In the process of developing a website, it is easy to forget what truly matters: the experience of the visitors. You’re most likely creating a website to benefit them, not just for the sake of it. Why then is it so easy to lose sight of the needs of your customers? You don’t want to spend a lot of money on SEO efforts to get your website noticed, only for customers to be led to a completely unstructured and useless page. We hope that this blog post will give you a better understanding of what visitors to your website will expect, want or find interesting.
1. Easy Navigation
The navigation of a website is vital to the user experience, but customers are more likely to notice it when it is particularly dysfunctional. You certainly don’t want that to happen, because it harms not only how your company is perceived, but it can also drive people away from your site – leaving them clicking on irrelevant pages. Therefore making sure to set up your website navigation in a way that makes it easy to understand is one critical element to allow your customers’ journey to be enjoyable.
2. Clear Call to Action
Websites are created to serve a specific purpose. You need to ensure that no matter what purpose your website serves – to inform, sell, or collect enquiries – that your customer knows where to click without having to look very hard. There is only one valid reason why a visitor struggles to find their purpose on your website: you are doing it wrong!
3. A Clean, Functional Layout
As important as it is to consider new design elements, it is also very important to remember that less is more. An absolutely cluttered website is the last thing your customer wants to see when they visit your website. As creatures of habit, humans are prone to liking structure and clarity.
Ensure your design is clean and modern, so potential and returning customers can easily navigate your website.
4. Photo/Video Hero Banner
When a customer lands on your website, the first thing they see is your hero banner. You can differentiate yourself from your competitors with a good hero image or video that leaves a good first impression. The wrong one, and you’ll lose customers. If you get it right , you’ll be on your way to a quick conversion with many happy returns.
It’s important, however, not to overdo it. Make sure to avoid unnecessary imagery. If you have a professional video or some photos that show off the products or services your business provides, here is their ideal new home. By adding a short statement of what sets you apart, along with a call to action, there is a clear path for the visitor to follow.
5. Contact Form
It is important not to put off people by asking for too much personal information when your website relies on a user providing information, whether it be simple information that allows you to get in touch with them, or several fields detailing the service they require and the best times to schedule an appointment. After exploring your website and the contact page, a visitor is almost ready to give you their details and get things started. If they land on the page and see a huge form that’s going to take more than a minute to complete, you’re risking losing them forever. Ideally, there should only be about 3-5 compulsory fields on a form, making it simple to fill out and shouldn’t offend anyone looking to do business with you.
Tip: Unless it is what is expected in your industry, do not use multi-page forms – if someone fills out one page only to move to another, they will get impatient very quickly.
6. Blog
Why not share your industry knowledge with your customer base if you are an expert in your field of work? It might not be necessary for every site to have a news or blog section, but if you do have an archive of interesting and relevant content, it will go a long way to impressing potential and existing customers, as well as providing a wealth of SEO benefits. In the end, it’s simply smart marketing to showcase yourself as a leader in your field.
Although most bloggers have the best intentions, it is worth considering how much time you can dedicate to your blog. The risk of your page looking stale is very high if you don’t add new content at least every week or two. Nobody wants to go back to the same five articles on a blog from two years ago. You should take the time to write a few blog posts regularly if you are capable. If you don’t have the time or prefer to focus your efforts elsewhere, that’s fine, and it’s worth coming to this conclusion before you leave an archive of old content for others to discover!
7. Social Media Integration
It’s hard to imagine a business these days that isn’t on social media (link to social media); whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, or LinkedIn. If your business offers a product or service that people are interested in, it’s worth growing your fan base on social media. This lets you stay in touch with your audience and enhances your brand awareness.
It is not essential to include links to your social media on your website, but if it is something you keep up to date, be sure to offer it to site visitors. There is always the possibility that they will wish to keep up with everything you do without having to revisit a website frequently. You should consider other alternatives if you don’t have the time or the ability to manage your social media accounts, but if you do, it’s a potential avenue for your target audience that is worth mentioning.
8. Work Examples
When a potential client/customer lands on your website and starts navigating, there will be a time when they will question whether your service is up to their standard. In doing so, they will base a big portion of their decision on your previous work/case studies. Making your portfolio easily available for visitors to view is critical in the customer journey. With this beneficial section you might lose out dearly on potential clients/customers.
9. Testimonials
Similar to having your portfolio available, having your testimonials from previous clients is important factor when future clients are making a decision whether or not to work with you.
By making sure these features are evident on your website, you will find that it will aid you in creating a good website.
