If despite all your hard online marketing efforts and reasonable click-through rates you still have a high bounce rate and low conversion rate then your website isn’t performing optimally. A professional website should welcome your users, instill in them a sense of trust and professionalism, then lead them through the conversion process. High bounce rates means that your website isn’t doing that. Never fear though, it is fixable.
To increase the usability of your website follow the tips below:
Tip 1: First Impressions Count
Since good first impressions give your user faith in your business as a credible and trustworthy source for professional services/information in your vertical, you need to ensure right off the bat that your site is both professional and welcoming.
Your first impression is created by your landing page—a proper landing page is like a good welcome mat on a doorstep. To make your landing page credible, professional and welcoming you need a clear layout and navigational structure that grabs the users’ attention and directs it through your welcome message and onward to your secondary pages. Your flow will be determined by carefully placed elements on your webpage, beginning with a hero image and large-font message at the top then moving onto slightly-small-font text as you continue down the page. Use complimentary colors that don”t distract the user from your content. Minimize other distracting content like flash animations if they do not serve the purpose of providing your user with pertinent information. Follow up your tertiary text with a call to action—like a subscription button or contact button. Remove all elements from your landing page that don’t serve a purpose, especially those that impede the flow of attention from your users.
For the body of your text use legible fonts in easy-to-read colors. Use bulleted lists, section headers and small paragraphs instead of one giant block of impenetrable copy. Have your information flow from left to right and top to bottom.
Tip 2: Be Consistent
People like consistency because they like knowing what to expect. So, keep your colors, fonts, layout and other design elements the same across all your website’s pages. Your messages should have a consistent tone as well—whether it be an informational, marketing, sales or other styled writing voice.
Tip 3: Use Images Wisely Grasshopper
Images are attention getters—but you want to ensure that your images are getting positive attention. Your images shouldn’t overpower your page or your content, they should add to it. Images need to be relevant and serve a purpose, which is why you are advised to avoid generic stock photography. Relevant, personal pictures outperform stock photography almost every time—in fact personal pictures outperformed stock photos by 95% according to a marketing test done by MarketingExperiments.
Replace irrelevant stock images of generic, smiling business people with personalized pictures of your product, services, staff or office. This will have a personalizing effect on your user experience.
Tip 4: Make your Content Easy to Find
Using a strong navigational system will make your content easier to find, and prevent people from bouncing because they can’t quickly find the information they want. This means having a clearly-labelled menu bar and front-and-center search button. Your search button needs to be powerful, so consider using Google’s customizable search button—it really is the best on the market with its familiar displaying of results.
Keep your navigational menu in the same position on every page, preferably at the top or on the left-hand side. Don’t use Flash for your navigational menu as it isn’t always clearly displayed, especially for mobile users. Consider using an additional navigational footer at the bottom of your page if it is a lengthy page. Use breadcrumbs. Keep your navigational options simple because too many options could confuse your user. Use relevant inter-site links within your content, but make sure it is very clear where these links go.
The most successful websites use a 3-level-deep navigational method. If your navigation goes more than that consider revising your content pages.
Tip 5: Use HTML5 (if you have to use animation) over Flash
Flash is a powerful tool but unfortunately some smartphones and browsers can’t properly display it. HTML5 is a nice alternative if you want to use rich media because it is more smartphone- and browser-compliant.
Tip 6: Be Mobile Friendly
Websites that aren’t optimized for mobile browsing can be difficult to navigate on smartphones and tablets, so consider creating a mobile version of your website, but at the very least make your current website mobile-friendly. The differences are stark and a mobile-friendly site will decrease your mobile bounce rates exponentially. For more tips on how to mobilify your website click here.
In short, in order for your website to be user friendly it needs powerful yet simple navigational tools, mobile optimization, content that is properly displayed across various platforms and browsers, easy-to-find content, powerful and relevant images, consistency and an easy-to-read design.
Robin Wilding is a professionally trained Canadian journalist striving to bring journalistic-era intergity to online media. She has a second degree in Political Science--with a focus on International Relations and the developing world. Currently Robin is a contributor to several technology publications, including Brajeshwar.com, SocialTechnologyReview.com, HostingIndustryWatch.com, AnimationCareerReview.com and CompareBusinessProducts.com. She also works for several web developers; and does ghost writing for several high level executives within the technology sector. Robin's work is showcased in her portfolio: http://shownd.com/robinwilding
