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With more people using the internet than ever before, having a website has officially become a necessity for almost all businesses. However, having any ole’ website simply isn’t going to cut it. When people come to your website, you want to make sure that they have the best experience possible. Keeping your website user friendly is one of the key components to accomplishing this. When your website looks good and is easy to use, not only will it attract more visitors – but those videos will likely stay on the site for much longer.
Are you ready to learn about some of the things you can do to ensure that your website is more efficient? Let’s get into five characteristics of a user-friendly website.
If you’ve ever visited a website that took forever to load, you know that it’s not an enjoyable experience. On top of that, you probably made it a point to avoid that website in the future. Needless to say, you don’t want your website to be one of those sites.
Ensuring that your website loads quickly is one of the first steps to creating a user-friendly experience. Ideally, your website should load in 2-5 seconds, but realistically, if your website doesn’t load within two seconds people will be more likely to leave. With all of the work you’ve put in to attract people to your site, the last thing you want them to do is go elsewhere.
Long gone are the days when everybody browsed the internet using a computer. In fact, nearly 60% of web traffic comes from people using mobile phones and that does not include people using tablets. That number is only going to increase in the future. If your website isn’t mobile friendly you are at a serious disadvantage and you’ll likely end up losing traffic. Be sure that your website is using a mobile responsive design so that it will look consistent regardless of the devices visitors are using.
Initially when visitors come to your website, they’re probably interested in a specific page. However, they may end up needing to visit other areas of the website and you should make it as easy as possible for them to do so. Your website should have a menu that can be accessed from any page and each section should be clearly labeled. Making it simple for visitors to find the information they’re looking for will set them up to have a positive experience. If your website is difficult to navigate, it will give users another reason to leave.
You may also want to implement a search feature so that people can type in words or phrases they’re interested in and see a list of relevant pages.
Although we’d all like to think that the people who come to our website are reading every single word we’ve written, that typically isn’t the case. Most people will skim through websites to find the information they’re looking for. This is something you should keep in mind when adding content to your site.
In many ways, the way your content is formatted is almost as important as what it says. Use headers to break your content into sections and avoid big blocks of text. Each header should signify what the section will be about. Remember to use white space to provide balance and make the content easier for readers to sift through.
Links are something else to think about when it comes to the readability of your website. It’s essential that the links on your site be visible and not blend in with the rest of the text. However, you also don’t want them to clash with the rest of the page. Typically, hyperlinks are shown in blue with the color changing once they have been clicked on.
Accessibility is one of the most important elements of a user-friendly website. Be mindful of the fact that there will be a wide variety of people visiting your site, and not all of them will have the same abilities. People who have visual and/or hearing impairments should be able to navigate your website just as easily as everyone else. Some of the ways you can make your site accessible include using alt texts on your images and making sure that all of your forms are labeled properly.
Your website is the first impression many people will have of your business, so you definitely want it to be a good one. Here at Local SEO Search, our web design services are focused on creating high-quality websites that are user friendly and visually appealing. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation to learn more about what we have to offer.
