Whether it’s for business or personal use, having a website online that’s user-friendly should be at the top of your list of priorities. If it’s not, your visitors are going to quickly turn their backs on the content you’ve worked so hard to create. Many webmasters put in a lot of effort when it comes to creating high-quality content. However, because their websites lack a decent User Experience (UX), they lack decent traffic stats when it comes to bounce rate, page views, and visitors. So, what makes a website user-friendly?
A Speedy Website Is the Difference
It’s been reported by the likes of Google that a website that takes longer than two seconds to load will often be penalized in the search engine rankings. So, it’s not just your visitors that are going to lack a decent UX, it’s also the search engine crawlers. If that’s not enough to see your SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) fall well below your competitors then the high bounce rate because of your website speed will. Ensure you read this guide to help improve the speed of your website.
Page Layout Is Just as Important
When it comes to the web design itself, the layout of all your page features needs to be accessible and easy to find. Even the page width needs to be carefully considered so you can easily cater to the needs of mobile users, as well as others using different devices and web browsers. Getting the width right is all key to ensuring your website features don’t look out of place and are easy to access.
Excellent Content Readability Is Also Vital
Headings, sub-headings, fonts, font color, and background colors are just some of the important points to consider when it comes to providing the best content readability to boost UX. If a visitor can’t get to grips with your absurd color choice and headings that are displayed in an unreadable font, they’re going to click on that ‘X’ in the top-right hand corner quicker than you can say mumbo jumbo.
A Clean & Easy Navigational Experience
Many web developers now adopt the one-page layout design technique and it’s proving to be a hit with many internet surfers. The navigation should be at the forefront of your websites design and a decent one is the difference between a low or high bounce rate. Consider a sticky navigation that follows the user every time they scroll just so they have ease of access if they want to go elsewhere.
The Latest Web Design Standards
Following the latest web design standards may seem like you’re just jumping on the bandwagon and you’re not being unique. However, these standards are working wonders for all web developers, so they are all something to consider. The same goes with the latest coding standards. If your website isn’t developed to a high standard, it isn’t going to meet the W3C compliance standards or any of the others, and that could negatively impact your relationships with both the search engines and your audience.
Getting your website user-friendly ready is far from simple, but it’s something that needs to be considered if you’re serious about taking your personal or commercial website to the next level. There are many other things to consider, however, and the above are a few of the basic tips to get you started in your quest to build a user-friendly website.