Duolingo Gets a New Branding that Includes a Cute Typeface

Many of Designer Daily’s readers probably already know of Duolingo, an app that most of us install to try to learn a new language and give up after two weeks (in the best cases).

Recently, this very popular app underwent a rebranding that changed the face of its cute owl. Based on this illustration, a typeface was created to reinforce the look-and-feel of the visuals and unify communications of the brand.

This work was done by Johnson Banks, a branding agency based in the UK. The agency also worked on the tone of voice used in communications and renewed the graphics based on the revised core colors.

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We Dare You to Try These 6 Marvelous Website Optimization Tools

Having a full suite of go-to website optimization tools is essential for maintaining a successful website. Without an optimized website, you won’t rank in search results or attract site visitors — and you’ll miss out on valuable leads and revenue.

But which website optimization tools actually work to make your website more visible in search and ensure that your website is converting visitors to paying customers?

On this page, we’ll talk about some of the best website optimization tools as well as website testing tools to ensure that your site is successful.

If you’d like to speak to a marketing specialist before reading on, feel free to give us a ring at 888-601-5359. Otherwise, let’s get started!

Why are website optimization tools important?

What’s the big fuss about website optimization tools and why do you need them?

Simply put, website optimization tools help to automate the process of making your website more visible to search engines in addition to making them more likely to convert.

Though most tools don’t do the job for you, they’ll help you gain valuable insight as to how you can improve your website to ensure that it’s successful.

For example, website speed optimization tools help you uncover what page elements could be slowing down your site.

Link checking tools can help you detect broken links on your pages so that you can be sure Google can properly read and index pages that you’ve linked internally.

There is a whole slew of website optimization tools that help you make your site the best it can possibly be — for both Google and your users.

The best web optimization tools and their capabilities

There are countless web optimization tools out there that have infinite capabilities, but there are definitely a few that we favor.

1. Screaming Frog

Price: Free – $189 per year

Screaming Frog is a crucial part of any marketer’s toolbox. This tool has so many capabilities, it’s impossible to list them all.

It offers a plethora of beneficial information about your website that can help you find everything from broken links and duplicate content to page titles and meta descriptions.

This information is invaluable to have all in one place and helps you organize your website optimization efforts.

Not to mention, you can link Screaming Frog to your Google Analytics account and pull in metrics like site traffic, audience demographics, and more.

2. Ubersuggest

Price: Free

This tool packs a punch when it comes to keyword research and can help you determine what terms to use in your content to have the best chance of ranking.

Keywords are extremely important to your content and its ability to rank. Ubersuggest allows you to learn everything there is to know about potential keywords before you decide to incorporate them into your content.

Not only does it provide you with a list of related keywords to the one you provide, but it also gives search volume, estimated cost per click, and ranking difficulty.

3. Ahrefs

Price: $99-$999 depending on package and features you’re interested in

Ahrefs is an amazing website optimization tool that allows you to see what your competitors are up to as far as rankings, content, and target keywords.

Not only that, but it gives you a ton of beneficial metrics about your site content.

With Ahrefs, you can dig into your backlink profile, learn more about your top pages and competing domains, find content gaps, see which of your pages are performing the best, and so much more.

This tool can help you sniff out opportunities to outrank your competitors while also keeping track of your success — tipping you off to potential site issues.

4. Yoast SEO

Price: $89-$756 depending on how many sites you’ll use it for

If your website or any part of your website operates on WordPress, Yoast SEO is a must-have plugin.

Yoast is one of the best website optimization tools because it catches things that you might miss within your WordPress content.

With the paid version of this tool (there’s a free version, too), you’ll be able to optimize your content for target keywords, have full control of your breadcrumbs, get internal linking suggestions and content insights, and so much more.

Although the free version still packs a punch, with this tool, you’ll want to go for the paid option.

5. Google Search Console

Price: Free

Google Search Console is a website optimization tool that allows you to check the technical aspects of your site.

This tool allows you to submit your sitemap to ensure there are no errors, write and check robots.txt files, check for security issues, set preferred domains, and so much more.

This website optimization tool also provides search analytics reports which include up to date information about the performance of your website.

Overall, Google Search Console helps you optimize your website for visibility in search engines and ensures that there are no internal errors that might keep you from ranking.

6. SEO Checker

Price: Free

Our proprietary tool, SEO Checker, provides in-depth information about your site’s performance to ensure that it has everything it needs to rank at the top of search results.

You’ll get a free PDF report about your site’s performance, and insight into 12 key factors of website performance.

Your SEO audit will include:

  • Speed analyzation
  • URL analyzation
  • Title tag, description tag, and image analysis
  • Site copy analysis
  • Social analysis
  • Mobile analysis
  • Page link analysis.

If you’re looking for an all-encompassing tool to help you optimize your website, look no further than SEO checker.

The best part? Whatever issues you see within your free SEO audit, WebFX can help. We offer page speed optimization services as well as SEO and content marketing campaigns that can help you improve your overall page grade given in your audit.

