Magento is among the most credible CMS choices for eCommerce development. It provides every feature topical to the needs of leading eCommerce businesses.  More than 250,000 eCommerce enterprises across the world are using Magento as their preferred platform.

Magento is considered an ideal choice for those planning a serious, customer-oriented, and fully-fledged eCommerce platform. It is considerably more efficient and effective than many of its contenders in the market.

The platform is packaged with upgraded features and functionalities for the eCommerce development community. With its powering cloud, it has sustained its place in the world’s top-most eCommerce platforms.

From theme customization to interactive module development, Magento has been the one-stop key to transform any eCommerce idea into reality. Acquisition of Magento in Adobe Experience Cloud led to a new sense of transition where it became easier to develop elegant eCommerce apps.

What Makes Magento the Best Choice for eCommerce Development

There are plenty of reasons for choosing Magento over any other platform. The most crucial and one-line reason for them is, Magento is dedicatedly developed for eCommerce platforms. It has every feature, plugin, tool, functionality, and many other things to help you create a competitive and effective eCommerce portal.

Let’s have a look at some of the significant offerings of Magento making it stand out from its contenders.

1. Easy Customization

Magento provides specialized customization features that allow developers to create interactive eCommerce solutions easily. It indulges in fundamental features for template tuning. It has simplistic drag and drop tools that engage in smooth development. It allows developers to customize and enhance the existing Magento template to a more classified form.

Developers can customize and add new logos, images, banners, and many other things inside the existed template. Such tools have been proven remarkably useful for enterprises of all scales including startups and well-established eCommerce companies.

Moreover, Magento store enables eCommerce website development services providers to indulge in a greater degree of user experience through its applications.

2. Streamlined Pricing and Promotions

With many new upgrades, it has become more efficient and feasible to manage pricing and promotions on your eCommerce platforms through Magento. These features are helping not only developers but also facilitating businesses by engaging an interactive way to outcast promotions and gain more sales.

Developers want to indulge in lucrative pricing and promotion features while offering Magento eCommerce development services. The inclusion of precise and specific pricing and promotion protocols has led businesses to indulge in good conversion rates right from the beginning of their journey as an enterprise.

So you can say that Magento helps the eCommerce business to leverage the best configuration conditions on pricing and promotions.

3. Cost-Effective & Competitive

To be honest, eCommerce development with Magento can be costlier than on WordPress. However, if we count it on efficiency, Magento indulges in a fully-fledged platform for creating go-to applications for the end-users.

If you ask an eCommerce website development company to choose a platform that can help you create a competitive eCommerce portal, there is a staggering possibility that they would prefer using Magento over any other CMS or framework.

Magento offers a range of additions that allow developers to create solutions of their choice of features and budget. Thus, it is up to the business professionals how to cope with the needs of the Magento development company they hire.

4. Versatile Editions

Magento is probably the most versatile eCommerce development platform. There are different editions of the platforms available categorized on the basis of their applications.

Magento Open Source or Magento Community Edition is a premier edition of the eCommerce platform that focuses on providing its free and open-source access. The primary adoption of this edition is by small-scale businesses to leverage Magento’s high-efficiency features at minimized costs. However, this edition provides access to basic features, developers can extend them to advanced features.

Magento Commerce or Magento Enterprise Edition is a superior edition developed considering the needs of medium to large-scale enterprises. This edition consists of advanced features such as hosting or integration of SaaS services. There are features dedicated to fulfilling the maintenance, testing, configuration, and troubleshooting needs of the eCommerce platforms.

5. Inclusion of Large Inventories

6. Fast Checkout

7. Third-Party Services Integration

Magento is flexible with third-party integration services. They can also adopt custom development and integration of plugins. Such functionality allows developers to engage in advanced features to their eCommerce application and indulge in a rich user experience.

Developers can integrate third-party APIs for payment, SMS and shipping, CMS, CRM, ERP, and many other advanced functionalities. It allows businesses to create effective shopping apps for the customers.

Such integrations help developers engage in maximum automation to the eCommerce apps. They make the eCommerce development more simplified, time-efficient, and cost-effective.

8. Cross-Browser Compatibilities

To engage in maximum usage of your eCommerce applications over different browsing environments, Magento allows developers to utilize browser capabilities detection features. They can use customize the compatibility settings.

The code developed using Magento are highly compatible to all platform and browsing requirements. Thus, your users can use eCommerce applications across all browsers.

9. Advanced Testing Facility

Magento’s testing have adopted revolutionary changes to the eCommerce market for responsive, adaptive, functional, unit and other types of testing. It provides the Magento Functional Testing Framework for performing end-to-end functional tests on your eCommerce application. It allows quality testers run highly readable, customizable, modular and manageable test cases.

Moreover, there are more advanced features to test code quality. Third-party testing platforms such as PhpCs, PHPStan and PhpMd can also be integrated to engage in interactive and precise quality analysis.

10. Community Support

There is large community hub which Magento developers or business professionals can utilize. There are developers, experts, and other professionals raising and answering queries. The community forum has been segragated in three main categories i.e. Magento Contributors for developers, Magento Masters for experts or contributors and Innovations Lab for futuristic upgradations.

Popular Companies Using Magento

• Ford
• Omega Watches
• Christian Louboutin
• Bulgari
• Liverpool FC
• Pepe Jeans
• Land Rover
• Harvey Nichols

Conclusion

Magento is considerably the best choice for creating reliable, effective, efficient, and future-oriented eCommerce solutions. Despite its many competitors in the market, it has set up its own unique image and significance.

With its evolving features, it tends to keep establishing its identity through sustainable, versatile and developer-friendly offerings.

The market today is highly competitive, with businesses doing whatever they can to support and stay ahead in the market. No firm will leave any stone unturned to attract new clients. And the turbulent presence of social media opened the way for marketers to get new clients.       

The entire world of digital marketing has now been transformed by social media. But only social media posting is not adequate to attract new clients. You must be special with your social media accounts, banners, and posts, to draw and introduce your followers to your website and then make them customers.

In social media marketing, graphics need to be customized and attractive. Even if your content is engaging and insightful, you can struggle to attract your audience if you don’t have compelling visuals. As a result, you will not be able to accomplish your target in social media marketing.

