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This month we are talking about barriers to growth in business. Web design being one of the key components of how successful your marketing is, today I will share 7 little things that will make a big difference for your business.
Good web design would keep the user-experience in mind, meaning you want to enhance your users’ experience by easing the usability of your site. Here are 7 changes that make a big difference:
Simplicity
Don’t make it too crowded, make sure it’s clear where you want your users to go. Guide them on where they may want to go next. For example, if they just finished reading about your services, maybe they’re interested so it would be useful to place a “contact” link at the bottom of the page to make it easier for them.
Make it easy for them to find you
You need to make it efficient for the user, you don’t want them to get frustrated and eventually leave your web site because they couldn’t find your “contact” page. Make sure the important links are on the navigation bar and it’s easy to find and understand. Add a Google map or provide detailed directions on how to find your office or whether there’s parking in your building or not – all these little things make a big difference for your customer
Follow the conventions
If you go to a web site, you know that the navigation menu is normally found somewhere at the top (maybe the bottom on mobile web site). This is the standard for web design. This is how people will navigate on all sites, it’s where everyone would assume to find the navigation bar. They shouldn’t have to read instructions on how to use your site. Have you ever been to a site where the menu is in the middle of the page? Not a great design.
Make it obvious
Make sure it’s clear which buttons you want the user to select. Show hierarchy. When signing in to a website, normally the bigger button would be “sign-in” followed by a smaller one titled “forgot password”. Imagine if it was the opposite. That would be confusing! Many people would accidentally select “forgot password” instead of logging in.
Give feedback
Imagine filling out a contact form and once you select “submit” the page refreshes without any message. The user would be confused, did my message get delivered? Did something go wrong? Ensure that you let the user know what happened. If it was successful, lead then to a “thank you” page, letting them know we have received their message. If they forgot to place their email address, alert them. Make sure you interact with the user
Make it consistent
How will the user know which links are clickable? Normally, when hovering over a link, the colour changes or the cursor goes from a pointer to a hand, or maybe it’s obvious that it is a button. Make sure it’s consistent throughout the web design. If one page has buttons that aren’t clickable, while the other has. That will confuse the user.
People make mistakes
If you were working on something, and you accidentally selected delete, wouldn’t you want a warning before permanently losing what you’ve worked on? Make sure that users receive an alert when they may have made a mistake. For example, if they were filling out a long-form and refreshed their page, make sure you let them know that their work will be erased if they do this. They would appreciate the thoughtful web design.
Following these tips will make it easier for the user, make it engaging and allows the user to know that your brand wants to ensure that their experience is good.
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