UX stands for User Experience and it is the most important factor in web design. It matters more than the style, appearance, and content of a website. If your platform doesn't deliver good user experience, it isn't going to thrive, regardless of how pretty it looks. According to a recent report, around 77% of digital marketing agencies believe bad UX is a significant weakness. (https://www.slideshare.net/sodaspeaks/the-soda-report-volume-1-2014) In this article, we discuss why UX is so important and how you can improve it.
What is UX?
User experience is what people feel when they interact with a website or an online platform. Visitors have a good user experience if everything loads quickly and the platform works without any glitches. Visitors have a bad user experience if the platform loads slowly and the app hangs frequently.
If the website doesn’t perform as well as expected, people will click the back button and visit competitors. No website is completely immune to the competition so if you want to get ahead, you can’t afford to compromise on user experience.
Why is UX Important?
It is easy to underestimate the importance of user experience. Most designers, especially ones with little to no experience, focus on the design and features of the website. They’re constantly on the hunt to create a new and exciting platform. Sometimes developers can lose sight of user experience in the process. Here are some reasons why it is important to keep UX in mind:
Google Focuses on It – Google is focused on user experience and will only rank websites that provide a good experience at the top of its SERP. The Rank Brain algorithm is specifically designed to determine just how user-friendly a website is. (https://searchengineland.com/faq-all-about-the-new-google-rankbrain-algorithm-234440) If your website isn’t up to the established UX standards, it won’t rank high and won’t be visible to a wide range of audiences.
Retaining Customers – Businesses need a steady customer base to get consistent income. This can only happen if you have the ability to retain clients and ensure they keep coming back to make a purchase at your establishment. Websites that deliver good user experience are more likely to help you retain customers. People are more willing to abandon sites and businesses that don’t work as they expect them to.
Company Reputation – Most people determine how trustworthy a business is based on the website’s quality. If your site is slow to load, difficult to navigate, and looks old, customers are less likely to trust your business. If you want your business to have a good reputation, you need to make sure your website delivers the best possible user experience.
Impressions – A good first impression is essential in the modern competitive business world. If people don't have a good experience with your brand on the first contact, they won't bother going further in their business dealings with you. That's why it is important to make sure people have a good experience from the get-go.
As you can see, there are several reasons why it is important to focus on the user experience of your website. A great way to check if the platform lives up to expectations is to navigate it from the user’s perspective. Visit the website on your desktop and mobile phone to get a clear idea of how it performs on all devices. If you can navigate through the website smoothly, without experiencing any delays, there’s no need for optimizing or redesign. If you encounter several problems, you might need to hire a professional to assess the platform thoroughly.
How to Ensure Your Website Provides Good User Experience?
Experienced designers never lose sight of UX and always make sure every aspect of the website works as expected. There’s no one size fits all when it comes to this aspect of web design. Experts often take the customer’s requirements into consideration when they plan the UX. Here’s a look at the factors they consider:
1. Target Audience Persona
One of the first things people look at is the target audience persona. Experts examine the client’s business carefully to understand their target audience. They look at things like age, education, gender, ability, and several other factors before creating a website. For example, if your business caters to a lot of Spanish-speaking people, you might need a website with both English and Spanish text to improve overall user experience.
Understanding the target audience is one of the best ways to create a great platform that delivers the best user experience.
2. Focus on Structure
A website should have great structure and clear logic to deliver a good user experience. Make sure the most important menus and links at the top and the least important ones are still easy to access and visible. You need to follow the layout people are familiar with and consider predictable.
Some designers go overboard when they’re trying to create something unique and that does more harm than good. It is important to maintain a predictable structure and just experiment with the colors and designs to add some uniqueness.
3. AB Test Everything
A/B and multivariate testing is a great way to understand if the design works well. You can assemble a team of users to test different versions of your website and determine which one provides the best experience.
This will help you refine the website and ensure only the most efficient version makes it to your real customers.
