Before we all learn something amazing, let me explain why “Touch” is in the title.
This is the second article of a 5 part series that will teach you the fundamentals to making a website WIN, and how you could be applying these really important fundamentals to your website. I wouldn’t want you wasting your time trying to learn something that is only going to confuse you.
I’ve put lots of thought into this series to make it as clear and understandable as I can. Let’s be real – you’re probably annoyed and confused when someone with “tech” experience that you’ve approached, preaches something so important about your website….but you have no clue what they’re talking about, nor does it get you a step closer to reaching your goals as a business owner.
Let me help the best I can.
I like to think a website is a bit like a human. No, no, I’m not trying to argue that a website is better than a human or is even similar. A human has many many important functions that we can use to understand websites, and those are all of our five senses – sight, touch, taste, hearing and smell. Today I’m going to be discussing touch.
1. Don’t Lose Touch With Your Audience…
Touch is important when it comes down to having a website because this is the part where we have to make our audience stay and enjoy their experience while they’re visiting. It’s also the interactive human sense. Think of it as having a physical location your customers visit. For instance, if you had a cafe, you would want things to look presentable, make sure everything is clean, they understand how the service works (whether it’s table service or they come up to the front to order). You do all this so your customers will leave a good review, come back and maybe invite a friend next time.
This goes the same as having a website. The only difference is that a website isn’t always the place of the primary journey or experience with a business, but it’s almost always a crucial part of their journey with your business because it’s the place they usually start – taking a look at your website. It’s important to ‘keep in touch’ and ‘don’t lose touch’ with your audience…
2. Don’t Make Things Difficult
Make it easy for your website viewers to know what your business is about. You want the journey to be effective but quick. In other words – don’t tire them out.
When someone is on your website, they have a mission, and sometimes they could be looking for something very specific you offer. Make it easy for your site viewers to find this special offer. Whether it’s a sale or a new product/service, try chucking it on your homepage so they don’t have to try hard to find what they are there for. Your website should do it’s best to give clear instructions to your audience.
Yes, I know – sometimes there’s not just ONE particular thing you’re offering. Try doing some research about your target audience. They are very specific people, with very specific needs. Find out what they want and make the adjustments to your website accordingly.
In some cases, people will visit your website just for your contact details. If you know you can make the sale once someone rings the phone…you guessed it, then bring a lot of the attention of your website to your phone number. A good tip as well in this scenario is to literally tell them to ring you. A bonus would be to tell them what they can learn or get from ringing you. People love benefits.
Even if it seems obvious – make it easy for your audience to find what they want and don’t make things difficult…you could be losing sales.
3. Make Things Quick
Similar to making things less difficult for your audience, make things quick and add shortcuts where you can.
A common shortcut for an ecommerce store is having a quick shop button when you hover over the product. Instead of having to click into the full page and add the product into your cart, you can buy that product on the fly.
A good mentality to have when improving the design functionality of your website is “the less I click the better”.
4. The Journey Starts Before the Journey Starts – Site Speed
Yep – the title said it . Anyone who clicks any link to visit your business website is already a part of the user experience or customer journey. Before anyone lands on any sort of webpage, it is required to load. I once thought website loading speed was only measured by the internet connection of the person visiting the website. Although this is partly true, it is much more complicated because it is not the only factor dependent on site speed. So don’t just blame crappy Australian internet. Fast site speed is strongly dependent on how a website is built and maintained.
So how fast should your website be? Ideally less than 3-5 seconds. Humans have an attention span of about 3-5 seconds. No one enjoys watching a blank white loading screen, so it’s likely that a viewer will leave a well-designed website if it takes ages to load.
Here is a list of things that will improve site speed:
- Your website server location should be “closer to home” ( closer to the location where the server is being most viewed) – CoClear Development’s is Sydney, Australia.
- Your website should be hosted with an adequate hosting company.
- File types and sizes of images ( better the quality = slower website speed)
5. When I Say Touch… I Really Do Mean Touch!
Touch screen devices are becoming increasingly popular especially when surfing on the web. Approximately 53% of website traffic comes from a mobile device. With this is mind, it’s often important to prioritise how a website looks on a mobile device. For instance, if your website was designed well on a desktop device and not a mobile device and someone happened to visit your website while they were on their mobile device, there’s a chance (a very likely chance) they will think you have a terrible website and just leave. The point is – consider devices that are all different sizes, big and small because it could make your business look terrible simply because they prefer a device that happened to be the device you didn’t consider. Design your website for all devices, otherwise you could lose customers and revenue!
Your Next Steps
Although there are loads of terrible websites on the internet, there are quite a lot of well designed and well-functioning websites. Visit a bunch of websites and write a list of things that made the experience for you as a website visitor. After that take a look at your own website and see how your website could be improved. Keep in mind your website should be designed based on your target customers and not you. So don’t just think about yourself, think about the people giving you the money.
Now it’s your turn to make the magic happen…whether that means doing all this yourself or having a chat to your web developer.
If you’re ready to level up your business with a new website project, we can help! Let’s solve!