How To Craft a User-Friendly Website
Want to know an essential piece of the website puzzle you’re overlooking, yet it can prevent the loss of clients and sales?
➡️ Crafting a great user experience for those who visit your website. But what does ‘User Experience’ mean, exactly?
User Experience (UX) is about looking at all of the elements that make up a great, easy-to-use, intuitive website your customers/clients will enjoy visiting, will want to come back to and ultimately buy from - it’s not just all about the aesthetics.
A great website experience means having a straightforward journey from the moment someone lands on your website to completing a task or fulfilling a need, e.g. booking a call, filling in a contact form, buying a course, etc.
In short - people should be able to accomplish a goal with minimal obstacles and distractions (this is why it grinds my gears to see incessant pop-ups and illegible text on websites!) If you want your website to be your 24/7 cheerleader and ultimate marketing support anchor, you need to see having a great user experience as more than just a “nice to have”.
When you’re creating a website for your business, there’s a lot to think about, so you’re forgiven for looking for something to skip - but UX shouldn’t be one of those things! It’s an essential piece of the puzzle to pay attention to if you want your website to help amplify your impact and income.
So, how do you go about creating a great user experience on your website?
Prioritise making your website and its content useful, desirable, findable, accessible and usable.
Make it useful
When people land on your website, is it clear what your business is all about?
Are your services the solution they're looking for that will solve their current problems? Establish a connection with your target audience by expressing what your brand is, who you serve and why.
Make content findable
Can people find the critical information they may need without difficulty?
Does every page have a prominent call to action? People visit your website with a mission in mind, for example, to book a service or buy a product. It's up to you to guide them in the right direction and help them accomplish that mission.
Make it desirable
How do you want people to feel when they visit your website?
Are your brand visuals hitting a positive emotional chord with your website visitors or a negative one? Emotions play a massive part in people's buying decisions, so it's essential to be conscious of the vibe you express through your words, photos, colours etc. Is your brand image and identity hitting a positive emotional chord with your website visitors or a negative one? How do you find this out? Don't be afraid to ask people and pay attention to the words they use to describe your website/brand.
Aim for usability
People are easily turned off by a cluttered, poorly designed website, so let's make those first impressions COUNT. 42% of people will leave a website that has poor functionality. Do what you can to reduce your page loading times. Check links, buttons, and forms work. Make good use of white space and give your content some breathing room. And don’t neglect what your site looks like on mobile!
Ensure it’s accessible
This deserves a post all of its own, but always consider whether people with disabilities can use and access your website. Making your website accessible means making it usable by as many people as possible, including those with permanent or temporary disabilities or impairments.
Three easy fixes you can make are:
Improving the colour contrast between text and backgrounds (check how your brand colours perform using a colour contrast checker like this one).
Adding alt text to images and captions/transcripts to videos
Using a legible font size so your text is easier to read (minimum 14px for paragraphs)
These are just some of the basic building blocks to creating a great user experience on your website. It's good to revisit these every now and again to see what's working best and where things can be improved. Your website can quickly become one of your most important employees, so the aim is to ensure it's showcasing your business in the best way possible.
