Driving traffic to your website is important, but that alone won’t result in conversions. To get the most out of your content marketing efforts, you need a website that looks good, provides helpful information and is easy for users to navigate. Enter User Experience (UX), which focuses on the usability and accessibility of your website. With two-thirds of people preferring pages that are optimized for UX, the way your website is designed can have a significant impact on the success of your content marketing efforts. Help increase usability and create a better customer experience by keeping these things in mind during your website design project.
1. Have a Descriptive Navigation Menu
Users want to be directed straight to the information they’re looking for, they don’t want to have to search for it. Having a clearly laid out
navigation is important if you want users to stick around long enough to learn about the products and services your company offers. Instead of generic terms like “products,” use specific labels to help users – and search engines – have a clear idea of what information can be found on your website. Also categorize your web pages in a way that makes the information easy to find.
2. Make People Want to Explore Your Site
After someone visits your site for a specific product or service, you want them to explore your site to see what else your company has to offer. A professional and visually appealing layout can help you accomplish this by telling people who you are and what your offer, and by providing users with clear and easy access to your information. Use photos, but don’t overwhelm people with too many flashy graphics or content that isn’t relevant to your site or industry. Also keep your background simple so the text stands out and is easy to read.
3. Consider the Readability of Your Content
Long walls of text are hard to read, especially on a mobile device, so keep paragraphs short and use bullets to break up sections. Chunking content into sections and adding headers also helps people skim content and quickly locate the information they’re looking for. Also remember to write for a general audience: using industry-specific terminology is fine, but reserve the highly technical content for whitepapers and other technical documents.
4. Test Your Site's Speed
Over
30% of users will leave a website that takes more than seven seconds to load. That’s a pretty significant number. test your site's page speed regularly and prevent download speed issues by optimizing photos, videos and other content that can slow down your site. A website that is fast and easy to navigate will keep users on your site longer, which can help increase conversion rates.
5. Optimize Your Site for Mobile
Having a
mobile responsive website design is extremely important for UX. Mobile responsive websites are designed to automatically adjust to various screen sizes, whether it’s a desktop, laptop, smartphone or tablet. Websites that aren’t mobile-friendly are harder to navigate and read on a smaller screen, which can result in users becoming frustrated and leaving your site. In addition to creating a better browsing experience for your site visitors, having a mobile friendly site also helps your google search engine ranking so more people can find you and learn about your business.
6. Tell People Your Story
One report found that
46% of users will leave a site if it lacks a clear message about what the company does. Help users connect with your company by telling them about your business, and don’t forget to include any details that make your company unique. It’s also important to let people know how to get in contact with you. Place contact information in a prominent location instead of burying it in the subnavigation, and include “Request for Quote” or “Contact Us” buttons on pages to give customers a quick and easy way to access your contact information. Check out our blog post about the importance of having a website:
6 Reasons Your Business Needs a Website Need help redesigning your site for UX? Contact us to learn about our
website design services and
website usability testing services.
