Stunning graphics or the latest technology can help you create a fantastic website. But are they enough to keep visitors engaged? Not quite!
Those elements are great, but they won’t matter if users get frustrated navigating your site or can’t find what they’re looking for.
When you’re designing a website, it’s always for the visitors, not for your business.
Nearly 94% of users will abandon a website if the design quality is low. More surprising is that visitors decide whether they like a website in less than 50 milliseconds.
That’s right—you barely have time to make a positive first impression. So, how do you make users stick around? Creating a seamless user experience (UX) can help you do that.
Here, we’ll share some key rules that will help you improve your website’s UX. That way, visitors don’t just land on your site, but also stay, explore, and return for more.
1 Keep It Simple
Remember the adage, less is more? That stands true when it comes to website design. Don’t cram too many visual elements into your website.
Appropriate images, color combinations, and graphic selections enhance the UX. But overuse or misuse of visual elements can distract or confuse the users, states a journal published in Scientific Reports.
First impressions matter. If users are greeted with a chaotic layout, excessive text, or flashy animations, they might feel overwhelmed and leave before they even explore.
Keep your site’s design simple, hence. Avoid cluttering your pages with too many images or text.
Use clean lines and ample white space to make your content stand out. Break information into digestible chunks. That way, your visitors won’t get lost while finding what they need.
2 Visual Consistency Is Key
A visually cohesive website helps establish brand identity and builds trust. And for almost 7 in 10 consumers, trust is important when it comes to purchasing from a brand.
Maintain consistency when it comes to color scheme, image style, and typography throughout your site. This consistency will make your website appear simple and professional as well as appealing to the eye.
When it comes to color palettes, decide on a few primary colors and use them throughout your site. This helps create a cohesive visual identity.
Then, select one or two fonts and use them consistently for headings, subheadings, and body text. This will enhance readability as well as reinforce your brand’s personality.
Keep the layout across different pages similar. For example, if you have a blog, try maintaining the same structure for each post. This familiarity will make it easier for users to find information and encourage them to explore more.
Read also: Running a Business Online vs. Owning a Brick-and-Mortar
3 Optimize for Mobile Users
In 2023, half of web traffic was from mobile devices—did you know that?
A survey conducted by Statista found that mobile devices contributed to 58.67% of global website traffic in the last quarter of 2023. You’ll miss out on a huge audience if your site isn’t mobile-friendly.
Make sure your website is mobile-responsive. Websites that are mobile-responsive, Hocoos explains, change their layouts, including font sizes and images, to fit the screen of the viewer. Thus, the website becomes easier to navigate.
Optimizing your website for mobile users manually will be time-consuming as well as back-breaking. Why not relaunch your website altogether by leveraging AI-powered website builders?
These tools speed up the process of building a website by putting one together in as little as five minutes. Though quick, the website is professional, engaging, and replete with high-quality images.
In addition, the website will be tailored to your unique needs since the AI wizard will ask for your preference before getting down to the task. Despite being AI-generated, you will enjoy greater autonomy over your website. All thanks to user-friendly editors of AI website builders, they allow businesses to customize all elements with just a click.
4 Fast Loading Times Are Non-Negotiable
People are impatient online. If the loading time of your site is long, visitors will leave it right away.
Pages that don’t load right away can cause a consumer to refuse to purchase from that site, remarks Daniel Cheung, search engine optimization manager at Optus.
To speed things up, optimize your images. Huge, high-resolution files slow down your site, so compress them without sacrificing quality. Another tip? Enable browser caching. That will allow returning visitors to load your site faster because elements are saved locally.
You can also consider using a CDN or Content Delivery Network. A CDN stores copies of your site on servers around the globe. So, when someone visits your site, it will be loaded from the nearest location. That will reduce lag.
Improving your website’s UX is not a Herculean task, though it may seem like it.
Implementing these key rules can help you create a user-friendly environment that will attract visitors as well as keep them coming back.
Keep tweaking and refining. The ultimate goal, after all, is to create a site that’s enjoyable and easy to use—don’t forget that.