4. Mobile Experience
Most people use their mobile phones to look for products or information, which means your website should function well on the mobile platform. Google has shifted to a mobile-first index and will rank websites based on how they perform on a mobile platform. That’s why it is even more important to ensure your website works well on these devices.
Check how your site performs on Android, iPhone, and other devices to get a clear idea. You can also check its performance on different browsers for the best assessment.
Experienced web designers will make sure your website delivers the best user experience and draws more customers to the platform.
Author Bio:
Brij Bhushan Singh is a Professional Blogger and Content writer. He is working with Hridik IT Consulting. In his professional life he has written many useful articles about Android Development, iOS development, WordPress, Social Media, SEO and almost all about Digital Marketing.
Here is a situation that almost everyone has faced more than once- you are out on lunch with your friends, split the bill and well, you don’t have the cash to pay your share. Then someone foots the bill and you pay them later. But how? And that’s just one of many use cases where you might need to pay someone (generally small amounts) across the table or across the country. That’s where P2P payment apps come into the picture. These are just like regular banking apps except with much lower complexity.
What P2P apps are for?
Generally speaking,
P2P apps are most suited for non-cash micro-transactions. Like to split all
kinds of bills, rent, while keeping a tab on all your monthly expenses.
How can you use P2P applications?
These are just like
any other banking application where you initially seed your bank account and
then make requite transactions. There are, however, two points worth noting
here:
Most applications
transact through debit cards only. Some might offer credit card facility but
that would incur additional fees.
The recipient must
have a bank account.
How do P2P payments work?
If you are skeptic about peer-to-peer money transfers, here is a simplified version of the entire process:
1. Create an account
Both the sender and
recipient should have the app installed and created an account. Some
applications allow cross-platform transactions in which case the receiver
doesn’t need to have the app.
2. Seed debit card
Then you need to feed your debit card details
and the app would be linked to your concerned bank account.
3. Make payments
All you need to do
is enter the mobile number/email ID of the receipt to send funds. The amount
would be debited from your bank account and deposited in the recipient’s bank
account.
Venmo
This is the app with
the simplest interface for P2P money transfers. A product of PayPal, it also
has a social feature where it displays who your friends are paying and what
for- which can be disabled if you prefer privacy.
Google Pay Wallet
Like all other
Google’s services, this is a free product that integrates well with other
Google applications. For instance, it can be used with Gmail to transfer funds
via email without any additional charges.
Cash App
One of the most
popular and now known as “Square Cash”, can be used to transfer funds at no
additional cost. The application also has a wallet to store funds or you can
directly use your bank account. One of its key highlights is that it can also
be used to buy and sell Bitcoin.
Facebook Messenger
As most of your
friends would already be on Facebook Messenger, it is perhaps the most
convenient way to pay them. Sending money via this app is as simple as sending
a text. There is just one caveat- the receiver must also have linked a debit card
to their Facebook Messenger to be able to receive funds.
PayPal
Now, this is an app that doesn’t need an introduction. Being the pioneer in digital payments and wallets, the PayPal application is one of the best for P2P transfers. It has an in-built wallet and can even be used to send funds across international boundaries. So why isn’t this app on the top of our list? Well, it’s expensive to use. Along with the usual percent transaction fee, it also levies a flat fee for each of the transfers thus putting off many users.
Closing remarks
Apart from these popular apps in the US, there are also other markets like India where P2P payment apps have become immensely popular and extend to P2B transactions as well. In fact, it is currently one of the most revolutionary markets for the fintech sector. So if you wish to build a P2P app, hiring best Indian app developers would yield the best possible results.
Your website is likely to serve many purposes in one. If you have a website for your business purposes, then you will be aware of the importance of it being as good as possible, in order to ensure that the business benefits from it in the best way it can. Even if it is a personal website or it exists for some other purpose, you will need to make sure that it is carried out in the best possible way to get the fullest effect from it. But in order to be sure of that, we do need to be aware of what kind of elements the best websites have. As long as you are sure on that, you will find that you can develop and build your website much more successfully. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the most important elements of great websites.
