The internet has rapidly turned the world into a 24/7 online economy - ghe very reason you need an online presence. Thankfully, your business’s website servex your customers around the clock. However, it can be frustrating finding out that people are visiting your website, but are bounced back without fulfilling their order or getting answers to questions.
Before you start looking for what or who to blame, it can become clear that potential customers didn’t have a delightful experience on your website. It could be that they had a hard time navigating, didn’t make an emotional connection with the website, or the content didn’t add value.
Your solution here is to find ways to improve the user experience of your website. It can be daunting to overhaul the entire setup, but a few improvements here and there can go a long way.
Here, are 5 tips that you can consider to enhance the website user experience for your small business.
Before you start improving website user experience, it is important to ensure that your prospects are finding you easily on the search engines in the first place. If they can’t find you, the chances of them ever getting to your website are minimized significantly. Employ ways to optimize your site for SEO. For instance, if you are a gym owner, a good SEO for gyms starts with determining the most searched keywords by gym enthusiasts. You can then create valuable content using these keywords to raise your ranking on the online search engines. In addition, you can use a Google My Business page, usually featured in the ‘Map’ section. This one is much easier to get it highly ranked than a website. Be sure to include your name, address, and contacts correctly. Solicit for reviews to drive the fastest rankings to boost.
Now, to the tips for enhancing the website user experience
1. Make text easily readable
People read content differently, but the truth is, most people scan through the content. They only go back to read in its entirety if it sounds interesting. In this case, you want to make your text easier to scan for people who visit your website.
Start with a good font that is easy to read. Next, use plenty of headings to help break the text into small readable chunks. Anyone scanning through gets a lot of information when you use many headings as compared to using a few followed by a huge block of text.
Remember to make your paragraphs short, use bulleted or numbered lists, and highlight the important terms. If you want people to click on a text, make it obvious by underlining or highlighting in a different color.
2. Make it easy to navigate
No one wants to stay in a place that he or she feels lost. If your visitors can’t find your navigation area then they’ll be lost. Lost users lead to bored and confused users who leave your site - say experts from Once Interactive.
That is why your website design should include easy navigation that lets people know where they are and how to get to the next place they are going. When it comes to website design, it is good to let it follow what most people are used to. For instance, the first place consumers look for logo placement is the top-left corner. Users know that clicking it will lead to the homepage. Other items that would be the main navigation menu include Contact, Products, About Us, log in and resources like a blog. They also expect the footer to include the Sign-up form, social media links, Privacy Policy, and other less clicked icons.
3. Optimize for speed
One thing that is sure to put off users from a website is website pages that take too long to load. People are more conscious of their time; when a quick search on your website turns to minutes, you can be sure that they will bounce at a very high rate, which would be detrimental for your website traffic. Even as you concentrate on making the content readable and design easy to use, improve your website performance.
A few things you can do to improve the speed includes minifying scripts and style sheets and getting rid of unnecessary features. You can also minimize the size of your images, but be careful not to compromise the quality.
4. Let it look appealing
Most people love looking at aesthetically pleasing things, and your website is not an exception. If it is crumpled and cluttered, people will find it not appealing to the eye.
You can start by making use of white space. This means leaving ample empty spaces between text to increase legibility and to make your website look organized and fresh. In addition to using organized text, you need to make sure you find a balance between images, animations, and colors. Lastly, minimize the number of popups. These are a joy killer when one is happily navigating through a website.
5. Optimize for mobile
Technology has advanced to include different devices used to browse the web. Most people are turning to mobile devices such as smartphones to access the internet on the go. The younger generation often goes without a personal laptop as smartphones are more inexpensive and many have access to them. If you are to improve the user experience, it is imperative that your website is optimized for mobile. In addition, it should have great design and easier navigation.
About the Author
Alona Cornell is a Social Media Manager with over 5 years of experience working at the intersection of marketing and technology. Alona is passionate about driving better customer experiences and stronger business results.
