Creating a user-friendly website is crucial for keeping visitors engaged and increasing conversions. When designing and developing a website, it is important to prioritize the user experience from the very beginning. Here are some tips to ensure that your focus stays on the user experience throughout the process.
1. Think About Your Site Preferences
Consider your own preferences when designing a website. How you feel when looking at a site plays a major role in how you receive its content. Keep in mind that your ideal site visitors may have similar preferences. Some universal preferences include scannable text, plenty of white space, and easy-to-read fonts. Use short paragraphs, subheadings, lists, and images to break up dense blocks of text. Stick to straightforward fonts that are universally recognized, and ensure that links are easily identifiable and working.
2. Research the Industry
Pay attention to industry relevance when designing a website. Visitor expectations vary from industry to industry, so it is important to be aware of these expectations. Include the appropriate functions associated with a specific industry in the site to avoid confusing or alienating visitors. While you don’t always have to stay within the box in terms of design aesthetic, make sure to meet industry expectations for functionality.
3. Think of the Navigation
A user-friendly website should have easy-to-locate and use navigation. Avoid getting overly creative with menus, as complex drop-downs can confuse visitors. Place navigation menus in a prominent place, such as along the top of the site or on the left-hand side. Additionally, include an easily accessible search bar to help visitors find the content they’re looking for. Lastly, create a sitemap to make the site easier for search engines to read and rank higher.
4. Consider the Devices Used
Recognize that people will be accessing your site from different devices. Choose a responsive theme to ensure that your site looks as intended on smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers. Responsiveness ensures that navigational elements are always above the fold for easy access and that buttons are appropriately sized for the device. Images should also adjust to fit the screen at hand.
5. Optimize for Speed
The speed at which your website loads is crucial for user-friendliness. Slow loading times can frustrate visitors, even if they know exactly where they want to go on your site. Use common sense to optimize load times, such as avoiding large images or compressing them using tools like TinyPNG and Smush. You can also use caching plugins like W3 Total Cache to speed up load times site-wide.
By following these tips, you can create a user-friendly website that keeps visitors engaged and encourages conversions. Prioritizing the user experience from the beginning of the design and development process will help you create a site that meets visitor expectations and keeps them coming back for more.