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Clear Design
For a start, something that you will always need to be sure of is that a website is designed in a way which is clear. But what does this mean? Generally, it’s just about ensuring that any passing visitor will know immediately what the site is about, what they can expect to learn from it or use it for, and why they might want to take a further look. This clarity comes from a design that is easy on the eye and which makes sense, and it is something that is actually very hard to produce and come by. Marketing Automation The best way to ensure that you do have your website clearly designed in this way is to look into something like Red Spot Website Design, who will be able to help you do just that. As long as the design is clear, it will be a much more successful website.
Good Navigation
You should be sure that your website also has a navigation style that makes sense, as that is something that helps people to get around the website more easily and therefore to appreciate it all the more. To work on this, you will need to make sure that you are keeping the site index nice and simple, as that will make it much easier to keep the navigation simple too. This is one of those things which are a lot easier if you keep it simple, so make sure that you don’t have too many pages in the first place at all. As long as you do that, you will find that the website is going to be much more successful.
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Memorable Name
One of the more difficult and time-consuming elements is finding a URL which is going to be appropriate and memorable. You might well need to look around before you can find one that really works, and it could be that the one you really want is going to cost you some money. However, as long as you persist, and bring a little creativity to it, you should be able to find a domain name which works well.
7 Ways to Improve User Experience and Reduce Bounce Rate
User Experience is among the most important aspect of designing a website . This is made evident with how signals of user experience are considered ranking factors.
This really isn’t a surprise as a site that offers the commendable experience to its users lead to more satisfied users, and Google aims to make this the case and puts a site that is able to do this in the forefront of search results.
Other than improving site ranking, good user experience can also reduce your site’s bounce rate. Site abandonment is something you would like to avoid as this does not only harm your current potential since you lose possible opportunities, but high bounce rates further hurt your site’s future interaction because high bounce rates are further treated as a signal of bad user experience and can push your site down in search engine results page.
It is therefore important that you work on user experience to help boost your SEO initiatives, and to prevent losses due to the site abandonment.
The following are 7 ways on how you will be able to improve the UX of your site:
1. Provide a Better Overall User Experience
The first step for you take is to aim to provide a holistically better UX. It is best to look at the point of view that UX is the result of what you do with your site, so it is best for you to understand that every aspect of your site has a part to play on the quality of user experience that your site visitors will have.
2. Improve UX Design
With holistic UX in mind, you will then need to understand that you have the power to control UX by designing your site to provide a great user experience. Your site’s design has a huge role in the reception of your site, so you will need to make sure that your site is engineered to provide a great experience to your site visitors.
Design is not just about the visual appeal of your website, but also how each individual element of your site works as part of the whole. Make sure that all functions are delivered, and that this is coupled with great aesthetics.
The goal is to design a beautiful and working site that your audience will surely enjoy.
3. Optimize your Call to Action Placement
The placement of your CTA has a huge role to play in UX, and especially in preventing your users from abandoning your site. It is therefore crucial that you put something important in areas that you site visitors will see first and would grab their attention. Usually, what’s most effective is your CTA, as this is what you would want your customers to do anyway.
By showing it right where your site visitors just as they enter your site will allow you to grab their attention more effectively, luring them into your desired actions.
4. Ditch the “Above the Fold” Myth
While it has just been mentioned how important putting your CTA on top is, putting everything above the fold should not be done anymore. In the past, sites practice putting all content above the fold as it is believed that things that are not above the fold of the site will not be recognized.
Meanwhile, developments in technology and human behavior towards it will prove that users are now expected to scroll down so there is no point in cramping everything atop a virtual fold.
It is actually better if your site has enough white space so that it wouldn’t overwhelm your site visitors as compared to bombarding them with a huge pile of content in a small space.
Again, putting everything above the fold is just a myth
5. Work on your Funnel Conversion
The sales funnel refers to the customer journey from need recognition up until post-purchase evaluation. By being able to identify where your customers are right now, you will be able to properly make use of the appropriate strategy for your leads.
