These days, most businesses have a website, but there is a huge difference between having a website and having a website that actually works well for your business. Of course having a website that looks pretty is not the be all and end all, as it needs to perform in terms of SEO and SERPs, but to have a website that has an intuitive design and clear navigation is the best starting point. Think of your website as a shop window that is constantly available. It is important to ensure that anyone coming to your website is impressed with what they see. First impressions really do make a difference and the stakes are high – it could be the difference between someone choosing to work with you or not.
Enhance the user experience
With this in mind, we go back to basics to find out some of the areas to improve user experience when creating a website.
Balance your White Space
When visiting a website, we all want to be able to find the information we are looking for easily and not be bombarded with text, images and too much clutter! Obviously, content is important, but it is vital that your content is concise, relevant and strategically placed throughout your website. Using white space to balance the design of your website allows clarity for the user. Make sure that the most important content is communicated at the top of the website page, using white space to highlight or distinguish it from another section of the site. This makes the different sections on a single page easier to see and they can then choose which area of the page they would like to look at/read. If there is too much going on this could result in a higher bounce rate, as visitors to your website may be overwhelmed and leave to check out a competitor’s site instead!
Highlight Hyperlinks
This seems like an obvious one, but it is an important one to mention. If you are linking to other websites or pages within your own website, it is important to highlight any hyperlinks in a different colour. This distinguishes them from the other content. If you want someone to click through from a hyperlink, it needs to be made obvious from the start. Most people know that if content is underlined or highlighted in blue, it is a clickable link. You can theme this to tie in with your branding if you prefer.
Sectioning information
If you have a specific process that you would like to communicate through your website or have a list of services that you would like to mention, there are different ways of portraying this in a clear way to your visitors. For example, if you have a specific process that you want to communicate, a clear way of displaying this information is by sectioning the page into three columns. Or use bullet points to punctuate a list, making it more easy to read and follow. By having clear sections throughout your site, you can control the flow of information and ensure that the messages that you want to be communicated are effectively displayed.
Clear Headings
Using effective headings within your website to guide your visitors through your website will provide a clear navigation and enable your visitors to understand exactly what you offer, and where to find out more about each section within your website.
Are you Responsive?
It’s something we’ve been talking about since 2015, but there are still websites out there that are not compatible with mobile devices and it is such an error to make! With around 60% of searches now done through mobile devices, if your website is not responsive the chances of people staying on your site whilst viewing on a mobile are slim. If you haven’t get upgraded your website to be responsive you should consider this as a priority. You can test whether your site is mobile responsive here
If you would like advice on website design please contact us on hello@cleverbusinesswebsites.co.uk or call on 01865 98 98 99