When customers don’t stay on your website for long, it’s
hardly surprising you fail to connect with them and build
the trust needed for them to get out their credit cards and
buy from you.

The great news for you is there are tons of quick and easy ways to make your website more appealing to your customers.

Here’s 5 you can apply today.

1. Site Search
When you have more than 20 pages, it’s a good idea to add a
search facility. If you have a site search, make sure it’s
prominent. Usability guidelines tend to prefer the
upper-right corner of the page. Keep the button label
simple and clear – “Search” still works best for most
sites. Don’t unleash your powers of lateral thinking and
swap in a word like “Retrieve”. Keep it simple.

To Do: Just using your search, try to find 3 pages of
content. Is that process “quick, easy and straight-forward?”
Or is it “hit and miss?”

2. Ensure Your Webpages Can Be Skim-read Easily
Few people read word for word online; the vast majority
skim-read to get a sense of the page before they read any
of it in detail. Make it easy for visitors to skim-read
your content. Always use headings and bullets to break up
text.

Think about it. If a heading is not relevant for your
visitor, they can easily skim down to the next heading,
making it straightforward for them to get directly to the
information they need.

Always keep your text in manageable chunks, not an unbroken
wall of words like insurance small print, so it’s easier for
customers to look up what they want right away and with
confidence – which is critical if they are making a buying
decision.

To Do: Give your website a quick review and make sure all
your text is broken up into clear, manageable sections.

3. Keep Your Styles & Colours Consistent
Make sure people know they’re still on your site by being
consistent – confuse them and you’ll lose them. Keep the
look and feel of your website sections consistent and avoid
any radical changes. Visitors can get confused and think
they have left your site accidentally.

Layout, headings, and styles should be consistent site-wide,
and colors should usually have the same meaning.

For example, don’t use red for headers on one page, red for
hyperlinks on another, and red as standard text somewhere
else.

To Do: Ensure all your web pages appear to be part of the
main site and that they are consistent with each other. Are
there any “nasty surprises” depending on the part of the
site you’re in?

4. Use Emphasis (bold, etc.) Sparingly
It’s a fact of human psychology: try to draw attention to
everything and you’ll effectively draw attention to nothing.
We’ve all seen that site, the one with a red, blinking,
underlined “NEW!” next to everything. Don’t be that guy or
gal.

Remember, if your site’s graphic design is counter-intuitive
and doesn’t help visitors get something done quickly, it’s
going to make your site much slower and difficult to work
with.

Slow, awkward sites never, ever, ever, delight your customer
or create a good rapport online.

Visitors will be back at the search engine in seconds if
they find your website “complicated” or “busy”.

To Do: Ensure your website is only highlighting critical
factors you absolutely need your visitors to gaze at or
click on in order to meet your online business goals. Menus,
buy buttons, opt-in boxes and so on.

5. Keep Your Ads & Pop-ups Unobtrusive
Ads are a fact of life, but integrate them nicely into your
site. Don’t try to force ads and pop-ups down peoples’
throats; you’ll end up creating frustration for your
visitors. Also, do people a favor and make your ads clear.
If you blur the line between ads and content too much, your
content may suffer, since many people have developed “banner
blindness” when it comes to surfing, and might overlook some
important content by mistake.

To Do: Double check if your pop-up window is significantly
increasing your opt-in rate. If it isn’t, you could be
annoying present and future customers unnecessarily.

Final Word

Always make sure you view your website through the eyes of
the customer and not through your eyes, the website owner.

Make sure there are no red-flags on your site that are going
to frustrate, confuse or bore customers. Keep everything nice
and simple to make sure your visitors enjoy spending time
(and money) on your site