Creating a user-friendly website is essential for any business that wants to succeed online. Your website should make it easy for visitors to find what they need, understand what you offer, and take the actions you want them to take.
Here are 12 ways to make your website more user-friendly.
1. Design with the user in mind
Put yourself in the shoes of your target audience. What information are they looking for? What questions do they have? What do they need to do on your website?
Make sure your website is easy to navigate and understand, with clear text and an obvious path to the information and features visitors are looking for.
2. Keep it simple
There’s a reason for the acronym KISS – Keep it Stupid Simple. Avoid unnecessary clutter and overly complicated design elements. A clean, well-organized website is easier to understand and navigate.
This doesn’t mean your website has to look plain. It means that the design should support your content rather than get in the way of it.
Related: Tutorial: How to Instantly Make Your Designs Look Cleaner
3. Use clear and concise language
Write for your visitors, not for yourself. Avoid unnecessary jargon and technical terms that your audience may not understand.
Keep your wording clear and direct so visitors can quickly understand what you offer and what they can do on each page.
4. Make it easy to find what people are looking for
Your visitors shouldn’t have to search around your website to find basic information.
Use clear navigation menus, descriptive labels, logical page organization, and links that make sense. Put your most important information and features where visitors can easily find them.
Read: How to Optimize Website Structure and Navigation
5. Use high-quality, relevant images and videos
Images and videos can make your website more interesting and help communicate information quickly. Use them when they add something to the page, rather than simply adding them for decoration.
Make sure images are relevant, high quality, and properly optimized so they don’t unnecessarily slow down your website. You can automatically convert your images with the UltimateWB built-in WebP image converter.
Read: WebP vs. JPG/PNG: Should You Use Fallback Images for Compatibility?
6. Make your website mobile-friendly
Your website needs to work well on smartphones and tablets, not just desktop computers.
Visitors should be able to read your content, navigate your menus, click buttons, fill out forms, and use your website’s features comfortably on smaller screens.
Read: Mobile-Friendly Website Checklist: 20 Things to Check
7. Test your website regularly
Don’t assume your website is still working exactly as it should just because it worked when you launched it.
Test your website regularly, including navigation, forms, links, shopping carts, logins, and other important features. It can also be useful to have other people try your website and tell you where they get confused or have trouble.
8. Use a responsive design
A responsive website automatically adjusts its layout to fit the screen size of the device being used. This helps provide a consistent experience across desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
With the UltimateWB website builder, you can make this easier with the built-in Responsive App.
Read: How to create your own responsive website without any coding!
9. Keep your design consistent
Use a consistent design throughout your website. Navigation, fonts, colors, buttons, headings, and other design elements should work together from page to page.
Consistency helps visitors understand how your website works and makes it easier for them to find what they’re looking for.
10. Use white space effectively
White space is the empty space between elements on a page. It gives your content room to breathe and makes pages easier to scan.
Don’t feel like every part of the screen needs to be filled. Giving important content some space can actually make it stand out more.
Read: Embracing Whitespace: The Secret Ingredient to Stunning Web Design
11. Use color effectively
Color can help establish visual hierarchy and draw attention to important elements, such as buttons, links, headings, and notifications.
Use colors consistently and make sure there is enough contrast between text and its background so your content remains easy to read.
Read: How to Test the Color Contrast of Your Website for Accessibility?
12. Use clear calls to action
Calls to action are buttons or links that encourage visitors to take a specific action, such as contacting you, submitting a form, signing up, learning more, or making a purchase.
Make your calls to action clear and easy to find. Visitors should understand what will happen when they click.
By following these tips, you can create a website that is easier for visitors to understand, navigate, and use. A user-friendly website makes it easier for people to find what they need and take the next step.
Ready to design & build your own user-friendly website? Learn more about UltimateWB! We also offer web design packages if you would like your website designed and built for you.
Got a techy/website question? Whether it’s about UltimateWB or another website builder, web hosting, or other aspects of websites, just send in your question in the “Ask David!” form. We will email you when the answer is posted on the UltimateWB “Ask David!” section.