will be available to help them manage their venture.

Using Shopify’s blogging tools, customer reviews, payment options, abandoned cart recovery, they can quickly get their store underway. Additionally, Shopify handles backups and software updates.

Customizability

In exchange for convenience, some customization options may be lacking. As Shopify is proprietary, its code cannot be modified.

As a workaround, users can select from over 70 themes and around 5,700 free and paid applications from the Shopify store.

Security

In order to accept payments from Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover, the store must be PCI compliant. With Shopify, users can avoid the time and money spent on obtaining a Level 1 PCI certification, as all Shopify stores come with automatic certification.

Moreover, Shopify takes care of general security matters, manages backups, and updates the software as needed.

Pricing

Shopify has three paid plans, the least expensive of which begins at $29 each month. This package includes hosting, SSL certification—with a Shopify subdomain of username.shopify.com—and more. An additional fee will be required if the website owner wants a custom domain.

Upgrading to higher packages will provide more seats and features, such as rewards systems and enhanced reporting, and the priciest is $299 monthly.

Average Cost: Plans run from $29 to $299 per month

Brands Using Shopify

Briogeo

An example of an ecommerce website made with Shopify is Briogeo, a haircare company that only uses natural ingredients in its products. Its webpage serves as a great showcase of the platform’s capabilities, with product displays, mega menus, user accounts, checkout, image collages, blog, and even a rewards system.

5. Magento

Magento, an eCommerce platform owned by Adobe, offers myriad options to tech-savvy store owners. We’ll focus on Magento Open Source — more popular — here.

Best CMS for

Experienced ecommerce store owners and sellers.

Key Takeaways

• Learning Magento and its features takes time, especially for beginners.
• 3,800 add-ons found in Magento’s Extension Marketplace.
• Security patches and updates require manual installation.
• Average Magento store starts in thousands.

Ease of Use

Like Drupal, Magento Open Source allows you to build the exact site you want. But, understanding and exploiting its features and extensions demands experience in website development or a willingness to invest significant time.

Customizability

Install or integrate any of the 3,800 add-ons available in the Magento Extensions Marketplace to extend the site’s utility and power. Sync customer and order data to your CRM or raise your site’s SEO — Magento makes it a snap.

Security

Magento rolls out patches and security updates to address vulnerabilities. Utilize its free Security Scan tool to be advised of their availability and quickly install. All too often, site owners don’t install; research shows that Magento Websites were 87% out of date when found to be hacked.

Pricing

Magento Open Source is free, though better apps and themes are more expensive than WordPress. Additionally, Magento is complex. This invariably requires the help of a developer; a basic store can begin at $20,000 and climb to $40,000. Magento Commerce, the enterprise-fitted version, starts at $22,000 annually.

Brands Using Magento

Yakima

Yakima, leading bike rack and outdoor products provider since 1979, used Magento to redevelop its site and enhance online sales. Vast mobile-optimization and customizations — such as a make and model search tool — were made possible.

Boodles

Boodles, a luxury jewelry company, chose Magento for its open-source capability and the opportunity to capture younger buyers. A fully-visual, mobile-adapted site, with ecommerce integrations and an Instagram Stream block, amplifies the company’s presence in the jewelry market.

6. Magnolia

Magnolia is a comprehensive system which provides multi-site, multi-language, and multi-channel digital services. It offers two types of service: cloud and client. The cloud-based service helps businesses to launch projects faster, while the client-hosted option gives them the opportunity for Java development and specific integration.

Best CMS for

Large enterprises, startups, and ecommerce

Key Takeaways

• User-friendly with customizable options to suit needs
• The Pages App lets users have complete creative freedom
• Costs need to be requested from sales representatives

Ease of Use

Magnolia is not considered as easy-to-use as WordPress; yet, they provide a series of tutorials to simplify navigation. The interface’s intuitiveness depends on the type of service they choose: cloud or client.

Therefore, businesses that lack technical knowledge are advised to prefer the cloud-based choice.

Customizability

Magnolia is based on modules and offers great customizability, letting organizations tailor their sites to meet their own requirements. Through Java customization, users can modify their pages, user interface and make server filters and more. It also integrates with several external services, like Google Analytics, React and Amazon S3.

Security

At Magnolia, the security is guaranteed by Java Authentication and Authorization Service and it is always checked if the user has access to a webpage, document, or data. The security app helps to manage this.

For external security, Magnolia suggests the Apache Web Server as a proxy for the application server.

Pricing

The cost of Magnolia is personalized and needs to be obtained by contacting the sales representatives.

Average Cost: Contact for a website quote

Brands Utilizing Magnolia

BMW

When it comes to BMW dealerships, Magnolia’s CMS is used to create specialized interaction platforms for information exchange. Implementing their innovative “What You See is What You Get” (WYSIWYG) editing mode as an uncomplicated method of content management, the BMW team opted for Magnolia’s services. The CMS is hosted on BMW’s in-house servers, ensuring the data’s security is kept intact.

Atlassian

In the case of their international website, Atlassian utilized Magnolia’s CMS for their rebranding and launch. Features such as in-build translation and templating were implemented which resulted in 41 pages in 10 different languages. The content team was able to create new campaigns and reach out to translators via the workflow tool and release their work, all without developer support.

7. Optimizely

Well-known for its A/B testing functions, Optimizely’s suite of marketing tools has been gradually expanding. After being acquired by Episerver last year, the two firms together combined their capabilities to create the Optimizely Content Cloud.

This tool lets editors develop and share attractive content with ease and provides developers with a fast way to create and launch new pages and sites.

Best CMS for

Organizations that require fast, efficient solutions to build new websites or pages.

Key Takeaways

• Completely compatible with multiple coding languages – not just one.
• Time-saving tools like “publish everywhere” with expedited go-live time.
• Headless content management for versatile projects.
• Different backend & front end management systems.
• Multiple package offers include everything you may need.

Ease of Use

Although their tutorials are somewhat sparse, Optimizely’s visual editor is straightforward in its usability. Like Magnolia, it offers a WYSIWYG platform that displays how the project will appear to viewers. Additionally, page elements can be easily modified with just a few clicks. With the “publish everywhere” feature, teams can swiftly create content once, and repurpose it for a variety of channels.

Customizability

As it is headless, this CMS allows for maximum customizability. Optimizely can, therefore, support an unlimited number of platforms and layouts. Make use of their features flag for real-time roll-outs across the sitewide, or deploy the killswitch if the launch doesn’t quite go as planned. You can even tailor rollouts to particular audiences or the entire crowd. Whether you’re working on a new project or honing existing ones, Optimizely gives you the control to make any adjustments to suit your needs.

Security

All exchanges appearing from visitors and end-users on Optimizely products are secured by Transport Layer Security (TLS). Additionally, Optimizely offers a bug bounty system to motivate reporting of security threats concerning their product.

For extra protection, Optimizely requires that their personnel utilize single sign-on as well as two-factor authentication to access any data that your business has stored. This guarantees that no one, inside or out, is able to access your data without authorization.

Pricing

Optimizely presents a range of packages. Prices are available upon request. All of these package features must be combined, however you may not find every single capability within just one offering.

Average Cost: Reach out for a quote

Brands Using Optimizely

Absolut

Set on eliminating server management, Absolut implemented Optimizely to host all their sites and shifted to the Content Cloud. With Optimizely’s capabilities, Absolut had the ability to release at a more agile pace and lessened their launch time. Using Optimize’s Content Cloud, both marketing and devops teams could oversee content from a unified place, as well as launch new sites in half as much time with fewer resources.

8. PrestaShop

PrestaShop is designed to occupy the middle ground between Magento and Shopify, combining the power of the former with the simplicity of the latter.

Best for

Shop owners and sellers with some technical experience

Key Takeaways

• An ideal blend of Magento’s complexity and Shopify’s simplicity
• Over 6,000 add-on modules and themes available
• SSL must be enabled and software must be regularly updated
• Expensive add-ons and support plans

Ease of Use

Getting started on PrestaShop is more complicated than Shopify since it is an open-source platform. You will need a hosting provider and to create a database and upload the software via FTP. Additionally, PrestaShop offers more out-of-the-box features, making the dashboard more complex.

Customizability

PrestaShop can customize messages for out-of-stock items and enable the shop in 65 languages, as well as configure coupons. Furthermore, its marketplace offers over 3,900 modules and 2,200 themes, allowing you to build an expansive ecommerce store.

Security

For security, enable SSL, regularly update the software, add code to your .htaccess file, and follow other safety protocols. Also, you can opt for Security Pro, which provides a firewall, protection against DDoS, two-factor authentication, anti-SPAM, anti-malware, and automatic backups.

Pricing

PrestaShop is free to download, but you must pay for domain, hosting, SSL certificate, and premium modules. A PrestaShop store typically costs between $53 to $560 per month, and you may need to pay for a support plan, ranging from $279 to $1,299.

Brands Using PrestaShop

Freshly Cosmetics

Freshly Cosmetics’ website highlights the ecommerce capabilities of PrestaShop. Its product pages are extensive due to its capabilities to provide customers with as much information as needed.

9. TYPO3

TYPO3 is an open-source CMS that’s designed specifically for constructing enterprise-level sites.

Best for

Programmers or groups with large technical resources.

