Up to 79 percent of customers who are unhappy with a website’s performance say they won’t shop from that company in the future.
How your website performs matters to your customers. An unsatisfying or frustrating user experience can scare visitors off your website for good.
Optimizing your website for the best possible user experience is easy. With these 10 website improvement tips, you can offer visitors an experience optimized for their needs.
That way, they return to your website time and time again.
With these 10 tips, you’re not just improving functionality, but boosting sales and business growth! Let’s go pro with these website performance tips.
According to recent data, 53 percent of mobile website visitors will leave if a page takes longer than three seconds to load.
When it comes to consuming content, online users have a need for speed. We want quick answers to our questions and a speedy shopping experience. Our smartphones provide that experience regardless of where we are in the world.
However, that speedy, easy convenience depends on whether or not a company’s website is optimized for speed in the first place.
To start, you can use this free tool to determine your website’s speed on all devices. It also offers insight into problem areas, so you know exactly how to optimize your page speed.
A website’s speed doesn’t just impact user experience. It can also hurt your search engine optimization (SEO) page rankings and pay-per-click ad rankings.
There are numerous ways you can improve your website’s load time. For example, you can optimize large images that might cause a lag (more on this below). You can also remove plugins that are slowing down your entire website.
If your website speed and performance still aren’t doing great, check with your hosting provider. Better yet, switch to a new provider who can offer dedicated hosting.
With sole access to a server, your website will run at top speed (instead of having to share server space with tons of other companies).
That way, you can improve your online rankings and give visitors the best possible experience on your website. No more bounces (visitors leaving without clicking around) or disgruntled web visitors.
Check out these tips for measuring the speed of your website.
Your call-to-action (CTA) should use strong verbiage to inspire website visitors to do exactly that—take action. Whether it’s filling out a form, calling your office, or subscribing to a newsletter, this action turns your website visitors into leads.
Those leads are then one step closer to becoming a paying customer.
However, it all starts with that strong CTA. Your call-to-action should have a prominent spot on the page, such as a button at the top right corner.
Use a color that stands out for your CTA button. That way, it attracts the gaze. Using the right verb (such as “Call” or “Launch”) gives visitors encouragement and direction.
Then, add urgency. The fear of missing out is a strong motivator. For example, you can add “Now” or “Today” to the end of your CTA.
That way, visitors don’t delay, and you don’t miss out on converting a potential lead.
Your navigation is a key component of the overall website design. As you read through this list of website improvement tips, try to look at your website with fresh eyes.
Is it easy to find exactly what you’re looking for? Make sure the pages are clearly labeled. That way, you don’t cause confusion or discourage visitors to explore.
Your navigation should appear at the top of every page. That way, visitors can move from one page to the next without having to backtrack to the homepage.
You can also add sidebar and footer navigation to your website. This makes it easier for visitors to find their way around, even on longer pages.
Finally, make sure the navigation buttons are prominent and easy to read. Use your company’s branded color scheme to your advantage. This will help draw the eyes towards main navigation pages and encourage visitors to click around.
With clear navigation, you can keep visitors from feeling confused or discouraged, which would otherwise encourage them to leave.
Consider what a visitor sees when they first visit one of your landing pages. That first impression can make a huge impact on whether visitors leave or stay.
When designing your website, focus on the content above the fold first.
Condense your copy so it’s a calculated message written specifically for your ideal customer. Use a strong headline that makes an impact. That way, visitors will scroll down and continue reading.
Your CTA should also appear above the fold. Use an eye-catching color for the button and a contrasting color for the text. Don’t forget to use a call-to-action that encourages action.
Each landing page should have a singular, clear purpose.
Review each page of your website and recognize that page’s main goal. Then, write the content with that goal in mind.
This includes informing visitors about a specific product or service. Write the content in an inverted pyramid format, so the most important information is at the top. That way, readers don’t have to scroll all the way down to the bottom to get the message.
If you focus the most important content above the fold, you can inspire action before visitors even make it to the bottom of the page.
Throughout your website, give visitors the ability to share your content.
This includes adding social media share buttons to blog posts. That way, you can reach new people and broaden your target audience of potential customers.
There are also plugins that allow readers to quote your content on Twitter. These quotes are an easy way to encourage social sharing.
As a result, you’re sharing your knowledge to people all across the Internet!
When searching for a product, service, or business online, we want to know they’re the best in the business. Placing social proof, or testimonials, on your website can help prove your know-how to potential customers.
