Website Usability 101

Many individuals and business go online and believe that they can make a fortune from running an internet business. Although this can be the case and many people are successful at online business, one of the most overlooked areas is website usability.

Let’s say John Smith decides to go into the web business and he sets up a site to sell a new book he just wrote. He is aware of how to do search engine marketing and proceeds with traditional and fee based advertising. He spends a ton of money and gets a lot of clicks or visitors to his site, but no sales. The question arises “Why am I not selling any product?” There could be many reasons such as pricing, market and brand awareness etc, but let’s eliminate that from the equation for now. It is a great possibility that it could be to poor site design. Here is a list of some questions to consider when designing your website.

1. What is the focus of your site? Do you want to generate leads, sell widgets, support your existing customers, etc. You must have a clear purpose to your site. Don’t try to accomplish too many things on your site, focus on sales or lead generation.
   
2. Is your message clearly stated? If you are listing in search engines and offering a free download as an incentive to generate leads, is that message clear on all the pages of your site? If it’s only on the home page visitors will not have easy access to the free download and forget about it. Make the means for making the sale or generating the lead always stare them in the face. Persistence is the key to getting users to take advantage of an offer.
   
3. Is your site navigation easy and consistent? Many websites change navigation from screen to screen. Keep it simple, if you have a navigation bar at the top of the screen, keep it there. Don’t force users to hunt for the links to the areas they want to get to.
   
4. as clickable. Likewise most buttons have a beveled or embossed look; this makes them stand out as buttons to be clicked. Keeping this in mind will make your sites navigation very standard to the common user. If you can click on an image to enlarge it, say so, don’t assume the user will know to put his mouse over it and check.
   
5. Is your site designed well? If you want to present a professional image then make sure you use good photography and graphics. Don’t use busy backgrounds that are hard to read. Make your site inviting to the user and make it instill trust in your product. Visitors will not buy anything from a site that looks like it was designed by an amateur. Nowadays you have to have the look of professionalism.

Site usability is a process; it takes some trial and error. I can happily recommend a great professional that can assist you in the process. For more info visit The Site Doctor.