Key Takeaways

• Demanding to learn platform, even for experienced users
• 6,000 extensions available in TYPO3 Repository
• Updates and maintenance is up to site owners
• Contractors and agency partners could be expensive

Ease of Use

TYPO3 furnishes more than 9,000 features out of the box. Such powerful functionality will enable you to create a complex multi-site installation — but it won’t be a breeze to install or set up. Even proficient users will need to invest a lot of time and effort into learning the platform.

Customizability

Despite its remarkable in-built capabilities, TYPO3 is lacking some typical features, like modules for including videos and adding image galleries to your page. To bridge the gap, you can incorporate any of the 6,000 third-party tools and services accessible in the TYPO3 Extension Repository.

Security

To aid protect your website, TYPO3 supplies built-in security components, compliance tooling, and frequent updates. The TYPO3 Security Team releases these updates regularly and informs site owners via email, yet upgrades and maintenance tasks are still the responsibility of users.

Pricing

According to T3Terminal, the average cost of a TYPO3 site lies between $100 to $30,000 annually.

Let’s go over the expenses related to constructing and launching a website on TYPO3. Apart from the normal rate of $15 for annual domain registration, hosting a TYPO3 site ranges from $6 to $69 per month. The average cost of premium TYPO3 templates and extensions is $49.

The biggest expense of setting up and maintaining a TYPO3 website is paying for a programmer or agency to take part in the process. Fortunately, you can find certified help right on TYPO3’s site. Unfortunately, the fees can range from a couple of hundred to some thousand dollars, depending on the extent and term of the web project.

Average Cost: $100 to $30,000 annually

Brands That Use TYPO3

Pearson

For user portals in Central and Eastern European countries, educational publisher Pearson used the TYPO3 CMS to digitalize their services and products. With this system, the company had the capacity to efficiently migrate its digital belongings, release its content to a desktop portal and a mobile app, generate a product catalog, and rebrand itself totally.

10. Crownpeak Headless CMS

Crownpeak’s CMS is user-friendly for beginners and those less familiar with tech. While the interface is simple to use, the CMS offers the same features as many of its more complicated competitors. Additionally, this hybrid headless CMS allows for a flexible integration into existing systems. Write and publish new articles, pages, and manage workflows easily in just a few clicks.

Best for

Small to Medium-sized companies with limited IT resources

Key Takeaways

• Set up easily without much IT support
• Use your preferred programming language due to the headless functionality
• Costs are determined by quote
• Security is paramount, due to extra protection offered by Amazon’s Web Services

Ease of Use

Crownpeak’s system is designed to be user-friendly. The content editor offers a WYSIWYG so authors can see a real-time preview of their draft. Additionally, admins have the ability to control author functions, guaranteeing that edits are accidental-free.

Overall, Crownpeak offers a simplified approach so users can get started quickly.

Customizability

The headless function of Crownpeak’s CMS means that companies can customize their integration according to their framework and preferred programming. Moreover, marketers can take advantage of their A/B testing options, plus serve content specifically aimed for a targeted audience easily across various channels.

Security

Crownpeak’s platform is built on Amazon’s Web Services to protect data. The system has also passed several independent audits, plus meets the FISMA security standard for U.S. financial institutions. For extra security, Crownpeak provides 24/7 monitoring, cloud firewalls, and the ability to move data quickly to another region in the event of a crisis.

Pricing

Due to the variety of customer needs, Crownpeak’s pricing is offered on an individual basis. Reach out to get a quote and expert advice on which products meet your business needs.

Average Cost: Contact for a quote

Brands Using Crownpeak

Texas Mutual

Texas Mutual, a workers’ compensation insurance company, switched to Crownpeak to manage their marketing efforts. To ensure their customers had an optimal user experience, Crownpeak’s automated QA reporting feature enabled them to meet accessibility compliance requirements.

11. Contentful

Contentful is a cloud-based headless CMS for enterprise companies that provides tools to create, edit, and manage content, as well as an API to ship it to any digital channel.

Best for

Medium to large enterprises with technical resources

Key Takeaways

• Enterprise-level headless CMS
• Uses an API-first design so there’s a steep learning curve
• Allows for a custom content model
• Security features provided by Amazon Web Services and Contentful

Ease of Use

With its content management tools, integrations with Dropbox, and advanced rich text editor, Contentful is designed to be easy to use for content marketers. However, the development side of Contentful – through its API – can be more difficult for non-technical users.

The API-first design offers benefits for enterprise organizations, but it might overwhelm smaller businesses or those looking to create web pages with added features they don’t need.

Customizability

Contentful requires developers and designers to create a content ‘skeleton’ to tell its APIs what kind of content to send. While challenging, it provides a unique opportunity to create a content model specific to the project.

Plus, developers can customize the Contentful web app with open-source field editors and the Forma 36 design system.

You can also integrate with in-house built applications or third-party cloud software directly in the web app.

Security

Due to its infrastructure running on Amazon Web Services, Contentful has features like data encryption, stateful firewalling, threat detection, and more.

Additional security measures include an application web firewall, DDoS protection, rate limits and captchas, 2FA and more. Read more on Security at Contentful.

Pricing

Contentful has three pricing tiers: a free edition, Teams (starting at $489 per month), and an Enterprise offering (price available upon request).

Average Cost: $0 to $489 per month

Brands Using Contentful

Clover

Clover, a credit card processor, partnered with the Contentful headless CMS to spread their centralized assets around numerous devices. This illustrates the power of headless content management systems – Clover used Contentful to display content on their custom processing devices without having to majorly reformat the content.

Furthermore, Contentful allowed Clover to localize their content which let the content editors make changes without fully relying on the engineering team.

12. Storyblok

Storyblok, with almost 40,000 developers and marketers, is a headless CMS regularly used to create corporate websites, ecommerce sites, mobile apps, screen displays, etc.

Best for:

Content managers and marketers.

Key Takeaways:

• Most popular headless CMS for marketers and content creators.
• Content is accessible across different countries, languages, and devices.
• Pricing is tailored, providing suitable options for individuals and small businesses.

Ease of Use:

Storyblok is distinctive compared to other headless CMS platforms since its features grant easier access to content managers. On top of that, content creators and developers possess the liberty to deviate from traditional CMS by a modern headless rule and also generate new content experiences in various platforms.

The Visual editor of Storyblok may look different from the general WYSIWYG editor, yet it is the nearest replication in comparison to other headless CMS systems. It offers drag and drop functionality, designated content blocks and variable customization choices available in the sidebar.

Customizability:

Just as Contentful, Storyblok grants you the opportunity to upgrade the Visual editor as desired. Using Storyblok’s well-organized and varied plug-in system, it is possible to customize the editor with new specifics such as color pickers and google map selectors.

Another intriguing feature of Storyblok is the extended content localization access. You are able to configure your own localization strategy, thus distributing content to various countries, languages and device types.

Security:

Storyblok, like Contentful, is hosted on AWS with its access control and data security system.

Using Storyblok, users are protected against cross-site scripting, brute force attacks, and SQL injections with continuous security tests, monthly recovery tests, and daily backups.

Pricing:

Other than the free use option for an individual, Storyblok presents a selection of pricing plans suitable for different users. It begins with a $7 monthly cost for personal projects moving to two tiers for starting and small businesses that charge $12 and $21 respectively per user per month. Moreover, there is an enterprise plan.

Average Cost: $0 to $21 per user

Brands Using Storyblok

EF Education First

For EF Education, a world-renowned education company with thousands of pages of content in multilingual versions, Storyblok was the answer. With its help, EF Education has been able to quickly launch a brand-new global multilingual website, something infeasible under traditional systems.

13. ConcreteCMS

ConcreteCMS is an open-source CMS created with the aim of filling a gap in the market. Concrete5 is not overly complicated or intimidating and not overly simplistic either. The perfect balance between ease of use and a comprehensive feature-set – that’s what ConcreteCMS offers.

Best for

Beginners and those working in editorial roles.

Key Takeaways

• User-friendly, making it simple to use like a word processor.
• Small set of add-ons compared to other open-source options.
• Auditing and updating of software and add-ons help maintain website security.

Ease of Use

ConcreteCMS is designed with simplicity in mind, taking cues from the user-friendly word processors of today.

Using its block editor, adding content to the page is only a drag and drop away. Text, images, videos, interactive forms, surveys and much more can be added with no need to resort to coding.

Both beginner developers and more experienced professionals can build sophisticated web applications with ConcreteCMS – like extranets and online portals – and make it look simple and straightforward.

Customizability

ConcreteCMS is supplied with many features out of the box, including pre-made templates, custom form fields and an integrated commenting system.

If You feel like a feature is missing, you can find the perfect add-on from ConcreteCMS’s own Marketplace. While 600+ modules is far less compared to those available on other open-source platforms, it is a respectable number.

The selection of available themes is also limited – fewer than 100 are available.

Security

Just like other open-source solutions, a team of developers maintain the core of ConcreteCMS. However, website owners are responsible for applying additional measures to ensure their code is safe from any malicious activities.

ConcreteCMS offers some noteworthy features that make sure your website is kept safe; from one-click software version updates and automatic add-on notifications for example.

Pricing

Since ConcreteCMS is open-source, the only around the expense pertains to domain registration, hosting and any premium add-ons or themes You wish to purchase.

Domain registration and hosting is similar to other open-source platforms, in which a domain costs around $15/year and hosting can range from $3 to $60/month.

