User-Friendly Website Features Your New Site Should Incorporate
Why your website needs to be user-friendly.
A big problem many companies face in the current age of creative marketing isn’t that they don’t have a website, but that the website they have doesn’t function in a way consumer today expect. Others function properly in a technical sense but aren’t particularly attractive to the end user for one reason or another.
These issues encapsulate user-friendly website design, which is absolutely essential if you want your company to succeed. While elements such as brand development and lead generation will certainly help bring visitors to your site, your website design strategy must make visiting your site both intuitive and appealing. Today, we’re going to describe some of the features and strategies you can use to make that happen.
Responsive Website Design
Today’s web browsing is no longer limited to our desktop computers sitting in our homes and in our offices. These days, many millions of people gather their news, conduct their banking, and even order groceries from their smartphone or tablet. Responsive website design ensures your website can be properly viewed, with small alterations here and there as needed, regardless of the size of the viewing screen.
Link Your Social Media Platforms
In order to design a user-friendly website, you must include links to all of your social media platforms. Today’s consumers typically want to see you have a full online presence. This will not only help cement their trust in you but will also assist you in growing your brand and improving your connections with existing and potential customers. Even if you only have a Facebook account and nothing else, at least that’s something.
Schedule Regular Blog Postings
Blogging may have started out as a sort of online diary for the public, but it has become one of the greatest weapons in any company’s marketing arsenal. This form of communication is best utilized by sharing information about your company, providing tips and tricks, and entertaining visitors. It’s best to turn this job over to a professional marketing team who will deliver blogs per your parameters on a regular basis so as to create an ongoing reputation with visitors.
Contact Information on Every Page
When you think of web development, a company’s contact information probably doesn’t even crack the top 10 of the most important features. The truth, however, is that consumers can be very fickle, so if they have a question and it’s not immediately clear how they can get in touch with you, then they may not stick around long enough to find out. In addition to a full Contact Us page, your basic contact information should be on every other page of the site.
Testimonials from Past Customers
Believe it or not, but site visitors really do read customer testimonials. Potential customers want to get a full idea of what your company is all about. They want to know how others feel about your products or services and how they’ve been treated in the past. These visitors are fully aware that these testimonials are handpicked by the company, but it still helps them to see the big picture.
Share Your Story with Everyone
In recent years, it’s been shown that consumers – especially those on the younger side – are more likely to do business with your company if they liked your story and what you stand for. This is typically done in an About Us or Our Story section. in addition to explaining how your company came to be, you can also include highlights, accomplishments, awards, and employee details.
Highlight Relevant Case Studies on a User Friendly Website
Whether or not you include case studies will depend on the type of products or services you sell. This often leads toward companies that provide some type of service, because you can show how that service was able to fix a problem that a customer had. However, the same can also be true with a variety of products, so if it fits, take advantage of it. What you’re looking to do is to demonstrate how what you’re selling can help in a real-life situation.
User Friendly Websites have Geo Info and Local Directions
If you own a brick-and-mortar business, then part of creating a user-friendly website is to provide visitors with geographic information. This is primarily done with a widget that will allow a user to see your location on a map and then type in their address to launch Google Maps or a similar mapping website or app. The most obvious place to put this is the Contact Us section, but feel free to play with its location a bit. You can even put it on the bottom of the main page or on multiple pages.
Behind-the-Scenes Images/Videos
As we said above, today’s consumers often want to know about the story or even the heart of your business. Taking them behind the scenes with images and videos is a fantastic way to accomplish this. If you can include your employees in this part of your site, that’s even better. These personal attributes will make potential customers feel more at ease and confident in working with you.
A User Friendly Website has Automated and Live Chat Features
Including a live chat on your website is one of the easiest ways to impress both potential and existing customers. This provides visitors with a quick, simple way to reach out and get the answers they need. If you don’t feel that it’s necessary to have a person working on live chat full time or you can’t afford it, you could always allow them to start off with automated answers to their questions. Then, they can either be transferred to a live chat representative or leave a message that will be converted into an email for you to answer.
Easy-to-Use Search Functionality
Everyone knows how frustrating it can be to visit a website and not be able to find what you need, so it’s important that you don’t do this to your own site visitors. This could be a particular product that you offer through an e-commerce page or perhaps a piece of information about your company or the products and services you provide. Either way, if you feel that your site leans toward the need for a simple search function, definitely put one in.
Add an Email Subscription Option
The name of the game in today’s marketing world is to create a connection between you and your customers. Despite the deluge of junk emails that are delivered to people every day, most consumers love to receive emails from companies that they want to hear from. Giving visitors the option of signing up for an email subscription is a great way to identify customers who are truly interested in your product. Just be sure to never force someone to sign up and always provide an easy way to unsubscribe.
Contact P3 Agency for User Friendly Website Design
The professionals at the P3 Agency are experts at a variety of web design services and overall marketing services. Using a customized, inbound marketing system, our team will work tirelessly to take your company to the next level of success. If you’d like to learn more or to receive a free marketing assessment, give us a call at (800) 515-9422 today.