Sometimes when I look at websites I wonder what the site owner was thinking when they put it together. It’s rarely aimed at the reader. If a website isn’t easy for the reader to understand quickly and find their way around easily, what else could it be for?
Hmmmm … no can’t think of anything else.
So does your website deliver for your visitors? Check this list:
- Nothing too whizzy with moving images that stop your reader actually reading about what’s on offer
- A clear headline that gets their attention and creates enough interest for them to want to read further
- Language that is focused on the reader (you) not on the site owner (we). There’s nothing worse than ‘we do this, and we do that, and we are really wonderful’!
- One menu with, maybe, some additional navigation to specific sections or pages. Not one at the top, one at the side, one in the middle, one at the bottom, etc. etc.
- Menu tabs with names that make sense to the reader – not just to someone who knows your industry well. So no techie language or obscure terms.
- Not too many choices on the home page to confuse your visitor. Avoid the patchwork quilt effect with lots of boxes, icons, logos and links.
- Interesting visual images – not nasty stock images that are the same as all your competitors sites.
- A call to action on every page – and don’t ask people to do something and then expect them to search for what you’ve told them to do. Page links embedded in the text, phone numbers right after ‘call us’ etc
This is all good common sense – but I guarantee most websites ignore it and lose lots of potential business simply because the visitor can’t be bothered working that hard to fathom it all out.