Take it from us — check out our favorite website optimization tools

The six tools we mentioned on this page provide extremely beneficial insights into your website, content, page speed, and even technical aspects like code and linking structure.

Without the use of website optimization tools, chances are you’re missing out on big opportunities to help your site rank better in search engine results pages.

We dare you to use all six of these website testing tools to determine a few areas where you could improve your website, and watch the results blossom.

If you’ve run your website optimization tests and aren’t sure where to get started as far as website optimization, WebFX can help.

We offer a full suite of digital marketing services that can help take your website to the next level.

Contact us online today or give us a call at 888-601-5359 to learn more about what WebFX can do for you and your online presence!

The post We Dare You to Try These 6 Marvelous Website Optimization Tools appeared first on WebFX Blog.

What Is Responsive Web Design? (The Non-Developer’s Cheat Sheet)

How can websites possibly keep up with the millions of screens out there?

Responsive web design.

With responsive website design, your website (and its pages) can adapt and deliver the best experience to users, whether they’re on their desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone. For that to happen, though, your website needs a responsive design.

What is responsive web design, though, and how does it work?

Keep reading to find out, plus see real-life examples of responsive web design! If you’d like to stay-in-the-know about responsive web design, sign up for our exclusive newsletter, Revenue Weekly, to get web design and marketing tips for your business.

What is responsive web design?

Responsive web design describes a web design approach that allows websites and pages to render (or display) on all devices and screen sizes by automatically adapting to the screen, whether it’s a desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

How does responsive web design work?

Responsive web design works through Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), using various settings to serve different style properties depending on the screen size, orientation, resolution, color capability, and other characteristics of the user’s device. A few examples of CSS properties related to responsive web design include the viewport and media queries.

Is my website responsive?

You can quickly see if a website is responsive or not in your web browser.

A GIF for how checking for responsive web design

  • Open Google Chrome
  • Go to your website
  • Press Ctrl + Shift + I to open Chrome DevTools
  • Press Ctrl + Shift + M to toggle the device toolbar
  • View your page from a mobile, tablet, or desktop perspective

You can also use a free tool, like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test, to see if pages on your website are mobile-friendly. While you can achieve mobile-friendliness with other design approaches, like adaptive design, responsive web design is the most common because of its advantages.

Why responsive web design matters to web designers and business owners

Responsive web design relieves web designers, user interface designers, and web developers from working day and night creating websites for every single different device in existence. It also makes the lives of business owners, marketers, and advertisers easier.

Here are a few benefits:

  • One site for every device: Whether viewed on a 27-inch iMac with a wireless connection or from the screen of your Android phone, the website will be configured for the user’s optimal viewing pleasure.
  • Optimal design for the device: With the responsive web design approach, all images, fonts, and other HTML elements will be scaled appropriately, maximizing whatever screen size the user has.
  • No need for redirects: Other options towards designing for multiple devices require the use of redirects to send the user to the appropriate version of a web page. Without the need for redirects, the user can access the content he wants to look at, as quickly as possible.

Responsive web design is also effective from a price standpoint. It’s also easier for you to manage because it’s one site versus two. You don’t have to make changes twice. Instead, you can work from and update a single website.

Examples of responsive web design

To see how responsive web design works, go ahead and access the Internet from your smartphone and browse through some sites listed on mediaqueri.es — an online gallery that features responsive web designs.

Now look at the same sites on another Internet-enabled device like your laptop or your iPad. You can also use DevTools in Chrome.

Notice how the pages alter their layouts to fit the device you’re on?

That’s responsive web design.

Learn more about responsive web design

Do you want to learn more about responsive web design? Check out these helpful resources:

If you’re looking for some professional assistance when it comes to making your website responsive, WebFX can help. We offer responsive web design and development services, with over 1000 sites launched.

Call us at 888-601-5953 or contact us online to speak with a strategist about your site!

The post What Is Responsive Web Design? (The Non-Developer’s Cheat Sheet) appeared first on WebFX Blog.

5 Powerful Ads for Alzheimer Disease Awareness

Although it doesn’t pass from people to people, Alzheimer’s disease is truly becoming one of the epidemics of our time. If you have ever witnessed one of your loved ones experiencing it, you know how saddening it is to see old people with a lot of life stories forgetting everything.

The following ads were all part of campaigns around the world that tried to raise awareness about the disease.

1. A Belgian Campaign

A great visualization of what it must feel to forget things so quickly.

2. Alzheimer France Campaign

A campaign that reflects on the feeling of loss and the great memory mix-up that happens to Alzheimer’s disease victims.

3. Alzheimer Italia Campaign

This campaign insists with a powerful visual on the loss of identity that comes with the loss of memory.

4. Alzheimer Blank Page

A simple, but efficient way to get the message across.

5. Alzheimer France Campaign

Another powerful campaign that shows one of the heartbreaking effects of the disease, the loss of connection to the loved ones.

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