Getting your website ready for 2017 and beyond

The World Wide Web moves at an incredible fast pace.

It seems like only yesterday that Web 2.0 was all the rage, subtle shadows, gradients, yellow buttons…. And today in 2017 web design trends have moved on so much... White space, no shadows, no gradients, flat design and so much more!It seems like an impossible journey to ever keep up with these changing trends.

In this article, we are going to cover some of the trends for 2017, not just for Web Design but also SEO and Social Media.

Mobile First – A shift from designing exclusively for desktops first will see designers taking an approach that sees them designing for mobile devices first.

With so much traffic now coming from mobile phones it’s not a surprise to see this approach happen, with designs now exclusively being designed for mobiles, we will see far better mobile experiences start to appear.

With a heavy focus on mobile first, we will see a lot more consistency between the experience users get on mobile and desktop devices.

Increased use of chatbots – Live chat has always been a part of websites and a proven way to increase conversions. 2017 will see this go 1 step further.

Chatbots with pre-defined responses to questions will become the norm, they may even get more intelligent as time goes on, but for now they will look for basic keywords within the questions and reply with pre-defined responses.

The aim is to engage with the customer a lot more and provide an engaging 1 on 1 experience.

The Facebook chat bot already has these features and it is sure to get more and more intelligent as time goes by.

Flat design & custom illustrations – 2016 already saw a move to the flat design trend, however 2017 is expected to see that trend grow even bigger.

Flat designs sees a move away from the use of shadows and gradients to a more solid colour design with boxed off clean edges.

Custom illustrations are also growing with the flat design trend, illustrations bring with them another trend, SVG image files, however illustrations on their own bring a uniqueness to a brand and can help convey key information in one visual glance.

Bespoke designs and custom illustrations are allowing websites to stand out and break free of the cookie cutter WordPress/Shopify style templates that have grown in popularity the last few years.

Optimising for voice search – Pushed forward by Google, search is seeing a move from the usual keyword/long tail keyword search terms to a more natural conversational tone thanks to the introduction of voice activation on mobile devices.

With mobile voice searches used by those with more intent, the searches are far more specific and convenient.

We can speak approximately 150 words per minute compared to typing 40 per minute… so the benefits of voice search are clear from the outset.

The benefits don’t end there, many people see it easier to press 1 button and start speaking than clicking on an app, waiting for it load and then typing it what they are looking for, voice search negates the use of that and makes searching far quicker and easier.

You can learn more about SEO & Voice search by visiting http://www.altagency.co.uk/digital-marketing/seo/

Live Streaming – Facebook live started to hit the news in 2016 with some pretty high profile news braking and being streamed across Facebook live.

Instagram has also added a live streaming function, however the differences between Facebook and Instagram live is that the Instagram stream gets deleted after a period of time, giving the urgency to watch immediately whereas the Facebook stream lasts forever and can be viewed over and over at a viewer’s leisure.

Brands will being to take a hold of Facebook live to deliver that real time 1 on 1 experience. The ability to stream from events, showcase new products and engage 1 on 1 with their audience.

How will you be taking advantage of the 2017 web trends?