Here, we share some wonderful tips that help you to get new clients through social media in this article:

1.Use an exciting color

It is important to build visually pleasing graphics while creating posts for social media. Colors play a vital role in creating eye-catching graphics. It can influence the moods of people and generate different emotions according to their culture and context. Try to use fresh new colors to easily draw attention. Don’t forget to consider a specific social media platform’s tone, message, and information while using the color. An exciting color will give life to your post and attract a lot of eyeballs.

2. Proper use of the logo

In creating brand identity, logos play an important role. It’s a perfect way to remember a company if you put a logo in social media articles. A best social media post design company should make a lot of effort to design a perfect logo for the organization. On social media, the attention of users lasts less than seconds. Using the logo in all posts will make people feel of the brand. The visitors will begin to recognize the brand. A logo would make it easy for people to recognize the brand and make them your customer.

3. Select the ideal typography

Much like color, typography also influences the mood of people and triggers various emotions. With engaging typography, the chances of brand involvement increase. It is more difficult to get people to read a text on the picture than to display a picture. This is why choosing the right font while creating social media posts is crucial. Make sure your graphics are readable on smartphones while choosing font type.

4. Use a visual hierarchy

In social media page design, designers also need to focus on the different elements. And these elements are likely to be essential for communication of the message. Visual hierarchy refers to the sequence of elements that signify the importance of data on a page. It helps readers to quickly understand the details and features. You can draw public interest using visual hierarchy by making the knowledge available and exciting.

5. Modify templates as per purpose

The preparation of different models for the same template is another useful tip for attractive graphics. Holding your monitor or laptop with a pre-made templates folder allows you to design posts easily. Make sure you don’t copy the same template format during making a post for a brand. Make some necessary modifications and you can easily attract the desired customer base. Consistency is another important thing to be looked after. The lack of coherence will impact the image of the brand.

6. Include Call-to-Action

It is not enough for social media post design company to build a brilliant design to attract public interest. Marketers want a clear action from the social media viewer. The audience can only be reached through a call to action. A connect button or contact information should be included in your social media channels so that your customers can reach out to you easily. 

7. Choose a simple and inclusive design

While content should be simple and short on social media platforms, often designers are asked to put extra banners in comparison with regular posts. The social media post design company should render vibrant and pleasing designs in those banners. Regardless of the necessity, learn to combine simplicity with transparency. The simple and inclusive design will easily draw the audience’s attention.

8. Keep it Simple

Last but not least, it’s easy to maintain design. Every time you do not have to be imaginative. Even a simple design can often do wonderful things. Many items can be conveyed through simple designs. Creating the best design does not always help you to achieve your objectives. Don’t try to prove yourself with your design. Look objectively at the designs to see how they can change the viewers’ perspective.

Final thoughts

Consider the marketing objectives and the target audience while designing the social media posts and strategy. Visual graphics are a key component of a social media marketing strategy and can help you to get new clients. A leading social media post design company can help companies to meet their design requirements as well as business objectives.

Social media engagement is hiking up and with that requirement of amazing and stunning content too. There is a constant need for outstanding content to attract people on social media accounts like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest etc.

Using poster templates is a unique and so easy way of grabbing the viewer’s attention.

It has been found that Facebook images receive 2.3× more engagement than normal text. To add to this, Twitter posts with images get 150% more retweets than usual.

So, check out this article to find out stunning poster templates and its sources that you can edit and use and share on social media too.

What kind of Social media posts stand out?

Social media posts are such that attract attention of viewers readily. It should grab their attention and should be self explanatory. No one would stare linger than 3-4 seconds if they do not get an idea in first glance. Templates need to be highly attractive and informative at the same time.

Catchy and likeable content should be incorporated on templates to display information. As it is usually said, a picture paints a thousand words. Instead of writing long paragraphs, just add an image that depicts the same.

Create good looking images that stand out all other elements and just attract your viewers’ attention in seconds.

You wish to turn your account into a place that your target audience loves to come back to from time to time. For that you require new and attractive content too.

You cannot use those boring, old stock images all the time. They do not convey exact message that you want to. Moreover, stock images are so vague and boring at the same time. No one even looks at them for 1 second, they just scroll down.

How to make Posts Attractive?

For you social media to stand out, you need amazing and attractive social media templates. The social media images must be ready to share and created in just a few minutes. Spending too much time on one image will not be worth. Reason behind this is short life of social media posts. They will not last long, therefore, do not give too much time to them.

It doesn’t requires hundreds and thousands of dollars to create stunning posts

You can get editable poster templates online. These templates are customizable and attractive. In just one click, you can share your designs on different social networking sites.

All you need to take care of is, create content that stands out and is unique. Using templates as it is can affect your social media status badly.

Furthermore, there are no rules or regulations regarding designing and using social media templates. You can let your creativity work and see the results yourself. Using these amazing templates can provide a new face to your social media accounts.

Creating stunning designs can be possible with various tips and tricks and some of them are mentioned here-

Features of Stunning Templates

1. Contemporary and Bold Layout– Pick out a simple layout and convert it into something unique and attractive. This requires you to choose a bold and contemporary design. This helps is making the text jump out in a simple background and layout. Moreover, this tip is really trending in 2021.

2. Use colour overlaps- In top notch pictures or backgrounds, it can be a little hard sometimes to make text stand out and read. So, as a solution to this you can opt colour overlaps. This is a feature that blinds the background but not completely. You will display background as much is required. This trick can help you to deliver a bold message in an interesting manner. Perfect background stays at its place and let’s text stand out.

3. Use leading lines– It happens sometimes that designers fail to attract the attention of viewers to the main point. In that case, leading lines are a saviour. You can attract potential audience’s attention to focal points by adding leading lines. Otherwise, your target audience may just miss that focal point and you can suffer a great loss because of it.

4. Eye catching background– For conveying messages to the audience, using text on a plain background is a disaster. No one will be attracted to such a piece.  Using poster templates can help you out in this process. Just find amazing and attractive templates online that match with your theme and goal. Use that template to reach your goal. Templates have stunning and mesmerising backgrounds that can be of great value to you.

5. 2 Toned Title– This helps you to create or design something that is better and an upgraded version of simple templates. It pops from the background and compels viewers to have a look at what you wish to show. This technique attracts great attention instantly.

6. Bold colour scheme– In 2021, using bold palettes is trending. Pale and soft tones are a thing of the past now. Using numerous bold statements colour attracts attention and is so powerful and brave. You just need to know how to use bold colours and incorporate them in your style.

