Making your website appealing to your
audience is pretty much the same as making it more appealing to Google.
Once you have mastered
getting traffic to your website you must learn how to engage those people to
keep them on the site longer, improving your time on site and bounce
rates.
This is important not
only to engage and convert an audience, but these statistics also make your
website search engine-lovable.
Make your website
load faster.
This is one of the most
crucial web metrics these days. Google takes into consideration the speed of
your website when ranking search results, so if it takes too long to load, your
website won’t be shown as high in search results as it would have otherwise.
Visitors will bounce if
the site takes forever to load. They won't wait around to find out if you have
the best, most useful information your website. It’s annoying to watch a video
that buffers all the time or images that take so long to load, they keep
messing up the whole page layout.
If you’re not a techy
person, you can still do a few things that can prove very powerful without the
knowledge of a single line of code. Make sure your site has only what it needs
and not more.
Here is what I mean:
large media files take too long to download. So, if an image will be displayed
at 300 by 300 pixels, upload a file with that size. If you upload an image that
is 3000 pixels wide, browsers will take a while to downsize an image to the
needed size through code. Simplify browsers’ tasks by omitting the need for
additional code. If you do want large images (they are all the hype these
days), then you will need a good image optimizing and caching plugins.
So, take a good look at
what you have on your site and keep only those plugins that are truly needed,
deleting everything else to increase the performance of your site.
Simplify
How many times
have you tried to find something on a website but couldn’t because of the
overly complicated menu and overall clutter? A simple website make things
easier, and thus less stressful, making for an overall pleasurable experience.
People are bombarded with information, graphics, visuals and text all day long.
Simplify the job for the mind and the eyes.
Step into the shoes of
your customer. Create a clear path for them to follow: where they will land,
what they will see first, and where they’d need to go from there.
Make your menu short and
to the point. However, be cautious not to take away too much and strip the site
off of its usability. However, any SEO-purpose pages or pages that don’t have a
true value to a customer can be taken away.
Tell a story.
Your whole website
should add up into one cohesive story of your company. Tell stories and share
photos. Consistently present yourself to the world. Let website visitors know
what your values are and what you stand for.
Consistency is key to
gaining customer trust. Avoid brand confusion and your company will stay strong
and tall above other companies.
State your offer
clearly.
It’s tempting to
position yourself as an “expert in everything,” but chances are you’re not.
Your product is most likely not going to solve all of the problems.
This is also very
important to your site. Remember, your company’s website is your first and last
chance to impress website visitors. From the first second on your site, they
need to be clear on what you’re offering and how it’s going to help them. Drive that focus and usefulness home
before taking on any more topics.
Once you have their
attention, you can go into details on what exactly your company is about.
First, they should feel like this is specifically for them and exactly what
they’ve been looking for. Then, they will read your pitch. Your website sells
the experience first, then the product.
If you want to improve
engagement on your website, think like a customer. What information would you
find useful? What’s unnecessary? Think of what makes a pleasant user experience
and what doesn’t play any role in it.
-Lesya Liu
Comments
Post a Comment