This would have been easy if you have the same type of customers all the time, but you are dealing with various types of customers, and you would need to track their progress in the sales funnel, and you will also need to know what kind of strategy would work on them, whichever stage they are on.
6. A/B Testing + Targeted Landing Pages
A combo strategy that you should practice is A/B Testing and making use of targeted landing pages.
A/B Testing is a step needed to make sure that you have the best version of the campaign you have in mind. Testing out your campaigns before full implementation will allow you to make changes that can improve your strategy.
Meanwhile, it is also a good idea to make use of personalized landing pages. You can come up with landing pages that are specific to the kind of audience, like in terms of location. Your website can detect the location of the user, and would return a tailored-fit landing page for him or for her.
7. Show your Credibility
Finally, it should be your mission to build on your audience’s trust. While that is not easy to do the first time you interact with a certain user, there are effective ways on how you can encourage trust such as by showing security measures you implement on your site to ensure that transacting with your site is not a bad idea, especially in consideration of all the cybercrime happening right now.
It is also a good idea to show reviews from actual buyers and users of your product offerings so that first-time buyers or users will feel more comfortable trying your products out.
Other ways to improve your credibility your site is by showcasing awards, certifications, and partners that your business has. By doing so, your site visitors would know that it is okay to trust your business more than others.
Final Word
User experience is a truly important aspect of your website so making sure that you work on it can help boost your business in general. But most importantly, the strategies enumerated above all aim to make your UX better so that you will have to enjoy its benefits, and limit any shortcoming.
There are only 53% of small businesses own a website. A staggering 18% of small and medium businesses admit that they avoid building a website due to the unaffordable cost of designing it.
But most of these businesses are not aware of the fact that it takes only or less than $100 to build as well as launch a website.
You heard it right! With the world’s most used content management system, WordPress, you can get your business online in the most convenient way. You can set up your own website with a proper domain name and website hosting within a few minutes.
Are you ready to set up a stunning looking WordPress website in just $100 or still thinking it as a lot of investment?
Now, you might be confused with the continuous appearing term: WordPress and wondering why the web development companies don’t mention it. Well, find all your questions and doubts addressed here.
First of all, what is WordPress?
According to Wikipedia, “WordPress (WordPress.org) is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) based on PHP & MySQL. Features include a plugin architecture and a template system.”
This robust content management system allows businesses to easily create, manage, edit, and publish content on the websites without any need to have expertise in programming.
According to Venture Beat, “WordPress now powers more than 25% of the Web”
Contrary to the assumption, WordPress isn’t just a blogging platform, you can leverage it for multiple purposes such as eCommerce sites, business websites, and set up professional portfolios.
Here are some of the best reasons why you should build your website with WordPress. Let’s have a quick glance.
Solves Biggest Problem: Money
If you are in no mood of spending $2000 to $25000 on a website by hiring a web developer then WordPress is for you. You can build an eye-catching website or just a blog section for your business without any prior web design knowledge. WordPress doesn’t charge extra if your business starts getting more traffic through the website.
Build a Website You Always Wanted
With WordPress’ amazing customized theme, you can make your website look the way you want. You can use any one of the many themes freely available or buy a premium one such as astra theme. You can also use plugins to add certain features to make your website function the way you expect.
No Designer/ Middleman Required
It requires a lot of efforts in maintaining a website. From keeping your website updated to optimizing it for multiple devices to implementing robust security in it, there is continuous work involved. In order to build a custom website, you need to hire an expert web developer who can handle all tasks, but this option is a bit costly.
On the other hand, building your website with WordPress doesn’t have such challenges. You can update your website, install plugins, and manage content on the webpages, everything on your own. It will help you save time and money.
Scale your Website with Plugins
WordPress plugins enable you to add functionality to your website. With the help of these plugins, you can add a checkout system, create a contact page for your website, improve SEO, create landing pages, and add an extra security layer, in just a few clicks.
