If you have an online business, then you know more than most the importance of your website and its usability. And without a user-friendly website, you will likely have very few satisfied users, therefore, it’s essential that you take the time to improve your website’s user experience. Here are 5 simple ways you can improve your website for your users.

Improve your page speed

Have you ever visited a website that took a really long time to load? We can be sure you didn’t hesitate to head over to another website that loaded in a matter of seconds. One of the most frustrating experiences for users of the web is waiting for a page to load for too long.

There are a variety of handy tools out there that can help you to test your webpage speed at the click of a button, and will also helpfully indicate the elements that are slowing your page down, so you can swiftly fix them.

Fix website errors / Awareness of 404’s

We all know that feeling of utter frustration when you spot a preview for a really interesting video or article, then you click the link and you’re faced with a 404 error; meaning the page cannot be found. Having a 404 error on your webpage will leave your visitors feeling frustrated and disinclined to continue using your website, or return to it in the future.

To avoid this, it’s important that you have your site checked regularly to prevent any errors from occurring. If you find 404 errors that you are unable to fix, to keep users happy you should include an apology with a redirect on the page until this can be fixed by your website host.

Use images, but use them wisely

Images are a great way to grab your website user’s attention, but it’s important you don’t overuse them. Your website should have a well-balanced feel that uses images to enhance the content and make it more user-friendly, without overloading the page. And with images accounting for a vast amount of page speed, it’s important that you use them wisely.

Clean and consistent design and layout

You want to make sure that the information on your page is set up in a way that makes it easy for your visitors to navigate through and find what they need quickly and efficiently.

The colours and the type of graphics you use on your website can contribute to user experience, this also includes font variations and font sizes. If you are unsure about website design, it may be beneficial to seek the help of a designer who will help you to achieve visually pleasing and complimentary colours and font families.

Be mobile friendly

In the digitally-crowded world that we live in today, it’s no secret that our smartphones are constantly in our hands.  We are all familiar with the frustrating feeling of finding an eye-catching website that just doesn’t load properly on your mobile device. And now with Google providing an incentive for sites to be mobile friendly; with its mobile-first index it will look primarily for mobile content for its search rankings, there’s no better time to start converting your site.

You can test to see if your website is mobile friendly by using Google’s Mobile Website Speed Test.

You don’t have to create your web page alone. Let us do the hard work for you, and reap the rewards of a fresh, updated platform that represents your brand and interacts with your audience perfectly. Get in touch today.

Square Media is Northamptonshire’s premiere Web Design & Marketing Agency experienced in developing effective content and marketing strategies for forward-thinking companies in the local area. Our team of specialists consistently deliver outstanding results working in a variety of areas such as Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media Marketing Consultancy, Pay Per Click (PPC) and AdWords Management amongst a wide range of other services.