Your website is the place to which all the digital roads you’ve built over time lead. That content you post on Facebook or Instagram? Probably leads to your website. Those PPC ads you’re setting on Google Ads? They also probably lead to your website. The links in the emails that go out to your mailing list? Still leading to the website. Because of its central placement, the website is the most important asset in the usual digital setup. That means that in case the website is experiencing issues, it can drag down all the other things your business is doing online. The solution? Make sure your website always performs well. In the current user-centric culture, a well-performing website is a website that provides a good user experience. If you agree with this — and there’s no reason to disagree — then having a high-performance website means providing a great user experience. And here’s how you improve your website’s user experience in five easy steps.
Remove the Clutter
Here’s the deal: people don’t have long attention spans. Our attention spans have shrunk since we started using the internet, and they weren’t that impressive in the first place. Plus, with the abundance of things we can devote our attention to, we’ve become significantly pickier when it comes to the things we focus on.
Visual clutter will turn people off your website. It will make whatever message you want the website to convey much more difficult to notice. Unneeded features and options will only backfire. Make it easy for people to find and focus on what they need.
Improve the Speed
There are a couple of things most people who browse the internet expect. One is that they’ll be able to find whatever they need with a search or two. The other is that every website they visit or app they use loads quickly.
People don’t want to wait around for your website to load, no matter how good the things you sell are. You should understand that everyone’s busy and that your website is the only one in the sea of websites that offer similar things.
Even though a slow website can still be functional, the performance dip it experiences due to slow speeds will be enough to create real damage. There is a number of things that might affect the speed of your website, so make sure you check all of them for a room for improvement. It’s best to do this before the slow website starts hurting your business.
Make It Mobile-Friendly
If you’re still on the fence about the whole mobile browsing thing and how it can affect your website’s performance, you need to stop. The jury’s in, everyone is using smartphones and browsing on the go. A mobile-friendly online presence is so common now that even small local shops have it. And they are benefiting from it.
Making your website mobile-friendly might be an investment you think you’re not ready for. The problem, however, is that if you don’t want to invest in mobile-friendliness for your website, it’s almost like you shouldn’t have a website at all. We’re at that point. To catch up quickly.
Rethink the Visuals
Visuals are great. There are just so many different things you can do with the careful use of visuals. Careful is the keyword here. Overuse of images and visuals can lead to clutter, slow loading speeds, and a complete disconnect between your website and your brand.
Visuals affect a couple of things that influence user experience, including website speed and the ease of understanding and navigating the website. As such, they are an incredibly important element of a good user experience, as long as you give some thought to how you’re using them.
Check the Security
It’s a well-established fact that no one is safe from online security attacks. If you own a small business, and especially if you handle customers’ credit card information, you’re probably more at risk than most people or businesses.
Even if your business’ lack of security features doesn’t have to translate into a bad user experience right away, it will eventually. And by the time it does, your business might be done and fighting several lawsuits. So don’t take online security lightly — do whatever you can to keep your data, and the data of your customers, safe.
