Having a website that is easy to use, navigate, discover information on, and get around is what we mean when we talk about user-friendly design. Website performance, usability, and design are all areas where modern users have high expectations, and rightfully so. Coming across a mediocre website is disheartening, especially with the constant emergence of innovative and impressive web design and development trends.
MavericksMedia being the best ottawa web design company is super excited to develop our client’s web design, and here is a reason why.
It’s no longer optional to have a user-friendly design on your website if you want people to stay and come back; it’s a must. For the purpose of creating a website that is easy for users to navigate and understand, we have compiled a list of ten tried-and-true methods.
1. Making the Web Friendly for Users: Making the Design Viewer-Friendly
When people visit your website, there is a significant gap between your expectations and what you would like them to see. Obviously, in order to achieve your goals, you need to meet your conversion rates and key performance indicators. If you focus on your target audience and make your site easy to use for them, you should have no trouble reaching your goals.
In order to make well-informed decisions, it is recommended that you collect all relevant information before beginning any planning or design project. A Customer Journey Map, a heat mapping tool for your existing site, and an examination of your Google Analytics data can all help you achieve this goal. Looking at your site from the user’s perspective might reveal areas that “made sense at the time” but are now extremely confusing.
2. Online, Regulatory Compliance Is The Law
Everyone knows that you want your website to be easy for readers to use, but what about the people who really make the rules? By “rulers,” we mean those responsible for establishing and enforcing norms and policies within the electronic realm. Take care to respond positively to the following questions:
Has my data storage disclosure, disclaimer, and privacy policy been updated and is it easy to find?
- Can I access my cookie preferences immediately?
- Does it say HTTPS on my SSL certificate? I want to make sure it’s current.
- Does my content originate from my own thoughts and not plagiarize?
- How well do I comply with various privacy protection laws, like the General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act?
- Is my accessibility up to ADA standards?
What about regulations that pertain to my particular field? Am I missing any disclosures or statements that should have been posted?
3. Make sure your website is mobile-friendly by making it responsive.
Having a mobile-friendly site is a must-have in this day and age, when 62% of website traffic comes from mobile devices. We advise you to build your site with mobile users in mind from the start, since Google rewards sites that load quickly and load correctly on mobile devices with higher search engine rankings.
By focusing on what’s absolutely necessary for mobile users, the mobile-first approach guarantees that you won’t miss a beat when it comes to designing your site. By taking into account how the various pieces of content will need to be arranged when viewed on a smaller screen compared to a desktop, this method also aids your developer in creating the site as efficiently as possible.
4. Make Sure The Navigation And Layout Are Easy To Use
The idea of keeping things simple when creating a website is not new. Things must be as easy to understand and use as possible for today’s users. But there’s usually a conflict between this want and the need to jam as much data as possible onto the screen. If site visitors are confused about what to do next, they may leave for a less daunting experience elsewhere.
Therefore, how does one go about creating an excellent user experience? Avoid using complicated page names and multi-level navigations when creating your site map; instead, aim for simplicity and intuitiveness. Rather, we suggest that you give each page a sensible and distinct name and minimize the number of sub-navigations. Wireframes are incredibly useful for this because they offer a simple layout without any unnecessary elements. Before you start adding graphics, this helps you establish what elements are most important. Last but not least, white space is your friend when it comes to designing and evaluating websites. It helps to separate different types of information and draws attention to what’s most important. Remember that an excess of white space can give the impression that a site is incomplete or unnecessarily lengthy.
5. Make Page Performance a Top Priority
Websites that take too long to load aren’t competitive anymore. People will leave your site in droves if it takes more than three seconds to load. According to statistics, if a page took more than three seconds to load, 53 percent of mobile site visitors left. Sites that loaded in under three seconds had ad viewability 25% higher, sessions 70% longer, and bounce rates 35% lower than sites that took nearly four times as long, 12 seconds.
Site performance and speed can be impacted by numerous factors. It is critical to optimize your site for performance by establishing a plan during planning and then consistently monitoring and adjusting as needed. Feeling uncertain about your site’s competitiveness?
