One of the main goals of many websites is to attract visitors who convert into loyal customers.  Web usability plays a crucial role in ensuring that website visitors find what they are looking for.   If they do not find what they want, there will be no sales and worse still, they are unlikely to return. No matter how enticing the website’s design, it is usability that determines the ease with which information can be retrieved.

It is a fact that a strategically designed web site is among the most effective tools to connect with and make an impression on your target market. Since it is likely to be the first point of contact your website visitors will have with you, it is important to make sure that this marketing tool is utilized correctly. Besides business, your website can also build great customer relationships.

What website visitors expect from a website

Here is a quick look at what your website visitors expect, when they arrive on your website. They want:

• A site that is easy to navigate
• A site that loads quickly – if the visitor has a slow connection, she is not going to be happy about your site hogging all her bandwidth
• To find what they want quickly with the minimum browsing
• Your advice or answers to their questions
• Valuable content they can use or share
• To interact with you and your site
• Privacy

What can you do to ensure that your website usability satisfies the expectations of your visitors?

• Test the usability of your site with your users. This is the most important thing. Make sure all the links work and lead where they are supposed to. Test your site on the most prominent browsers to make sure it renders properly.
• Ensure that you post quality content so that people want to come back and better yet, content they would want to share with their network.
• Add the appropriate number of links within the website’s copy to help visitors navigate easily and find what they want in the shortest possible time. The navigation must be obvious, consistent and intuitive and lead to relevant pages.
• Add the search feature to each page on your site along with navigation so that your visitors can see the context while doing away with guesswork.
• Let your visitors see where they are on your site by using descriptive URLs. For example, http://www.formfunction.co.za/services/ show that they are on the services page of the FormFunction website.
• The home page link must be prominently visible on every page in the same location.
• Include a site map which users can click to see all the pages on the site.
• If visitors have landed on a page other than the home page, let them know which page they are on and its location in relation to the structure of the site.
• Preferably every page on the site should be no more than three clicks from the home page.
• If a page on your website shows up as a 404 error, create a custom page that can bring your visitors back to the site.
• Keep your website elements looking consistent across the entire website.
• One direction, preferably vertical scrolling is best.
• Last but not least, your contact page must offer clear details about your business.

Make it easy for website visitors to find their way around and they will come back often. These days, it is also important to ensure that your website is compatible with mobile screens.  Keep testing and monitoring to check what works for your site in particular.  What specific steps are you taking to ensure website usability? We would love to hear from you.

Every business, regardless of its size, has to constantly work at being visible online to its market. Rather than to go to a store to get what they want, consumers prefer to browse the Internet to find information and research the products or services they want to buy. The Internet lets them not only see products but also analyse and compare businesses and pricing.

To be competitive, a business must build an effective website that complements its marketing efforts. Thanks to technology, consumers can access the Internet from a variety of devices on-the-go. This makes it imperative for businesses to ensure that their website design works efficiently and is accessible across different platforms.

Your website’s design

Your website’s design must be consistent with your branding, reflecting your corporate image and appeal to your target market. This will establish a recall in your prospects’ minds.

Usability is a critical factor, which means that your website must be easy to find and navigate. It should encourage visitors to spend more time on your website therefore make sure all your links work. Avoid unnecessary graphics that take ages to load. It is difficult to hold the attention span of a website visitor and a site that takes time to load is usually a site that is not seen. Since visitors should be able to view your website on different browsers, make sure that the text is legible across different platforms. If you sell online, have an efficient payment processing system with help available so that they complete their orders easily.

Every website needs to be search engine optimised as search engines are largely responsible for driving targeted traffic that results in sales. Ideally, you should have a keyword strategy in place even before you begin building your website. Your website is one of your business’ sales tools. An online marketing strategy can enhance the performance of your website but usability plays an important role. Remember to monitor, evaluate and improve your website on an on-going basis.

With the ever-changing landscape of technology, your business’ online presence should consist of more than just a pretty website. Having a strong online presence enables you to compete with competitors for continuous business success.

The Internet can sustain business growth which allows any kind of business to benefit from having an online presence. Studies show that 65% of consumers conduct product and / or service searches prior to making their purchase decision. If you don’t have a strong online presence you are missing out on potential sales. It is also important to ensure that once visitors land up on your website, you convert them to leads or clients.

To ensure your website has a good conversion rate, it should (among others) be informative and user-friendly and the content should always be up-to-date. The website should be easy to navigate and all links should be working. Make it easy for visitors to find additional and relevant information on your website by making use of interlinking. If a visitor can’t find what they are looking for, they will leave your website and continue their search somewhere else. If your business is product-based, consider integrating an online store and / or FAQ section on your website. It might be expensive but you are sure to reap the fruit of your investment. Update your website regularly with new content such as promotions and competitions, product reviews or press releases where applicable.

A blog is another tool that can be used to direct traffic to your site and add a personal touch to a corporate website. Through the content you post on the blog you can show visitors among others that you are an expert in your field by discussing various issues important to prospective clients. If you have social media profiles, be sure to incorporate them on your website.

It is important to have an online marketing strategy and know what goals you want to achieve through your online marketing channels. Once the online strategy is created and implemented, track and measure the success of the tactics you implement. The best way to improve the performance of your website is to continuously measure, tweak and try out new tactics.