Web Design Aberdeen News in Aberdeen and Edinburgh

BlogFebruary 3, 2023February 3, 2023 by LFI Creative

Your Website Speed

Within five seconds of opening your website, can your visitors:
·        Determine what your company does?
·        Easily find the services you provide?
·        Find it easy to see your pricing?

If your answer to these is mostly no, it might be time to take a hard look at the way you’ve been displaying your information online.

A website will work for you when it has a design that compliments your user experience, functionality and engaging content.

When building a web presence, it can be easy to neglect these points. However, a successful website has both high performing content and an exceptional user experience.

https://webdesignwesthill.com

#design #userexperience #userexperiencedesign #fastweb #webdesign

BlogJanuary 27, 2023January 30, 2023 by LFI Creative

Hand Out to Stand Out!

Are you exhibiting at a trade show this year?

Promote your brand and business – Hand Out to Stand Out!

t: 01224 588897

w: https://webdesignwesthill.com

#exhibitions #displaystands #corporategifts #brochures #flyers #yourbrand #design #localbusiness

BlogJanuary 20, 2023January 20, 2023 by LFI Creative

Payment Gateways -Stripe

Stripe Payments is one of the several products offered by Stripe, an international payment solutions company. In essence, it’s a system that allows you to take payments both in-person and online. Stripe Payments (which we’ll call just Stripe from now on for the sake of simplicity) can also be augmented with other products of its parent company, such as invoicing and billing tools.

If you are planning on selling products online, the user interface and functionality is key to building your business. However, if your customers are having a bad experience with paying for products, they stop trusting your business and the sales and customer engagement will drop.

The best payment gateway ensures the security and confidentiality of the customer leaving a good impression and trustworthiness on the e-commerce website.

Below we will list some popular payment gateways for your ecommerce site for Stripe.

Pros

Cons

BlogJanuary 17, 2023January 17, 2023 by LFI Creative

CrimeAlert

Looking to save money on a holiday or break?

Welcome to the January edition of North East Crime Alert.

A bi-monthly bulletin produced by the Police Scotland North East Division Crime Reduction Team aimed at keeping you up to date with what’s happening in our community.

In this edition of North East Crime Alert

We look at why catalytic converters are being stolen and how to avoid becoming a victim.

We explain why used cooking oil being stolen from across the North East.

North East Division Adult Protection Co-ordinator Alison Lynch discusses financial harm and the signs to look out for.

In the first of a new series we bring real life accounts from victims of crime in the North East.

As well as a regular round-up of crime in the North East.

From the latest frauds and scams, to general security measures, each issue will bring you advice on how to keep your property safe.
Crime across Scotland is increasing and criminals are using ever more sophisticated methods. By working in partnership we can make our communities a safer place to live and work.

BlogJanuary 17, 2023January 17, 2023 by LFI Creative

Don’t fall for a fraud

Don’t Fall For A Fraud!

Whatever kind of holiday or short break you’re thinking about, chances are you’ll be searching for – and maybe booking it – online. But with the steep rise in the cost of living, you may be reconsidering what kind of holiday you’ll be booking, and how you can save some money
along the way.

Whether you’re looking for an all-inclusive holiday in the sun, a winter break on the slopes, a cruise, flights or a staycation in an apartment, caravan or chalet, getting a great deal may be more important than usual. It also means that you could be a target for a fraudster taking advantage of the fact that you really want to get away, but you also want to watch the pennies.

Fraudsters use fake websites, listings, emails, advertisements, social media posts, texts and phone calls to trick you into buying and paying for what you think is a genuine holiday. Whereas what you might actually get is a disappointed family and no chance of getting your money back.
To help avoid this happening to you, we’ve put together some expert tips on safely searching and booking holidays and travel with confidence.

BlogJanuary 13, 2023January 13, 2023 by LFI Creative

Payment Gateways – Paypal

Payment Gateways - Paypal

The payment gateway plays an important role in the customer buying experience and should be fast, secure and trustworthy.

The best payment gateway ensures the security and confidentiality of the customer leaving a good impression and trustworthiness on the e-commerce website.

Paypal provides a easy solution buy or sell using your mobile phones on any merchant website or app. Paypal operates in 203 countries and it supports widely used credit cards like Visa, Mastercard, Citibank, American Express, etc.

Below we will list some popular payment gateways for your ecommerce site. First up, Paypal:

Pros

Cons

BlogDecember 2, 2022December 2, 2022 by LFI Creative

The Importance of Security and Upgrades

This past weekend, LFI Creative were alerted to a potential hacking attempt on a valued client’s website. Our servers picked this up immediately and we acted quickly out of hours to change passwords and check security records.

Our technical manager noticed a server response and investigated the website, using one of our daily back ups and restore the site in record time. We constantly monitor and upgrade our websites to respond to these situations quickly and efficiently.

The consequences of this hack could have resulted in the total loss of the website. This is why we have disaster recovery protocols in place at LFI Creative.

Your website is important to display your services and skills to your customers. You deserve the knowledge knowing that it is safe in your providers hands.

Remember, to look out for look the secure padlock in your browsers URL Search Bar indicating HTTPS (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure). This will tell you that a security licence is in place in a website before distributing any private information.

To avoid becoming a casualty of this, we are more than happy to secure your website to keep you safe from threats, using latest security plugins, protection software and backups – Contact us to find out more!

BlogNovember 24, 2022November 24, 2022 by LFI Creative

How Secure Is Your Website?

