Websites are pretty basic from the visitor’s point of view. They may be complex to the web developer and coder, but not to the people who actually click around looking for things. At least they aren’t supposed to be. Unfortunately, many modern websites are complex enough that it turns visitors off. It should not be that way. A website that turns people away isn’t a productive website.
As a web developer, think about how you approach your work. Do you approach it from a coder’s mentality or the visitor’s perspective? How you answer that question largely determines whether the sites you develop are as productive as they can be.
From the visitor’s standpoint, here are five things anyone can do to make a website more productive.
1. Simplify Navigation
Navigation has always been a concern for website developers. But now, according to Salt Lake City’s Webtek Digital Interactive, mobility has made navigation even more important. Modern web development services must give priority to mobile. And where website navigation is concerned, mobile users need for it to be simple.
Having to click or tap too many times makes for a very unpleasant experience. Visitors would rather find a website that is easier to use. On the other hand, easy navigation invites visitors to stick around. The longer they do, the more productive a website tends to be.
2. Choose Comfortable Colors
Color choices matter an awful lot. Indeed, colors affect how easy a site is to read. Choose the wrong colors and you could be chasing visitors away. For example, gray text on a white background doesn’t work. There is not enough contrast to make for easy reading. With a white background, black or dark blue is best.
Likewise, highly conflicting colors do not work well for a website’s theme. Colors should be complimentary. They should not compete for the user’s attention.
3. Make Contact Information Available
Few things turn website visitors away faster than a lack of contact information. Take a church website, for example. If visitors cannot find the church’s address, how likely are they to go out of their way to find where that church is located? The same goes for a business that doesn’t include its street address or telephone number.
Contact information is extremely important. When visitors cannot find it on a website, they have to wonder if the organization behind the site is trying to hide something.
4. Use Visual Cues
Because the internet is largely visual, using certain visual cues can help quite a bit. Let us go back to the church website. Most of the site’s regular visitors are going to be people who want to watch Sunday services online. A big button or banner at the top of the home page provides the perfect visual cue for these visitors. Link that banner or button to the live streaming page, and you provide easy navigation at the same time.
5. Include a Contact Form
Finally, websites are more productive when they include contact forms. Implementing a contact form gives visitors an easy way to contact a company without having to open their email or place a phone call. It is just one click, type in some information, and hit the ‘submit’ button.
Creating a website really is no big deal these days. Thanks to content management systems, anyone can do it. But not every website is a productive one. If you want your website to be productive, it should be easy to navigate, easy to look at, and filled with information that engages visitors every time they stop by.
