Does Your Website Feel Pretty?
Text and user experience (UX) work together to convert. When your website feels good to your site visitor, they are more likely to read content and look at other pages.
It doesn’t matter how “pretty” you think your website is with cool images and a vibrant color palette. What matters to the visitor is how easy it is to navigate your site to get the answers they want and how clearly the text answers their question.
[clickToTweet tweet="Set up text and UX on your website to increase organic search results and convert more clients." quote="Set up text and UX on your website to increase organic search results and convert more clients."]
How to up your UX
Imagine you are visiting a site. I know you’ve done this so it won’t be hard.
- What do you want on the landing page?
- How do you get to the information you want?
- How easy is it to understand the information once you get there?
Nick Kolenda in his psychology and marketing blog lists 125 tweaks to optimize website usability. He breaks down the changes into five categories. As a business owner, you want to know about all five.
- Control the user’s focus and attention.
- Guide users toward the end goal.
- Reduce mental effort and maintain flow.
- Maximize compatibility for all users and scenarios
- Help users minimize and overcome potential errors
Right at first landing, you want your visitor to focus on what you offer and guide them to the appropriate answers and purchase option. Keep your top menu clean and focused on your visitor’s need. Examine your site to make sure the important contact points are in your top menu. Use the submenus to guide them along the journey. Help them identify who they are within your market. Lead them to pages that address those specific issues.
As a business owner, even if you don’t make the technical changes yourself, you need to be informed about what you want on your website to give guidance to your site developer. Don’t assume your website developer knows about user experience.
First Things First
At first glance (3-5 seconds) your site visitor needs to see the main points before they read anything.
- The nature of your business
- Are they a potential customer? (You fill a need or answer a question.)
- Text that is easy to read (Not tiny or strange color combinations.)
- Clean page with white space
- A clear path to have the needs met
Think of how many times you, yourself, have left a website because it was overwhelming with lots of text and no clear guidelines.
What’s Next?
Now that your site visitor has come to the page that answers their question, it’s time to hit home. Three key elements guide your visitor to read the copy.
- A headline that promises the answer
- An image that grabs attention and relates to the text
- Text that is readable, answers the search question, and calls the visitor to action
- Sub-headings that guide them through the text
The user experience and the copy on your page combine to guide the site visitor toward a buying decision. Answer the question, substantiate your claim(s), stick to one key concept per page or article, include an invitation to connect or buy.
When you combine engagement with your web visitors and the power of rich content, your business is poised for growth. Jason Darrell
Organic Search Results Take Time
The power of combining an easy to navigate website with clear copy addressing a specific need is your business base. I call this basic setup creation “the basket.” It’s the basket that is ready to receive your site visitor and ultimately lead to sales.
A sound foundation leads to multiplying results in the long run. Organic search results do not happen overnight. But starting with sound basics is likely to get your results faster.
Many businesses balance paid advertising with organic search results. Especially at the beginning, this practice helps increase sales. Still, an advertising campaign that leads potential customers to a messy, muddy, unreadable website won’t give you good results.
A Good Beginning Reaps Rewards
When you set up your website to engage site visitors, results happen.
Here’s what one of my clients wrote five months after we designed the website to guide specific site visitors to their answers and kept adding articles:
Good news, organic is beginning to produce !
i did an inspection for a systems engineer, he had high compliments for the website, i asked him how he found me he said he googled "home inspection" and i was one of the results he clicked on (didn't get page position)
i asked him what he meant, and he said he "really liked the whole layout", the way the "website had a lot of information, organized and easy to find" ...
i said "thanks a lot ekapol, know that means a lot to me, you making time to read my website"
and he replied verbatim "i like the stories you tell on your website, they're very helpful" !
zara for the complete win :)
he found us organically, that's the website and your words, and what compelled him to choose us was the stories he read on your words in the blog posts ...
Pretty Is As Pretty Does
A pretty website is one that appeals to your site visitors. Make your main points readily visible and accessible. Use copy that engages with simple, clear text which answers the site visitor’s question and addresses a need. Each page has a call to action for a specific product or service.
[clickToTweet tweet="Set up your website to guide the reader toward conversion. #webcopy #websitetips" quote="Set up your website to guide the reader toward conversion."]
The work at the beginning will pay off in search results and client satisfaction.
If you want to know more about how we can help you with successful web content, it’s easy to meet with me. Or call 503 468 7008.
Zara Altair
Zara writes semantic web content and ghostwrites books.
As a ghostwriter, Zara has created both fiction and nonfiction books. Specializing in the research, planning, and creation of digital content, Zara is responsible for delivering written material for both national and international clients.