There are more than 40,000 plugins available on the WordPress plugins database to help you scale your website.
Continuous Updates and Support
Being an open-source platform, WordPress delivers high-quality, premium user experience. Along with that, millions of users support WordPress across the world. In case you come across any issue, these experts are there to help you.
WordPress get at least 3 major updates in its software every year and your system will be automatically updated along with other minor updates for free. Isn’t it a big enough reason to choose WordPress for your website.
Easy SEO Implementations
Optimizing your website and content for every search engine has become the crucial thing today. It requires a lot of resources, time, and efforts. Doing proper SEO on every web page can be a tedious task. WordPress has not only addressed but also solved this challenge with its plugin. Yes, there is a plugin that can take care of your SEO tasks: Yoast.
Yoast SEO plugin enables you to implement meta titles, description, and even optimize your content for keywords in a convenient and time-saving way.
Easy Content Management
With WordPress dashboard, you get to experiment with a lot of functions. Such as creating image galleries, uploading multimedia content with drag and drop interface, schedule posts for a fixed time, adding widgets, and customize sidebar. All can be achieved without having experience in coding.
To Sum Up,
WordPress is an easy-to-use, powerful website-building platform that allows everyone to create a responsive and wonderful website. It is changing and adapting continuously as per users’ requirements and expectations. This is one of the biggest reason to choose WordPress over other alternatives.
Interested in building your own website with WordPress? We help you with a wide range of shared web hosting plans that are optimized for reliability and speed when using WordPress.
Good luck. Hope you have a great website experience.
Ritesh Patil is the co-founder of Mobisoft Infotech that helps startups and enterprises in mobile technology. He loves technology, especially mobile technology. He’s an avid blogger and writes on mobile application. He works in a leading mobile app development company with skilled iOS & Android app developers that has developed innovative mobile applications across various fields such as Finance, Insurance, Health, Entertainment, Productivity, Social Causes, Education and many more and has bagged numerous awards for the same.
No matter the strength of any of your other form of digital marketing if your website isn't right, you won't be able to achieve the results that you want. In fact, you could say that your website is the very cornerstone of your digital marketing strategy. To that end, making it the best that it can be is essential. Luckily, you can find out exactly how to do this in the post below. Facebook Marketing Books
Picture source
Great visual design
First things first, the appearance of your website matters. In fact, it will be the very first thing that your clients will see. To that end, as webflow.com suggests achieving a cohesive aesthetic style and theme is crucial.
Luckily, there are several ways you can now do this, one of the most common is using a website creation service that allows you to select from a variety of style and colors and just fill in the essential information that your business needs to promote. In fact, this s a fantastic option for those just starting their business out because it usually cost effective as well.
However, if you are looking for something a tad more bespoke, and responsive then having a customized website build from scratch is a smart idea. Of course, this is something that you will need to engage a professional web design company to do because you will want it to look great on the customer-facing side, but also work effectively on the back end as well. After all, it will be the places that all of your other online marketing strategies direct potential customers to, and therefore is the cornerstone of all of you do online.
Content
Another essential of any effective website is that it must have well written, incisive, and even entertaining content, that is also optimized for SEO.
One way to do this to include clear, informative and optimized product descriptions, titles, and landing pages. Although, most websites benefit from creating a blog as well, where they can write longer articles from different points of view that will appeal to specific groups of customers.
Of course, starting a blog can be daunting if you don't have any professional writing experience, but it's possible to get some help with this from sites like bloglingo.com online. Such assistance being something that can help you get through the setup process, and to create the type of content that will not only engage your audience but work wonders for you SEO placements as well.
User-friendly
Remember too that while what your site looks like and contains is essential is also need to have an excellent user experience as well. Otherwise, readers can end up easily navigating away, and you will lose potential followers, and customers.
What this means is that the designneeds not only to be clear but thought about from the perspective of the customer and what information or actions they will want to access. The idea being that their experience is as smooth, and pleasant as possible, thus avoid frustrating and a negative experience that could reflect poorly on your brand.
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