Website Usability – What Your Site Needs

Once you are able to get visitors (web traffic) to come to your site on a regular basis, the real challenge can be in keeping them there long enough to explore your site, see your value proposition, and find what they are looking for. Better yet – if you can get them to do something; like sign up for your newsletter, call your toll free number, or make a purchase, then you have a site that converts and contributes to your bottom line!

But what happens if visitors can’t accomplish their goals once they get to your site?

Your website’s usability is critical to your online success. If the home page does not clearly communicate what you offer, visitors will click the “back” button and move on. If the site is unattractive and not well organized, visitors will disappear and probably never return. If the website is too hard to use, they will simply leave in frustration. After all, if visitors cannot find your products and services, they cannot buy them, either.

So what should you do to make sure your site is easy to use, conveys the right message, and helps turn visitors into loyal customers? Here are some tips:

• Have a solid design – make sure the graphics relate to your business, the layout helps visitors accomplish tasks and/or find specific information, and the home page clearly states who you are and what you offer.
• Use a CSS-based navigation system with drop-down menus to organize topics and present information effectively.
• Include a call-to-action on each page of your site.
• Avoid writing about “you” and write your content so that it focuses on “them”. People don’t care about your company, they care about your company’s ability to solve their problems.
• Have a clear value proposition that shows visitors the benefits of doing business with you – make sure they know what’s “in it” for them.
• Limit the number of levels that users have to click through to find information. Nothing should be more that 2 or 3 clicks away.
• Make sure the site downloads quickly; users today expect the site to download instantly, and they won’t wait for a big, graphics-intensive, slow-loading website to display (in addition – Google now uses page download times as a ranking factor in its search algorithm).

Designing your website according to good usability practices means you become an advocate for your visitors, making sure that they can easily learn about your products and services or find the information they need. The easier it is for them to find what they are looking for, the more likely it is that they will place an order, make a purchase, give you a call, or act upon whatever other conversion goals you have for your site.