Ensuring that your website is easy to use is paramount to the success of your site. An easy to use website will ensure that visitors will be able to find the information or products that they are searching for with ease, which will help you sell more of your product, service, or just help customers learn more about your organization. There are a few key elements that consistently influence the overall ease of use of your website. This article explores several of these elements, and how to optimize these areas to make your website a success.
Organization and Navigation
Creating an easy to use site begins with the earliest planning stages. As the website grows from the first concepts, it is important to organize the information into logical sections, such as information about your business, services offered, or articles related to your services. These site sections generally will be the main links that sit at the top, or side of each page, and it is a good idea to keep the total number of sections to a minimum, preferably five or six. Having too many sections to the site will make it harder for visitors to find the right information.
As the organization of the website is developed, a common practice is to create a flow chart of how the site will be organized, how individual pages are accessed, and how each section relates to each other. Often times however, a simple listing of sections, pages, and descriptions is enough to effect flesh out the organization of the site.
What Do Your Visitors Want to See?
Most visitors to business websites are there to find a specific item, group of items or information about your business. The website should help these people find exactly what they are looking for. Since the home page is often times the main entry point to the website, it makes sense to provide links for visitors to easily access a limited number of important sections or pages of the site (learn more about creating successful home pages). As the website is launched, other pages may become strong entry points to the site as well, and additional links can be provided on these pages.
Providing connections between related areas of the site can also be an important tool for making it as easy as possible for visitors to find the information that they seek. As an added bonus, providing numerous links between pages on your website will also ensure that visitors will spend additional time browsing your site, which increases the chances that they will purchase your product or service.
Graphic Design
The graphic design of the site plays an important role in how easy the website is to use, so finding the right designer is very important (learn more about choosing a website designer). A professional designer will know best how to design each page to point visitors to where they need to go. Simple elements, such as small graphics and icons can often help with the usability of a page, as well as the overall organization and design. Simplicity will also make a site easier to use, by not being distracting visitors with elements that do not contribute to the site.
Easy to Read Content
The development of the website content should make it easy for visitors to understand the services that your business offers, as well as providing information that will allow them to take the next step (purchase a product, inquire about your services, etc …) . Using plain, well crafted language will ensure that your site text will effectively communicate and reach a wider audience.
Adapting to the Growth of Your Website
As your website becomes established, it is important to regularly reassess the ease of use of the site. Using tools, such as Google Analytics, which tracks visitors to your website, provides many insights into how people navigate through the site, as well as how many pages visitors look at, and how long they stay. With this information, it is often times easy to see new opportunities for improvement.
Ease of use is not just about making life easier for your website visitors, it's about improving the image and bottom line of your business. Taking the steps to ensure that your site is easy to use, and regularly improving the navigation and content will ensure that the money spent on your site was a wise investment.