On average, a premium module costs $25 and a theme – $40. In the end, you’ll be looking at a yearly bill ranging from $50 to $800 for Your Concrete5 website.

Average cost: $50 to $800 per year

14. Contentstack

Similar to Contentful, Contentstack is a cloud-based web CMS used for headless solutions. It unlocks the best of content management and digital experience capabilities so that organizations can centrally manage and deliver content across digital channels, like desktops, smartphones, autos, and wearables.

Best for

Large businesses which have a larger pool of resources in terms of developers.

Key Takeaways

• Advanced headless CMS for enterprise businesses
• Profound learning curve for non-developers
• Scalable and customizable content types, rich text editor, available programming languages, & integrations
• Substantial monthly fee

Ease of Use

Contentstack is crafted to be user-friendly & intuitive to use by developers & non-developers alike. Although, the latter would still need to go through a comprehensive learning process.

Content managers will find a rich text editor & a powerful scheduling & publishing tool to manage content without the help of a developer.

Meanwhile, developers will have to use the Content Type Builder to create content models that build the structure & formatting of the platform. This would mean that editing experiences are vastly different from a traditional CMS & its WYSIWYG editor.

If needed, users can access exclusive support from Contentstack through documentation, live chat, & customer success reps.

Customizability

Just as Contentful does, Contentstack grants developers the capabilities of creating content models that define how content appears on any target device like smartphones or smart watches. Content models also contribute to improving the formatting of the page.

With the rich text editor, developers can decide which formatting options to highlight & which ones to hide. Furthermore, they are free to use whatever programming language, frameworks, technologies, & integrations they need for the project.

Security

Security is also looked into by Contentstack with protocols that include protecting content over HTTPS via an access token & API key. Backup & versioning of content & assets is done daily & system scans are regularly executed to detect security vulnerabilities. Contentstack also makes use of AWS for improving its infrastructure.

Pricing

Contentstack offers three subscription plans. The Start plan costs $995 while the Grow plan costs $4,500 per month. For Scale plan, users will need to contact the vendor for pricing.

Average Cost: The plans sum up to be either $995 or $4,500 per month.

15. Webflow

Webflow is a “visual” content management system designed specifically for web designers requiring control over customizing sites, hosting, security, and performance.

Best for

Webflow is ideal for experienced designers and marketers.

Key Takeaways

• Offers full control over site design
• Included AWS Shield and security features such as 2FA & SSL
• Assortment of various hosting plans with different price points

Ease of Use

The Webflow Designer comparable to using Photoshop in the browser. The user simply drags and drops elements onto a canvas and customizes them as they desire. While HTML and CSS are not necessary, knowledge of them will make the design process simpler.

When adding extra functionality, the site owner has two options; connecting to different platforms through an external integration or embedding code. To integrate, use Zapier and other platforms. To embed code, use pre-built pieces or custom blocks of code (premium plan or those with Webflow Hosting only).

Customizability

For full command of the site design, Webflow supplies various templates. Plus, users can directly customize color, background, typography, positioning, and more. All modified features can be converted to symbols and applied across the entire website.

Advanced users with HTML and CSS experience will find Webflow’s customization features unbeatable.

Security

Webflow-hosted websites receive AWS Shield protection, and include SSL certification, 2FA, role-based permissions, multilevel backups, and monitoring.

In addition, password protection for the whole site or individual pages is available with Webflow Hosting.

Pricing

Designing is free but a site plan and custom domain are necessary to deploy the website. Plans range from $12 to $212 per month for Ecommerce sites. Enterprise plans call for contacting Webflow straight for pricing details.

Average Cost: Usually, prices range from $12 to $212 per month, and there is a $15 annual fee for the domain. Additionally, enterprise plans are priced separately.

Deciding on the Best CMS for Your Needs

Although it is impossible to pinpoint the “Best CMS,” that would be compatible with all websites, you can find the most suitable CMS for your organization. Your preeminent platform should provide the CMS features you require, boost your teams’ capacity to regulate content, and eventually, grant you the capability to offer a desirable website experience for your customers.

The post The 15 Best CMS Systems Today & How to Choose appeared first on Web Help Agency.

These visionary individuals are venturing into a world still grappling with the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, even as three years have elapsed since its commencement. The invaluable lessons of that period continue to shape our actions and decisions.

The conventional 9-5 office paradigm is undergoing a remarkable transformation, gradually yielding to a more adaptable and fluid work model. Simultaneously, the landscape of leadership is undergoing a profound evolution, reshaping traditional notions.

Amidst this backdrop of change, the global panorama remains dynamic and uncertain, characterized by economic fluctuations and the tantalizing emergence of groundbreaking technological advancements.

For fledgling startups preparing to set sail in 2024, the journey might seem daunting. However, a compass for navigation lies in understanding the prevailing startup trends.

In the pages ahead, we will delve into the currents of these trends, exploring the intricate interplay of technology, strategies, and methodologies that startups would be wise to observe and embrace throughout the impending year.

The ongoing surge in digital advancement has marked the trajectory of recent years, and as we look toward 2024, this trend remains steadfast.

A key avenue through which startup trends are poised to advance is the realm of generative AI.

The term ‘Generative AI’ encompasses a wide spectrum of possibilities. At its essence, it signifies unsupervised machine learning algorithms, capable of crafting novel entities based on their accumulated knowledge.

Consider, for instance, a generative AI specialized in coding, capable of generating intricate code that matures in complexity as the AI ‘learns’. Such capability holds promise for bug rectification and feature enhancement within applications.

It’s worth acknowledging the potential pitfalls associated with generative AI, as its misuse has been linked to issues like deep fakes and false narratives. However, harnessed judiciously, it boasts a plethora of constructive applications:

Generative AI stands as a powerful tool for automating the monotonous and iterative tasks of digital creation. Whether refining images or audio files, it delivers impeccable outcomes that would otherwise be arduous and tedious for human engineers. In domains ranging from weather prediction to audience analysis, generative AI swiftly crafts models tailored for testing, facilitating a wide array of applications. Fueling creativity, generative AI offers a wellspring of content ideas spanning blogs, social media posts, and beyond. Although prudent to employ plagiarism detectors to ensure originality. Briskly churning out digital prototypes, generative AI expedites the Research and Development process. Additionally, it excels as a background removal tool, streamlining visual contexts.

As we approach 2024, the landscape of generative AI signifies an evolutionary leap for startup trends, promising both innovation and challenges on the path to leveraging its potential.

The realm of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) continues to surge in popularity, with a growing presence across diverse sectors. In this context, arts and crafts startups are harnessing their potential to not only generate swift revenue but also foster a loyal clientele.

At the core, an NFT represents an entirely unique digital asset. While often associated with artwork or digital designs, the spectrum of NFT applicability is broad and adaptable. Upon purchasing an NFT, individuals attain ownership of an inherently distinct item, a characteristic that holds immense allure for specific segments of consumers.

The strategic employment of NFTs furnishes startups with avenues for strategic expansion:

Leveraging free NFTs as loss leaders constitutes a strategic move. Although the production and minting costs are relatively minimal, the perceived value to the consumer is substantial. By distributing complimentary NFTs, brands can effectively attract new patrons and foster a cohesive community. The expeditious and straightforward process of NFT minting presents an opportunity for startups to swiftly bolster their profitability through NFT sales. NFTs afford brands a platform to showcase their ingenuity, serving as a dual-purpose channel for creative expression and revenue generation. Furthermore, NFTs can be innovatively employed as captivating alternatives to traditional event tickets. While employing this approach necessitates an adept understanding of NFT marketplace creation, it ensures attendees possess a distinctive keepsake post-event.

As NFTs increasingly dominate the startup landscape, their multidimensional potential stands poised to redefine business strategies, customer interactions, and the fusion of innovation and commerce.

The realm of the Internet of Things (IoT) transcends more than just interactive kitchen appliances; it transforms the ordinary, making your heating system or even your bicycle a conduit for data.

The IoT has been steadily maturing for some time now. As we approach 2024, its reach and accessibility are poised to expand like never before.

At its core, IoT devices serve as gateways of communication. Each such gateway represents an opportunity to cultivate customer relationships. However, startups need to proceed with caution. Customers may not appreciate their refrigerator suddenly inundating them with unsolicited brand advertisements.

When utilizing the IoT for marketing and communication purposes, granting customers control is paramount. Neglecting this aspect might inadvertently position your brand as overbearing and intrusive – a situation entirely contrary to the goal of nurturing strong brand-customer connections.

Moreover, startups can harness the IoT to optimize business operations. Devices like smart trackers prove invaluable for office management. Intelligent security features stand ready to alert against potential breaches. Small business card readers seamlessly transmit transaction data to your CRM. The IoT can even be employed to dispatch instructions to production machinery or synergize with IoT technology for elevated GPS fleet tracking, enabling remote data transmission and collection.

As we advance into 2024, the realm of IoT unfurls possibilities for startups to revolutionize communication, amplify operational efficiency, and seamlessly integrate technology to enrich brand and customer experiences.

The trajectory of business practices has steadily led to the adoption of cloud-based services over the past years. As we enter 2024, a monumental trend is set to take center stage: CSaaS (Cybersecurity as a Service) is poised to revolutionize the landscape.

