Ten Tips for a site your users will LOVE

A good website LOOKS good.

A GREAT website looks good and is FUNCTIONAL

We all love a website that is just SO unbelievably pretty your jaw drops when you hit the landing page.

But that love often quickly fades as soon as you try to actually USE the website.

Where’s the content?
What is this half-loaded image of?
Will this page actually LOAD some time this week?

Sound familiar?

If this describes your website, then you definitely need to IMPROVE USABILITY if you hope to attract more custom.

In 2019, a website alone will not impress anyone; it needs to communicate a powerful message to your customer that makes them feel confident buying from you, that instils trust in them and makes them feel that you have their interests in mind.

Here are our Ten Tips for a site users will LOVE

1) Get inside your customers head – Try thinking objectively about your website and how it looks to an outsider. Invite friends to test the website and watch how easily they navigate it to identify pain points. Ask for constructive criticism and take any advice on board.

2) Get mobile-friendly – Responsive web design is a phrase you may have heard; it basically means the elements will shrink or expand to fit the device the user is browsing on. Over 50% of all web traffic is now done via mobile devices and if your site ignores their experience you are theoretically slamming the door on potential clients.

3) Be navigable – ‘Can I find what I want…quickly and easily?’ is what your visitor will care about above all else. If the answer is no, don’t expect them to stick around and jump through hoops. Make navigation as simple and straightforward as possible, and repeat important CALLS TO ACTION wherever needed.

4) Make your homepage work for you – A dead homepage is a missed sales opportunity. Great homepages all contain the most IMPORTANT information the visitor may want.

5) Colour psychology – choose colour wisely. A red CALL TO ACTION may draw the eye to it, but it could also signal a warning sign especially if a transaction is involved.

6) Be image-wise – Stock images can be convenient and also useful to put your message across, however if it is selling a product it may cause the customer to question the legitimacy of your product if it has been lifted from another site.

7) Format your text – Headings, paragraph spaces, commas and bold sections all serve a purpose; to break up the text and guide the eye through the content. Heavy, unformatted blocks of text are a nightmare to read and most web users will just not bother.

8) Use customer-focussed language – What you WRITE on your website is as important as the design itself. The customer is not interested in your empty boasts, they are interested in what you can do for them. This is your chance to TELL them what you have to offer.

9) Keep plug-ins to a minimum – You may argue they add something extra to your site, but in reality it will make your pages slower to load and harder to browse.

10) Watch for 404 errors – Finally these annoying 404 error pages will quickly turn away customers. Use a plug in to help identify errors and dead links

If you think your website could be more user-friendly but aren’t sure where to start, just drop us a message on webchat and we’ll be happy to help with a FREE WEB EVALUATION.