Blogging Heros
In many ways, a web designer is like an architect. They design spaces that users visit and interact with, just like people might visit a store or the mall.
Just like an architect needs to think about the human aspect of all of their designs, so too does the web designer. User experience design is something that is essential in web design.
But what is user experience exactly?
In this article, we’ll take a look at nine ways to improve user experience on your website. Keep reading to learn more!
1. Do Some Research
If you’re carrying out an overhaul on your website, the first thing that you’ll need to do is to carry out some UX user experience research into how your users are interacting with your site. One of the ways that you can do this is by using heatmap analytics.
Working out where users are spending their time, what they are clicking on, and how they use your site will help to inform your decisions about what is best for the site in future redesigns and remodels.
Visit decibel.com for some tools for learning how users interact with your site.
2. Optimize Your Page Speed
Nobody likes a slow website. In fact, if your site doesn’t load within three seconds, you will have lost nearly half of your potential users. This means that your website needs to be fast or your competitors will end up with your visitors.
Not only will you lose out in terms of visitors, but your search engine optimization will suffer too. Search engines often penalize slower loading websites by ranking them lower in the search engine results pages.
There are several things you can do to improve your page load speeds. Firstly, run a page speed insights analysis to see what is slowing your site down. You may need to remove unused plugins and compress images to improve your loading speeds.
3. Choose an Intuitive Navigation Style
Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Most websites have their menus in similar places. If you try and do something that is too radical, it will leave your visitors confused and lost.
Your website should be intuitive to navigate. You’ll want people that have never used your site before to get on and find their way around straight away. Don’t overcomplicate things.
4. Keep It Clean
You may think that you should fill every pixel with something of value. After all, you’re paying for internet real estate and you need value for money.
However, there is a lot that can be said for keeping it simple and clean. Your website should be uncluttered. It should also be easy to find your way around.
Make sure there is plenty of white space on your site. This may seem like a waste, but it will make the content that you have on your pages stand out more.
5. Use Images
Visuals are important. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. For this reason, you should make sure and use images wherever possible.
While there are plenty of very high-quality stock images out there, none of them are going to really convey your brand in the way that something unique to you will. Invest in creating your own high-quality original images, if you can.
6. Break Up Key Information
Make your content as easy to read as possible.
This means breaking your text up into short paragraphs. Use bullet points and numbers wherever you are dealing with lists and break up your text with images, diagrams, and infographics.
7. Be Mobile Friendly
Smartphone use is continually on the rise. More people will access your site using a mobile device than they will from a desktop or laptop.
With this in mind, you will need to make sure your website is fully optimized for mobile devices.
8. Include Well Written Headlines
Headlines are a great way of breaking up your text and making your content easy to navigate. The catchier your headlines are, the more likely your visitors are to engage with them.
Search engines often give headlines more weight over much of the other content on a site. So, by selecting the right heading and making it stand out on the page, it can dramatically improve your search engine optimization.
9. Use an Attractive Call to Action
In all of your content, you need to include an attractive call to action. Your site’s visitors will already be accustomed to following cues to determine the importance of content to them.
Including a call to action button that is clearly defined will enable users to navigate your site easily. They’ll also get exactly what they want in the place they expect to find it.
When creating clickable buttons to go with a call to action, think about the color that you’re using. Different colors are evocative of different messages. Think about what you want to say and choose your colors wisely.
The next thing to think about is the actual words that you will use for your buttons. The wording should feature a verb or action word that will excite the user into doing something. Make your wording bold, time-bound, and action-evoking.
For example, you may want to use wording such as “sign up now” or “get in touch today.”
Make User Experience Your Number One Priority
The user experience should be your number one priority as a web designer. Everything you do should be about the users that visit your site. Was this post helpful for you and your goals? For more great articles, please check out the rest of the site.
