DEV Community: Henny Kel

Printed Vs. Digital Business card? Which is better for you?

Henny Kel — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 12:26:17 +0000

Introduction

We all know how important a business card is for business owners. It is one of the essentials for them because it helps them to establish a stronger network in the market. It is not just a networking tool for all kinds of businesses but also a medium by which they can strengthen their empire throughout the globe. It might be just a piece of paper but to the business owners it is so much more than that. And in today’s world, with the presence of digital business card; it has become so much easier to slide one in anyone’s inbox.

With digital presence being an utmost necessity for every kind of business owners these digital business cards have also created a buzz in the market. Although the use of printed business cards is still going on, yet the digital counterpart has been gripping the society. This has also created a bit of confusion amongst the small and medium business owners. These are those sectors of the market in which the owners do not have a lot of funds to exhaust in the marketing tools. And isn’t a business card one of the elements of this? So let’s have a look at the various aspects of both these things and understand which of them is better in today’s business world.

Comparing digital and printed business cards for making a better decision

There are multiple aspects that we can consider while comparing these both business cards head on. Let’s have a look at the pros and cons of both of these so that it will become easier for you to understand which of these will be helpful.

Understanding a printed business card better

Before going directly into the pros and cons of a printed business card let’s have a look at its definition. So that we can understand what it exactly is. Usually a printed business card is a small paper that holds the name of the person, their organization, and other contact details. People often share it with their clients and customers so that whenever they need these products; they can connect with the business owners or their representatives.

Having said this, your paper business card also has the logo design or the emblem of your organization on it. Now after understanding about this card let’s get into its advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of using a printer business card for your organization

Before we decide which of these is better let’s have a look at the advantages of printed business cards. And try to understand whether they are going to be helpful in today’s world or not.

1.The value of a personal touch

There is a very common saying that, “people will always remember how you make them feel.” This is a very strong and deep statement and having a printed business card makes it better to understand. One of the biggest advantages of having a printed business card is that you always hand it out to your clients or customers in person.

While doing so you not only exchange your contact details but also personally create a connection with the person you are handing out the card to. And in the longer run this helps in creating a loyal customer base which is very important for a business to grow.

2.It can be creative endlessly

Now the next thing that these cards offer is a chance to show your creativity endlessly. There is no fixed dimension, type, color, any other factor of a card. You can create it the way you want and put on details as you like. For the designer there is an endless possibility of making the card visually appealing. And for a lot of business owners this has given them the edge that’s required for getting ahead of their business.

3.You can quickly make an impression

You might have already heard the proverb, “1st impression is the last impression.” And by using a printed business card you can use this proverb to your benefit. How, you may ask. According to a survey this has been seen that the average attention span of clients and customers is not more than six seconds. That means you need to create the first impression very quickly. And by simply offering the tangible business card to a person can be the catch.

Disadvantages of have a printed business card

Now, let’s have a look at the flip side of the coin to understand what all things will work negatively if you use the printed cards.

1.The cost of getting it printed

Actually one of the biggest setbacks of using a printed business card for the small business owners is the printing and designing cost. And this is not it, the printing cost is a recurring one. Therefore for the business owners who have a crunch in their marketing and networking tool funds, this is going to be a problematic situation.

2.You need to update them often

Another very important thing that you should keep in mind while deciding on having a bunch of paper business cards is that it is surely going to be expensive because you have to keep updating them. In this business world, not only the contact details but addition of social media platforms, new hiring, and a lot of other things can add up to the process. And when all of this comes into play you will have to keep changing the cards and it might become expensive in the longer run.

Understanding a printed business card better

Digital cards are the future and many small to large business owners have been inclined towards it. These cards are also quick and share your contact information but you do not have to visit your client to do that. Even if you are having a conference meeting over a video call you can still share the card with them. The power of digital business cards is that they can be shared with your clients and customers online.