TOP TIP THIS WEEK:

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer and it will keep your internet connection secure, allowing you to browse the web, pay for e-commerce products and transfer funds with ease. This information you put online could be anything sensitive or personal which can include credit card numbers and other financial information, names and addresses.

Next time you are browsing the internet, look out for https:// next to your website domain. HTTPS (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure) appears in the browser bar when a website is secured by an SSL certificate.

At LFI Creative, we recently had a client come to us, stating that their website was not secure and was loading slowly. We were asked to install SSL, monitor their website activity and transfer the system to us. Within two weeks, we were delighted to hear that they had received new revenue through their website and this will lead on to further business for them.

We are more than happy to secure your website to keep you safe from threats – Contact us to find out more!

BlogNovember 11, 2022November 24, 2022 by LFI Creative

Black Friday

Black Friday Statistics in the UK in 2022

Black Friday is a recent tradition in the UK, after Amazon started to offer Black Friday deals to British shoppers in 2010.

The tradition of Black Friday shopping dates back to 1960s Philadelphia, when tourists would start their Christmas shopping the day after Thanksgiving, causing a sudden increase of shoppers in the city to give business to the shops. 2022 marks the 12th year of Black Friday shopping in the UK – so how are we preparing for it? How early do shoppers start planning for Black Friday? And how much did the pandemic affect Black Friday over the past two years?

Black Friday Britain: Everything you Need to Know

UK shoppers start searching for Black Friday deals as early as July!
Amazon, Halfords, Molton Brown and AO are the UK’s top Black Friday brands
Covid-19 seems to have had a negative impact on Black Friday’s popularity, with average monthly Google searches for Black Friday-related terms dropping by 39% between 2019 and 2021.

How Early Do Shoppers Start Preparing for Black Friday in the UK?

Black Friday deals are a fantastic way to go Christmas shopping and it’s likely that many people save their Christmas budget for November.

People in the UK start searching for Black Friday as early as July, 4 months before Black Friday deals begin!
Black Friday anticipation really starts in August, when monthly searches jumped up from July’s figure of 29,480 to 47,380.
People in the UK seem to show considerable interest in late Black Friday deals, searching 61,900 times for Black Friday-related queries in December 2021.

Which Brands Are Most Popular Amongst UK Shoppers on Black Friday?

Rank	Brand	Total Google searches made in the UK in November 2021
1	Amazon	90,500
2	Halfords	18,100
3	Molton Brown	18,100
4	AO	18,100
5	Hotel Chocolat	14,800
6	Mulberry	14,800
7	Samsung	14,800
8	DFS	9,900
9	Vivienne Westwood	9,900
10	Smyths Toys	8,100

Amazon is the most searched-for brand in relation to Black Friday deals, accumulating a total of 90,500 Google searches in November 2021. That’s 5 times higher than its closest competitors.
Next up are Halfords, Molton Brown and AO, with an average of 18,100 searches being made for each brand alongside the term ‘Black Friday’ in November 2021. That puts bike hardware, fragrances and electronics among the most sought-after Black Friday products online.
Hotel Chocolat, Mulberry and Samsung seem to be the third most popular Black Friday brands, adding chocolate, fashion and phones to the list of top Black Friday products.

How Did the Pandemic Affect Black Friday?

The Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 and 2021 drove many UK shoppers from the high street to ecommerce shopping due to lockdowns and illnesses. It’s reasonable to assume that the online culture of Black Friday shopping was impacted by this – but how much, and in what way

Interest in Black Friday seemed to peak in 2019, when people in the UK searched an average of 418,507 times per month.
During the pandemic of 2020 and 2021 the volume of Google searches for Black Friday reduced significantly compared to previous years, experiencing a drop of 39% between 2019 and 2021.
The biggest year-by-year decrease was between 2019 and 2020, when Black Friday searches dropped from 418,507 down to 280,045.

Did the Pandemic Have an Impact on Black Friday Spending?

So how much does the UK spend on Black Friday deals every year? And did this change over the pandemic?

The average Black Friday spend in 2021 was £275, £25.67 less than the average spend in 2020.
In 2020, the average Black Friday spend nearly reached £300 (£295.67).
That’s an increase of nearly £50 (£44.47) since 2019, despite interest in Black Friday deals appearing to decrease between 2019 and 2020.

The total amount spent on Black Friday increased from £5.6 billion in 2019 to just under £6 billion in 2020.

However, this figure dropped by over a billion between 2020 and 2021, falling from nearly £6 billion down to £4.8 billion.

Black Friday is a great opportunity to stock up on items and Christmas gifts in the run-up to the holiday season, especially on a budget. For more ideas about the types of Christmas gifts to buy on Black Friday, contact LFI Creative for your corporate gifts needs.

BlogNovember 4, 2022November 4, 2022 by LFI Creative

Zip Files

Zip files can be used for a lot different things. File compression, encryption, split archives, and more are all just a few clicks away once you understand the different things that zip archives are capable of.

File compression is an incredibly important part of the digital workspace. We can send more data at faster speeds than has ever been possible, which is why ZIP files are such a popular tool for businesses all across the world. ZIP is a widely used archive file format that’s used to compress one or more files together into a single location, reducing the overall size, and making it easier to transport the files. a ZIP file is a way to store or transfer data in a more efficient way. However, it’s not the only way to compress files, so be sure to look at the different compression options to work out the best archive file system for your needs.