The significance of cybersecurity cannot be overstated. The escalation of cybercrime, growing increasingly sophisticated with each passing day, underscores its paramount importance. Projections indicate that by 2025, global cybercrime could extract a staggering $10.5 trillion annually from the global economy.

In parallel, the ramifications of cyberattacks have amplified in severity. Regulatory frameworks such as GDPR and CCPA wield stern measures against brands that falter in safeguarding customer data. GDPR, for instance, empowers authorities to levy fines of up to 4% of a company’s total annual turnover for data breaches.

Given this backdrop, a vigilant stance on cybersecurity is indispensable. Among the most effective strategies is the outsourcing of cybersecurity to proficient specialists.

Cloud-based cybersecurity entities proffer a host of merits to startup trends:

They extend elevated expertise at a cost-effective rate. For numerous startups, assembling an accomplished in-house cybersecurity team proves impractical. Outsourcing presents an avenue for securing the requisite expertise within financial means. They furnish around-the-clock vigilance. CSaaS teams are dedicated to safeguarding their clients’ systems, enabling brands to focus on their customers without the encumbrance of cybersecurity concerns. They grant access to cutting-edge security technology. Premium cybersecurity systems entail substantial ownership costs. Engaging a CSaaS provider grants startup trends access to advanced technology without the burden of upfront expenses.

The contemporary consumer landscape is no stranger to conscientiousness. Millennials, having assumed the mantle of the most ethically inclined consumer cohort to date, are joined by Generation Z and Alpha, who promise to elevate conscious consumerism to unprecedented heights.

To captivate these discerning consumers, startups must embrace the tenets of ethical entrepreneurship. No longer can brands simply establish a presence and reap the benefits; instead, they are tasked with assiduously addressing the ethical implications of their actions.

What does ethical entrepreneurship entail? It is not a singular concept but rather a holistic endeavor, a commitment to imbuing ethics into every action, even every thought.

Here are pragmatic approaches to practicing ethical entrepreneurship:

Championing environmental preservation through proactive measures. Utilizing sustainable materials, reducing the carbon footprint, and more. Advocating for compassionate leadership. This includes treating employees with dignity and empathy, fostering an atmosphere of openness and support, and more. Contributing to charitable causes and conservation initiatives. Ensuring the entire supply chain adheres to ethical standards. Refrain from collaborating with suppliers who exploit workers or the environment. Selective about affiliations with brands that hold contrasting ethics. Prevent the endorsement of less ethical brands on your platform. As 2024 unfolds, ethical entrepreneurship becomes an imperative facet of business strategy, signifying an alignment with ethical values, a symbiotic relationship with consumers, and a commitment to building a more conscientious commercial world.

The trajectory toward immersive consumer interactions is steering the B2C landscape into a new epoch, and at its helm stands Virtual Reality (VR) as the catalyst of immersive engagement.

Already, businesses are harnessing VR’s potential to facilitate online product sales, a phenomenon particularly pronounced in the retail sector. Notable exemplars abound:

Esteemed furniture retailer Ikea employs VR and AR to usher customers through virtual showroom tours. This transcends the limitations of static images in an online catalog, offering patrons the opportunity to ‘navigate’ around products, obtaining a tangible sense of their form and dimensions.

Leading fashion icons such as Tommy Hilfiger and H&M leverage virtual showrooms, a nuanced emulation of the in-person fashion shopping experience. Virtual showrooms come with their own advantages: an absence of crowds, undivided attention from assistants, and an environment that centers around individual engagement.

Ventures in engineering and construction can seamlessly integrate VR for secure demonstrations. The expense and potential risks associated with crafting and presenting fully functional prototypes can be circumvented through the creation of digital prototypes showcased in VR. This dynamic approach permits companies to subject products to rigorous testing at minimal expense and in a secure environment.

As 2024 unfolds, VR emerges as a powerful enabler for reshaping customer experiences, revolutionizing retail, fashion, engineering, and beyond and ushering in a new era of immersive engagement.

The landscape reshaped by pandemic realities has illuminated the vast potential of remote work. Having witnessed the realm of possibilities, employees are showing a distinct reluctance to revert to the conventional 9-5 office paradigm.

Embracing a hybrid/remote work framework holds immense promise for businesses, particularly for smaller enterprises. It’s a prudent strategy that not only trims overheads but also amplifies cost efficiency. The reduction in office space requirements and employee commute-related expenditures leads to tangible financial benefits.

Consider the domain of website design, a task seamlessly accomplished in remote settings. This transition significantly curtails the expenditure associated with website development and lowers the overall website cost. When contemplating how much does it cost to design a website, it’s clear that remote work can offer substantial savings.

Eradicating expenses like employee parking, office lease, and utility bills compounds into noteworthy savings. The cumulative costs of office operations can be staggering.

Furthermore, hybrid work arrangements contribute to elevated employee contentment and, intriguingly, enhanced productivity. It is pivotal to acknowledge the diversity in work preferences; while some thrive in fully remote settings, others favor a hybrid fusion.

In addition, remote technology catalyzes a global talent pool. Recruitment is no longer confined to persuading candidates to relocate within commuting distance. Instead, a treasure trove of talent from around the world is within reach, enabling businesses to tap into the finest expertise.

As we navigate the contours of 2024, the hybrid/remote work dynamic emerges as a transformative paradigm, offering financial prudence, amplified job satisfaction, and a gateway to a global spectrum of talent.

The pandemic laid bare numerous uncomfortable realities about society, among them the realization that many managers and CEOs were not fully equipped for the challenges they faced. The transition to remote work often unraveled in a state of chaos.

From the inception of 2020, the global workforce underwent a seismic shift, progressing from a mere 7% in remote roles to 16% fully remote and 40% adopting hybrid models. This transformative change, when executed skillfully, holds immense promise for startups.

Managers navigated the uncharted territory of managing sans a physical workspace, while CEOs grappled with bridging the gap between their aspirations and the needs of their employees. The resultant landscape often resembled disarray and rigidity.

Among the enterprises that flourished during the pandemic, a common thread emerged: robust leadership. Effective leaders and managers displayed an amalgam of flexibility and organization.

They were attuned to their employees’ voices, translating insights into tangible actions. Recognizing the pivotal role of employee satisfaction, they led by example, setting the tone for an engaged workforce.

While we ardently hope to evade future pandemics of similar proportions, the utility of leadership skills transcends such crises. Effective leadership stands as a cornerstone capable of shepherding startups through their initial hurdles and propelling them toward rapid scalability.

Hence, the significance of investing in leadership acumen across all strata of management cannot be overstated. For startups aspiring not just to endure, but to flourish and expand, nurturing adept leaders remains paramount.

A prominent trend that held sway within the startup realm throughout 2023 centered on harnessing AI to augment employee contentment—an inclination that appears poised to maintain its momentum well into 2024.

AI’s prowess in relegating monotonous, repetitive duties to the digital realm is indisputable. This liberation of time empowers employees to channel their efforts into more gratifying endeavors, thereby refining workflows and elevating employee morale.

A byproduct of shedding time-consuming drudgery is the alleviation of burnout risk, fostering a healthier and more sustainable work environment.

In tandem, the surge of remote work has truncated the superfluous hours squandered in commutes, affording workers the luxury of focusing on their tasks without the encumbrances of travel-related stressors and distractions.

Collectively, the ethos that underpins contemporary work landscapes revolves around the culling of extraneous elements. The era of banal, repetitive chores is waning. The scourge of unnecessary commutes is fading. Even the very fabric of meetings is undergoing a revolution, catalyzed by remote communication technology.

This metamorphosis ushers in an era where roles are streamlined, attention is more astutely directed, and job satisfaction stands as a lighthouse guiding the journey toward professional fulfillment.

The landscape of work is undergoing a seismic transformation, with startups perched at the vanguard of this evolution. As a new startup emerges in 2024, it finds itself charting a course through the intricate contours of a post-pandemic world.

The blueprint for success lies in vigilant trend-watching, enabling startups to maintain a pioneering stance. In the tapestry of 2024, the central threads are intricately woven with the fabric of technology and ethics.

Empowered by generative AI and automation, startups embark on a journey of rapid innovation. This entails the expeditious generation of novel entities, the streamlining of workflows, and the augmentation of employee satisfaction.

The advent of the Internet of Things unfurls novel avenues for customer engagement. However, for ethical-minded brands, a delicate balance must be struck to avoid intrusiveness. The potential inherent in the IoT must be harnessed with a steadfast commitment to safeguarding the privacy of both customers and employees.

NFTs, an entrancing innovation, hold the power to captivate customer attention while generating swift revenue. Furthermore, conscientious brands can leverage NFTs as a virtuous means of showcasing their offerings. Mindful startups may grapple with the challenge of sustainable production; however, digital NFTs, while not entirely eco-friendly, do exhibit commendable sustainability attributes.

The realms of hybrid/remote working and VR further extend the remote horizons for brands. This dual-pronged approach contributes to carbon footprint reduction while enhancing employee convenience.

Superlative leadership entails ethical decision-making coupled with the shrewd utilization of technology. Above all, a paramount duty remains to ensure robust cybersecurity to safeguard customer data in an increasingly digitized landscape.

The post Navigating the Future: Anticipated Startup Trends, Industries, and Technologies in 2024 appeared first on Web Help Agency.

To emerge triumphant amidst this fast-paced and densely populated market, insurance companies must distinguish themselves from competitors by embracing impactful marketing tactics and executing them with precision.

