Can your website visitors determine what your company does within the first five seconds of landing on your web page? Do you have an exceedingly high bounce rate? Is your pricing layout easy to understand? Can the users easily navigate the blog?
If your responses to these questions are not in the affirmative, then it’s high time you took a hard look at the way your website is designed. Your website might require some serious improvements.
If you want to improve your website, there are certain things you should do. Check out these tips and ideas for websites.
1. Have a Plan
Do not jump in and start making changes to your website without first coming up with a good plan. Try to map out a buyer’s journey from the time they first land on your website to the moment they decide whether to buy or quit.
What pages are they going to view and what content are they going to read? Does the content address their needs? Are there any appealing offers in the content?
The answers to these questions will help you understand which parts of your website need improvement so that any visitor can get converted into a customer.
2. Keep Things Simple
There could be some unnecessary elements on your website. For example, complicated animations, too many irrelevant images, and content that’s too long can distract visitors from the message you are trying to convey.
Most first-time website visitors have an attention span of only eight seconds, so you need to create a first impression that will keep them glued to your website. You can do this by having clear sections of content with concise headers that convey your message in the shortest time possible.
Avoid words like:
- Flexible
- Next-generation
- Scalable
- Robust
- Cutting edge
- Easy to use
- Best-of-breed
- Groundbreaking
- Innovative
- Mission-critical
These words have been overused by thousands of companies and will not make your content any more appealing.
3. Include Follow and Social Share Buttons
Adding great offers and content to your website won’t help much if you don’t provide your users with an opportunity to share this information with their networks. Adding a share button to great content will encourage users to share it, and this will boost traffic to your website!
All those who visit your website will see the offers and probably convert to become your clients. The follow button enables you to keep your customers updated on new offers and content.
If you can’t add these buttons by yourself, you can seek help from a website support expert.
4. Let Your Visitors Scroll on Your Homepage
Of all the pages on your website, the homepage is the most important. For this reason, it should contain as much information as possible. So, don’t shy away from making it a little longer. You can include up to five sections to help recurring and new users understand what your business is all about.
These sections should also guide users to the various parts of your website where they can get more help. Some of the sections you can have on your homepage are:
- Intro Video
- Value proposition
- Overview of Services
- About Us
- Product Features
- Case Studies/Success Stories
- Testimonials
- Resources
5. Implement a Call to Action
Implementing a call to action is the most important of all the ideas for websites. Once a potential client visits your website, reads your content, and gets interested in your offers, you need to guide them on the next course of action.
A call to action button is one of the many elements that indicate to users the next step they should take on a page.
Some examples of call-to-actions are:
- “Download our sample GamePlan”
- “Click here for more information”
- “Watch this video”
- “Sign up for a webinar”
- “Download”
- “See pricing”
- “See all inbound marketing services”
- “Click here for more information”
- “Check out this offer”
- “Buy now”
6. Use the Right Images
Ensure each content has a fitting image or images. There are many websites that offer high-quality, royalty-free images that you can download and use on your website. If not, you can use your camera or phone to take good photos to use on your website.
Ideally, it’s advised to use photos of the real people that work at your organization and the office itself. But don’t overuse images, as this may also cause distraction.
7. Improve Navigation and Use White Space
Navigation is key when designing a website; it’s like a map that displays the important places users should visit. Having a professionally designed interface encourages navigation and makes visitors stay longer on your website.
There’s nothing worse than having a confusing or disorganized interface. When working on your website improvement, ensure your visitors can easily get the website support they’re looking for.
If users find it difficult to navigate your website, they’ll have no reason to stay and will move to your competitors’ websites. Also, don’t be afraid of using white space on your website.
These white spaces help in breaking up pages to increase readability and content prioritization. However, just like all other design elements, white spaces should not be overused — use them only when necessary.
More Ideas for Websites
The ideas for websites discussed above are in no way exhaustive. Web design requires creativity, and anything that will improve its functionality will be welcomed. And the process of web design never stops.
You need to keep updating your content and offerings to ensure they always appeal to your clients. You must also make your website responsive so that it can be viewed not only on desktops but also on laptops and mobile devices.
Finally, you need to keep testing your website to experience what your visitors go through while navigating. This will help you in knowing which areas need improvement.
If you need more tips on matters dealing with technology, you can visit our blog.
