When you own a Business, your website is one of the most important components. Your website’s essentially your storefront and as such, you want to put as much care and thought into it as you would a physical premises. We all know if you were to just set up a rickety old table in a dark, damp environment with no thought whatsoever, you’d be unlikely to draw in many customers and just as unlikely for any of them to come back again. This is the same with your website, so why are so many people not considering the entire experience?
It’s important you present your site in an easy-to-engage and interesting way that not only attracts customers and clients but keeps them, too. While your website might not be as dire as described above (or if it is and you’re desperate for a change but don’t know where to start), we’ve put together some tips for making your website better for your users. Keep on reading to find out more.
Does every business need a website?
While you’d be forgiven for thinking every business has a website, statistics have found that 29% of small businesses don’t have one. Many are under the impression that websites are expensive and they’re too small to need one. This couldn’t be further from the truth when websites are a vital marketing tool to easily display your services and products and keep your clients and customers up to date.
It’s a good tool to use alongside your social media as opposed to just one or the other. So, in short, every business should have a website!
Tips for saving money with a website
If you’re under the impression a website is expensive, you’re not alone. Many think of them as extremely expensive and costing a lot to build and run, too. While this can be the case for large corporations that spend thousands on design and their hosts, chances are most businesses aren’t going to need that level of service.
You can design websites easily enough yourself nowadays, with businesses such as Wix offering drag-and-drop builders that you can utilize. You can then have a whole Hosting package, which can cost as little as £10 a month, or sometimes even less if you find a deal. So to save money with your website, we recommend:
- Designing it yourself with an easy to use drag and drop builder
- Shopping around for the best hosting package
- Keep it simple
- Use a pre-made theme
- Find a package deal on your hosting and design
- Do your research and find out what’s best for what you need
How can you make your website better for your users?
Whether you have thousands of monthly users or a couple of hundred, the same thing stands – you should prioritize the user experience. It will be much harder to grow your website and business if people are put off by your site. If they come to use it and it’s slow, laggy, or confusing to find what they’re looking for, people aren’t going to hang around trying to figure it out. Chances are they will click off and find a competitor to use instead.
Luckily, there are many things you can do to make your website better for users, from simple tools and tips to using AI and other techniques to ensure you don’t only satisfy your users but also go the extra mile to make sure they want to do business with you again. Some of the things you can do to make your website better for your users include:
Think about the colors you use
One of the first things you need to think about when making your website better for users is the Colors. Your site needs to be easy to view for people with sight impairments as well as those who want an easy reading experience.
You can run tests to see how your site is viewed for those with color blindness, for example, or add options for them to switch around the colors to make it better for them to read. You could also add a dark mode for those with sensitive eyes.
You want a website to be easy to read, and if you have too many different colors and things going on, it can make it confusing and hard to follow. It’s worth researching the color theory and how certain colors can make users feel. You want them to come onto your site and feel relaxed, motivated, or intrigued by what you’re offering.
Too many bright or garish colors, such as red, have been shown to raise cortisol levels and make people less likely to want to engage with your site. On the other hand, calming colors such as lilac and pale yellow are relaxing. Consider your purpose and what you sell or offer, and find colors that relate to this.
Carefully consider the design
The design of your site is another essential aspect that will encourage people to stay or leave. You want a website that’s easy to use and for people to find what they’re looking for without looking too hard. If you have complex navigation with buttons that don’t make sense or features and pages that seem hidden, it won’t make for a positive experience.
Think about the path your users will make, the information they’re going to be looking for, and how you can make it as easy as possible for them to find it. It’s worth doing a survey or asking for the opinion of others to see how their journey would be and base it around this.
Add an online chat feature
Another important thing about making your website better for users is ensuring they can get the information they want whenever they want it. Adding an online live chat for website features is one of the best ways to do this. Not only does it free up your employees’ time as it means menial questions can get answered automatically, but customers feel more looked after.
There are many AI chat features that can automatically respond to simple questions, filter those that actually need human interaction, and give answers at any time of day. This can help you retain customers, ensure they feel better looked after, and prioritize what they seek.
There are many ones for you to choose from, with some having more complex features and others simpler ones, depending on what you’re after. Be sure to do your research and find what’s best for your company and budget.
Think about your user journey
Use things such as Google Analytics or other website analytic services to take a look at how users interact with and use your site. You can use this to track the pages they enter your site on, where they next go, and the pages they drop off.
If a lot of users end up leaving your site on a certain page, think about why this might be. Are they having issues finding the information they need? Is the page load time too slow? Make some changes to these pages and see if they make a difference to the way your site is interacted with. It can sometimes require a simple fix, such as adding different text or images to make a real difference.
Use AB testing to get the best possible result
When making changes to your website, it can be a good idea to use AB testing. This is when you have two versions of your site, with them randomly being shown to users. You can see which version has the best results, makes the most conversions, and how the changes impact their journey. This allows you to make the best decisions going forward for your website to succeed and what works best for your customers.
Final Thoughts
These are just a few things you can do to improve your website for your users. Remember that a website isn’t something that can be done once and never touched. Keeping it regularly updated and changing it around when things aren’t working is a great way to keep it fresh and ensure your users are always kept happy with what you’re doing.
With this in mind, don’t change things for the sake of it. If it’s working and your views are on the up, switching things around might not be the best thing. This is where AB testing (as mentioned above) can come in, enabling you to make changes without risking your site completely alienating existing users and making the right decisions.
What are some things you recommend that can make your website better for users? Have you recently implemented some changes that have improved your user experience? Let us know in the comments. We would love to hear from you!
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