These strategies are strategically crafted to sway consumers at various stages of the sales funnel, harnessing a multitude of elements that encompass user experience, high-quality content, and digital marketing tools.

Now, let’s delve into eight ingenious insurance marketing ideas aimed at expanding your reach to potential customers and successfully transforming them into loyal clients.

1. Prioritize Generating a Steady Stream of Favorable Insurer Reviews

In this modern digital age, individuals seeking a new insurance provider predominantly rely on the Internet as their primary resource to compare various offerings and insurers.

Reviews left by past or present clients play a crucial role in their decision-making process, offering potential buyers invaluable insights into the service quality they can anticipate from a particular insurance company.

To leverage this powerful tool, insurance companies must proactively take steps to encourage positive reviews and secure high ratings online.

This doesn’t solely pertain to the company’s official website, where customers may suspect insurers of cherry-picking only the most favorable testimonials, but also encompasses platforms like Google, Facebook, Trustpilot, and other well-known review sites.

Now, let’s explore the types of reviews that wield influence over sales. What sets them apart is their ability to transcend a mere 5-star rating, delving into the reasons why the insurer either met or exceeded expectations and providing a detailed description of the customer experience.

This doesn’t solely pertain to the company’s official website, where customers may suspect insurers of cherry-picking only the most favorable testimonials, but also encompasses platforms like Google, Facebook, Trustpilot, and other well-known review sites.

Now, let’s explore the types of reviews that wield influence over sales. What sets them apart is their ability to transcend a mere 5-star rating, delving into the reasons why the insurer either met or exceeded expectations and providing a detailed description of the customer experience.

For instance, a straightforward 5-star review with a brief comment such as “Great company” won’t carry nearly as much impact as five stars accompanied by a detailed account of clients’ seamless negotiation experiences with the insurer’s representatives, the array of options provided, and the top-notch responsiveness of the company’s customer support.

Authenticity is key when it comes to reviews, ensuring they emanate from individuals who genuinely tested the insurer’s offerings and genuinely appreciated the service received.

To showcase your positive reviews, contemplate integrating a Google review widget on your website.

2. Implement a Customer Referral Program

An additional potent method to expand your customer base and enhance sales involves establishing a customer referral program. These programs motivate existing customers to refer their friends and relatives by providing enticing incentives like discounts, freebies, or other rewards.

An excellent example of how referral programs can be effectively utilized to boost sales is demonstrated by Ethos Life, a life insurance provider.

Ethos Life introduced a referral program where customers were encouraged to refer their friends and family to purchase life insurance through the company. For each successful referral, they were rewarded with a $50 Amazon gift card.

The program’s success can be attributed to its simplicity and clarity, ensuring a seamless experience for participants. The FAQ section provided detailed answers that eliminated any confusion or uncertainty for potential participants. As a result, the program proved to be incredibly successful, leading to a significant increase in sales and fostering greater customer loyalty.

3. Prioritize High Speed and Seamless Navigation

As previously mentioned, prospective customers heavily rely on the internet to compare various insurance providers and make informed decisions about their next choice.

So, it’s imperative to ensure your website is fast, user-friendly and offers seamless navigation. Whenever a visitor faces obstacles while browsing your site, the likelihood of completing a purchase diminishes.

According to HubSpot, website conversion rates experience an average drop of 4.42% with every additional second of load time between seconds one and five.

Furthermore, it has been reported that 7 out of 10 customers acknowledge that page speed significantly influences their inclination to purchase goods or services from an online vendor.

Additionally, half of the individuals surveyed expressed their willingness to forgo animation and video content in exchange for a faster loading time.

When all other factors are held constant, a simple and fast-loading website proves to be more effective in converting visitors into clients compared to a flashy site with extravagant visuals that take too long to load. It’s crucial to bear this in mind during the website development stage.

Furthermore, according to a study by Think with Google, as page load time extends from 1 second to 3 seconds, the likelihood of bounce increases by 32%.

4. Seek Feedback Through User Testing Platforms

An exceptionally effective method to gather feedback on your website’s overall user experience or specific features, like an online quote calculator, is by utilizing user testing platforms such as UserTesting.com or Validately.

These platforms enable you to directly inquire from real users about their experiences with your website or online quote calculator.

The feedback collected from these interactions can be invaluable in making necessary adjustments and enhancements to your website’s user interface, navigation, flow, and overall design, ensuring an optimized user experience.

One prevalent method is usability testing, a type of UX research that evaluates the efficiency and user-friendliness of an electronic interface, web page, or e-commerce store, allowing users to accomplish their desired objectives seamlessly.

For instance, suppose you aim to assess how easily potential clients can obtain an insurance website quote online.

With the aid of these platforms, you can instruct the test taker to explore your website and request a quote while vocalizing any thoughts or critiques they may have about the process.

The platform will duly record the test taker’s screen activity and their verbal feedback. Accumulating this valuable information empowers you to obtain precious insights that can be leveraged to enhance the overall customer experience.

User testing platforms offer additional capabilities, including the ability to conduct surveys among individuals interested in purchasing a new insurance policy. Moreover, A/B testing enables you to gauge customer responses to different design elements, such as registration forms and calls to action.

Lastly, focus groups bring together diverse participants to engage in discussions related to the product or service being tested. This approach offers valuable insights into the motivations and behaviors of specific target groups, helping you gain a deeper understanding of your audience.

5. Build a Robust Content Marketing Strategy

A powerful approach to generating online leads is through the implementation of a well-crafted content marketing ideas strategy. This entails consistently publishing informative content that resonates with your target audience.

An excellent example is incorporating a blog or resources section on your website, offering valuable advice and tips on various topics, such as the advantages of purchasing life insurance or the different types of automobile insurance coverage.

To stand out from the competition, it is crucial to publish authentic content that provides genuine value not presently offered by other companies.

In today’s digital landscape, the internet is flooded with blogs, articles, and tutorials that often reiterate the same information using various words and styles.

To make a lasting impact, your objective should be to provide potential buyers with a distinct perspective, enabling them to broaden their understanding and make more informed evaluations of different offerings.

For example, if there are currently no comprehensive articles catering to potential life insurance buyers in a specific state or county, you could take the initiative to publish one that offers personalized advice to residents in that particular area.

Additionally, consider establishing a YouTube channel featuring tutorials and other valuable insurance-related content to attract a broader audience. Simultaneously, develop a robust social media marketing ideas strategy to drive traffic to your content.

Emphasizing content marketing ideas proves highly effective in building trust. Insurance companies should perceive themselves not merely as service providers but also as educational resources, offering valuable insights in their field.

When making the critical decision of selecting an insurance provider, potential clients extensively browse the internet, seeking valuable information to gain a deeper understanding of insurance policies and determine the best option for their individual circumstances.

By consistently encountering valuable and freely available content published on your website, social media, and other channels, they will perceive your company as an authoritative and trustworthy source in the insurance field.

As a result, this heightened trust and authority will significantly boost the likelihood of them selecting your company over other insurance providers when it comes to making their final purchasing decision.

6. Emphasize On-Page and Off-Page SEO

Ensure to give equal attention to both on-page and off-page SEO, targeting keywords that prospective insurers commonly search for.

Read also: keyword research and analysis.

While managing a paid advertising strategy with digital marketing tools demands an upfront budget for immediate results, SEO is a long-term approach that requires dedication and patience. However, when executed correctly, it can yield significantly better and sustainable outcomes.

On-page SEO revolves around optimizing your website’s page content and code, making it more favorable for search engines like Google to rank your page higher in search results.

Pumpkin, a pet insurance company, effectively employs this strategy by consistently creating and updating blog articles while also establishing authority for these posts.

Suppose you are striving to establish a presence in the Californian market. The keyword “life insurance in California” is likely to have a substantial number of searches, but it will also face intense competition.

On the other hand, the keyword “life insurance in Camarillo” might have minimal competition but, at the same time, a considerably lower number of monthly searches.

Nonetheless, through careful analysis of keywords such as “best life insurance in Ventura County” or “cheap life insurance in Riverside County,” you may eventually discover a keyword that is frequently searched by many people while being relatively unexploited by competitors.

Off-page SEO, on the other hand, encompasses link building and various external activities aimed at enhancing your website’s rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs).

Frequent off-page SEO techniques encompass guest blogging, content sharing via social media, and collaborations with influencers and press releases.

When devising your off-page SEO strategy, focus on securing content linking to your website on high-authority platforms. Domain authority is a measure of a website’s quality and credibility.

Including your links on a small insurance blog that has only been established for a few months and attracts merely 1,000 visitors per month won’t significantly improve your rankings.

On the other hand, when your backlinks are featured on multiple high-authority websites, your search engine rankings will experience a noticeable improvement.

It’s not mandatory for all these backlinks to come from insurance-related websites. Some backlinks may also originate from magazines and general financial blogs that have a long-standing presence and attract several thousand visitors each month.

For more details, you can explore the SEO services.

7. Craft Compelling Lead Magnets

Lead magnets serve as enticements to attract potential customers and capture their contact information. Some examples of lead magnets include free eBooks, white papers, newsletters, discounts, and coupon codes.

Insurance companies can effectively utilize lead magnets by offering valuable resources like a free eBook on automotive safety tips or a comprehensive guide to selecting the best health insurance plan for individual needs.

