5 Ways To WOW Your Website Visitors
One of the most important things to remember when it comes to creating a website is the user experience. Your website users want a website that loads quickly, is easy to navigate and has the information they are looking for.
Let’s look at the top 5 ways you can WOW your website visitors.
1. A Fast Loading Website
A fast-loading website, especially on mobile devices, is vital. As a general rule, the main part of the website should load in 1.2 seconds or less. Google refers to this as LCP (Largest Contentful Paint). In their words:
“LCP is an important user-centric metric for measuring perceived load speed because it marks the point in the page load timeline when the page’s main content has likely loaded – a fast LCP helps reassure the user that the page is useful.”
How fast your website loads depends on a number of factors:
- Image Size – Large images can really slow down a website. It’s important that your images be sized properly and compressed to reduce file size.
- Hosting – Cheap hosting is one of the main causes of slow-loading websites. If you’re paying less than $25.00/month on hosting, you may want to think about moving to a different host.
- Website Programming – The way that your website is programmed can also affect how fast your website loads. If you are using a page builder, make sure you are using one that doesn’t add a lot of extra code. Additional plugins can also slow your website down. Only added plugins or add-ons that you really need.
2. A Clear Message
When website visitors land on your website they want to know 3 things:
- What do you do, or sell?
- How will your service or product make my life better?
- How can I buy it?
If these things are not clear almost immediately, you are risking having them click the back button and going to another website (likely one of your competitors).
This is where I see a lot of websites fall down. They have a beautiful-looking website, but they fail to explain what they do in a clear manner. They fail to explain the benefits of working with them or buying their product.
If you want conversions, take the time to create a clear and concise message. Don’t be vague, don’t try to be witty, don’t use acronyms. and don’t use technical jargon. Get straight to the point and lay it out in plain language.
3. An Easy To Use Website
A website that is clearly laid out and easy to navigate can be a joy to use. A website that is busy, difficult to use (especially on mobile devices) will send website visitors running to the hills (aka your competition).
- Forget the Glitz and Glitter – While everyone wants their website to look shiny and fresh, adding a lot of bells and whistles can be detrimental to not only how fast your website loads but to the overall user experience.
- Easy Navigation – Take the time to map out your website navigation. This is very important in large websites where several sub-menus may come into play, but even a small website can benefit from well-thought-out navigation.
- Less is More – Avoid the urge to fill up your home page with information about all of your services or products. The home page should act as a welcome mat to the rest of your website. Use your home page as a visual welcome and add Calls To Action to invite users to visit other pages of your website that have more information about what you do or sell.
4. Calls To Action
A call to action (CTA) is anything on a website that prompts a website visitor to take action – a “Read More” or “Buy Now” button, a link to a free PDF, a link to an online booking calendar, etc.
Your CTA should be prominently displayed above the fold (the part of the website that users see without scrolling) anr d should stand out from the rest of the website content (a contrasting colour, larger font, etc).
One of the most common places for your CTA is in the top right-hand corner. It can also be repeated in strategic areas of your website (after the main message on the home page, in the footer area of the website, etc).
It should also be very obvious what the CTA is for. Avoid phrases like “Click Here”. Instead, use “Book A Free Consultation”, or “Download a Free Guide”.
5. Mobile Friendly
This should go without saying, but your website must be mobile-friendly. There is a surprisingly large number of websites that are virtually unusable on mobile devices such as smartphones. This is not only bad for the user experience, but Google will penalize websites that are not mobile-friendly.
55% of page views in 2021 came from mobile phones, and if your website is difficult to use on a phone or tablet, users will get frustrated and leave. Take the time to make sure (or have your developer make sure) that your website looks and functions well across devices. A great place to test your website is https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly.
From a purely SEO standpoint, Google uses mobile-friendliness (or lack off) as a ranking signal and will rank your website higher if it is mobile-friendly.
If you would like a free evaluation of your website, reach out for a free consultation. We can give you honest feedback about your existing website and some advice for improvement.
