10 Tips for How to Make A Website User Friendly

Small business owners: are you wondering how to make a website user friendly for your business, or what a user friendly website even looks like to potential customers?

Whether you’re trying small business website design for the first time, or trying to optimize an outdated or underperforming website, we’ll tell you how to make a user-friendly website that attracts more leads and helps close more sales. 

1. Optimize for mobile

It’s no secret that American consumers have a smartphone problem. It shouldn’t surprise you that if your site isn’t optimized for mobile web browsing, you’re alienating more than half of your potential audience. While many web development tools can help guide you through the website building process, they usually default to the page structure and formatting of a desktop browser. It’s up to you to toggle over to the mobile site and optimize the page for different visual relief and content structuring. Otherwise, your mobile audience might be missing crucial information like your contact information, services offered, or action buttons. Even worse, an online audience will lose interest in about 3 seconds if the mobile version of your site loads too slowly or doesn’t engage them. Learn more on how to make a mobile friendly website by reading points 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, and 10 below. 

2. Pay attention to loading speeds

Did you know that slow-loading web pages drastically affect the site visitor’s likelihood to buy and the likelihood of interacting with your content? 4 out of the 5 major reasons that consumers believe a site loads slowly are the business owner’s fault according to this study. None of this reflects well on your brand if you hope to reach people who browse the internet on their cell phones. 

Don’t let a slow webpage slow your revenue down. Here are some tips and tricks for faster loading speeds:

1. Small business website design can be complex. Start with a site performance test using tools like this one, or through Google’s analytics application. These will spell out what’s slowing down your page, albeit maybe not in layman's terms. Both will give you, at the very least, a great starting point and sense of direction for your efforts. 
2. Use dynamic images. Images and videos often bog down small business websites’ load time. Make sure your images are formatted properly for the page and you minimize unnecessarily complex or excessive digital images. You can compress your photos for web optimization using sites like Compressor.io.  
3. Optimize your page “above the fold”.
4. Reduce the number of on-page components (thereby reducing HTTP requests).

There are many other ways to address webpage loading speed. But many, like some of these, are more complex than the average user is comfortable with when not formally trained in web design. A small business web design company or a trusted digital media marketing team can help you meet some of these challenges to loading speed, as well as some others

3. Double-check data regularly. 

It’s ill-advised to create your small business website and not make a single change to it for months or years. Make sure you keep your website up to date, editing contact information, product or service pricing, health and safety policies, contact forms, and operating hours as needed. Most of today’s online browsers use their smartphones to view your site through a quick search engine inquiry. Google your small business today and determine whether your hours, contact details, web address, and other data are correct, especially above the fold. If they’re not, your webpage is outdated and your audience might struggle to reach you.

4.  Keep it clean. 

Use simple design and layouts without clutter, and maximize white space and relief from visual stimuli throughout the page. Don’t forget to check the mobile version of your site!

1. Minimal websites are not only easier to navigate - they're easier to translate across devices including phone, tablet, and desktop! This is a big deal especially for audiences that frequent mobile devices
2. As the saying goes: it's easy to make something complicated. It's much more difficult to make something simple. Making your website simple doesn't mean just deleting elements - it means creating a carefully crafted experience that entices your visitor in and informs them intelligently
3. Lastly, having a clean website means having a clean brand. When it comes to looking professional, less is more.

5. Be yourself. 

Describe your business and your brand goals and be unique in your online presence! Today’s consumers are deeply invested in the brands they interact with, and want to know where their dollars are going. We recommend creating an “about us” page or dedicated section of the site, where potential clients can learn about your business, its values, and your “x-factor,” which usually begins with your “why.” Consumers like to know why business owners are motivated to lead in the industries they represent. This is also a great opportunity to connect with your ideal online audience through shared values and goals.

1. A cautious reminder: original doesn't always mean good. The golden rule is to give people an experience that you would want - and that's what authenticity is all about. But don't pump up the personality just for the sake of it.
2. One of the benefits of small business is being able to have a connection factor - people trust you because you're small and presumably still true and pure to your cause. Embrace that connection, and follow it until you find paydirt.

6. Enforce brand continuity. 

Be sure that you use the branding elements that best represent your small business in different formats throughout the site. These visual and story-telling elements help unify the user experience throughout, letting your audience get to know and understand the complete scope of your business. They also help build familiarity, trust, and community with your business and your brand. Brand continuity is also helpful for online advertising: if and when you decide to run an ad campaign, you’ll stand out from the crowd, especially for those that have interacted with your web page in the past.

7. Have a clear call to action. 

Calls to action are very important for the user experience, because they give the user a direction and next steps in the sales funnel. While different marketing experts disagree about whether CTAs should be a priority above the fold, all agree that they should be clear, direct, and consistent. Employ the use of redirect buttons with clear, concise action labels like “buy now” or “book a demo”. 

1. Get creative! Yes, "learn more" will work for you. But it likely won't work nearly as well as a specific call to action like "discover the magic of TRUFORCE clean" (sorry if this is a real brand - even more sorry if it's your brand)
2. Don't be afraid to sprinkle them in. Yes some visitors just want a specific information. But ultimately, if you want to turn your website into a conversion machine, it needs to pitch sales. When in doubt, add in an extra CTA

8. Be reachable. 

Make sure your contact information is easy to find, up to date and responsive. If your business hours are changing due to a holiday weekend, you need to update that information online. If you have a Google Business profile, Google will automatically remind you that a holiday is approaching and ask whether you need to update your hours on your business listing. Nobody’s going to do that for your website though, so if long term schedule changes are coming, be sure to update your website. Social media platforms are also the main means of communication for some online shoppers, so include that information and appropriate links, too. 

9. Incorporate SEO. 

Lots of websites now include long-form content marketing sections (blogs) to build their small business SEO potential (search engine optimization) leverage online. But did you know SEO is just as important on your business’ main webpages?  Using a well rounded SEO strategy will help make the user experience more cohesive, and will help your audience find you faster. 

1. SEO isn't just for Google! SEO is essentially the common language of the internet - it's how people ask and want things. By incorporating SEO-friendly language on your website, you can connect with your reader using their language, which makes your brand and your website stand out amongst the many sites pushing a sale.

10. Showcase products, services and value in the simplest, most accessible ways possible. 

Listing out all of your products and services in text format on your homepage might not be the best approach. Sometimes, there are more effective ways to tell the story and deliver the information your audience is looking for that are also more engaging and pleasant to interact with. Using simple, on-brand imagery or dynamic graphic design elements can help deliver the message for those who don’t (or can’t) pour through paragraphs of text and maintain focus/interest. Remember, you only have a few seconds to get your message across and get the client engaging with your brand. 

While there are many more tips we could offer, these are the ten most accessible tips for small business owners building and optimizing their own websites. Our website design services for small business owners include researching and reporting other opportunities for optimized page speed and how to make a website mobile friendly. Get in touch with our team today to learn more about how we can help prospective customers with proven, technical knowledge. 

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Sam Hoch is our in-house content marketing expert, with research and practical application backgrounds in small business marketing and related topics. She has been a Splurge Media author since 2020.