Is Your Website User Friendly?
Simple Tips To Make Your Site Visitors Love Your Page
User experience (UX) is all about how your customer feels when they arrive at your website, on any page. Your visual impression is important. It's the first thing they see, before they read one word.
You don’t need to be a technical whiz to make your website feel inviting. If a technical aspect comes up, it’s worth getting help to ensure a positive experience on your website.
With the flood of websites available for consumers, giving yours a “feel good” experience is worth reviewing how your website works.
Visit Your Site As a Customer
Open up your browser and visit your site. Business owners can be so involved in the backend of a website, they often forget to visit the site and use it as a customer would. Most people use their phone to access a website for the first time, so be sure you visit on your mobile device as well as your computer.
Does your site load quickly both on a computer screen and a mobile device? The optimum load time is between two to five seconds. Test your site using https://gtmetrix.com/. 53% of mobile users abandon a website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to render.
Use simple fonts in a 12 point or larger size for easy reading. Don’t try to cram in more text on a page with tiny fonts.
Font color is easy to see. Black and dark grey are easy for eyes to see and read. Avoid colored fonts except for titles and headers. You may think your red and blue or purple and green text sets you apart. It does. It makes your site less readable than your competitors’ sites.
Reverse color background. White text on a dark background is harder to read. If you use this scheme for your website, make sure the text is large and separated into paragraph chunks to enhance readability. The darker the background the better the readability. White text on colored background - red, blue, green, pink - is very hard on the eyes. You may want to reconsider how you use your website colors.
Have ample white space. Use short paragraphs. White space around text makes it easier to read.Long paragraphs are difficult to read. Your site visitor may leave rather than read.
Break up text with headers. Headings and subheadings allow your site visitor to skim your page and get to the place that has the information they need.
Make navigation simple. Your menu helps people find just what they need. Nothing should be more than 3 clicks away.
Keep your page uncluttered. Less is more when you want your site visitor to focus on the information on the page.
Be consistent. The overall feel of the website should be consistent no matter what page your visitor is viewing. Most themes for websites create consistency. If you have engaged a website designer, double check that your site feels the same on every page, like font sizing.
Go Behind the Scenes
If everything looks good as a user, go into your website to maximize your site visitor’s experience.
Optimize your images. You want engaging images for visual cues and to break up text, but large images can slow down your website speed. Image compression and optimization can be technical, but you can use some simple tools to reduce the image file size. Online optimization tools like Simple Image Optimizer can resize, compress, and optimize your image, making it ready for use. If you use WordPress, the Smush plugin, will compress and optimize the image files in your media library.
Font and Size. Set the font size to a comfortable reading level. If you use a dark background with white text, make sure the font size is large enough to read comfortably. This means it will be larger than the same text on a white background.
Adjust your navigation menu. A cluttered navigation bar is confusing. Your site visitor may chose nothing and leave. Organize your menu with submenus under a few navigation tabs. Keep the 3-click rule in mind. This is especially important for the growing number of visitors who use mobile devices.
If any of these steps feel too technical, get the help of a UX designer to help you manage the feel and usability of your website.
Provide a Great User Experience
The concept behind all these tweaks to your website is to make it as easy to use as possible. People buy on emotions. A positive experience on your website is the first step in making your prospective buyer become a customer.
Zara Altair
Photo by Ion Şipilov on Unsplash
