Designing a website with high usability is not something that happens overnight. If only it were that simple, there would be a lot more good websites on the World Wide Web and far fewer crappy versions. Unfortunately, we do not rule the online universe, and a sleek new website isn't conjured onto your screen in a flash. However, what we can do to soften this blow is share our knowledge with you on how to set up a user-friendly and searchable website . In this article, you will find 9 tips to take your website's usability to the next level.
What is usability?
If the term usability sounds only vaguely familiar to you, here is a clear explanation so that you too can join the conversation about the high usability everyone strives for: Usability means user-friendliness , ease of use , or practicality . In the case of a website, it is about ensuring that a user can find everything on the website in a completely logical manner and experiences its use as pleasant and easy.
Usability stands for the user-friendliness of a product, service, or , as in this case, of a website.
The design of a website is closely related to this. Everything must be easy to find and understand, otherwise people will disengage. For this reason, usability is a part of the user experience. By increasing user-friendliness, the user experience will also improve.
Clear menu
Essential for high usability is a functional menu located somewhere at the top of the page. Ensure your menu includes all the logical categories covering your offerings, and do not forget the 'Home', 'Contact', 'About Us', 'Blog', 'Case Studies', and 'Vacancies' pages, where applicable. Additionally, ensure your menu includes specific terms so that the type of information or products accessible via that button is immediately visible.
Furthermore, carefully consider which categories or pages deserve a prominent place in your menu and which items can also be placed as a subcategory or in the footer. Also, place your most important menu items at the beginning or end of your menu bar. People tend to look at the beginning and end first, and less at the middle.
Finally, the menu should always stand out. You can do this with a contrasting background color and ensure your menu button is clearly recognizable on mobile. This is very simple: just place the hamburger menu or the word 'Menu' as a button in the top left corner of the screen.
Advanced search function
Visitors come to a website with a specific goal. They are looking for something and are often very focused in their search online. Therefore, offer them the opportunity to do the same on your website via a search function . Ensure that this is clearly visible at the top of the page and that it works well. A very user-friendly search function offers suggestions while typing and not only responds to an 'exact match' but also displays similar products in the results, as in the example above.
Calm layout
Try a single-column layout instead of multiple columns to improve usability. With all information in one clear column , it is clear to the visitor where to look. The information is arranged logically from top to bottom, and more is only revealed by scrolling. A multi-column approach poses an additional risk, as scattered information can distract from the core purpose of a page.
A clean, single-column layout therefore gives you more control over where you direct the visitor. Ideally, people read from top to bottom. By providing the right information and content step by step, you can more easily encourage the visitor to take action, such as ordering or contacting you.
Descriptive link text
When using links in your text, it is best to use descriptive link text . We strongly advise against link text like 'Click here', as this text simply says nothing about where you are going to click. Also ensure that your (internal) links stand out visually with a different color and/or that they are in bold. If, for example, you want to refer to a specific services page, use the service itself to refer to more information. We would do this by letting you know in this way that you can find all the information on our website about having a custom website or a design website designed by us.
Breadcrumb as navigation
Breadcrumb navigation shows the visitor where they are on the website. Visitors often enter via a page other than the homepage or click through to other pages within the website themselves. Breadcrumb navigation then offers the visitor a way to immediately see which category they are in. This makes it easier to click back to an overview or to locate a specific topic. This extra piece of navigation might look like this: Home > Services > Hosting, security & support > WordPress hosting & support.
ALT text for images
An ALT text is a description of an image . With ALT texts, you help visitors who are visually impaired and use screen readers to understand web pages. By adding ALT texts to your images, you make the content of your pages more accessible and better readable as a whole. Search engines like Google also appreciate this for assessing usability, because it ensures that all the content of your page is easy to read.
404 page: right wrong
People land on a 404 page when something goes wrong. That can happen, but it doesn't have to be a reason to lose a visitor immediately. Therefore, turn your 404 page into a good error page . This means helping the visitor effectively by briefly but clearly indicating that the visitor should try to find the desired page using the search function, or by referring to your homepage to retain the visitor instead of simply stating that something went wrong.
Free giveaway
Naturally, you always want visitors to make a purchase and take action. It is logical to aim for this and convey this message in the content of your website or webshop. However, try it the other way around for a change and give something away instead of trying to close a sale immediately. Give something away, such as a discount or free advice . This is a friendly gesture, and the visitor is more likely to get a positive feeling from this than from a 'Order now' button.
This is a friendly and effective persuasion technique based on the principle of reciprocity. Show appreciation for someone visiting your website, and who knows, this appreciation might work to your advantage later in the form of an order or collaboration. We are not saying this always works, but it is certainly worth a try if you want to improve the user-friendliness of your website.
Convincing reviews
You can preach on your 'About Us' page how fantastic your brand or product is, but you can also let someone else say it. Make your website or webshop more trustworthy by providing social proof of the quality of your products or services. Someone with doubts seeks confirmation . Reviews can give a hesitant visitor just that final push and convince them . So make sure to show somewhere on your website that others support your offering and are satisfied with it.
A/B testing for usability
Are you open to applying the tips above, but want to see if the adjustments you make are paying off? Then we recommend A/B testing . This means creating two versions of a page, for example, a version with one column and a version with multiple columns in which you provide information. By having these online simultaneously for a certain period and monitoring them via an A/B testing tool, you can see what works better on your website.
A/B testing is a very effective method to work on improving your website usability.
Improve the usability of your website?
Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of the very diverse factors that website usability revolves around, and you find the tips useful. Would you like to improve the usability of your own website and hire a professional for this? Best4u can help you with that. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about this or are open to improvements. We would be happy to perform a completely free analysis of your current website.