Your website is often the first impression of your business. And you know what they say, you only get one chance to make a first impression. Here are eight things you should and shouldn't do to make your website both attractive and user-friendly.
Dos: doing the right thing
- Keep it simple
A clean design with a clear structure allows visitors to find what they are looking for immediately. Ask yourself: “Does this element add to the visitor's experience?” If the answer is no, remove it.
- Short and clear text
Ask your grandfather to read it. Does he understand what you mean? Good. If not, redo it, do it right. Texts on the web should not win literary awards, they should get straight to the point.
- Clear buttons (CTAs)
Visitors should never have to think about what the next step is. Make the buttons large, visible, and action-oriented: Book a meeting, Read more, Contact us.
- Mobile first
Many consumers surf the web on their mobile phones. If your website looks good on a computer but is difficult to use on a mobile phone, you will lose many visitors with their first click. If you work with B2B, this may not be entirely true. In that case, you need to gather a little more visitor data first.
Don'ts: avoid at all costs
- Avoid walls of text
No one wants to scroll through 40 lines of text without a break. Use headings, paragraph breaks, and preferably images that break up the text (like this exemplary short blog post
- No “find it yourself” navigation
Visitors don't want to go on a treasure hunt. Put menus and contact information where people expect to find them. Test it yourself: can you click your way through in a maximum of three steps?
- Don't overdo the effects
Animations, sliders, and pop-ups can be fun, but if they interfere with the user experience, you will lose both focus and trust. Unless, of course, it is in line with the company's brand (for our sister company www.evelyne.se, we needed to go a little further than usual).
- Don't miss the loading times!
Make sure your website loads quickly. No one wants to wait for anything anymore. Not everyone has the same attention span as you, dear reader, and will get through all eight points. So here's a bonus from me.
A good website doesn't have to be complicated. On the contrary, it's often the simple solutions that work best. Keep the design clean, the text short, and the path to contact or checkout obvious. Then you, your target audience, and (perhaps most importantly) your grandfather will understand what you want. Want to dive deeper into how you can get your website to convert? Then check out our webinar here!
