User experience has always been paramount, and it holds true even with websites. Why, you ask? The usability of your website directly impacts visitor satisfaction, engagement, and, ultimately, the success of your online presence.
So, ensuring optimum usability is one of the indispensable aspects of your website design in Geelong. Here are 9 ways to assess and enhance your website’s usability, covering aspects from navigation to design and accessibility.
1. Put Users in the Driver’s Seat
One of the first things you should do is conduct usability testing. It involves observing real users interacting with your website to identify potential issues and gather insights into their experience.
This can be done in three ways:
- Through in-person sessions
- Remote testing
- With usability testing tools
It lets you understand how users navigate your site, uncover areas for improvement, and make informed decisions to enhance overall usability.
2. Ensure Accessibility Across Devices
Smartphones and tablets are increasing by leaps and bounds. This proves that having a responsive design is crucial for usability. A responsive website adapts its layout and content to different screen sizes, providing a seamless experience across devices.
Adding to this, even Google considers mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor, making responsive design not just a usability enhancement but also an essential aspect of search engine optimisation (SEO). So, website design and SEO experts often work in tandem with each other in Geelong.
3. Navigating Users Intuitively
Navigation is a cornerstone of website usability. In other words, your website must have clear and intuitive navigation menus that help users quickly find what they want. For this, you can implement a range of tactics, for example:
- Descriptive labels
- Logical hierarchy
These strategies minimise the number of clicks required to access essential information. A well-organised navigation structure contributes significantly to a positive user experience. Your chosen Geelong website design expert will help you achieve this.
4. Page Load Speed
Slow-loading pages can be a major turn-off for users. It directly impacts user satisfaction and influences search engine rankings. Tools like Google PageSpeed Insights help you assess and optimise your website’s performance.
Some common steps experts follow are compressing images, minimising HTTP requests, and leveraging browser caching. These ensure swift loading times, providing users with a seamless browsing experience.
5. Prioritising Readable Content
The content on your site should be easy to read and comprehend. So, experts use a clean and readable font, maintain a proper font size, and ensure sufficient contrast between text and background.
Further, they also break content into easily digestible sections with headings and subheadings. Accessibility is also crucial with content; ensure your content is inclusive and can be easily consumed by users with varying needs. Your Geelong website design professional will know plenty of ways to improve your website’s accessibility.
6. User-Friendly Forms
Forms are common on many websites, whether for contact, registration, or feedback. Your forms must be user-friendly to evoke the right reaction or desired action. The best way to accomplish that is by keeping them concise, avoiding unnecessary fields, and providing clear instructions. Further, you can also implement inline validation to provide real-time feedback, reducing the chances of user errors.
A seamless form submission process enhances user satisfaction and encourages interaction.
7. Mitigate Error Prevention and Handling
Users can become frustrated if they encounter errors while navigating your website. To avoid this problem, Geelong website designers implement many measures. The goal is to prevent errors and provide clear error messages when they do occur. So, these error messages must be concise and specific and offer guidance on resolving the issue.
By minimising errors and handling them gracefully, you enhance the overall usability of your website.
8. Establishing Consistent Design
Consistency in design elements contributes to a cohesive and recognisable brand identity. From colours to fonts to imagery, everything must be consistent across your website. It not only enhances visual appeal but also helps users navigate and understand your site more easily.
A website with such a unified design creates a professional and trustworthy impression on its users, instilling confidence. That is why having a Geelong website design expert is more invaluable than going for a generic template.
9. Making Your Website Inclusive
Accessibility is a fundamental aspect of usability. Your website must be accessible to users with disabilities by following web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG). It includes providing alternative text for images, ensuring keyboard navigation, and creating a design that accommodates users with various abilities.
Prioritising accessibility broadens your audience and aligns with ethical and legal standards.
Final Thoughts
Creating websites using website builders like WordPress is easy. But if you want effective results, having a professional’s assistance is incomparable. Make My Website is an excellent Geelong provider for all digital services, from web design to SEO.
Visit MMW’s website to learn more!
