The technology world is always evolving.  Normally when we look at technology, we look at the physical devices and see how much better and faster they are becoming.  I can recall 20 years ago, my computer was running at 16 MHz, and we look at technology today and everything is running at GHz speed.  My first computer had a 40 megabyte hard drive, something you could probably only find online in an auction today.  We tend to look at the physical aspects of technology most of the time; yet just as physical devices evolve over time so does the technology in the code that powers them.  For years HTML4 was the standard when it came to developing websites.  The HTML4 standard was finalized in 1997, and in 2004 the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group began working on the HTML5 standard.  Over the course of nearly 10 years, the HTML5 is now in a state of a stable W3C Recommendation, which basically means that the specification and standardization process is complete.

So what is the big deal about HTML5?  Well, for starters, HTML5 brings with it a more responsive user interface for mobile browsers.  With Google’s latest update the will penalize your website if it is not mobile friendly, using HTML5 to create a responsive website that looks great across all platforms is very beneficial.  Outside the fact that Google is penalizing sites not optimized for mobile traffic, you need to also consider the fact that mobile traffic has now surpassed normal desktop traffic on the Internet.  If your site is not optimized for mobile browsers, people browsing from their mobile devices are likely to leave your site and go somewhere that is optimized for their browsing needs.

Now for the meat and potatoes of why you came to this article.  Below we will discuss 3 HTML5 tips that can help guarantee success for your business online.

1) Website Compatibility

We briefly touched on this earlier when we mentioned responsive websites and mobile browsers.  With HTML5 the content you create can work on pretty much any device that visits your page.  While the look on a desktop may appear different the say on a smart phone, the content is still easily accessible.  The only difference would be the way the menus, and images might be laid out depending on how large or small the browsers screen is. Another great aspect with HTML5 is that you can now design things that once required JavaScript to be enabled in order to function without the use of JavaScript.  For example, you can create opt-in forms to capture leads without using JavaScript.  This works out a lot better as some people would browse the Internet with JavaScript disabled due to security issues.  If they were to visit your page and you were using the old JavaScript method to collect leads, they would not even see your opt-in form.  With HTML5 this is no longer an issue.

2) HTML5 Can Be Used To Determine Location

With HTML5, you can help your visitors our by asking to allow their device to provide you with their location.  This is great if you want to provide local information about news, weather, traffic, or even reviews about local businesses.  Other areas that can be beneficial would be an easier way to provide directions to your business location.  Most websites ask a user to enter in an address then click a button to generate the driving directions.  With HTML5, if someone authorizes your website to give their location information, the driving directions would not need to prompt a user for a starting location.  HTML5 can use a combination of GPS or wireless signals to determine approximately where a user is when accessing your website.

3) HTML5 Can Help Boost Engagement And Interactivity

Before HTML5, most websites used Adobe Flash to create and display interactive content using audio, video, and even games.  The biggest issue with Adobe Flash is that the software is constantly being exploited and is vulnerable to attack.  Another issue with using Flash files is that the HTML code to embed these files was a bit bloated.  Using HTML5 to embed content uses simple tags for audio and video embedding.  The less website code you need, the faster your site should load which will also enhance your websites scores in the eyes of the search engines.  Using HTML5, you can easily boost engagement by hosting video content which has been proven to improve a websites metric scores by increasing time on site, and page views per session if you interlink your website properly.  This also will help reduce your websites overall bounce rate.

So their you have it, three tips on how to use HTML5 to better improve your website and succeed online.  Let us know your thoughts and if you are using HTML5 to improve your online properties.  If you could use some help with your website, feel free to reach out to our Web Design team to see how WebVantage Marketing can help you.