Did you know that our attention span is less than that of a goldfish? While a goldfish has an estimated attention span of 9 seconds, most of us have an attention span of between 6 and 8 seconds. It’s no wonder people will leave a website at the speed of light if nothing grabs their attention. So how do you make visitors love your website in such a short space of time? Here are 7 simple ways to improve your website and keep your visitors interested.
Not everyone has access to high-speed internet, especially in South Africa. The majority of web users browse from their phones which uses either 3G, 4G or LTE. And if a website isn’t quick to load people will leave. So how do you speed up your website?
Nowadays people browse the internet from their phones, tablets and PC's. That’s why your website needs to be viewable across all devices. And if it isn’t you’re going to lose out on a large portion of web users. So make sure your website can be viewed on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, as well as on laptops and desktop computers.
Your website needs to look professional and uncluttered. If there’s too much going on, a user will become overwhelmed and leave your site. And if the design looks tacky or unprofessional no one will stay on your site. Besides, a poorly designed website will only end up hurting your brand.
It’s important to know that when we look for something online, we scan everything. We don’t read. So keep the text short. This allows your visitors to scan information and quickly find what they’re looking for. It doesn’t mean that you should not have in-depth articles. By all means, some people want to read more, so don’t get rid of the text completely. Instead, you can divide the larger text into short snippets which link to larger articles. Another way to help users scan is to make use of headings. And with the right heading, you grab attention and guide your visitor to the information they want.
There’s nothing that frustrates me more than trying to navigate a website that uses unfamiliar words as links. Rather use conventional terms for navigation. And make sure the links go where they say they’re going. If a visitor clicks a link that says “services”, ensure the page it goes to says “services” and is about “services”.
Tell your visitors what your site is about and show them that they’re in the right place. Use a tagline near your logo which describes your business in a few words. Also, make sure the information which displays above the fold provides a clear indication about your products or services. The same applies to any other landing page of your website. So stay away from vague messages as this will only confuse your visitor.
The last and most important way to make visitors love your website is to add value. We visit websites because we’re looking for information. So give your visitors that information. A great way to add value is to solve a problem. So take a look at your product or service and think about how it can solve a problem. Now use that information to add value to your website.
The secret to make visitors love your website is simple. Follow the above steps and you are well on your way to a successful website. And if you don’t have time for this, get in touch with us and we’ll build your website for you.
