Ever landed on a website & felt overwhelmed or confused?

Maybe the text was too small, the layout was really cluttered, or you just couldn't find what you were looking for. 

How did it make you feel? 

Frustrated, right? 

Now, think about your own website. Could this be what your visitors are facing?

Your site’s user experience (UX) is like an inviting room for visitors.

The more comfortable, tidy, & coordinated the room is, the longer they will stay. But if it's cluttered & confusing, they'll depart right away & perhaps may not come again. 

This is the very same with your website. An awesome UX lets you hold on to your visitors & make them engage with the content. 

But how do you do that?

These are some best practices to enhance user experience on the website, thereby making it more engaging. 

Whether you're a small business, a blogger, or a professional—anybody who wants to leave a really great impression on their website visitors—these strategies can help in creating a website that not only looks great but also feels great while using it.

1.    Start with a Simple, Clean Design

A simple, clean design looks not only appealing but also makes your site easy to navigate. 

Imagine your website to be a conversation with your site visitors. You wouldn't want to tell people too much information at the same time when communicating with them, would you? 

The same goes for your website.

Imagine you are visiting a website with flashing ads, bright colors, & text everywhere. What will be the end results?

Obviously, you’ll not be able to focus on what is truly important. 

A clean, non-cluttered site, on the other hand, will allow your content to shine & point visitors in the right direction.

With that in mind, you need to declutter your website. 

Get rid of everything that isn't needed, & make sure to create a balanced layout with plenty of white space. 

This will not only make your website look professional but also help the visitor flow through it to find what they need easily.

2.    Make Navigation Intuitive 

Have you ever gotten confused on a website & have no idea where to find what you're looking for? 

It’s frustrating & usually leads to one result: you leave the site. 

To make sure this doesn't happen with your visitors, you should make navigation on your website simple to use.

Think about how you keep things in your house. You wouldn't put the toaster in the bedroom or the television in the bathroom, right? 

Everything has its place, so you know where to go when you need something. Your website navigation should be like that, too—logical, with categories & menus intuitive to the user.

Keep the items in your navigation menu clear & concise; use terminology that your audience will understand. 

The most important pages—like your home page, contact page, services, or products page—should be within quick & easy reach. In other words, good navigation is like a guide to your guests, where everything around the site can be found effortlessly.

3.    Create Engaging Content 

The best-designed website in the world will fall flat if the content isn't engaging. 

Your content will keep visitors interested & motivate them to act—move them to buy something, sign up for a newsletter, or just stick around longer on your site.

But what makes engaging content? 

It's not just what you say; it's how you say it. 

Use a conversational tone that speaks directly with them by asking questions, telling stories, & giving examples that make your readers relate to it. You should aim to make visitors feel you're talking with them.

Write your content in such a way that keeps your readers hooked & makes them want to know more about your products or services. 

To accomplish this task, you need to add relevant images, videos, & infographics to break up the text. Use short & simple sentences that are easy to follow. If you come across any complicated sentences, consider using a paraphrasing tool to paraphrase them in a clearer & more accessible way. 

The paraphrasing tool will transform complex write-ups into simpler ones by changing their structure & replacing technical words with simpler synonyms. This makes your content easier to understand & keeps your readers engaged.

4.    Prioritize Mobile-Friendliness 

These days, more & more people are browsing the web on their phones. 

If your website is not mobile-friendly, it could be losing a huge percentage of your targeted visitors. 

But what does it mean to have a mobile-friendly website?

A mobile-friendly website is one that looks & works well on smartphones & tablets. This means the text is readable without zooming, buttons & links are easy to click, & the layout adjusts to fit smaller screens. 

If your website isn't optimized for mobile phones, users will struggle to navigate through it and, therefore, get frustrated—eventually leading to a higher bounce rate.

So, you should make your website responsive. Test out your website with different devices & make sure everything looks okay. A seamless mobile experience will keep site visitors hooked.

5.    Focus on Speed 

Have you ever clicked on a website & it took a long time to open?

It's frustrating, & the majority of users will not bother waiting. 

Most importantly, if your website takes more than three seconds, visitors will start abandoning them.

It all starts with speed. 

If your website is very fast, it keeps the visitors glued to it. On the other hand, if it's slow, it turns them off. 

But how do you get your site to load quickly?

First, optimize images. Large, uncompressed images are almost always the worst offenders. Compressing the images will bring down their file sizes to ensure minimum loss of quality. 

Secondly, avoid heavy scripts & plugins or keep them to a minimum because they are notorious for slowing down a site. 

Lastly, consider using a CDN (Content Delivery Network) to help accelerate the delivery of your site's content to users around the world.

End Notes 

Improving your site’s user experience isn’t challenging now, right?

You can achieve the desired results through simple, clean design, intuitive navigation, engaging content, mobile-friendliness, & speed. 

Remember, your website is the very first impression that people have of your brand. 

So, make it count with an inviting, user-friendly space that keeps bringing them back for more. A happy visitor is a repeat visitor – this is what every site visitor is looking for. 

This article was submitted by Richard Leo.