7. Custom Icon– You would have definitely come across hundreds of icons online. Why not use them for your social media. Combine a lot of theme icons and create one big icon. It is bound to attract people and think about your design. Moreover, it is undoubtedly creative and unique.

8. Consistent margin– Keeping content in a consistent margin makes you post clear and easy to understand. The message can be conveyed more clearly and easily in this manner. Moreover, this adds a professional touch to your content too. With numerous colours, fonts, images, shapes, your message can get mixed up a little. But presenting it in a clean and clear way can be really helpful to keep things on track.

9. Creative posters– Just let your creativity soar and scribble it all down on paper. Choose what fits your theme and style and just add it to your posts. Designing with creativity doing the main job creates most engaging and emotional posts. It allows you customers to feel and understand what you have to say.

10. Use blocks to organise– in case content in one template is too much. You require something that helps to keep all different elements distinguished from others. They should not get mixed up. Therefore, using blocks is really helpful in this situation. It creates a margin between one element and another. Thus, viewers can easily understand the message without getting confused and overwhelmed.

Now check out these stunning poster templates for your social media pages from these top platforms-

• Canva- Canva is supposedly the best platform that has a huge variety of free poster templates for its users in huge categories. It can be for Instagram posts, Facebook cover, Twitter or Pinterest. You will get thousands of templates in each possible layout for social media accounts. This free platform is known for template based designing. You need to follow very easy and simple steps to customize templates for your needs. You can even add your own images or background to templates designs.

• Crello– Crello is an ultimate platform with 20000+ templates for social media posts of different layouts. It has templates in various niches like food, technology, pets, travel, fashion, urban, still life, motion etc. You do not require any design skills to use templates provided on this website.

Image and font library of crello is so huge. It has 260+ fonts and you can use yours too. High quality photos are used in templates.

Create Image and post it in just a few minutes. This saves your time and is fun and easy too.

• Snappa- This platform is known for creating images occasionally  It is a free website and premium versions come in $15/month. You can use the free version in case you need 3 posts only a month. For more posts, you will have to buy an upgraded version of snappa. All graphics, templates and other facilities are available in both the versions though. Creating designed templates is easy with amazing features. You can download or directly share it on social media platforms.

• Desygner– Create your own designs with Desygner. It is free to use but charges 9.95 per month for next level creating and  editing. You can use it on desktop, android or iOS. This platform has many unique features. I’m case, you designed your work for an Instagram post but now you want to use it as a Facebook cover, you can simply change the layout. Desygner will automatically rearrange elements according to your requirement.

Further, along with amazing poster templates, you also.get editing tools to customize your work.

• Adobe Spark– This is a popular platform and you must have heard of it sometime. It is amazing for people who wish to scale for side hustle. Numerous template designs are available here to readily use on social media websites. Dozens of layouts are provided for your use.

Use fonts, images and icons from huge libraries and create stunning and unique posts.

Conclusion– These stunning poster templates are easy to create and share on social media accounts. Use these free poster templates to grab the attention of your audience and stand out in the competition.

Ready-to-wear outfits are convenient. Go to the store, find something you like, and you’re all set. But sometimes, the mainstream retail clothing offerings don’t fit. Or you’re just looking for something different that suits your mood, character, and style.

That’s why I like customized dresses- my choices to match my needs. But what I like most about customization is how it takes an ordinary, common object and transforms it into something special.

The same can be said about web design.

Businesses come in different shapes and sizes. No two are the same. So you can’t expect their designs to be the same either, now can you?

While it may be cheaper to settle for a template offering an off-the-shelf web solution, a customized website can be a better option in the long run. A well-designed website can provide more value to your business by improving conversions and generating more leads.

But is it really that important to invest in a custom website for your business?

Let’s take a closer look at some of the reasons why.

1. Makes you different from everyone else

Customized elements make a website unique and original. It’s different from the millions of others on the internet. More importantly, it makes your site stand out in the crowd and become memorable. After all, 80% of people recall things they see.

Whether it’s the colors, fonts, layout, images, or videos you use, make sure every element aligns with your business’s character and purpose.

2. Create a great first impression

First impressions are rather powerful. And the first thing people see about your brand is your website. Within 7 seconds, visitors have already made up their minds. Clearly, web design is an essential aspect of online marketing. More alarmingly, HubSpot claims that 90% of online users abandon a site that has a bad design. And the chances of them returning are relatively low.

Spending the time and effort to create a clean, engaging, and user-friendly website that aligns with the image of your business identity is a great way to connect with your target audience. Take, for example, how Logo Design Valley creates a manicured visual identity. The website looks appealing and up-to-date, building a positive image of the company.

3. Access to unlimited capabilities

Every business is unique. But as an entrepreneur, you understand the importance of certain features on your website more than anyone else.

Customizing web design helps you incorporate these essential elements to enhance the functionality of your website, meet business requirements, and keep customers happy. Remember, with custom web designs, the sky’s the limit.

4. Improve user experiences

A flawless website design helps connect with your target audience. That means your website looks appealing, is easy to navigate, and offers all the features that users expect from your brand. Therefore, web design significantly enhances UX.

And since customization is all about making something to a customer’s specifications, customizing website design makes your website more aligned with your customers. A one-size-fits-all website solution is unlikely to offer unique experiences to users. So when you place your customers at the center of your web design, your website immediately becomes more user-friendly. This is what online clothing brands typically focus on.

5. Allows your business to adapt to change

Nothing stands still in the digital world. New technologies are constantly being created, and ideas are continuously emerging. As an online business, you need to keep evolving, too, whether through new product offerings or an upgraded web design. 

A customized web design has the versatility to adapt to changing technologies. It allows business owners to incorporate features that will help support newer ideas. On the other hand, a template website is confining, restricting your website from adapting to change and responding to altering trends.

6. Boost ROI

You started a business to make money, so that should be your ultimate goal. Ensure that all your business decisions contribute to the bottom line. The same is true when considering a customized web design.

Sure, this option is going to be more expensive than if you use a template. But when you offer a better UX and keep potential customers on your site longer, there’s a sure chance that you’re going to generate more business, and hence more revenue.

This is what ESPN did. They redesigned their homepage and added elements to their landing pages that their visitors wanted to see: the result- a 35% increase in revenue. Your customized web design can do the same.

