Website Design Tips for Connecting With Your Customers

Make sure you’re connecting with your customers with these 3 website design tips.

But first, you need to examine what your business message is, then figure out whether or not your website is conveying that message.

What’s the unique selling point for your business? What determines the effect people get?

What Message do You Want to Send?

Generally website design depends on your brand. A small business needs a different approach than a small business.

A large business might need to try to look extremely professional and not convey a lot of personality for fear of putting off a small group of people.

On the other hand, a small business may be better off not leaving a 100% politically correct perception that is so safe that it doesn’t give people any idea about who you are or what you stand for.

Ask yourself: What do you want to be known for in your industry? Does your website convey that unique positioning?

One Chance is Often All You’ve Got

One mistake many website owners make is that they assume they have their reader’s attention and have time to carefully tell them what their business is about.

The reality is, you really only have about two seconds for a website to capture the attention of a visitor. In those two seconds, your visitor needs to know how you might be able to help them as well as the overall “vibe” of your site.

Then your visitor will decide if she wants to keep browsing or not. This browsing tendency makes it absolutely crucial that you grab your visitors attention quickly.

Probably the most important website design tip is to look at the things that are visible “above the fold”, meaning within the first screen without scrolling. Do you advertise your newsletter or e-zine “above the fold”? If you do, great. If not, try an experiment an move it and see if you get more subscribers.

Is it Easy to Use?

The second most important website design tip is how easy is your website to use? Do users struggle to find navigation buttons? Can someone easily find what they’re looking for, or is it a difficult process for them?

It’s easy to think to yourself that you’re doing great in this area, when really you’re not. The only way to know is to actually observe how your users are using your website.

Ask five friends or five family members to browse the site with you watching. See where they initially put their attention, then what they try to do and any hang-ups they have. Ask them for suggestions.

Your best redesign ideas and improvement ideas often won’t come from you – they’ll come from your users.

What Next?

Ask yourself what do you want your visitors to learn from visiting your website. Then figure out what kind of impact you’re actually leaving by asking and observing users interacting with your website.

Use what you learn to redesign and tweak your website to better target the kind of experience you want your visitor to have.

What are some other website design tips that you have found to be important in building a user friendly website? Please share below.