You are probably really busy this summer, and I hope everything is going well for you, leading to a successful year. Like any thriving business, you have a professional website. However, it seems that your visitors are not staying for long. What’s driving them away? What can you do to make your website more visitor-friendly? To improve engagement, consider the eight key factors that make your website user-friendly.

1. Check Usability and Navigation

You want your visitors to have a good experience when they visit your store or use your service. The same goes for your website. Make navigation effortless with a clean menu and intuitive structure. You need to have a simple menu structure and a logical layout. This can help users find what they need easily in 1–2 clicks, without having to guess. 

 Keep it simple, build trust by making it easy to find: 

• Home
  
• About
  
• Services / Products
  
• Contact
  (+ Blog or FAQ if relevant)

If you have a large number of pages and products, a great idea is to implement an on–site Search (for large sites). Search saves users time. You don’t want your website to be a maze for them. You want it to be efficient and satisfying.

2. Accessibility

You want everybody to visit your website. You want to be accessible. Especially if your business targets anybody or you are in the medical field, you want to make sure that people with disabilities can use your site (screen readers, keyboard navigation, etc.). You can use the WAVE Web Accessibility Tool. 

3. Readability and Clarity

Apart from easing navigation, you want to ease their lecture. Make sure that anybody can read and understand what you want to say. 

You should have: 

• Clear fonts: Are they large enough and easy to read?
  
• Good contrast: Is there enough color contrast between text and background?
  
• Scannable content: Are there headings, short paragraphs, and bullet points?
  

In 5 seconds or less, a visitor should understand:

• What your business is
  
• Who it for
  
• Why it matters

4. Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)

Make sure to include a clear call to action (CTA). It’s important for your visitors to understand what you want them to do immediately, whether that’s booking a call, making a purchase, or subscribing. The CTA should be prominently displayed within the first screen of your homepage, so no scrolling is necessary. This is a crucial element of marketing, as it not only enhances the user experience but also increases the likelihood of visitors converting into customers. When they understand what steps to take next, they’re more likely to buy, sign up, or become loyal clients. This can be the key to transforming visitors into customers.

5. Visual Appeal and Branding

In addition to communicating with your visitors through text on your website, it is also important to convey your message through the visual design of your site. Why? In addition to communicating with your visitors through text on your website, it is also important to convey your message through the visual design of your site.

Here are some important questions to ask: 

• Is your design clean and consistent?
  
• Are colors and images relevant and not overwhelming?
  
• Does it reflect your brand identity?
  
• Consistent color scheme
  
• Real or high-quality stock photos
  
• Legible, modern fonts

6. Mobile-Friendliness

Having a mobile-friendly website is essential in today’s world. Everyone uses their phones at any time and from any place. According to Digital Silk, “in the United States, mobile devices account for 56.75% of web traffic”. This means, if you want more visitors to engage with your website, you need to have a

•  Responsive design: Does your site look good and function well on phones and tablets?
  
• Tap-friendly buttons: Are the buttons easy to click without zooming in?

7. Fast Load Time

Many people lack patience. When you want or need something, waiting is often undesirable. No one likes to wait for a slow website. Slow sites means you’ll lose visitors, which will impact your bounce rates and your ranking. So when improving your website load time, aim for under 2 seconds. You can use Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix.

8. Visitor Behavior Analytics

After all these improvements, you don’t perfect it on the first time. It’s all a trial-and-error process to keep improving, growing, and getting to your clients. Use data to understand how real users interact with your site; for this, you can use Google Analytics. This will analyze Bounce rate, time on site, and pages per session. Another option is Hotjar / Microsoft Clarity. Which has 7 heatmaps and session recordings to see what users click or ignore. These tools help you to have a better understanding of your customers’ needs. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, it’s essential to ensure your visitors have a smooth experience on your website. Provide easy navigation, clear calls to action, and readable fonts, while ensuring accessibility for all. Your site should align with your brand personality, have visual appeal, be mobile-friendly, and load quickly. To understand visitors’ needs better, use analytics tools like Google Analytics or Hotjar. 

We also offer a free website review to help you create a visitor-friendly site. Simply fill out the form on our website to schedule your review. We hope your website attracts joyful visitors.