Source

7. A positive reflection on the brand

Your website is an extension of your brand. However, a custom web design reflects an authentic and professional online identity. A stronger brand identity helps build better recognition in the competitive global market. But more importantly, customized websites help promote your brand.

According to Stanford’s research, 75% of consumers base a brand’s credibility on its website design. Therefore, when you make an effort to customize your website, people notice that you care about branding, UX, online image, and whatnot. So they can expect the same level of attention from other aspects of the business, particularly customer service. A design that is modern and inviting gives the impression of a company that is friendly and welcomes visitors to its site.

8. Improve SEO campaign

Template websites can have confusing menus, slow load times, and a general outlook on user experience. A custom website, on the other hand, is tailor-made for a particular audience and business.

And as I mentioned earlier, a custom design enhances UX. So it is bound to have a strong influence on SEO. Google closely monitors and acknowledges how much time a user spends on a website and how many pages they interact with.

A busy web design may be overwhelming to some and could potentially lead to a high bounce rate, which could negatively influence SERPs.

Final thoughts

Web design is a significant investment, not an additional expense. It’s a powerful and effective way to influence visitors to your site. So make the most of this opportunity.

Remember, good website design stems from creativity. As you customize your website, keep in mind how these elements can improve your brand image, and connect with your target audience.

Don’t forget to look at what other businesses are doing. It’s a great way to get inspiration and ideas for your design process. It’s time to get creative and transform your online offerings through a customized web design.

So, are you ready with your website to participate in the race of ranking on search engines? Well, I am sure you must have worked hard on your content to make it look good, sound interactive, and much more. However, to your disappointment, that is not enough.

In other words, without SEO, it is hard for the audience to even get to know about your website, forget that they will be able find it from the search engine. SEO can generate traffic for you, can double already existing traffic, can help your website in building a reputation, and much more.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a combined process of multiple elements with an ultimate goal which is to increase daily traffic and reduce bounce rates on your website.

According to Hubspot, 80% of the website traffic comes from queries. It can be a simple keyword like “android developer”, or it can also be a question like “how much does an android app cost?”. Now, you have to figure out a way of answering industry-related trending questions with SEO practices and the content.

Therefore, an SEO expert can curate those queries and make your website answer them. Once you finalize a website and the type of content you want to publish on it, it is highly recommended for you to include an SEO master in your team.

SEO is a recurring and time-consuming process, you will need at least one dedicated person for the task. It also depends upon the amount of productivity you want. Moreover, your content creators will have to create content with their SEO requirements.

Tips To Maximize Your Searches With SEO Techniques

After throwing some light on SEO and its benefits, let’s have some real discussion now. I am going to include some best practices recommended by experts in SEO. So, you would not want to miss this part!

1. Observe Trends And Figure Out Top Searched Keywords

Keywords have the most crucial role in the entire SEO process. You have to observe current market trends and then shortlist keywords accordingly. To observe trends, you can keep up with news according to your genre, or you can use tools like Google Trends. Google Trends help you in filtering current trends so that you can find the most relevant trend according to your target audience.

Now, when you have the information related to the trending event, you need to find keywords that can be used to frame articles according to those trends. Use tools like Keyword Planner, and curate keywords with high search volumes. Remember, keywords with high search volumes might have good competition as well. So, you will need a good strategy to lead the race.

2. Use LSI Keywords

Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords are used by search engines to understand the content from depth. In other words, LSI keywords are related to the overall topic, but they are still different from actual keywords that you are using in your title, headings, and alt texts of images. The purpose of these keywords is to make search engines like Google realize that your article also covers information about the related stuff.

For example, if you are writing about “tips for building small business apps”. Google can use keywords like android, iOs, JavaScript, etc as LSI keywords to understand the article in depth.

3. Backlinks Are Important

Backlinks are also known as incoming links, inbound links, or one-way links. Backlinking is the process of linking another website with one website. Websites with more numbers of backlinks have a higher chance of ranking on search engines. The reason behind that is that it improves the credibility of the website.

There are a few things you should know about while backlinking:

• Do not always try to link one website. In other words, try to use 50 backlinks from 50 different websites instead of putting 100 links from a single one. It makes backlinking more meaningful;
• Create linkable assets like infographics, videos, pictures, animations, etc. Publish their codes with the content and allow embedding, so that people can link your assets on their websites;
• Create link roundups for weekly, monthly, or annual periods. Include one or two liners representing each best blog you will mention along with their links. This practice is very effective to build credibility.

4. Promote Your Content On Social Media

Social media can play a vital role in building a brand reputation and gaining traffic. Whenever you publish an article, try to promote it on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Quora, Twitter, etc. Use related hashtags, and create specific promotional captions for each platform.

There are a few things you should consider for the Social Media Marketing Strategy:

• Use trending but relevant hashtags with your content;
• Create a short but catchy caption with each post;
• Choose the right platform according to your target audience;
• Focus on creating more graphical content for promotions;
• Use paid promotional activities for fast growth.

5. Build A Responsive Website And Keep It Mobile Friendly

While building a website, you have to understand that most of the traffic you get will be from smartphones or tablets. Modern users multitask, so they are not going to open their laptops every time. Your website needs to be responsive to cell phones to provide a better user experience. Also, apart from being responsive, make sure your website doesn’t lose its charm to fit. It still has to look good and provide the same features as it does on systems.

6. Keep Up With Trends And Updates

Your job doesn’t end after the content is published. In reality, whenever you publish something, your work increases. SEO is a recurring process and it can go on forever. Keep a keen eye on new trends, follow new changes that can affect your past articles. Update the new information and promote them again.

7. Other effective ways to generate traffic

Well, apart from the SEO, there are a few ways you can adapt to generate some additional traffic on your website:

• Hire mobile app developers to develop an app representing your website;
• Send promotional emails or push notifications every time you publish an article;
• Use newsletters to inform your audience of your content;
• Do occasional surveys to promote content;
• Create articles with a good amount of infographics.

Hopefully, the tips which I have mentioned above will help you in boosting your website traffic. Make sure that you stay updated with changes in Google algorithms, new practices, and crucial events. SEO is a process that includes many elements. Therefore, your job never ends. But a good SEO practice can be fruitful for your business growth.