When crafting a lead magnet, it’s crucial to ensure its relevance and appropriateness for your target audience, providing genuine value to them. Be sure to include a clear call-to-action and a form for potential customers to complete and receive the magnet.

8. Cultivate Collaborative Partnerships 

Insurance companies can discover fresh prospects and elevate sales by forging partnerships with businesses that serve their target market. Through co-marketing strategies, insurers can leverage the customer base of these partner companies, effectively boosting brand awareness.

As an illustration, a health insurance company could collaborate with a fitness center to extend gym membership discounts to its policyholders.

This partnership would prove mutually advantageous, with the fitness center witnessing a rise in membership, while the insurer gains access to potential customers who are already interested in health and wellness.

Another instance involves an auto insurance company collaborating with a car dealership. In this scenario, the dealership could provide discounted rates on car purchases to policyholders, while the insurer offers enticing incentives like free roadside assistance or accident forgiveness coverage.

Such partnerships enable insurers to tap into new audiences and establish relationships with potential customers even before they acquire a policy. Moreover, they allow insurers to showcase their dedication to delivering value beyond traditional insurance coverage.

In Conclusion

Insurance companies must adopt proactive and innovative marketing approaches to distinguish themselves in today’s fiercely competitive marketplace.

Thankfully, there are numerous strategies that can assist insurers in enhancing visibility, attracting prospects, and converting them into loyal customers.

By concentrating on the appropriate marketing tools and tactics, which encompass SEO, social media, lead magnets, and partnerships, your company can adeptly attract new clients while effectively retaining existing ones.

The post 8 Effective Insurance Marketing Ideas for Conversion appeared first on Web Help Agency.

The reason for its paramount importance lies in the findings of a Zippia study conducted in 2022, which revealed that a staggering 85% of consumers now turn to the Internet to discover local businesses. This statistic underscores a website’s pivotal role in ensuring your brand reaches and engages with a vast audience of potential customers.

A website is akin to a virtual storefront, providing customers with a glimpse of your products or services. Without one, people might remain oblivious to your existence.

Yet, not all websites are equal. A well-designed website can be the differentiating factor in attracting and retaining customers.

Having an outdated website that loads slowly can lead to users bouncing off, which is something to avoid. Considering there are over 1 billion websites globally, it has become increasingly crucial to distinguish yourself and offer the best possible user experience.

Whether you’re a startup founder or a freelancer, this article is tailored to cater to your needs and interests.

In this article, we will delve into both the cost of the best website design and the essential elements that contribute to an effective website. Additionally, we have included reviews of eleven inspirational websites, serving as a catalyst to ignite your creativity. Learning from the best in the field can always be beneficial.

Now, let’s get started and explore these valuable insights.

The question of how much it costs to design a website doesn’t have a straightforward answer. It largely depends on various factors. For instance, a simple landing page would be less expensive when compared to an interactive corporate website. Additionally, the website redesign cost can vary based on the complexity of updates and the features required.

The reason for the varying costs in the best website design lies in the influence of different factors. These factors include the specific goals of your website, the complexity of the business logic, and the expertise level of the team engaged in the design process.

In essence, you can create a basic corporate website for under $2,000. However, it’s important to note that as you incorporate more features and functionalities, the overall cost will increase accordingly.

Beginning with a small step is advisable. It’s better to initiate your startup journey with a simple landing page rather than having no website at all. As your business expands, you can gradually invest more resources into a comprehensive redesign. Check startup trends for 2024.

This approach allows you to identify the essential features necessary to fulfill your customers’ requirements effectively.

A website that truly makes a difference for your business or brand is a game-changer. But what exactly contributes to an effective website?

The most exceptional websites out there are not only user-friendly on mobile phones but also highly search engine optimized.

These two factors carry significant importance due to the following reasons:

– Approximately 60% of internet traffic originates from mobile devices.

– About 68% of online experiences commence with the use of a search engine.

By having these two aspects in place, you’re covering a substantial portion of what’s necessary. However, that’s just the beginning. To truly excel, what other essential elements should your website incorporate?

As a website owner, your ultimate goal is to ensure users have a seamless and enjoyable experience when navigating your site.

Imagine it as akin to visiting a theme park. A positive user experience at the park would involve:

– Easy navigation throughout the park.

– Enjoyable rides that don’t cause discomfort.

– Ample food options and clean restroom facilities.

Likewise, a website with a good user experience (UX) is designed to be user-friendly, visually appealing, and well-structured. It takes into account the desires and requirements of your target audience.

Below are some best practices for crafting a website with excellent UX:

1. Opt for straightforward navigation, incorporating features like a search function or footer links.

2. Integrate interactive elements such as videos and quizzes to engage users.

3. Ensure accessibility for people with disabilities by providing alt-text for screen readers.

If you ever feel uncertain about the approach, draw inspiration from Drift’s exemplary UX, which is bolstered by the following elements:

1. A user-friendly navigation menu positioned at the top of the webpage.

2. The implementation of a chatbot for round-the-clock customer service.

3. Striking the right balance between text and images for an appealing visual experience.

4. Incorporating clear and compelling call-to-action elements.

Design

To all the imaginative entrepreneurs in the mix, this segment is tailored to ignite your creativity. Let those creative juices flow freely!

A modern design plays a crucial role in giving your website a professional look. It’s the secret sauce that builds trust with your visitors.

Once trust is established, people are more likely to stay on your website longer, increasing their chances of purchasing. This is just one of the many reasons why investing in a website redesign is well worth it.

Here are some effective guidelines for crafting an attractive website:

1. Select colors that resonate with your brand identity and evoke emotion.

2. Employ a grid system to maintain a balanced layout.

3. Opt for high-quality, relevant images that enhance your brand’s message.

4. Choose a legible font that ensures easy readability, even on smaller screens.

Now, let’s observe these principles in action with an example. OnBoard, a board meeting web development company, embarked on a website redesign to achieve a more modern appeal.

The motivation behind these changes? The desire to stay ahead in the competition and cater to the evolving demands of their target audience.

Among the design modifications made were:

1. Incorporating a modern font for a fresh look.

2. Utilizing purple to symbolize enlightenment for boardroom meeting ideas.

3. Intertwining geometric shapes to create an engaging visual experience.

4. Emphasizing the power of whitespace for a cleaner and more organized layout.

5. Featuring an educational video on the homepage to provide valuable insights.

Following the alterations, OnBoard observed a decrease in bounce rates and a significant rise in conversions. Undoubtedly, that’s an excellent return on their time and investment.

Functionality

Constructing a website marks an exciting milestone in establishing your online presence. However, it’s imperative not to overlook functionality during the process.

Consider this: sound website functionality plays a pivotal role in enhancing credibility. Here’s why:

Imagine you’re seeking a lawyer. Would you rather:

1. Engage a lawyer from a dubious-looking website featuring only a random phone number?

2. Engage a lawyer from an updated website with a professional form and compelling call-to-action?

The answer is clear; a website with robust functionality significantly influences your audience’s perception and trust in your services.

Chances are you’d opt for option number two. First impressions indeed hold great significance, and website functionality plays a key role in making a positive one.

Keeping this in mind, here are some best practices for designing a functional website:

1. Ensuring it loads within five seconds to retain visitor engagement.

2. Making it responsive to various screen sizes for a seamless user experience across devices.

3. Implementing WordPress security checklist measures to safeguard user data and maintain trust.

4. Ensuring its visibility on search engines to maximize online presence and reach.

11 The best Website Designs for Creative Inspiration

Are you ready to kickstart your best website design process? Do you require a guiding boost to set you on the right path?

Look no further! In the following section, we’ll delve into eleven inspirational websites spanning various industries. Our focus will be on what sets them apart from the crowd, providing you with valuable insights and inspiration for your own project.

By doing so, you can explore fresh ideas and elevate your design to new heights. Besides, there’s no harm in taking a sneak peek at what’s proving successful in your industry.

Are you eager to ignite your creativity? Let’s not wait any longer and dive right in!

1. Apple

It’s no secret that everything Apple ventures into turns to gold. Their name arises in countless business examples, and there’s a valid reason behind it.

Being pioneers and innovators in the technology industry, Apple demonstrates excellence in various domains. They excel in producing smartphones, computers, and even the best website design.

So as expected, they rightfully claim the top spot on our list of inspirational websites.

Industry: Technology

Noteworthy Element: Design

Here’s what you can take away from this website:

– A sleek design that maintains a clutter-free appearance.

– A captivating dark mode that utilizes contrasting black and white colors.

– User-friendly navigation options, including well-organized product categories and a convenient search feature.

2. Olipop

Olipop is a brand known for its line of health-conscious sodas, offering a delightful and nutritious range.

These sodas are crafted with natural ingredients, prebiotics, and botanicals.

Olipop’s reputation as a guilt-free soda has gained considerable attention. And with such a vibrant and appealing website, it’s hard to resist!

Industry: E-commerce

Noteworthy Element: User Experience

Here’s what you can glean from this website:

– Interactive images that engage users.

– A simple and clean design that promotes a seamless experience.

– Pastel colors imbuing a warm, fun, and friendly ambiance.

– A well-balanced grid layout for aesthetic appeal and organization.

3. Ready

Ready for it? Ready is an all-inclusive meeting collaboration platform seamlessly integrated into a fast and contemporary calendar your team will absolutely adore.