6. Make Use of Self-Service Choices to Craft an Outstanding Experience
Website visitors, even the most tech-savvy ones, will expect your site to have a fast and functional search feature in case they ever get stuck. (If you’re lucky, your search will turn up some pertinent frequently asked questions!) No one has time for that, so if it doesn’t, people will probably go to a different, more user-friendly site. It’s an important but straightforward design element.
If your website allows users to access your customer experience portal to manage their accounts, make sure the steps to do so are easy to see and follow, and make it simple for them to contact you if they have any problems. This is where chatbots and other chat services come in handy; they can make your self-service area even more helpful to customers.
On occasion, it’s necessary to nudge or prod site visitors in the direction of the action your company desires them to take on a particular page. You shouldn’t leave your visitors guessing about what to do just because it’s obvious to you on any given page. You can get people to do what you want them to do by placing a prominent call-to-action on each page and in other easily clickable places. Here are a few instances of prominent calls to action:
- “Click Here to Order”
- “Download Now”
- “Contact Us”
- “Request an Estimate”
- “Explore X Abundantly”
- “Grab Your Free X”
7. Make Sure Your Images Represent Your Brand, Are Easy To See, And Load Fast
Your logo should be prominently displayed in the top left corner of your website, just like it is on company letterhead. Users will have no trouble recognizing your brand because of this. No matter where a user lands on your site, they should be able to click on your logo to return to the homepage.
Visitors to modern websites expect more visual content, such as photos and videos, and less text. Simultaneously, avoid overwhelming the viewer with stimulation and strike an appropriate balance between text and images. Make good use of real photographs whenever you can, and use high-quality images to supplement the text without overwhelming the page.
Be aware that picture size significantly affects how quickly your pages load. If you want your images to be as small as possible without losing quality, follow this guide.
8. Rely on Quality, Not Quantity
Search engines and human readers alike seek high-quality articles. The subject matter should be relevant and valuable in all forms of content, including written pieces, photos, videos, and guides. A sea of meaningless filler is not what anyone is looking for. You and your readers both gain when you publish unique content that is well-written, has relevant answers to user questions, and demonstrates your expertise.
Ask yourself whether you’ve ever used the internet to find a recipe. As a general rule, when you do a search for “recipe blog,” you’ll end up on a lengthy story filled with advertisements that you’ll have to scroll past before you reach the recipe itself. This is the most annoying exception, man. Do not do this unless you are writing a recipe blog. Instead, give a brief introduction, explain the current page’s purpose, address frequently asked questions about your industry, and finally, provide supporting evidence to support your claims. Put your faith in us. It will be appreciated by your readers.
9. Simplify Content Digest and Shareability
To make your content easy to skim, use simple and concise language and make use of formatting techniques such as headers, subheadings, and bullet points. When you can, try not to use terms specific to your field. Always keep your audience’s knowledge level in mind when writing, and use simple language whenever feasible; however, don’t be afraid to use words that demonstrate your expertise in your field. Prepare answers in writing and consider the best way to sell your services or product to others in person.
Nowadays, if you want your social media content to go viral, it needs to be interesting, useful, and easy to share. You can make it easy for visitors to share content from your site to their various social media accounts by adding social share icons to each page and by investigating social share plugins or modules.
10. Always Make Sure to Test, Test, Test!
Without a doubt, give it a go! Just as most of us would think twice before purchasing a vehicle without first taking it for a spin, the same logic should apply to the usability of your website. We urge you to test, test, test before it goes live, the commitment, the moment of truth! Be sure to test your secure connection, forms, and links. Access your website from any and all devices. Do everything you would expect a visitor to do when they visit your customer portals, including signing in, out, and back in again. Audit your website’s connections, load times, and links with the help of Google’s suite of tools. Gather your readability scores using any number of SEO tools and make sure everything is up to par.
Is Your Website Designed to Be Easy to Use?
Applying a large number of the aforementioned suggestions will yield the best results. Make sure your site is fully functional before launching it to the public. Website visitors and search engine rankings are both negatively affected by broken links. We can conduct a comprehensive audit of your site and identify specific areas that could be optimized, or you can use Google’s Page Speed Insights to test your site speed. Perhaps it’s ideal as it is! Let’s take a look at this helpful report that compares website performance and go from there!