Visual media has transformed how we operate and function dramatically. It has become a source of income and capital for many businesses and entrepreneurs. Many unlimited design services excel in their graphic designing abilities to create aesthetically-pleasing visuals that enthrall audiences across the board. The ordinary viewer consumers visual entities daily in the form of websites, apps, and magazines. But it is the digital aspect of the media that they are the most receptive to. The drive of visual media is to captivate the attention of the onlookers with their entrancing infrastructure. The content is as relevant as the appearance in this aspect.

Both graphic design and illustrations are components of digital media. However, they are often used interchangeably. This begs the question, are they similar or distinct from one another. We will decipher this in detail in this article.

Illustration

An illustration is mostly associated with imagery meant to help convey a story pertaining to the image or explain the linked content. Its purpose is to give context to any visual material, be it their characters or concepts. An outlook is necessary for the illustration to establish a connection with; otherwise, its purpose will become worthless.

Graphic Design

Graphic design as an entity comprises both text and imagery concerning visuals. However, it places more attention on the layout and composition of the imagery and texts. The purpose of a graphic designer is to be as striking as possible enough to capture a viewer’s attention. A graphic design that does not evoke emotions or interest in the viewer at first glance is an ineffective design. Often, a graphic design emanates a sense of urgency for the viewer to emotionally or psychologically compel them to purchase the offered product or service.

Differences Between Illustration and Graphic Design

While the two concepts tend to be mixed together, they are, in fact, quite different from one another. We will elaborate on the areas which differentiate the two and outline their individual purposes.

Tools

Illustration

An illustration can be made by hand, but it can also be created in digital software mediums. Drawings have historically been produced by stationaries and instruments such as pen, charcoal, pencil, and other types of paintings. Modern-day illustrations have asserted themselves within the digital community, expanding their reach online. This makes illustration a conforming entity instead of graphic design, which is only limited to digital support.

Graphic Design

Graphic design is limited to the digital hemisphere; hence its tools are mostly dependent on software and other forms of digital tools. They require formats, texts, colors, styles, and different elements to draw the viewer’s attention.

Intent

Illustration

The intent of the illustration is to convey the message of the text or material it represents. It provides viewers and readers a more vital message and the idea of the content they expose themselves to.

Graphic Design

The primary purpose of a graphic designer is to direct viewers or guide them to a specific action. Illustrations are restricted to drawings; however, graphic designs include many visual components that emanate different emotions from their viewers. Usually, these emotions involve excitement, enthusiasm, or urgency that convince the viewers to buy the product or service the graphic design represents.

Uses

Illustration

Illustrations are widely used in the physical world and elements such as books, newspapers, and magazines. But they can also be incorporated into the digital world as blog posts and other articles online. Illustrations are commonly used in book covers and children’s books.

Graphic Design

The marketing and branding sector mostly uses graphic design to its advantage. They incorporate their graphic design in their website, logos, posters, advertisements, and billboards. Many businesses have opted to hire dedicated graphic designers to work on their behalf and shape their brand’s visual appearances.

Differences Between a Graphic Designer and Illustrator

Toolset

Illustrator

Illustrators utilize paper and pencils as their toolkit equipment. Their digital equipment can either be through an iPad or Wacom tablet.

Graphic Designer

The entire work and skills of a graphic designer are invested in their computers. The majority of their programs consist of Adobe Photoshop, through which they craft their remarkable designing masterpiece.

Skills

Illustrator

Illustrators usually create objects and things that surround them or are present in their fantasies. They can paint objects, people, backgrounds, wildlife, lakes, and many other visually constructible elements. Their skills revolve around sketching, painting, or using other methods to create their artistry in the physical world or digital world.

Graphic Designer

Graphic designers have to take on different elements when they are either designing a website, logo, or flyers. They have to consider the fonts, icons, colors, and pictures that work cohesively to enable their designs to function effectively. They contemplate different colors that evoke other emotions in people, like decoding the fact that red emanates a sense of urgency. They also ponder whether they should select a classical font over an unconventional one to convey their message better. This is a time-consuming prospect for a graphic designer as opposed to the time invested by an illustrator. Designers have to embellish their designs with elements that will reflect correctly with the company’s brand.

Both the responsibilities of an illustrator and graphic designers are essential, but the reality is that the visual design process requires more effort, time, and resources as opposed to illustration. Every aspect of the graphic design needs to be accurate and precise. If you make a mistake in a picture, you can rectify it with minimal damage; however, in the case of a graphic design, one shortcoming of an element can wreck the entire structure. You can always opt for support from a credible graphic design platform such as Designer that will provide you with designers who construct their artwork flawlessly. The differences between an illustration and graphic design could not be more apparent. It should be noted that illustrations are also considered a part of graphic design. A graphic designer assimilates many images incorporated digitally to assist them in explaining their content. You can consider illustration as one of the graphic design elements but never use the two as similar terms.

With everyone adjusting to the new normal, E-Learning or Remote Learning is something that’s now become normal for students. As teachers move up to online teaching methods, it can be challenging for students to keep the same interaction level as there would typically be in a physical classroom. That’s why it’s crucial to find ways of allowing students to interact with teachers and with each other, even in a virtual classroom. This can be done through collaboration tools available online.

What are collaborative tools?

Teachers are responsible for guiding students and shaping their learning experience. In order to achieve that, it is necessary for teachers to make sure that students should be as attentive as they were in a physical classroom before the new normal came into existence.

Collaborative tools are used for different types of online services that allow people to work together on common projects and assignments, regardless of their physical location. It can be used with something as easy as email or something as complicated as a project management software. The scope of these tools is not limited to the academic use only. In businesses, these tools are used to discuss the integration of essential topics like cloud based payroll process, timesheet management, etc.

How do collaborative tools work?

Even the students who are new to any online learning platform will have some knowledge about communicating through digital means in their everyday lives. Since it is inappropriate for students to communicate with their teachers on social media apps, these collaboration tools can create a space for them to communicate through direct messages, video conferences, and online group tasks.

To say that kids in today’s generation won’t be familiar with technology would be a wrong statement. Kids these days know their way with smartphones better than we adults do. With technology developing at such a fast pace, kids have become tech-savvy.

To ensure that students get the best E-learning experience, it is important for teachers to pick the best collaborative tools.

