Ways to Improve Your Website’s User Experience

If you need proof of the importance (and power) of user experience (UX), consider this: leading companies like Uber, Google, Mint, Airbnb, and Apple credit a considerable part of their success to a user-centered design approach that culminates in superb user experience.

But that’s not all, audience-centric UX design also plays a vital role in mobile marketing. Increasing user satisfaction by improving accessibility, efficiency, and usability of user interaction with an app or site is called user experience design (UX design).

The idea behind UX design is to ensure visitors navigate your site with utmost ease and without any hitch.

Top Ways to Improve Your Website’s User Experience

For many businesses, improving user experience through design can seem like a tall feat. Fortunately, creating a superb user experience is not as complex as it looks. At times, even a minimal change can already make a world of difference.

Achieve better search rankings, generate more leads, and increase conversions by keeping the following in mind:

Start With User Research

When designing a superb user experience, most would ask what they should do exactly. However, you’ll be getting ahead of yourself. When it comes to UX, no question is more important than “who is it for?” In other words, you need to figure out who your target audience is first.

You can figure out your target audience by asking yourself the following questions:

• What demographic features do you want to target? (women 18 – 28, students, parents, professionals, etc.)
• What interests are you targeting? (fashionistas, foodies, travelers, musicians, gamers, etc.)
• What apps, services, or products are they already using?

You need to factor in all the critical data you can gather about your target audience, so it’s easier for you to create an exceptional user experience.

Ensure Your Site is Simple and Responsive

Get rid of any unnecessary components in your website design. This is important as no visitor would want to navigate a maze just to find what they want. Ensure the layout is clean and there’s plenty of white space. A two or three-color scheme is also considered ideal.

Each of your pages should also have clear and definite goals. The intent of each page should be easy to understand. It would be a good idea to have visually distinct navigational elements on your user interface to guide your visitors better.

Other additional but less essential data like extra blogroll or “you might also like” content should be situated at the bottom of your posts.

 

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Focus on Providing Superb Content

While designing well-structured layouts is a must, you also need to make producing top-notch content a priority. Use language your target audience uses. Don’t shy away from incorporating personality and humor when appropriate.

Distinct images and well-crafted content can dramatically influence the experiences and perceptions of your site visitors. Rather than blindly following the norms, do some research so you can create content that will resonate with your target audience.

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO): Best Web Design Practices

If you provide exceptional UX to your visitors, it follows you’ll generate traffic easier. However, are your visitors converting as they should? If not, this is where conversion rate optimization can come in handy.

In a nutshell, conversion rate optimization is the process of increasing the percentage of site visitors that convert. You can liken this to running a retail store. Even if people come in and browse but leave without spending any money, your efforts are still futile.

Primarily, conversion optimization focuses on two things:

1. Minimizing friction in your funnel
2. Enhancing your offer’s value

While intuition and usability are considered crucial, it is also essential to think past the basics and use design subtleties to convince your site visitors to convert. Below are some of the best web design practices that can fuel your CRO efforts:

Place Your Call-to-Action Inside a Container

To make an essential element like your call-to-action stand out, place them in some container. For instance, if you placed your call-to-action in a circle, encapsulate it in another loop to distinguish it from the other elements on the page.

Ensure site visitors are also able to clearly identify within seconds what you want them to do. You can also do the squint test to gauge if your call-to-action button stands out.

Establish a Clear Visual Hierarchy

Visual hierarchy guides are designed to guide your visitors’ thought patterns to follow the information needed to make a decision instinctively. The idea is to create a layout that will allow for maximum conversions.

Use Color Theory and Contrast Psychology

Of the many visual cues, color is one element many people love to test. Ideally, when choosing a color for your call-to-action, consider the emotion your selected color conveys.

It is also recommended that you pick a color that contrasts with your page’s background color. The idea is to make the main page element “pop” so they would be able to draw the attention of visitors right away.

There is no standard high-converting color that will work for everyone. You would have to figure out through trial and error which colors work for your brand best.

Conclusion

If you want to bring in more money, ensure you provide visitors with the best user experience possible. Also, make their visit as smooth as possible so they can reach a converting decision as quickly as possible.

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About the Author

Shawn Byrne is the founder and CEO of SEOPhoenix.net. Shawn started his career in I.T. troubleshooting workstations, servers and networks, then went on to doing SEO as a side project and quickly found success in ranking websites. It was easy for him to grasp not only the algorithms but also the technical side which most SEO strategists miss and neglect because of its complexities. SEO Phoenix then grew based on its own rankings and referrals.