5 Ways to Enhance the User Experience of Your Website

Periodically updating your site is essential to maintaining easy navigation for your viewers. Whether your site is running slow, infected with a virus, or just hasn’t had any modifications in its layout for a few a while there are always new ways to improve the user experience. Here is a handful of easy ways business owners can improve user navigation and improve the overall quality of their website:

1. Update for Speed

Every second spent loading the page is a second closer to a user losing interest. There are plenty of tools online that allow you to test the speed of your site like GTmetrix. Test your site now and then and make sure it’s not taking 5 minutes to get from one page to the next. If your site is lagging, consider updates either in server software or website software. If you use a type of software like WordPress, where it is free to use, distribute and it has a large community of developers and users who contribute back to the code, there tend be more frequent updates.

Keep in mind that the more traffic and users your site accumulates the more attempts you’ll see at spamming and virus infection. Make sure you have security measures that are constantly sweeping for any potential threats to the functionality of the website.

2. Bring in New, Quality Images

Let users know how you are progressing by using fresh, high-quality images of your latest products and services. One good way to revamp your site is to embed a PowerPoint on your homepage to show some of your latest happenings with the business. Improving the layout of certain images in a shopping section is definitely necessary from time to time to increase organization and exploring if your site allows users to shop online.

3. Contrast and Texture of Color

Never underestimate the power of color psychology in designing a website, especially with the background. Make sure the background color is one that is both easy on the eyes and evokes the right message to potential customers. For example, the website of a private doctor would do well to use various shades of the color blue because it evokes trust and is commonly associated with adaptability (water) and healing. The more serious the nature of your business the less variety of colors you should use but always use clearly contrasting shades as well as a distinguishable font.

4. Improve Source of Feedback

If you have the personnel and do a substantial amount of business online consider implementing a 24/7 help chat. One of the best ways for a smaller business to communicate with customers and respond to feedback is actually with a blog or forum for discussion. Obviously you won’t be able to respond to every compliment or complaint voiced in these sections but it will give a good source of constructive feedback from your users.

5. Social Media

If your business is not utilizing major social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn you need to start TODAY. Social media is arguably the most important aspect of online marketing today and allows you to tap into far too many networks of potential business to ignore. If you are already running pages with these outlets, make them accessible from you homepage or contact page. Use them to spread the latest entries of your blog and implore your users to follow you on them to keep up with all of your latest news.

Conclusion

For business owners it is important to constantly be looking for ways to improve yourself whether it be your products, services, or methods of marketing. Remember, the best ideas you can get are from the users themselves. Always be open to feedback, always be open to change.