Some of the most commonly used collaborative tools are-

1. Zoom

Zoom is a video-calling software program developed by Zoom Video Communications. The free version of the application comes with a video chatting service that allows up to 100 participants at once with a 40-minute time restraint. This video-chatting tool provides users to attend a meeting from their desktops, laptops, or mobile devices. 

Zoom comes loaded with features like

• Personal Meeting ID- Zoom provides its users with a private meeting ID anytime they create an account on Zoom. This ID number helps them attend or launch meetings.
• Zoom is accessible on all devices; Windows, MAC, Linux, Chromebook, Android as well as iOS.
• Screen sharing- Zoom lets its users share screens on other devices they want to use. Users can switch from mobile to web or vice-versa on their devices.
  
  

2. Skype

Skype is an established telecommunications application developed by Microsoft Corporation that specializes in providing audio and video chat services on computers, tablets, mobile phones, and smartwatches. Skype also provides users with Instant Messaging (IM) services through which users can exchange audio and video clips and images.

Some of the features that make Skype a collaboration tool

• Users can add multiple contacts and make Skype a conference calling tool. It allows up to 24 participants per video chat.
• Screen sharing.
• Skype lets users create groups on their application and access IM in group chats.
• Users can transfer files while already on a call, making it easier for teachers to share notes about what they are explaining.

3. Facebook for Education

Facebook is a social networking site that helps users connect with each other and their family members. Since Facebook was already famous and a commonly used app among kids and adults alike, Facebook decided to launch Facebook for Education, a platform for E-Learning. Of all the tools, Facebook seems to be the most effective because it’s commonly used by a wide range of people. Students can engage in classroom activities by being in their own space, therefore not shying away from their work and allowing them to share their opinions and information.

Facebook provides features like

• Workplace- Facebook provides Workplace as a tool to connect, communicate, and collaborate on desktops and mobile phones with features like audio and video calling, group chats, and individual chats. 
• Facebook Groups- Facebook groups help users connect with people who have similar interests as theirs.
• Messenger- Messenger allows users to connect with other users and talk to them one-on-one.

4. Hangouts by Google

Google Hangouts or Hangouts by Google, is a video messaging tool developed by Google that allows users to collaborate with features like instant messaging, video calling, image and file sharing, and screen sharing. Hangouts can be accessed on Google’s website or via their mobile application available for both Android and iOS. Hangouts is the best collaboration tool for teachers willing to engage their students in collaboration online. Hangouts allows users to interact with each other despite their geographical barriers.

Other than features like messaging, video calling, and screen sharing, Hangouts provides other unique characteristics like

• Ease of use- Hangouts’ user interface is easy to figure out, and users can learn how to use it without any instructions. Google also provides users with any help that they may need while accessing the app.
• Privacy- Hangouts respects your privacy by accessing chats to users only you invited or added. However, for security reasons, Google can access your conversations.
• Accessibility- Hangouts’ organized headings and landmarks make it easier for users to navigate everything.

5. Google Docs

Google Docs is a web-based word processor offered by Google within its Google Drive Service. Google Docs is accessible on the web, as a mobile application for Android and iOS, and as a desktop application on Chrome Operating System. Google Docs can be accessed by E-Learners to collaborate on their team projects. Users can have access to so many amazing document templates for free.

Some of Google Docs’ unique features include

• Talk instead of typing- Google Docs allows users to use their voice instead of typing with the help of their voice typing tool.
• Offline mode- Users don’t need the internet to access Google Docs(except for when you connect. You can set it up for offline use after that.).
• Google Docs’ unique sharing facility allows multiple users to review and edit a document simultaneously.

Final note-

Using collaborative tools is essential as it helps increase students’ interest while learning online. The tools listed above are all smart choices for smart learning.

Of all the different types of issues that a business might face, perhaps none can be as devastating as legal ones. This is perhaps because of how they can take a business by surprise and severely hurt its bottom line. As a business owner, protecting your business from litigation should be at the top of your priority list, even though research tells us that as much as 90% of all businesses are engaged in litigation at any given point in time.

The following is a list of seven potential legal issues every business owner could be faced with and how to handle them.

1. Intellectual Property: Trademarks, Copyrights, and Patents
Intellectual properties like trademarks, copyrights, and patents are all essential elements of running a business and in some cases, can play a significant role in making or breaking that business if not handled properly. From being sued for infringing on a copyright or trademark, to earning vast sums of money from a held patent, there are numerous business and legal ramifications that a business could be faced with from improperly handling any of these elements.

More often than not, a business owner will unlikely be able to handle such matters on their own and will need the expert advice and guidance of a business attorney who also handles trademark issues.

2. Taxes
Taxes are unavoidable and every registered company has to pay them. To ensure compliance with all relevant tax laws that are applicable to your business, a business owner must have a thorough knowledge of which business taxes to pay, when to pay them, how to calculate the tax rate and amount, and more.

While some people often decide to avoid or evade paying their taxes, such actions can have dire consequences if it runs afoul of the law. Given that many people often find paying their tax burdensome, it behooves them to rather find what legal and legitimate options are available to them to reduce their tax obligation (tax avoidance,) rather than going the more illegal route of tax evasion. This without a doubt is something that an experienced tax attorney can help with.

It should be noted that anyone dealing with tax matters should always consult with an accountant. For one, they have the know-how and experience when it comes to helping you save as much money on the taxes that you may otherwise owe the IRS. For instance, they will be able to advise that a simple thing like creating an LLC instead of a Corporation for your business means that you will not be subject to double taxation that Corporations are subjected to.

3. Discrimination/Harassment Cases
Discrimination or harassment can be a serious problem in an integrated workplace with workers from various ethnic and religious backgrounds, as well as social classes. A company’s ability to handle such complex human interactions can play a key role in limiting the potential damage that can be done if cases of discrimination or harassment are ever brought against it.

It is exactly for this reason that the company must be well equipped to handle co-worker disputes when they arise. Holding regular meetings and feedback sessions with staff will allow for the “policing” of these transgressions and ensure that it does not occur in the office, or that it is nipped in the bud as soon as it does.

4. Signing a Commercial Lease

While a growing number of people are starting to run their businesses from their homes, therefore not needing to lease an office space, the fact remains that the vast majority of businesses still operate from leased commercial space. Thought must therefore be given to the needs of the business in terms of office space, amenities, infrastructure and layout of the building, and much more, to make sure it satisfies the operational needs and regulatory requirements of the business.

