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A website is the most powerful digital asset for small businesses and entrepreneurs if it provides a relevant and meaningful user experience. It affects visitors’ journey on the website and influences whether they explore further and make conversions. That’s why it’s vital to understand how to improve user experience on website.
Furthermore, UX is an important Google ranking factor. Put differently, it influences the SEO performance and a web page’s position on the search engine result page (SERP).
Thus, user experience has a double significance since it both determines the website’s position on the search engine results page (SERP) and visitors’ behavior on the website.
With a good website user experience, you provide a positive experience to the visitors that fulfill their needs and increases the chance they’ll become your paying customers.
Aleph Website discloses 8 great tips on how to improve the website user experience that will bring you more customers.
1. Build a Responsive design that is Mobile-Friendly
One of the most important criteria for a good website’s user experience is responsiveness.
Does your website look good and work on any device?
Is the website accessible on mobile devices?
Keep in mind that visitors use different devices which have different screen sizes and resolutions, so it’s necessary to make UX design responsive for each type of device. Mobile design is unique as the screen viewport is small. You want to make sure that the user interface is adapted and interactive.
Mobile phone website traffic has been increasing over the years, so make sure your website is mobile-friendly. Your website visitors should view and use the site easily regardless of which device they use. Therefore, it’s critically important to adjust website elements to fit mobile devices.
Google Search Console provides a Mobile-friendliness test that shows how the website looks on a mobile device and whether the web pages have usability and visual design problems such as:
- Text too small to read
- Clickable elements too close
- Content wider than the screen
- Uses plugins that are not supported by most mobile browsers
- Viewport not set, etc. (the tag which gives the browser instruction on how to adjust web page dimension to the screen size)
Many of these issues can be ameliorated by:
- Choosing the right typography and font sizes
- Building a human-centered design that accounts for the human factors
- Running multiple iterations to get to the final version of the design
- Focus on interface functionality from a user perspective
- Build contextual pages with minimal noise so you don’t distract the user
2. Improve Loading Speed
One of the most important tips on how to improve website user experience is improving loading speed. How fast does your website load and why does this matter?
Google PageSpeed Insights is a tool that tests the speed of web pages.
Google recommends page loading speed be less than 2-3 seconds. Statistics show that more than half of people will leave the website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load.
Generally speaking, online users are extremely impatient and want to get information as quickly as possible. Therefore, a good website has to be loaded as soon as possible.
This test scores web pages on a scale of 0 to 100 and gives suggestions for both desktop and mobile versions of the site.
3. Understand your user’s expectations and challenges
When it comes to user experience, it’s necessary to be empathetic and understand the user’s behavior on the site in order to create web pages that will meet their needs. This is where user research plays a significant role.
By conducting user research, you can better understand what your website users need and require, so adjust your website to their needs. One of the most effective approaches is using surveys consisting of a series of targeted questions.
Tips to Meet User Expectations:
- Hire a UX/UI Designer to build the wireframes, prototypes, and mockups for you
- Start always with simple sketches and then move to prototyping
- Test User Interactions on the actual interface before launching your website
- Use Interactive design to help the user through the buyer journey
- Use predictable website design patterns that match what the user expects (stick to industry guidelines)
- Website designers can take on the user experience design part of your job, while you focus on the actual conversions and user journey
4. Keep the Website Simple and Consistent
Simplicity is the key to a good website user experience. Online users have much shorter attention spans than ever, so UX design has to be as intuitive as possible.
Also, everything on the site has to be consistent. Design elements, photos, font, coloring, etc. should match on the same web page and between pages.
When navigating through the website, visitors have to feel they are at the right place, on the same website. This way, you improve their buyer journey and enhance purchasing process. Put differently, a consistent website is more enjoyable, since it increases the chances that users will take the desired action (make a conversion and become your customers).
Additionally, the simple and consistent website will increase session duration (the time a user is actively engaged with your website) which is a very important UX metric that Google takes into account when evaluating website user experience.
5. Use Internal Links
Links that connect pages of the same website (internal links) are beneficial in many ways.
Internal links make navigation through the website easier, and help website visitors find relevant content. This way, you keep them warm and lead them towards the landing pages where they make conversions.
Also, internal links increase the time visitors spend on the website (session duration) and help Google understand the website structure.
The information architecture plan allows you to plan internal links and make them a part of the total user journey. Each click should make sense and bring value to the user. This type of accessibility helps the user navigate faster and get to the final page where they convert.
A user-centered design process is not just aesthetic, it’s also optimized to provide an organic expeience.
6. Provide Valuable Content
Relevant and valuable content is vital for user experience. Once you define your customer segment and understand the problems, challenges, and needs of your target audience, you can create valuable content that educates your prospects and helps them solve the problem.
Keep in mind that your website visitors are at different phases of the buyers’ journey, so make sure that you create content for each marketing funnel.
Why does providing engaging content really matter?
Content is a powerful tool for establishing a strong connection between a business and clients.
Online users want more than a purchase. You have to provide value, educate, and get them to know your business better. This way, you move them through the marketing funnel toward the bottom of the funnel where conversions occur.
7. Create layouts strategically
A website layout is the arrangement of all website visual components. It drastically improves the user experience by visually organizing content. This way, users can easily find the information they’re looking for.
To manage a good structure, it’s very important to use space strategically since it increases users’ attention and helps them find the content they’re looking for. The distance between elements reflects what elements are related and unrelated.
Size hierarchy is the perfect way to let website visitors know what is the most important. This is very beneficial for homepages which are primarily navigation pages, so here hierarchy blocks help the user explore website content and find what they’re searching for.
8. Use Appealing CTA (Call to action)
How to improve the website user experience with CTA buttons?
Since you want visitors to take the desired action (sign up, contact you, make a conversion, etc), it’s vital to use attractive and eye-grabbing call-to-action buttons that increase user experience.
In creating CTA buttons, you should consider the words you use on the buttons. Make it simple and direct. Use verbs and actions that evoke excitement and emotions.
Also, bear in mind that choosing the right colors is very important. Normally, CTA buttons are red, green, or orange. Most importantly, the CTA button must grab attention, so the color has to stand out.
For instance, if your website has a lot of green colors, then the green button is not gonna be effective and sufficiently visible.
Summary: 8 Great Tips on How to Improve User Experience on Website
- Make Sure the Website is Responsive and Mobile-Friendly
- Improve Loading Speed
- Understand your user’s expectations and challenges
- Keep the Website Simple and Consistent
- Use Internal Links
- Provide Valuable Content
- Create layouts strategically
- Use Appealing CTA (Call to action)
References and Contributions
Suggested Reads
- Effective User Experience Measuring: How Does Google Evaluate UX?
- How to Use Content Marketing for Small Business
- Are landing pages also an effective marketing funnel?
- What is one way For An Entrepreneur to Decrease Risk?
- How to Use Content Marketing For Entrepreneurs?
- Customer Relationship Business Model Canvas based on CVP
- Consumer buying behavior toward online shopping
- 5 Best Design Tools for Entrepreneurs in 2022
