When searching for information on a website, the primary goal of making that website user-friendly is to provide the visitor with an enjoyable experience. When discussing an excellent user experience, we usually refer to pleasing aesthetics, a straightforward navigational menu, or a faster load time. For instance, while a customer may install a shopping assistant Chrome extension on their laptop to make it easier to find good deals, you can also ensure that your brand’s best deals are prominently displayed on your website with a more effective layout.
In general, making a website easier to scan encourages people to remain on the site for extended periods. In addition, individuals are more likely to purchase or engage with your brand if you provide a user-friendly experience. So, how should you design your website so visitors can scan it? Here are seven steps to creating a more user-friendly website.
When thinking about making the design of your website more user-friendly, navigation is one of the more important aspects, as it makes any information instantly accessible to the users. They should have no trouble moving around the different pages of your website, as your landing page menu should be easy to follow and easily visible. The navigational system should be redesigned if customers need help locating the buttons and links leading them to the information they seek. This means ensuring that the navigation bars are visible at all times. In addition, if the navigational menu still has obsolete acronyms, you should eliminate them.
You should also use a search box as part of your website’s design because it provides incredible additional navigational functionality. Users need only enter a keyword into the box to obtain the information they seek without physically navigating to the other pages. This will make customers feel that they own their online experience and increase the likelihood of a purchase.
If your customers cannot understand your website content quickly, you will lose them. Thankfully, breaking up the material into short paragraphs of two to three lines each will draw the reader’s attention more rapidly.
Also, ensure some contrast between the colors on the page to make it readable. It is essential to use a color for the background distinct from the color used for the text. Making use of this strategy will make reading the content much simpler.
When developing your website, readability should also be considered in terms of the format. You can use several formatting approaches, such as bulleted lists, headings, highlighting of words and sentences, and so on. This will allow your audience to obtain the most critical information swiftly.
When customers click on the link to your website, it must load almost immediately. Users will only abandon the site if it takes a long time to load. So, if you need a quicker loading time for your website, eliminate all the unnecessary elements that are not being used anymore. For instance, if you include excessive videos and multimedia forms, your website will become more challenging and less user-friendly.
Compressing your scripts is another helpful method to improve your website’s loading time. Use a program like Gzip to compress files. As a result, you will experience fewer HTTP response times if you proceed in this manner.
White space refers to the area not occupied by either of the two components. The reader’s eye is given a break by a white space left between two parts with care. This can increase the likelihood of a visitor staying on your website longer. If your website pages do not contain enough white space, they will appear cluttered and congested, making them more challenging to read.
With ample white space, you can make your content more meaningful as readers are more likely to grasp the surrounding text. For example, if you leave some white space around the content or images at the top of the page, you can draw attention to them.
You should always check how your website appears on various browsers and devices, as your clients could use internet browsers besides Google Chrome. You should also test how the website appears on mobile devices, specifically Apple and Android, to determine how it appears and performs on those platforms. While testing the website, you can run into various problems, such as the website failing to load due to applications like Flash when running on mobile devices. In that situation, the website should be redesigned from the ground up to be mobile-friendly.
Additionally, you must determine how users navigate your business website when using mobile devices and how it looks and functions on those devices. Remember that how users navigate your website on mobile devices differs from those on desktop computers. You will need to arrange the buttons on the compact screen so that they are simple for users to tap with their fingers.
Furthermore, the layout of your responsive design should allow for the creation of optimized pictures. So, use the GIF, PNG-8, and JPEG file formats.
Your prospective customers are interested in having a real-time conversation with your company to learn more about your goods or services. Nothing says a brand cares more than a unique personal conversation with each visitor to shed some light on the products and services offered. A chat feature on your website can help you interact with customers better and encourage conversation with them.
Live chat can also be used to get direct feedback from the target audience you are trying to reach. Users typically have very clear ideas about the aspects of a website that they dislike. Then, you can turn these negative comments into positives by improving the elements of your site that customers find objectionable.
When designing your website’s pages, using a single color rather than many colors is strongly recommended. Using a single color throughout your marketing materials will help maintain brand consistency and make it easier for customers to recognize your organization as legitimate. In addition, when multiple colors are used in a message, it frequently makes the users need clarification.
Nevertheless, you should pick a shade that most accurately characterizes your company. Make sure that the colors that your designer chooses for your logo are already present in the other materials that you use for marketing.
Your website will immediately become more user-friendly after implementing these seven steps. Nevertheless, the key to a site with a good user experience is consistently improving. First, talk to your clients and determine which features are most helpful. Then add those tools to your website. Keep in mind that the tools useful for an online store will differ from those valuable for a blog.
Test everything, and look at your website from the perspective of the target audience you are trying to attract. Your website design will eventually simplify navigating for those who frequent it, which could increase revenue or acquire new customers.