Signing a lease puts a business owner into a fixed arrangement with the building owner for a specified time period, often involving a substantial amount of money. It is, therefore, preferable to seek professional help in reviewing both the facility you are considering leasing, and the attached lease. Doing so will ensure that there are no unfavorable terms hidden in the contract while making sure that the property meets all legal and/or regulatory requirements before you sign.

5. Employment Agreement with Non-Competes

A non-compete agreement is a written legal contract between various parties (oftentimes an employer and employee) specifying that the one-party will not enter into or start a business similar to that of the other party. The non-compete agreement lays out binding terms and conditions about the employee’s ability to work in the same industry and/or with competing organizations upon employment termination from the current employer.

Employers benefit from non-compete agreements because they keep a former employee from sharing company knowledge, trade secrets, client lists, potential clients, strategic plans, and other information that is confidential and proprietary to the employer with competitors.

Employees on the other hand benefit from non-compete agreements because they receive something of value in return for signing the non-compete. In most cases, the item of value is the job offer. A promotion or raise in return for the signature also qualifies as something of value.

However, it is not impossible that some terms in a non-compete might be unfair, or perhaps even outright unlawful, therefore a potential employee must be sure that he or she is not being put in an unfair situation by signing such a contract.

6. Non-disclosure Agreements

A business owner will often need to use one of two types of Non-disclosure agreements (NDA)- a mutual or general NDA. The general non-disclosure agreement will usually stipulate that only one side can share confidential information with the other side. On the other hand, a mutual non-disclosure agreement states that each side may share confidential information with each other.

An improperly drafted NDA that leaves a lot of scope for (mis)interpretation, which could then lead to litigation, is perhaps one of the main reasons to use professional legal help in getting such document drafted, to ensure that it adequately serves the purpose for which it is needed, as well as protecting the interests of all parties involved.

7. Vendor Contracts

Subcontractors and vendors help businesses boost productivity, and oftentimes at a more cost-effective rate than full-time employees. Sometimes, they are simply unavoidable. Some of the things that a vendor or a subcontractor agreement will outline include:

• The scope of a project
• Payment terms
• Terms and conditions.

A properly written contract agreement can help reduce the risk of dispute because it defines the relationship and sets clear expectations that both parties can consult as the job progresses. And even when a dispute does arise, such a contract will provide the basis upon which mediation or litigation will be based, barring any other external considerations. This is exactly why each party to a contract must read and properly understand all the terms of a contract, including any fine print, before signing it. Otherwise, consult with a contract lawyer for assistance.

With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the eCommerce industry is rapidly booming, now more than ever. There are an estimated 12 million to 24 million eCommerce stores worldwide, but only 1 million of them make more than $1000 a year!

Hence, there is plenty of room for growth for eCommerce stores around the world. If you want your eCommerce store to stand out amongst the millions of other stores, you should follow certain best practices that will increase the chances of your eCommerce store’s success.

Let’s look at some of the best practices you must follow and the mistakes that you must avoid to create a successful eCommerce site.

1. Simplify your Payment Process

Smooth payment experience is the primary expectation of most buyers. How many times have you decided not to purchase from a website simply because you were not sure of their payment process? Plenty of times, I’m sure! You can simplify your eCommerce store’s payment experience by:

• Offer risk-free payment options such as money-back guarantee and easy return policies.
• Make your payment process hassle-free by reducing the number of steps and increasing the number of payment options.
• Disclose any additional costs upfront. Try not to add additional charges such as taxes or duties during the last step of the checkout process.
• Ensure that your payment pages load quickly (preferably within 3 seconds) to stop your users from getting frustrated.
• And most importantly, ensure that your website and payment gateway are highly secure. Use an SSL certificate or Wildcard SSL(for Unlimited Subdomain) for your website and take all necessary security measures that safeguard customer data privacy.

2. Prioritize SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) enables your website to rank on the 1st page of Google’s organic search results. This can be highly beneficial for your eCommerce store as around 49% of buyers start their journey from a search engine.

Perform keyword research for your website, and optimize your product pages and content for these keywords. Start blogging on your eCommerce website and implement content marketing strategies for your content. This will be super-useful for your website’s SEO as it will bring in a lot of traffic for the initial stages of your sales funnel. Also, build backlinks for your site using strategies such as guest posting, email outreach, broken link building, etc.

3. Adhere to Web Accessibility Guidelines

Around 20% of Americans are known to be disabled in some way. This means that 1 out of 5 visitors will leave your website if they encounter accessibility issues. Moreover, numerous eCommerce sites, both small and large, have been filed with web accessibility lawsuits because of non-compliance with ADA regulations. Hence, it is imperative that you adhere to web accessibility guidelines for your eCommerce site.

The frequently changing accessibility guidelines and numerous product pages on your website can make it challenging to keep up with web accessibility compliance at all times.

An AI-based automatic web accessibility software can be the best solution to save your company from expensive web accessibility lawsuits. On top of that, it’ll open your store to more revenues from web surfers that could not purchase prior to making your website accessible.

Such tools will scan your website for accessibility issues and fix them automatically.

4. Build an Email List

Did you know that effective email marketing can yield up to 4400% ROI for your eCommerce business? Many eCommerce companies overlook the possibility of email marketing. You can avoid this by taking proactive steps today.

• Collect email lists and build a base of email subscribers.
• Do not always send promotional emails. Instead, share your blog posts or other valuable content that add value to your consumers also once in a while.
• Offer special discounts to your email subscribers.
• Always personalize your emails. Segment your subscribers into different lists based on demographics, buyer journey stage, interests, etc. and send personalized emails to each list. This will rapidly improve your conversion rates.

5. Offer Easy Navigation and Searchability

Easy navigation around the website and ease of searchability are no brainers for eCommerce websites. Complicating these will definitely leave your visitors frustrated and result in increased bounce rates.

Hence, offer intuitive navigation options such that all the pages on your website can be accessed within 2 to 3 link clicks. Offer enhanced searchability using features like auto-complete.

6. Improve your Website’s Speed and Performance

Website speed is super-important for your eCommerce store. Ensure that all your web pages load within 3 seconds or less. Implement strategies such as page caching, browser caching, JS and CSS minification, and lazy load for images to improve your website’s speed and performance. You can check the speed of your website using Google’s Page Speed Insights tool.