Whether you create a dedicated testimonials page, post client video reviews, or use a carousel on the homepage, social proof makes a big difference.
According to a consumer survey, 88 percent of people read customer reviews to determine the quality of a local business.
Positive reviews can improve a company’s reputation and encourage website visitors to make a purchase. It also helps your company appear credible within your industry.
That way, you stand out from your competitors.
Positive reviews can also help give your local SEO a boost and improve your rankings. Since Google reviews stand out on Google SERPs, this is another way to attract potential customers.
As an added bonus, video content is gaining a lot of attention right now. Instead of playing it safe with text testimonials, mix it up with a few video reviews.
This will also help improve your SEO so that you can rank higher on search engine pages.
As a result, you’re showing potential customers what you’re made of while reaching out to a bigger audience.
Our society is always on the go, searching from our smartphones and tablets for what we need while we’re out and about. That means there’s an entire audience of mobile searchers looking at your website from their tiny screens.
If your website isn’t responsive and optimized for those little screens, you’re missing out on a big potential audience.
Remember, customers will leave a website if the performance isn’t up to scratch. This includes mobile-friendly websites as well as desktop sites.
You can use this Google tool to determine whether or not your website is mobile-friendly. It can also point out the areas that need the most improvement.
A mobile-friendly website can help you out in a number of ways. For starters, Google now uses the mobile version of your website to determine SEO rankings.
Google also checks mobile performance when deciding on ad quality scores and rankings. That means you could potentially waste ad spend and get lower positions due to your website performance.
Using this guide for how to improve a website, you can optimize website speed and get mobile-friendly with a few simple changes.
That way, you’re reaching your mobile audience and desktop audience without a problem.
Otherwise, visitors are left to pinch and zoom on their smaller screens to read your content. That can encourage all those potential customers to leave in a huff.
We’ve discussed your website content, but now let’s look at the design. One way to ensure website improvement is to improve page organization and functionality.
To start, let’s optimize the photos on each page. Oversized images can lag load time, exceeding that three-second limit we mentioned earlier. You can use an image compression plugin to compress the images on your site.
Changing these images can also help. Some stock images appear cheesy or bland. Others can disconnect from your overall brand.
Instead, choose images that look like they represent your company. High-quality images can help your website appear professional and real.
That realism will help website visitors develop an emotional connection with your company.
You can also improve your website’s design by making the most of white space. This includes adding space around headlines, paragraphs, and images.
You can even break paragraphs apart. That way, they’re easier to read. This will encourage visitors to read more of your page content.
Otherwise, they might get exhausted with large paragraphs and opt to leave.
Remember, every page on your website should have a purpose. That means the content should have a purpose as well.
Check the paragraphs, images, and CTAs on each page. These elements should keep visitors focused and eventually encourage them to take action.
The CTAs we mentioned are designed to help convert website visitors into leads. Then, you can convert those leads into paying customers.
Before sales start shooting up, however, we need to make sure your website is optimized for these conversions.
To start, check your forms. Make sure they’re easy to navigate and user-friendly.
Instead of one long form, try pagination. This will break up the form, so it’s easier to use. Visitors can even finish part of the form, then return later before sending the rest.
If you feature phone numbers on your website, make sure the number is either linked or designed with a prominent button. That way, mobile users can click to call your company easily.
Remember, your CTA buttons should stand out.
Finally, make sure you’re offering value to your visitors. Try offering free white papers or consultations to get leads.
That way, you can attract interested visitors into converting!
Check out this list of metrics for boosting conversions on your website.
This website improvement tip can help you reach a larger audience and boost content engagement. SEO isn’t new, but it is constantly changing.
Make sure your SEO strategy is up-to-date. Use keyword research to determine what customers are searching and keep up with the trends. That way, you can optimize your content to attract these visitors.
You should also post original, relevant content regularly. This will help you rank above the competition on SERPs.
Check your posts and make sure you’re linking to internal website pages. Then, visitors will explore the rest of your website. This also helps improve SERP rankings.
Here’s our exhaustive list of link building ideas to get you started.
With these 10 website improvement tips, you can optimize your website for the best possible performance. That way, visitors will return time and time again, boosting engagement, brand loyalty, and sales!
In addition to improving user experience, these website improvements will also help your company rise to the top of search engine pages. That way, you can attract more customers to your website and grow your business.
Try these tips out for yourself and watch sales rise!
Discover more helpful website improvement tips and tricks on our blog.
