Have you ever landed on a website and had an awful experience? If the answer is yes, welcome to the club! Now, there are a variety of different reasons your experience could have been so frightful. However, I can almost guarantee one of those reasons can be traced back to a sub-par UX. UX stands for User Experience in web design terms. If a website has a horrendous UX, most likely you will not be staying on a page long.
On the flipside, let me explain it like this. When you go to a nice restaurant, you expect each and every stage to be a great experience. As soon as you walk in the door, you want to be greeted with a smile, then you want a server that is efficient, you want the meal to be delectable and you want the farewell to be pleasant. Ironically enough, your website should resemble a very similar pattern. When a new user lands on the page, you want them to feel invited and you want to make their visit easy to navigate and a pleasing experience. To create this unique experience for your user, I have mapped out several different methods to start implementing into your website.
Target Audience
When first creating your website, it is vital to identify your target audience. This audience will determine the style of website you need to create. After you have successfully identified your target audience, it is time to create a website that will appeal to them. I would recommend speaking to some individuals from your target audience to determine the type of design they prefer as this can be extremely beneficial when you begin designing.
Traffic Flow
To make a user's experience more enjoyable, it is important to keep a consistent flow throughout your website. Make sure your visitor is well aware of where to visit next and how to get back on certain pages. Ultimately, just make sure your flow is uncomplicated and well thought through.
Catch Them Quick
As soon as someone lands on your website, it is vital to have content that will immediately grab their attention. Crazy enough, they say online users have the brief attention span of 8 seconds.
Make sure when developing your homepage that you add your important information as soon as viewers can land on and see the page. The rest of your valuable content can be tucked away into internal pages that are buzzing with SEO goodies.
Text and Font
Often overlooked, the text and font of your website is crucial. Text can make or break a user's experience on your website. For example. if your text is huge and bulky and you are writing paragrapgh's worth, your user can get irritated from all of the scrolling. However, on the flipside of that, if your text is minuscule and the user cannot read due to the text being so tiny, they will get frustrated and leave. This is why it is important to take your time and select an appealing font and the correct size text.
Pictures
Let me start by saying every website nowadays needs high quality pictures. As many reference, "a picture is worth a thousand words." This saying could not be held more accurate than when designing your website. Make sure to add several pictures strategically throughout your website to give your user a visual experience as well. Afterwhile, straight text can become unbearable, and pictures help tell stories.
Header
Although each website has them, they serve an important purpose. Most people when designing their website breeze over their header and do not put much thought into it and I can tell you, that is a mistake. Your header is your central navigation throughout your entire website. From your header, visitors should always be able to get back from the homepage and visit all of the other important pages on your website. Also, always make sure to link the logo in your header back to the homepage as it makes life so much easier for the user.
Content Above The Fold
My father owns his own business and when I first got into web design, he taught me to always put my important information "above the fold." This saying actually traces back to newspapers. If you think about the way you receive a newspaper; it is always folded in half. The newspapers always used to put the most important and eye-catching information above that fold. Your website should be treated no different and should follow that same pattern for success.
CTA
Every person creating a website has one of these. Your CTA is also known as your "Call To Action." If you do not have a call to action for your website, it is time to get one. Without a call to action, your website does not really serve a purpose or have a goal in mind. In terms of conversions on landing pages and websites, to generate more leads, I always advise putting your call to action above the fold. If your call to action is one of the first things visitor's see, they are more likely to take action. Now, be careful in your approach. Your call to action should be trying to get your user to do something in an inviting way. Make sure you do not word your call to action in a demanding tone.
Internal Links
The use of links is another helpful resource to a unique experience for your user. Links are another form of navigation on your website and take your user from one place to another.
Make sure that any links that connect to content on your website "open in the same page" to keep visitors on one session in your website. However, if you are linking something to external content, you want the link to "open in a new window." That way, when people click the link, your website stays open and they get access to the link you shared.
Music
Personally, I am not a fan of music that automatically begins to play when I land on a website. I find it very distracting and annoying. However, if you are an artist or music producer, simply use your Wix apps like Wix Music to display your tracks and allow users to click on your music when they want. Essentially, I would not recommend adding music to your website unless you are an artist using apps like Wix Music.
Get In Touch
I know this comes default on every Wix template, but some people underestimate the power of this tool. Your contact information! If you are a business owner, chances are good that with each visitor you are looking for new business or existing business. Regardless, you need to give your visitors methods to contact you. I recommend adding your contact information in your footer as well as your "Contact Us" page where I would include a form to let people fill out right then. With the new Wix Code releasing, you can create some pretty incredible user input forms.
Social Media
Everyone already knows our world is becoming more social and more internet based. Social media is king right now. If you own a business, I highly recommend taking advantage of all of the social media you can. If you properly post and execute your social media, you can become a powerhouse in your market. This leads me to mention, make sure your social media is displayed on your website. Typically, you can make it static and put it in the header or footer. Wix provides you an excellent tool called the "Social Icon Bar" that makes it uber simple to add your social media.
Mobile
As I have told you all half a billion times on this blog, the world in going mobile and you need to keep up or get left behind. I know it is a pain to have to edit your desktop website and then go back into your mobile editor to make sure everything looks alright, but it is worth it. If your website has a stunning mobile prescense as well, you are golden. Remember your goal is to make sure your user has an exciting and unique user experience. That means, if your website looks amazing on desktop, but not so well on mobile, your visitor is not receiving that special experience.
Going Down Low
At the bottom of every website lies a footer. The footer, although often overlooked or rushed is very important to your website. I know the top of the website is where all of the exciting action is taking place. However, if you want to truly provide your visitor with an unforgettable experience, it is vital to make sure that exciting action is happening below too! In the footer, I would recommend having your contact information, your policies (privacy, return, etc.) and even a site map. These elements help take your website to the next level and more importantly help your visitor navigate your website from the bottom of the page.
I hope you have found these UX tips and tricks to have been helpful. I promise if you begin to follow these steps, you will see an increase of engagement on your website. With a spike in engagement, you are likely to see more traffic as people would be much more likely to refer your website out. In addition, if you own a business, you are even more likely to see growth in online sales or sales that come from your website.
Again, I hope you have found these helpful. Do not forget to check out the forum and start posting your questions and helping others with answers. In addition, do not forget about the new page on the website, "Workshops." Make sure to keep an eye out for upcoming workshops like this Saturday and register fast as there are limited spaces. Most of all, have an excellent rest of the day.