7. Use High-Quality Product Images and Videos

Low quality, blurry, and inaccurate images are a huge no for modern-day eCommerce sites. In fact, studies show that 33% of buyers prefer to view multiple photos and 60% prefer a 360-degree vision of products before making a purchase!

Provide top-notch experience to your website visitors by adding high resolution and accurate images to all your products. You can take your UX up a notch by adding demo videos for your products.

8. Add Comprehensive and Accurate Product Descriptions

Accuracy of product descriptions is again crucial for improving your eCommerce sales. When potential customers land on a not-so-popular eCommerce site, they are likely to have a lot of objections before making any buying decisions. Providing thorough and accurate product descriptions can remove such objections to a great extent.

Ensure that you include all the specifications and features of products. Also, ensure that the information you provide is 100% accurate.

9. Ensure that your Site is Mobile-Friendly

It’s no news that most of your website visitors use mobile devices to browse and make purchases from your site. 82% of internet users in the US have used mobile devices for shopping online. If your store is not mobile-friendly, then you are missing out on a lot.

• Ensure that your website design is responsive and adapts to all screen sizes.
• Take efforts to reduce mobile page load speed.
• Ensure that all the elements of your site are the same for both the mobile and desktop versions.
• Use Google’s free test to ensure the mobile-friendliness of your site.

10. Leverage Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is one of the best ways to build credibility and popularize your eCommerce store. Unfortunately, very few are taking advantage of this strategy.

Analyze and make a list of social media influencers, thought leaders, or celebrities relevant to your industry. Reach out and collaborate with them by campaigning on major social media platforms where your target audience tends to hang out.

Such influencer collaborations can significantly add to your eCommerce store’s credibility. You’ll gain quick popularity and will ultimately achieve massive success.

11. Personalize the Buying Experience

Personalization is vital for attracting new customers and retaining them as loyal customers. You can personalize your eCommerce website by gathering information about the users’ demographics, interests, buying habits, etc.

Using these data, you can provide an ultra-personalized shopping experience to your customers by customizing your home page based on recently viewed products or featuring products that users of similar demographics tend to be more interested in.

You can also consider using an AI-powered fully-automated eCommerce personalization and conversion optimization platform like Dialogue that generates personalized messages automatically based on your audience’s specific preferences and sales patterns.

The platform tracks and analyzes user behavior on-site to provide the best possible custom journey that’ll increase the likelihood or purchases.

To Conclude

Building and running an eCommerce store can be quite daunting for many store owners. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and lost amongst millions of other eCommerce sites.

By following these strategies, you have a chance to stand out and beat your competitors with ease. Hence start your journey towards building a high-successful eCommerce website today!

Logos are an essential part of any business. A custom logo of a company is the face of the brand. It attracts the viewer’s attention and holds the power to convert a viewer into a customer.

Logos are designed in such a manner that they represent values, mission and convey a message of brand through it to the viewers. They can be memorized in just a glance. But not just every logo can do that. Only a well designed and thoughtful logo has above qualities. If you create such a logo, half of your work of branding is done.

A logo design must be pleasant and appealing. Too harsh and bright or too dull designs are generally disliked by the audience. So, what do you need to do or what are the things that you need to take care of to create a pleasant logo. If you don’t know, check out the points mentioned below.

Or the other situation can be you just created your logo and are wondering whether it is pleasant or not. You can check the points below and compare it with yours.

Consider Colour Blind People

Before beginning, you must know what your target audience consists of. Whatever they might be, colour blind people will surely be one of them. Colour blindness affects 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women. This seems a small value. But if considered nationally or globally it makes millions of people. So, your logo must consider their condition as well. Moreover, many famous people like Mark Zuckerberg are also colour blind. Therefore, it is obvious you cannot neglect such potential customers.

Colour blind people have a difficulty seeing red, green and purple colours usually. They can only see blue and yellow clearly.

Also, there are a few combinations of colours that are disastrous, taking colour blind people under consideration. For instance, avoid combinations of red and green, green and brown, blue and grey, blue and purple, green and grey, etc. These colours might get mixed up and just appear as a hue to them.

Go for Black and White first

While designing custom logos for your company, first work on logos in black and white shades solely. You can add colours on later stages after completing the designing work.

Black and white coloured logo design will provide you with much more clarity on the concept.

If it seems pleasant to the eyes and complement values of the company, you can go with it.

There are various tools available online to check your logo in black and white. Designhill logo Maker is a great tool to create logo designs easily and perfectly.

Contrast

Sufficient contrast is must in logo design. Contrast makes readability of text or other elements easier.

For example, if you choose pale pink colour with white text, readability will be minimal. However, choosing bright colours like red can be helpful in such a case. Usage of red with white creates a much needed contrast.

Online softwares or tools can be used to check the contrast ratio of colours used in logos. 4.5:1 is considered acceptable in logo designs.

Icons

Symbols and icons are responsible for conveying different values through them. Symbols can be of different shapes or beautiful arrangement of icons or alphabets.

To add to this, shapes convey different messages through them. In the case of a circle, it is a symbol of unity and completeness. Next, the square is famous for security and order and the triangle is a symbol of power and balance. 

So now you can use these symbols for different purposes.

Moreover, usage of shapes make logos more accessible and powerful in various aspects.

Fonts

After colours and symbols, the next item that the human mind gets attracted to is, fonts.

Fonts also represent various values. You can use different font styles to communicate your brand’s image.

For instance, if you want your brand to look professional and sophisticated, go for serif fonts. But if you choose to look free, charming and enjoyable then use sans serif style.

The main focus of ours is to make the logo look pleasant and accessible. In that case, choosing a clear font that is readable is more favourable.

Simplicity

Avoid using too many details in your logo design. More the details, more the components, lesser the value of the logo.

Adding too many elements results in loss of purpose.

Create a logo that is simple and minimalistic. It should be able to convey a message with the least effort.

Famous brands’ logos are a perfect example of this case. Logos of Facebook, YouTube, Apple, Mercedes etc are all very simple. They do not contain too much detail in them.

Therefore, thrive for minimalism to create outstanding logo design.

Creating a custom logo that is pleasant and attractive is not difficult. You can create one very easily by following some tips given in this article. Also, there are numerous online tools that can help you out with expert advice. Just relax a little and then start working.