And not only this there are multiple other factors that can steer you to deciding on getting a digital card for your organization and all the members. So let’s have a quick look at the advantages and disadvantages of having this card.

Advantages of using a printer business card for your organization

Although creating business cards online is one of the best ways to do business we should still first have a look at both the aspects of this. Then only it will be easier for business owners to decide whether they have to go for the printed on the digital cards for their business networking.

1.Editing is simple

Like we have already discussed in the printed counterpart this virtual business cards have simple editing and are cost effective. You do not have to create everything all over again whenever there is a small or big change. Editing this card is quite simple and even a big change can be done using software in a computer or a mobile. You do not have to worry about creating hundreds of cards over and over.

2.Creating interactive business cards

How much ever creativity you show on a printed card is surely going to be blurred in front of its electronic business card counterpart. That is the case when you have a soft copy of this business card you can make the changes on your own. Every person or every department of your company can have a different card for themselves. They can design it or get it designed by someone without having to spend a lot of money. It just requires some time and a bit of creativity. As simple as that therefore it gives you an edge over the other things.

3.Cost effective

Considering both these factors we can surely say that digital business cards are highly cost-effective. And for business owners who have a crunch in their department this is going to be a great hack. Therefore if you switch to having these visiting cards you can surely use the saved money in other departments.

Disadvantages of have a printed business card

As we have already discussed, there are advantages and disadvantages for both these types. So let us have a look at the disadvantages of electronic business cards.

1. Inaccessible for many

We know that there are different types of people living in this world and not everyone likes to exchange contact details online. Some fear that doing so might adversely affect their business and reputation. This has been one of the setbacks for this type of card.

2.You won’t be able to personally hand it out to someone

Surely electronic cards can be circulated to multiple people by just one touch. But what about the personal touch that we have talked about in the printed business card section? That would be lacking here, isn’t it? Therefore this is one of the biggest advantages of using a digital form of your card. You won’t be able to establish a personal bond.

Conclusion

So we have now discussed both printed and digital business cards, understanding about them and looking at the advantages and disadvantages. With all of this information you can now consider yourself well equipped to decide which of these will be there with you. Just to add on to this thing, we wish to tell you that a lot of business owners have invested in both of these cards. And they have access to both of these.

How to Optimize Website for Core Web Vitals--A Guide for Designers

Henny Kel — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 05:06:03 +0000

You have created a unique website for your business with great visuals and text. But even that is no guarantee of the website working well to drive traffic, which is crucial for business growth. What is most important now is that you take into account your users' experience. In other words, you should evaluate your website from the users' perspective, which is about keeping your core web vitals healthy.

And you better start thinking in terms of core web vitals since these are now the new set of parameters that Google has come out to rank websites on search results.

From June 2021, Google will use Core Web Vitals for ranking of websites. So, the old-fashioned SEO is not enough, and instead, as a web designer, you should now pay attention to optimizing the core web vitals.

What are Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals from Google are the new measures to determine the level of user experience while being on the web. So, it is about the experience of a website’s users rather than how much time a website takes to load.

The Core Web Vitals parameters judge a website on how quickly users can interact with its pages.

Google has laid down three Core Web Vitals: Largest Contentful Paint (loading performance), Cumulative Layout Shift (visual stability), and First Input Delay (interactivity). Google considers these as the most critical metrics for user experience.

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

The LCP lets you know how much time your website's hero content or image takes to load from users' perspectives. For example, if users cannot see your most important image, including your custom logo, on your website, they get frustrated. If you do not have a custom logo or looking to redesign your logo, it is suggested to use an online logo maker tool to create & customize your logo or get a new one!
So, a good LCP time to load is less than or equal to 2.5 seconds. But if it is less than or equal to 4.0 seconds, then it needs improvement. If it takes more than 4.0 seconds to load, it is a poor user experience.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

The Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) is about a website's layout shift, which results in a terrible user experience. When content is loading, some of the website's elements shift or move around. For example, you can't click on CTA because it has moved somewhere else or as your site loads ads, it keeps shifting the content around.

