Web Design and Usability
Do you want your web site to be productive for your company?
I would be surprised if the answer wasn't yes!
Many businesses are missing the competitive edge over their competitors, in the economic times we currently experience, achieving competitive superiority is paramount to the success of your online business.
Web Design and Usability go hand in hand with gaining the all important competitive advantage. Why? Because web usability provides superior customer experience the primary factor in:
- Visitors spending more time on your site.
- Customer conversions achieving objectives defined in SEO Strategic Planning.
- Visitors returning to your web site.
About Your Web Visitors
The web site is all about the visitor, all efforts should be directed at ensuring visitors are kept happy, get what they expect and are able to achieve their online goals
Research completed by Web Usability expert Dr. Jakob Nielsen found web users are becoming more impatient and just want to accomplish their goals and leave. "People want sites to get to the point, they have very little patience."
Its time to listen to what Usability Experts are saying, not doing so will definitely affect web site ROI.
Web Design Usability Defined
Web Usability are guidelines used in the web design process to improve the ability of end users to use the web site with ease..
The Importance of Usability
It’s quite simple to highlight the importance of usability for your business. Users quickly leave your site if they find it difficult to:
- Define it’s purpose
- Navigate the web site
- Read and understand the written content
- Complete the tasks they expect to achieve
- Wait for pages to load due to high use of video and graphics
Web Usability Guidelines – The Basics
Site Design- Avoid Flash entry screens - they are not user or Search Engine friendly.
- Limit use of pre-loaded video and large graphic files on homepage – delays loading.
- Clear and professional design.
Site Purpose
- Clearly state the name of your company and what it does.
- Clearly state what customer’s can achieve while visiting the web site.
Site Content
- Written content is written in clear grammatically correct language.
- Only include relevant content and only include graphics where relevant.
- Content is easy to scan with appropriate headings and sub headings.
- Does content answer the user’s primary question?
Site Navigation
- Ensure site navigation is located either along top or on left site.
- All links should be clearly labeled.
- All links must work.
Site Processes / Forms
- Ensure all steps of the “shopping cart” processes are intuitive and functioning.
- Provide feedback when a form has been submitted successfully.
Web Design and Usability – Final Comment
This really is a brief overview of Web Design and Usability to indicate the importance of Usability to your business. Web Usability has a huge impact on the overall profitability of your web site. If your web site does not meet the expectations of customers, conversion rates and visitor return rates will both be lower.
Just as important, if your web is not usable much of your investment in Web Design and Search Optimization will have been wasted providing minimal ROI.
Don’t overlook Web Design Usability to do so is at your peril.
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Contact The Wizard's Blog a HTML version will be forwarded to you. In return all I ask is the following link be included Web Site Usability
