In the past, websites were there simply to share contact information for a company, so that more people would be able to find them. Over time, however, websites have become crucial to a business’ success. They can sell online creating a revenue stream that they never had before, and they can engage their customers, bringing in more sales and becoming more popular in the process. This won’t happen if the company’s website is not user-friendly. How can you make sure that it is?
Simplicity
No one wants to spend an age reading all the information on your website before they are able to get to the page they want and buy the item or inquire about the service that they are looking for. It’s important to keep your website simple and functional, allowing users to get where they need to be quickly and easily. Keeping everything on one page so that you don’t have to redirect or link to other places can also be helpful, although this won’t help in every case – market research may be required before you make a final decision on exactly what your website should look like. It makes no difference whether you are selling clothing, food, or even ticket sales, you still need to keep things simple.
Loading Times
The loading time of a website can dictate how many sales you make. Only if someone is truly dedicated to buying from you will they wait for your slow site to finally load. If you aren’t selling something bespoke or unique (and sometimes even if you are) then if you have a slow loading site, your potential customers will be leaving to find what they want elsewhere. You will have lost a sale, and your competitors will have gained a customer all through your site taking a long time to load up. The simplest way to make sure things are quick is to use smaller images (assuming you need any). Otherwise, continue to monitor your site to make sure it is performing as it should.
Mobile Friendly
More and more people are browsing the internet on their cell phones or tablets, so making sure that your site is mobile friendly is essential. The people looking at your site in this way will be keen to conclude business quickly, finding what they need and making a purchase without having to navigate through pages and pages of information that doesn’t even fit their mobile screen. Having a fully optimized mobile site to go alongside your main one will mean more customers stick with you rather than going elsewhere.
PPC
PPC – which stands for ‘pay per click’ is a useful way that many people use to advertise their website. However, be careful; if you choose to start a PPC campaign, make sure that the content of your site matches what you are promising in the ad. If it doesn’t, you’ll have disappointed customers, and you will have spent money to show them nothing at all. If everything lives up to your promises, you are more likely to make a sale, and enjoy return sales too.