According to Google, CLS scores less than or equal to 1.0 seconds are good scores and excellent user experience. But if it is less than or equal to 0.25 seconds, it requires improvements, and more than 0.25 seconds is a poor score.

First Input Delay (FID)

The First Input Delay is the time between the user clicking on something on your website and the site responding to show that content. Since this aspect of content is heavily done and affected by Java Script, it is a complicated measure.
A good FID score is less than or equal to 100 ms. But less than or equal to 300 ms requires improvement, and more than 300 ms is a poor user experience.

Tips to optimize a website for Core Web Vitals

Here are some essential tips you should consider to improve your Core Web Vitals

Optimize your JavaScript execution

Check your FID score, and if it is poor, then it means you should be optimizing your JavaScript execution. This measure will help reduce the time between your browser execution JS code and your page.

To reduce the execution, you should defer unused JS, which you can find out easily. First, press the right mouse click when visiting your website and go to the ‘Inspect’ button. Then, go to the ‘Sources’ and find the three dots on the bottom. You can then add a tool called ‘Coverage’ and then go for the load function. You will then find out the JavaScript unused on your website page.
After you have found the unused JS, reduce it by code splitting. You should distribute one JS bundle, which are combined files, and turn them into small pieces.

Compress images to improve the loading speed

If your website design uses multiple images, consider compressing them to optimize your Core Web VItals. By compressing the images, you will make your website pages much lighter and reduce page size, which improves page loading speed and user experience. This measure should improve your LCP score.
Also, when you compress images, you will activate Content Delivery Network [ CDN] for your images. Note that CDN is a network of servers for users across the world. So, when you compress images, a server closest to the users can fast load images and pages.

Use lazy loading

If your site’s LCP score is poor, you can improve it by using lazy loading, computer programming for website design and development. Lazy loading helps keep a website’s loading speed when the user is scrolling down the page.
In this way, your LCP scores are always excellent. Also, it will help in limiting your bandwidth usage and your site’s SEO. Consequently, it is a good measure also to reduce your site’s bounce rate.
Lazy loading is beneficial for websites having animations, many images, or videos.

Ensure a better server response time

Your browser should receive content immediately from the server. Bit if it takes a longer time, it will delay showing up the heavy content such as infographics. As a result, your SEO and UX will be on the negative side. So, if you want to improve your LCP score and page-load metric, then pay attention to the ways to make your server respond quickly.

To find out your server response time, you should use First Byte [TTFB], which shows calculates the time a user will take to receive the first byte of your page content.
At the same time, do not forget first to ensure that your web hosting service is fast and you use CDN for your website. You should also review your plugins as they make your page heavier. So, keep only the plugins that are essential to your business.

Pay attention to images and embeds sizes.

If your CLS score is poor, visit your images and embeds sizes to correct their dimensions. The score might be poor due to the wrong dimensions of images, ads, or embeds in the CSS file. You should set their width and height properly so that your browser can allocate the right amount of space on your website page when some element is loading.
Make sure also that embeds such as YouTube videos on your web page are of correct dimensions. The default size of the video might be too big for your site page, and you need to resize it.
To resize the video, go to YouTube and open the video you want to use on your website, and then by clicking the share button go to the option <> Embed. Then, copy the code you get into your site’s back-end to change the video dimensions.

Wrapping Up

Google will now be ranking websites on the new Core Web Vitals such as the LCP, CLS, and FID. To optimize your website, you need to optimize your JavaScript execution, compress images on your site, use lazy loading, ensure better server response time and use the proper sizes of images and videos.

11 User-Experience Stats to Guide Your Web Design in 2021

Henny Kel — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 11:59:35 +0000

The basic purpose of a website is to attract new visitors, retain the older ones, and make them perform a specific action on your website. Now, every designer designs the website keeping the above purpose in mind, while the site owner keeps this in mind when uploading content and images. But, at times there are some factors that are overlooked which might cause the users to leave the page.

