Best Practices on Website Usability
Great website usability helps visitors quickly and easily find what they’re looking for. Visitors use search engines to find your site, but once they arrive, they have to be able to actually use the site and understand the content. Otherwise, your site is a waste of their time. The idea behind most websites is to deliver information, products or services to an end user.
We’ve highlighted five important components of a usable website:
Quality Content
Eye-catching design may attract visitors but content is what keeps them at the site. Providing excellent content sustains search engine rankings as well. Although SEO is important, the main audience is still human visitors. The most important content should be placed at the upper portion of the page so it’s visible as soon as the page loads.
Supply descriptive titles. Most people just quickly scan a page to find what they are looking for, and if they don’t find what they need, they are likely to leave. Using descriptive titles give users an impression that they are on the right track. Also, add ALT and TITLE attributes to all images.
Add a Touch of Creativity
A web page that is all text can be boring. Incorporate rich media: photos, videos or audio clips. These things often explain something even better than plain words can. It is also believed to be able to retain the attention of an average user longer than a website without rich media.
Clear and Simple Navigation System
The navigation system or site menu should be in the same place on every page and have the same format. Visitors may land on your site through an article or page, but they presumably want to view the homepage too. Adding a home page link in the main navigation system and linking the site logo to home page is recommended.
Underlined text is indicative of a hyperlink and visitors are most likely going to click on them but if you wish not to use this visual style, it is acceptable to use a different font, or text color that indicates a hyperlink. Also, use appropriate text inside links. Visitors should be able to anticipate a link’s destination by reading the text in the link or on the navigation button.
Add a Site Map to show the entire collection of links. Visitors would sometimes like to browse through a list of links within a website. This will surely help people find what they are looking for and positively impact your SEO efforts.
More often than not, users need a Search box to quickly locate information within the site content. The search box must be prominent configured to search your entire site. This element is essential for sites with a rich product database or huge volume of articles or information.
Contact
Include your business phone number and postal address on the contact page. Listing a phone number is probably the best way to provide assistance if people can’t find the information they need anywhere else on the website although some may prefer to contact you by email or a form. Any site usually needs at least one form to allow for user feedback. Keep feedback forms short and indicate which information is required to successfully submit the form. If you are capable of supporting forums or live chat, that would be nice. Users feel more comfortable with a site that allows several contact methods.
Think like an Average Website User
What about errors? Usability testing is critical to assess how well the entire site functions. All components must work together to guide visitors through the site and help them get what they need.
As for the websites we’re building, YDO works tirelessly with our clients to identify any potential issues before their online visitors find them or immediately upon discovery of the issue, if any. We know that if a site operates well, users stay longer and read more content.
Good usability is critical to any site’s success. This is one of many things that Your Design Online treats with utmost importance: building websites that satisfy our clients and their targeted visitors.
Building your Website: How Much Is It Really Going to Cost?
“How much does it cost to build a website?” It’s a question we hear all the time when entrepreneurs or brick and mortar stores decide to launch their business virtually. The reason a simple figure doesn’t roll off our tongues is because there is such a vast difference in each website’s functionality and maintenance structure from business to business.
What we suggest you do when trying to compare apples to apples is sit down with a reputable website design and search engine optimization (SEO) firm to hash out all of the features and benefits you need on your website. The best way to do this is to make a list of all of the things you’d like your website to accomplish. This can vary greatly depending upon your business objectives, and your website consultant may have a few additional suggestions for you to consider to help you meet your goals.
It’s important to understand that much like your cell phone, you can expect to pay a monthly or yearly maintenance fee for your website depending upon the features you select. Fees can range from a small charge for simply hosting your website to custom service fees for running the site’s logistics or building and interacting with your social communities.
Some website design firms fulfill the role of webmaster and additionally generate blogs, tweets, Facebook status updates, audio clips, and video content to keep your site interesting, interactive, relevant, and high-ranking on the search engines.
They do this by collecting data and preferences from you and then using their expertise to feed the information into the website in various formats that are designed to generate traffic and response. Working long term with your designer in this way is essentially like outsourcing your web P.R. Of course, your designer can also teach you or someone in your company how to maintain online activities on your website in-house.
It’s also important to discuss with the team building your site how the site will be found on search engines. Some web companies (like ours) will also have good ideas for ranking high in Google for the keywords that your target audience will be searching for. Web design companies often offer a one-time optimization service, as well as ongoing services to keep your site ahead of its competition.
We’d encourage you to be leery of anyone who offers you a flat rate to design your website without speaking with you in detail about your project. It usually results in unpleasant surprises and it’s often how we see people lose their money and become disenchanted with the whole website building experience. Remember, to gain an accurate understanding of the costs and maintenance fees you can expect when building your company’s website, it’s important to request a detailed proposal based on the your specific objectives.
If you’d like to receive a quote on your website construction or maintenance, please contact YDO for an insightful interview on your business’s needs. We can offer you a detailed proposal with no hidden costs.