Have you ever wondered how you can make your website work more for you?
You’ve spent a long time choosing a website template you like, or you’ve asked a website developer to create an entire website for you. You have a beautiful website, but can it be more effective?
It can.
A website isn’t just a static version of itself that you’re not going to touch for the next five years. Your website has to be watered and pruned like a garden to flourish, attract new visitors, and make them want to stay and explore.
How do your visitors see and use your website?
I’m not just talking about the photos’ look and colours, but also the page structure, the quality of your content, and the overall performance of your website. It’s also called user experience (UX).
Making your website work for you is the foundation for building a business on a platform you own.
What is UX?
UX is all the aspects of the user’s interaction with the website, how it’s perceived, learned and used.
We all still want to be entertained when we’re using a website, not frustrated or waiting ages for the page to load. You want to give your visitors the same feeling when they visit your website.
I don’t mean the graphics and look of the photos, but the way the elements on the page is organised.
UX is how we understand and use things, not about technology. How do people find their way around on your site? Don’t confuse them, don’t let them be stuck, make the website work, so they get entertained, want to sign up for your newsletter, sign up for a coaching call or buy your products.
Your goal is to get a website that attracts and converts visitors. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be overly technical, and you can make all the changes yourself.
Here are seven tips to get you inspired to take care of your own website.
1. First impression
When your visitor first visits your website, it should be clear what the website is about and what you do.
Your visitors should “get it” immediately upon arriving at your site. If they feel confused or get a bad first impression, then they leave your site immediately. Use clear messaging.
Finding the right words can be tricky if you’re just starting and haven’t yet figured out who your visitors are. You have to write content that matches the people you want to attract. Don’t give up, give it a go, and along the way, you’ll refine your messaging. Test different headlines and messages. The essential part is that you’re aware of it. Then the right messaging will come along the way.
It’s not just the message. Your use of photos or images is also essential. If your pictures vary significantly in style, colour, and resolution, they don’t feel coherent anymore. Try to find an image style that aligns with your overall brand.
Think of your front page as a store window. It shows your visitor precisely what to expect from your store. Not everything, but just a clear idea of what your site is about.
2. Navigation
Make your navigation obvious. You don’t want to be creative about your navigation. Place the navigation on top of the page like everybody else. Don’t hide it; don’t make the menu so small it’s hard to read.
People don’t want to search for the navigation. It’s like driving a new car. Yes, you have to figure out where to find the whiskers, and the infotainment screen is different from the one you’re used to. But you know instinctively where to find the brakes and the blinker. The important parts. All car manufacturers place the speedometer and the brakes in the same place. You don’t have to think.
An exemption is the hamburger menu we are all used to seeing on mobile screens. Because the screen is small, it’s now common for the menu to be split into three (or sometimes two) small horizontal lines.
3. Buttons
Let it be easy for your visitors to see and understand the buttons. Make your buttons bright and visible. I’ve seen so many websites where the designer has tried to make the design pretty, only to make the buttons nearly invisible or hard to see. Or very small.
It looks smart on a mood board, but people on your site don’t want to spend time guessing where the buttons are.
If the buttons are difficult to spot, the visitor is using cognitive load to figure out where to go next. If it’s too difficult to figure out, or they can’t find what they are looking for, they simply get tired and leave for another site. And we want them to stay. The longer they stay on your website, the better it is for your SEO rankings and for your conversions.
4. Scanning the text
People don’t read text. They scan it. They scan the text because they’re trying to do or learn something quickly. The attention span is short. You know it from yourself. You often never read a text, unless you’re sitting with a novel on the couch. You scan the text on the screen.
So, make it easy for them to scan. Use a large font. Use many headlines and make them clear.
Use narrow columns. It’s quicker to read a text with lines that aren’t too wide. Then you don’t have to move your eyes so much on each line.
Also, keep the paragraphs short. If relevant, break some of your content into bullet points.
5. Make your website fast
This one is more technical. When using graphics, videos, and photos on your site, make sure they are compressed as much as possible. If it takes your visitor forever to open your website or navigate from one page to the next, she will lose patience and choose another site.
You compress your images using an image processing software. Software like Photoshop. Images on your website don’t have to be ready for print; they can be highly compressed and still look beautiful on a screen.
6. Break up your pages
Divide your pages into clearly defined areas. Let the most important be at the top of the screen. It’s called over the fold. Remember the old newspapers that were folded? The most important article was on the top cover.
Don’t make the pictures so big that your call to action is below the fold. The call to action you want your visitors to take. It could be a button to subscribe to your newsletter or a link to your contact details. The button should be self-explanatory and placed over the fold so that the visitor can see it immediately. She shouldn’t have to scroll to find it.
Prioritise what’s most important on your page and let that be the first thing your visitors see.
No clutter
Don’t let everything you put on the screen be important. If everything is competing for attention, your visitors don’t know what to look at. You have to prioritise what you want your visitors to do most on that specific page.
Make it calm. Not that long ago, there were sliding pictures on top of all front pages. They are now gone. Too many messages confuse the visitor. Just keep it to one message.
Align the elements on the page. Make your pages look structured with pictures of a consistent style and a limited number of fonts.
Summary
Make maintaining your website a priority. Update the content and pictures regularly. Test different approaches and see what your visitors like the best.
Your goal should be to make every page on your website self-evident.
If they have to use too much energy to understand the text and locate the buttons, they get frustrated. Your goal is to make your visitor feel that she has found a solution to her problem, so she stays on your website.
