6 Things To Keep In Mind While Designing A User-Friendly Website

61% of users abandon a site and go to the next one if they don’t quickly find what they are looking for.  Over 94% of people judge the quality of a website based on how responsive it is.

In today’s fast-paced life, few have the time to deal with a poorly optimized and structured website. Now, merely having a website isn’t enough to garner you, visitors. Instead, you must make it user-friendly as well.

Readability. Navigation. Fast load time. Mobile-optimization. Only when you offer it all to your target audience can you expect them to convert into profitable customers. It doesn’t matter what industry you compete in; you must have a user-friendly and optimized website if you wish to survive in today’s competitive marketplace.

Here are six of the things you should keep in mind when designing your website.

1.    Creativity is recommended but only in moderation

All of us wish to stand out. You might have heard the cliché phrase, “think outside the box.” Creativity is encouraged these days immensely. However, when it comes to website design, too much creativity can be a bad thing.

Yes, you should strive to make your website pop. A quality E-commerce website design company will be able to help you out in this matter. However, at the same time, try to ensure that in an attempt to be different, you don’t make your website a little too complicated for your visitors. Remember, your website should serve the purpose of facilitating your customers. If your creative template hinders this, then it is a liability.

So, be creative with your website. But, do so in moderation. In an attempt to stand out, don’t over complicate things. Choose one aspect to highlight rather than trying to glam up your entire site.

2.    Don’t meddle with the standard navigation tools

 

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Some companies try to mix things up by offering new kinds of navigation bars. More often than not, these turn out to be a disaster. Let’s say you, you should never mess with the standard navigation tools. Regardless of whether you are a leather skin shop or an online boutique, your navigation tools should be the same.

Why? This is mainly because of familiarity. People have certain expectations when visiting a platform. Familiarity with navigation tools helps in easy navigation which in turn leads to increased user-friendliness. Let’ say your website has a new take on the menu bar. If this goes against how their natural inclination guides them, you will end up losing potential customers.

You can always add new tools and options. But, make sure to keep the standard ones intact. Play with the template but not enough to threaten familiarity.

3.    Keeping your users in mind

Your customers matter. They are the ones who would be using the website. Rather than thinking solely about your goals, you should try to put yourself in their shoes when developing your sitemap. When you do so, you will automatically be able to create a design that is simple, intuitive and user-friendly.

For starters, always divide your site into pages depending on what type of information your customers seek.  For instance, if you are using your website as a source of information rather than an online store, information about store location and services should be present. Compared to this, an online store will have a different interface.

It all depends on what experience you are offering and who your customers are. They should always be on your mind when developing your website.

4.    Mobile-friendliness is key

 

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Now, user-friendliness and mobile friendliness are considered synonymous to one another. Over 50% of total E-commerce sales come from mobiles. Over 72% of people wish for a mobile-friendly website.

This is why you must ensure that your website translates well when viewed through a smartphone. Some brands have the same interface for both mobiles and desktop. Try to never do this. A desktop site doesn’t fit well into a smartphone’s interface and hence creates problems regarding functionality.

5.    Aim for a fast load time

In today’s world, everything needs to be quick. Many people have claimed that the attention span of humans is decreasing with every passing day. This is why now advertisers face a time crunch of 5 seconds to get their message across.

Well, your website is also constrained by time. If the site doesn’t load in less than 3 seconds, you will lose visitors. A study was conducted by Google which revealed that over 53% of visitors abandon a website that takes over three seconds to load.

Additionally, websites that have a high load time tend to rank low on search engines since they are dubbed to be not user-friendly. The lower your site is on the engine, the lesser the chance that it will be clicked on. Therefore, it is important to guarantee a fast load time.

6.    Add visual content

 

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Infographics. Videos. Images. There is much to a website than text. And now visitors wish to read less. Instead, they want engaging photos and visual elements. This is because such elements require less processing time. This is why infographics are preferred over paragraphs. People are able to get a gist of it all without perusing the entire content.

But, going extreme isn’t the way to go. You need both text and visual content. When using visual content, make a point of using high-quality HD photos and videos. At the same time, don’t overcrowd your page with too many visual elements. Nor do so with too much text. You must find a balance between the two.

Conclusion

If you manage to keep these six things in mind, you are bound to end up with an engaging, responsive and user-friendly website. This is just the first step to delivering the ultimate experience. But, if you nail this first step, the rest of it all will be a breeze.

About the author

Ashley Rosa is a freelance writer and blogger. As writing is her passion that why she loves to write articles related to the latest trends in technology and sometimes on health-tech as well.  She is crazy about chocolates. You can find her at twitter: @ashrosa2

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