Bid farewell to timezone confusion as Ready makes scheduling a breeze.

And here’s the cherry on top: their best website design perfectly reflects the aesthetics of their software. How cool is that?

Industry: SaaS

Noteworthy Element: Functionality

Here’s what you can take away from this website:

– Embracing the “Less is more” philosophy for an elegant design approach.

– Effective utilization of a single landing page with a prominent and clear “Get Ready” call-to-action.

– Achieving marketable usability to attract and engage visitors effectively.

– Incorporating interactive elements to showcase various features dynamically.

4. YUPLAY

Functionality plays a crucial role in the gaming industry.

Why? Because gamers appreciate the seamless experience of accessing their favorite website effortlessly, from any device, while maintaining an impressive appearance.

YUPLAY excels at reducing text clutter and prioritizing images, enhancing the customer experience. The eye-catching colors contribute to an exciting ambiance, encouraging visitors to keep exploring.

Industry: Gaming

Noteworthy Element: Design

Here’s what you can glean from this website:

– Utilize eye-catching colors that immediately capture the user’s attention.

– Emphasize visual content with less text and a focus on images.

– Employ countdown timers strategically to evoke a sense of urgency and FOMO (fear of missing out).

– Present clear and transparent pricing alongside compelling calls to action for maximum impact.

5. Canva

Canva stands as one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies worldwide.

This widely-used online design tool empowers users to craft captivating visual content.

Their website has won our admiration. It boasts vibrant colors, bold typography, and captivating imagery.

With its clean and modern layout, users can easily find what they need, and it keeps them inspired by the boundless possibilities they can create using Canva.

Industry: SaaS

Noteworthy Element: User Experience

Here’s what you can take away from this website:

– Abundant use of whitespaces, creating a clean and uncluttered visual appeal.

– A compelling focal point that immediately captures the eye’s attention.

– A simple and efficient search feature for seamless navigation through an extensive design catalog.

– Incorporation of a straightforward interactive element to guide users through design tutorials effortlessly.

Telehealth is revolutionizing the healthcare landscape—goodbye to long lines at the doctor’s office.

Hers brings healthcare solutions right at your fingertips, and the best part is the personalized experience. You receive the care you require, all within the comfort of your home.

With its interactive quizzes and valuable content, the Hers website leaves us in awe. It’s truly a sight worth seeing (pun intended).

Industry: Telehealth

Noteworthy Element: User Experience

Here’s what you can glean from this website:

– The use of neutral colors to evoke a calming effect and enhance the user experience.

– The integration of an interactive quiz that engages users and offers a personalized experience.

– A clear and concise overview of the product and service for easy comprehension.

– A comprehensive library of content covering various women’s health topics.

7. Wordable

Amidst the vast sea of SaaS websites on the internet, Wordable manages to shine through.

With purple and white as their primary contrasting colors, they stand out from the dark mode theme commonly used by others.

Furthermore, the choice of purple perfectly complements their logo, showcasing a genius branding move. And let’s not forget the video demo—an absolute chef’s kiss.

Wordable strikes the ideal balance between user experience, design, and functionality, making it a standout in its own right.

Industry: SaaS

Noteworthy Element: Functionality

Here’s what you can discover from this website:

– Embracing contrasting colors (purple and white as opposed to black and white) for a unique visual appeal.

– Demonstrating branding consistency through a seamless integration with the company logo.

– Presenting an inviting design by incorporating a video embed and a product demo on the homepage.

As mentioned earlier, a responsive website holds great significance, and Shutterfly sets a prime example.

With the website looking consistent on both mobile devices and desktop computers, consumers can initiate their journey on a computer and complete their purchase on their phone.

This seamless experience fosters loyalty among customers, making it a key factor in building a strong customer base.

Industry: E-commerce

Noteworthy Element: Functionality

Here’s what you can glean from this website:

– Ensuring the mobile site mirrors the desktop site, providing a consistent user experience across devices.

– Prominently featuring current sales at the top of the page to capture customers’ attention.

– Facilitating easy navigation with a search feature, particularly useful when dealing with a vast selection of products.

9. DivByZero

Certain websites prove to be truly inspirational due to the company, brand, or startup they represent, motivating us to strive for success.

Other websites serve as valuable sources of inspiration by sharing blog content filled with inspiring ideas, offering a place to learn and explore various subjects.

DivByZero, a SaaS blog, hosts a wealth of articles covering exciting topics. Their blog posts on the best startup books not only inspire but also provide practical guidance toward achieving success.

Inspiration can manifest in diverse ways, and DivByZero distinguishes itself by presenting real-world examples that resonate with its audience.

Industry: SaaS

Noteworthy Element: User Experience

Here’s what you can take away from this website:

– A dependable and valuable source of information.

– Specially crafted for marketers, by marketers, catering to their specific needs.

– Offers inspiring ideas along with free access to useful tools.

The Louis Vuitton website serves as an inspiring example with its opulent luxury design and captivating use of high-quality photos. It skillfully captures the brand’s essence, creating an aura of exclusivity.

The website’s design leaves a lasting impression on visitors, appealing to both luxury enthusiasts and admirers of excellent design. Paying a visit to the Louis Vuitton website is undoubtedly worthwhile.

Remember, utilizing striking photos can set you apart and elevate your website’s appeal.

Industry: Retail

Noteworthy Element: Design

Here’s what you can discover from this website:

– Embracing a minimalist black and white color scheme, creating a sophisticated visual appeal.

– Incorporating large, high-quality images that enhance the overall aesthetic.

– Ensuring the website’s design aligns seamlessly with the brand identity, fostering a consistent and cohesive impression.

Everyone adores a monochromatic color scheme, and Statusbrew has perfected it.

Why? Because it evokes a clean and sophisticated appearance.

The simplicity of the design enables the brand’s messaging and product offerings to shine brightly.

Additionally, the website showcases a video that demonstrates the product, striking the ideal balance between design and function.

Industry: SaaS

Noteworthy Element: User Experience

Here’s what you can take away from this website:

– Embracing a monochromatic theme, creating an elegant and cohesive visual impression.

– Presenting information in a clear and concise manner for easy understanding.

– Enhancing the user experience with a high-quality video and a compelling call-to-action to get started.

– Featuring a bottom banner that showcases pricing and special offers, maximizing its appeal.

– Providing direct access to customer service via a chatbot, ensuring smooth communication and assistance.

And there you have it, eleven outstanding examples of inspiring websites that brilliantly illustrate the impact of good design.

As you contemplate your own website, draw inspiration from these remarkable instances. Ponder on how you can implement these very principles into your design to create an equally captivating and impressive online presence.

Consider the colors, fonts, and imagery that best encapsulate your brand essence. Utilize these elements to craft a website that effectively communicates your brand message.

Constructing a remarkable website requires dedication and hard work, but the outcomes are undoubtedly rewarding. So, don’t hesitate to draw inspiration and unleash your creativity to the fullest. Let your imagination soar!

The world eagerly awaits to witness your creations!

And should you require assistance, WebHelp Agency is ready to lend a hand. Schedule an introductory call today and let’s bring your visions to life!

The post Exploring the Most Inspirational Websites: A Review of the Best in Web Design appeared first on Web Help Agency.

Yet, traversing the intricate landscape of enhancing website traffic can prove challenging. That’s precisely why this post aims to offer pragmatic guidance for effectively bolstering your website’s visitor count.

Get ready to delve into valuable strategies that will elevate your internet presence and pave the way for a surge in website visits.

In the quest for growing website traffic, search engine optimization emerges as a pivotal step. Elevating your website’s visibility in search engine results requires strategic adjustments to its design, content, and structure.

Through the art of optimizing your website for search engine algorithms, you increase the likelihood of achieving higher rankings. This process is commonly known as search engine optimization or SEO.

Perform Keyword Research

In the pursuit of optimizing your website for search engines, the initial step involves conducting comprehensive keyword research and analysis. This process entails identifying the precise words and phrases employed by your target audience during online searches.

Enhancing your website’s visibility in search engine results is achievable by aligning it with the language of your target market through Google Trends API for keyword research. Moreover, it is essential to steer clear of keyword cannibalization.

Allow us to share a valuable case study that holds insights for all. We recently conducted an audit for one of our clients, Sistsix, and encountered an intriguing issue worth discussing:

In our endeavor to boost website traffic for Sistsix, we encountered a challenge: two articles targeting the most popular instant messaging keywords were competing and cannibalizing each other’s search engine rankings.

Upon conducting a content audit, we pinpointed the issue and took a decisive step to merge the articles. Despite Sistsix’s initial concerns about potential negative impacts on their investments, the outcomes surpassed both our expectations and theirs.

Through the linked article, Sistsix not only effectively resolved keyword cannibalization but also experienced remarkable growth in website traffic, securing top rankings in search engine results for all the targeted keywords.

The decision to combine the articles brought about three key advantages for Sistsix. Firstly, it eliminated the issue of keyword competition, leading to more targeted and cohesive content.

Secondly, the linked article became more comprehensive, enhancing the overall user experience and resulting in increased engagement, higher social shares, and a boost in backlinks. These factors played a pivotal role in significantly improving Sistsix’s rankings.

Ultimately, consolidating our efforts into a single, high-quality article proved to be a time and resource-saving move, while still yielding the desired SEO results.

