7 Simple Usability Tips To Improve Your Website

The text and layout of your pages are very important in order to make your website visitors' reading and viewing experience as easy as possible.  When creating your website, be sure to check all of the following things to make sure your pages are as user friendly as possible.

Tip 1 - Text and Colors The best way to ensure that your web pages are easily read is to use a white background with black text. If your site is difficult to read because of your color choices (such as harsh color contrasts or too many colors on one page), many people will simply go elsewhere for the information they are looking for.

Pay close attention that your text size is easy to read. You do not want to make it too small or too large, making it difficult to read. A good recommendation for easy reading is Arial size 12 point or Verdana size 10 point. These fonts have been shown to allow easy readability. Also, test your pages to ensure that your text is printable. But no matter what font you decide to use, just make sure to check it in different browsers to ensure its readability when doing your website usability testing.  

Tip 2 - Screen Resolution Pay attention to screen resolutions. Even though most people now use a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 or higher, you should be checking your web analytics accounts to see the most commonly used screen resolutions. This will help ensure you are creating the best design for your customers. And, as web phones and other Internet tablets and other devices become more common in 2010 and beyond, ensure that your website supports these devices. There are a variety of ways to render a website differently for users on different devices (e.g. so visitors via iPhone see a more optimized web page).

Tip 3 - Use A Consistent Visual Design and Layout Make sure that all your pages have the same design and layout. In order to ensure that your website visitors have the best experience at your site, you want all the pages to look the same so they know they are still on the same website no matter what page they are on. A dramatic shift in the layout and design of a page can make your website visitors think they have left your site. 

Tip 4 - Use Scannable Headings for People Who Scan Instead of Read Usability Testing research shows that people often scan text on web pages rather than read it. And yet, some of your readers will become quite invested in your content and read it slowly and carefully. The trick is to understand that your customers will use both of these approaches when reading the content and to ensure your pages are designed for these two common approaches. 

Text should be comprehensive and designed for reading, and it should also contain scannable headlines. Your major headings should be descriptive and clear. Since most people simply skim over your site, you want to be sure that your headings will get your visitors' attention quickly. Use <H1> and <H2> tags (heading and subheading tags in the code) to set headlines apart visually for your customers. And these also convey important information for the search engines when they crawl your site with their search engine bots that will be indexing your web pages.

Tip 5 - Design Your Content Both for Readers AND for the Search Engines Provide quality information and strike a solid balance between offering valuable content and trying to sell something to your customers. You do not want all your pages to sound like you are trying to sell something. People are searching the Internet looking for information, so that is what you should offer them when they visit. Keep your content clear and simple to read and understand. Give your visitors quality information and they will keep coming back again and again. 

Keep page length to a reasonable size. This is helpful for many reasons. First, the pages will not scroll on forever. Try to keep pages no more than 2 to 3 pages long so people do not feel like they're scrolling for hours to get to the bottom. You may of course make sales letter pages longer if it is necessary; however, regular content pages should scroll as little as possible.

Second, this will allow you to split the content and create shorter, more manageable pages. Many people see a lot of reading to get to the information they want as a lot of unnecessary work. Breaking up content makes it look like less work. This also makes the content easier to read and it also helps you generate more web pages, which is more advantageous from an SEO (search engine optimization) perspective. Remember to think of the search engines when designing your pages. Include your keywords in your content and use Meta tags; however, still keep in mind that your content should be readable and make sense to your website visitors. Do not over stuff your pages with keywords.

Tip 6 - Make Your Navigation Easy Navigation is crucial for a successful website. All of your links should be clearly identified with the best choice for the text being blue and underlined. If you use graphic navigation elements like tabs, icons, or buttons make them easy to recognize and make them the same on every page.

A clear information architecture will give your website visitors a clear idea of how your website is structured and will allow them to move smoothly through your site. You site's navigation should reflect this architecture and make it easy for people to find the information they are looking for.  

Tip 7 - Know Your Customers Know who your customers are and what their expectations are of your site. A little research here can go a long way to meeting your customers' expectations and creating a positive user experience. The best way to get to know more about your customers is to talk with them, and when possible, watch them use your site. To get the most feedback from your customers, a usability test is usually the best way to go. But even watching people use your site at trades shows or reading feedback from visitors to your site (if your site has a submit feedback option--if not, consider adding it) can give you a better understanding of what problems your website visitors might be running into and what they want from your site. 

Keeping each of these tips in mind when designing your website will help you create a more usable and user friendly experience for your customers. Improved usability will ultimately help you advance your business objectives