Designing a creative and abstract website needs more creativity and effort. You can explore web design ideas to get an idea of what you need and how you can achieve your desired design!

So, here in this blog, we have mentioned 11 user-experience stats that one must take into account when designing the website. Please take a look-

(1) When given 15 minutes of time to see content, two-third of people prefer to read content that has been designed beautifully rather than something with a plain design. Also, if your website content or layout is something that is hard for people to understand or has an unattractive layout, then 38% of people will not engage with your content. The customer who had a bad experience on your site is 88% less likely to return to your website. [Source: Adobe]

(2) Slow-loading websites has always been a source of problem for website owners. If the images on your site take too long to load or do not load at all, then 39% of people won’t spend any further time on your website. Retailers have lost to a tune of $2.6 billion in sales every year because their website was found to be too slow for the user. The call-to-action button is one of the most important features that a website must-have. Yet, out of 200 small business websites that were surveyed, 70% of them did not have any clear CTA button for anything such as specials, demos, etc. even on their home page. [Source: Adobe]

(3) Which website would you trust more- the one that has thorough contact information or the one that has distorted contact information? Of course, the one that has thorough contact information and this is what 51% of people think. Also, if your website does not have proper contact information like email ids or phone numbers, then 44% of the visitors tend to leave the website. [Source: KoMarketing]

(4) With smartphones ruling the digital world, nearly 2 of every 3 minutes that is spent online comes from mobile devices. There are 13% of adults who use the internet on their mobile devices only, while there are 11% use desktop to access the internet. Nearly 40% of smartphone and tablet owners use these devices to search for B2B products. [Source: ComScore]

(5) When a visitor visits your website then 47% of them firstly check the company’s products/service page. [Source: KoMarketing]

(6) Once you have a visitor who has visited your company’s homepage, then-
(a) 86% of the visitors want to see information about the product/services that are being offered by the company.
(b)64% of the visitors want to see the contact information of the company.
(c)52% of the visitors want to see the ‘About Us’ information on the website. [Source: KoMarketing]

(7) Now, you would have visitors to your company’s website coming from various referral sources. Out of them-
(a) 50% of the visitors will use the navigation menu to orient themselves.
(b) 36% of the visitors would click on the company’s logo to visit the homepage. 36% of the visitors would click on the company’s logo to visit the homepage. A good logo is important to attract your visitor, To get a logo you can use Designhill AI-Powered logo maker. [Source: KoMarketing]

(8) Contrary to what most people think, infinite scrolling actually lowers the bounce rate. The reason is that most people use smartphones to access a website and thus it’s easier for them to scroll up and down rather than clicking on links to visit several pages. For e.g. the bounce rate of time.com dropped by 15% after they started continuous scroll on their website. [Source: Poynter]

(9) Let’s take a look at how revenues of a website depend on the web design elements-
1.If one has invested $10,000 in a design-centric company then in 10 years it would have yielded 228% greater return as compared to the same investment being made in S&P.
2.Listening to you customer suggestions can be a great way to increase one’s revenue. ESPN.com did the same by incorporating suggestions of their customers and saw their revenue jump by 35%.
3.Bing chose blue over any other color and saw an additional $80 million in its annual revenue.
4.When you spend $1 on email marketing, the average return that you get is $44.25.
5.The probability of your customer climbing Mount Everest is 279.64 times more than the chances of them clicking on a banner ad. [Source: dmi.org]

(10) The first impression that a website creates is 94% design related. But, a website’s overall aesthetics is 75% of the time accountable for establishing website credibility. [Source: ResearchGate]

(11) Since more and more people are using smartphones to access the internet, 85% of adults believe that the company’s website should be as good as or better than the desktop website. [Source: visual.ly]

Now, these are the several user-stats that can serve as a guide for you, when you are either designing or redesigning your website in 2018. What are your views? Do comment below.