This valuable experience has underscored the importance of consistently auditing and optimizing website content to align with the audience’s needs and search engine requirements.

As marketers and entrepreneurs, we’ve gained valuable insights into how keyword cannibalization can impede our SEO endeavors, prompting the need for regular content audits and optimization.

Additionally, Sistsix now recognizes the significance of prioritizing top-notch content that addresses the audience’s needs, enabling them to achieve their business objectives and better cater to their customers.

Enhance Your Website Content Optimization

To boost your website’s visibility on search engines, content optimization is key. By producing high-quality, relevant, and captivating content results you can attract both visitors and search engines.

Optimizing your content involves naturally incorporating target keywords, organizing it with relevant headers and subheadings, and ensuring a clear and user-friendly structure.

Equally critical is keeping your content up-to-date and relevant, catering to the needs of both visitors and search engines.

Refine Your Link Building Strategy

An effective link-building strategy plays a crucial role in optimizing your website for search engines. By acquiring high-quality backlinks from reputable domains you can boost your website’s authority and visibility in search engine results. 

Focus on creating compelling and shareable content that naturally attracts links from relevant websites.

Furthermore, actively seek opportunities for link building, such as guest blogging and reaching out to industry influencers, to expand your online reach.

Enhancing Website Loading Speed

For optimal SEO performance, prioritizing your website’s loading speed is essential. Slow-loading websites can drive away visitors and negatively impact your search engine rankings.

To boost loading speed, consider reducing HTTP requests, optimizing image compression, and implementing browser caching.

Ensure efficient content distribution by selecting a reputable hosting company and exploring the use of content delivery networks (CDNs).

Discover effective methods to accelerate your website’s loading time, ensuring a seamless and enjoyable user experience while simultaneously increasing traffic and improving search engine performance.

Additionally, running your website through a synthetic monitoring tool is highly recommended to load-test it under extreme conditions.

Prioritize Mobile-Friendly Website

In today’s mobile-centric landscape, ensuring your website is mobile-friendly holds significant importance.

With a substantial number of online users accessing websites via mobile devices, optimizing your website for mobile compatibility becomes crucial for enhancing its ranking.

Ensure that your website’s design and layout seamlessly adapt to various screen sizes, placing a strong emphasis on quick loading times for mobile users.

By incorporating responsive design elements and leveraging mobile-friendly plugins or themes, you can improve the user experience and attract more traffic from mobile searches.

Tip 2: Use Social Media To Promote Your Website

Boosting visibility and driving website traffic can be achieved by leveraging popular social media platforms for content advertising.

The process involves creating captivating content, sharing pertinent updates, and engaging directly with your audience. Through this approach, you can attract followers, encourage content sharing, and direct users to your website, all while establishing a robust social media presence.

By connecting with a vast audience on social media platforms and tapping into their networks, you can significantly expand your website’s reach.

To streamline management of multiple social accounts, consider employing a free social media management tool. This will provide you with an easy-to-use interface for effortlessly delivering images, videos, descriptions, and running ad campaigns across different platforms.

Selecting the Right Social Media Platforms

The initial and crucial step in effectively promoting your website is choosing the most suitable social media platforms.

Each platform caters to specific audiences and provides distinct features and opportunities for engagement. Conduct thorough research to determine which platforms your target audience frequents the most.

For example, if your goal is to reach professionals and businesses, utilizing LinkedIn for lead generation might be an excellent option. On the other hand, for visually appealing content, Instagram could be the ideal choice.

By making the right platform choices, you can expand your reach, boost engagement, and drive targeted traffic to your website.

Craft Engaging and Shareable Content

An essential aspect of leveraging social media to promote your website and drive traffic is the creation of shareable content.

Shareable content entails producing engaging, educational, and valuable material tailored to your target audience. Examples of such content include blog posts, infographics, videos, and interactive elements.

By developing content that resonates with your target audience, you increase the likelihood of it being shared across social media platforms. This, in turn, allows your content to reach a wider audience, driving more traffic back to your website.

Foster Audience Engagement

Engaging with your audience proves to be a powerful strategy for effectively using social media to advertise and drive visitors to your website.

By actively using comments, direct messaging, and participating in social media groups, you can cultivate relationships and foster a sense of community with your fans. Promptly answering questions, actively participating in discussions, and demonstrating enthusiasm and expertise are all effective ways to engage authentically.

To boost engagement, encourage user-generated content and organize contests or polls. Through consistent and authentic engagement, you can build a loyal following, increase brand awareness, and drive more traffic to your website.

Satisfied followers will eagerly spread the word about your website, contributing to its growth and success.

Tip 3: Harnessing the Power of Email Marketing

An often overlooked yet highly effective method of boosting website traffic is through email marketing. 

By building an email list of subscribers who have willingly expressed interest in your company, products, or services, businesses can establish direct and personalized engagement with their audience.

With well-crafted email campaigns, businesses can foster strong relationships, share valuable content, promote products, and ultimately drive more traffic to their website. 

This article section will explore the potential of email marketing, providing insightful advice and practical suggestions for using this potent tool to boost website traffic.

Creating an Email Subscriber List

Constructing an email subscriber list stands as a vital component of successful email marketing. By consistently communicating with your audience, you can keep them informed, engaged, and intrigued, encouraging them to visit your website.

There exist several effective methods for growing your email list, such as providing valuable incentives, designing appealing opt-in forms, and optimizing landing pages.

Furthermore, maintaining an updated list is crucial. Regularly verifying the validity of email addresses and replacing invalid ones ensures that your intended recipients receive your emails without any hindrance.

Deliver Consistent Newsletters

In the realm of email marketing, sending regular newsletters to your readers holds great significance. Newsletters serve as a direct and personalized channel to engage with your audience, sharing essential updates, promotions, and valuable content.

By creating entertaining and relevant newsletters on a consistent basis, you can foster relationships, build trust, and enhance traffic to your website.

The practice of regularly sending newsletters forms a fundamental and valuable aspect of your email marketing strategy, offering immense benefits in connecting with your audience and achieving your marketing goals.

Implement Segmentation and Personalization

Employing email segmentation and personalization proves to be highly effective in boosting engagement and driving website traffic.

By segmenting your audience based on demographics, preferences, or behaviors, you can target them more effectively, ensuring the relevance and efficacy of your marketing messages.

Taking personalization a step further, tailor offers and content based on unique user information, further enhancing the impact of your emails.

In addition, including a link to your website in your email signature offers recipients a convenient and direct route to visit your website, further driving traffic.

This focused approach enhances user experience, elevates engagement, and encourages repeat visits to your website.

Discover the advantages of segmentation and personalization, along with practical advice to successfully implement these strategies, ultimately leading to increased traffic on your website.

Tip 4: Leverage the Power of Content Marketing

A highly effective approach to increasing website traffic is through content marketing. To capture and retain your audience’s attention, it’s essential to deliver compelling, relevant, and informative materials.

Consistently offering valuable content, such as blog posts, articles, videos, and infographics, establishes you as a trusted source of information, fostering trust among your audience.

As the saying goes, “content is king,” as it ranks among the most critical factors in boosting organic traffic, encouraging social sharing, and enhancing search engine visibility.

Craft Valuable and Engaging Content

Creating high-quality and informative content plays a pivotal role in elevating website traffic. To captivate and retain your target audience, focus on producing valuable and engaging materials.

Deliver in-depth analysis, practical advice, and thoroughly researched information that caters to their needs and interests.

Write with clarity and flair, incorporating images when appropriate, and ensure your content is search engine optimized. By consistently publishing worthwhile content, you can position yourself as an authoritative source, win the trust of your audience, and drive increased traffic to your website.

Incorporate Diverse Content Formats

An essential aspect of successful content marketing involves employing a range of content types to cater to diverse audience preferences and enhance engagement.

Videos excel at visual storytelling and demonstrations, while blogs provide in-depth information. Infographics effectively present data and complex ideas in an attractive visual format.

By incorporating a variety of these content types, you can cater to different learning styles and attract a broader audience.

Embracing various content formats brings numerous advantages, and this article offers valuable advice on effectively utilizing blog posts, videos, and infographics to increase website traffic, enhance engagement, and elevate your content marketing strategy.

Effective Content Promotion on Social Media and Email

Promoting your content on social media involves employing various methods, including captivating social media posts with eye-catching visuals, strategic use of relevant hashtags, engaging with your audience through comments and shares, and utilizing social media advertising to expand your reach to a wider audience.

In your emails, consider incorporating social sharing buttons, crafting catchy subject lines, personalizing email content based on subscriber preferences, and segmenting your email list to target specific groups.

By implementing these techniques and maintaining a robust quality assurance process, you can successfully promote your content on social media and through email, resulting in increased website traffic and heightened engagement with your valuable content.

Conclusion: 

In conclusion, adopting a comprehensive approach that involves optimizing your website for search engines, leveraging social media and e-marketing, and delivering high-quality content can have a significant impact on increasing your website traffic.

Continuously monitor and analyze your website traffic, making necessary adjustments to your strategy, and staying abreast of the latest trends are essential for success. The significance of consistency, relevance, and providing genuine value to visitors cannot be overstated.

With dedication and effective implementation, you can successfully increase traffic, broaden your online presence, and achieve your website goals. Waste no time and put these tips into action to witness your website flourish.

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