The website is your elevator speech to your user. It’s the first thing that they get to know about you, and you may not like to hear this, but they judge you based on what they see. They draw certain conclusions about you, like: Are you professional? Are you capable? Do you respect your users? Do you value their space, time and preference? Or do you just want to sell your products and services by hook or crook?
Since your website has a lot to say about you, you’d better make sure that it says the right things. Here are 7 things on your website that may be annoying your user, and giving out the wrong impression about you. Time to fix them, don’t you think?
Cluttered design –
Once the eyes take the call on the desirability, the heart follows. Is your website soothing to the eye? If the design of your website gives the user a sore eye, they are obviously not going to like it. It won’t matter how valuable your content might be to them, they just won’t stop enough to read. You can expect everything from the online audience except for patience. The internet is teeming with suitors offering to meet their needs, so you won’t get a second chance. Therefore, ensure that the design of your website is pleasing if you want to retain their attention.
Poor navigation –
This is even more annoying than a poor layout that gives you a migraine from the moment you look at it. Don’t make your user look for a needle in a haystack if they want to browse some information on your site. Instead, put yourself in your user’s shoes and visualise things from their perspective. Come up with a navigation that will intuitively lead them to what they want to find. Nothing catches the user’s attention more than the attention you pay to them. If you care about them, they are sure to return the favour. So, both the aesthetic and the technical part of your website design has to be executed keeping the user in mind.
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Pesky pop-ups –
It’s not surprising that 90 – 95 % people on the internet detest pop-ups. It absolutely spoils the user’s experience when they are on your site. Keeping that in mind, Google has also come up with rules to penalise websites that has too many pop-ups above the fold. You cannot completely eliminate ads and registration forms but what you can do is, you can keep them subtle and keep them to a minimum. If you want to make your user feel at home while on your website, being sneaky about pop-ups is not going to help.
Too much content –
As the owner of a website, it may interest you to know that an average user reads only 28 percent of the content on your webpage. So, start making your words count. Provide text only where it’s needed and keep it precise. Consider using GIF’s and infographics to make your point instead of writing something like a thesis. Also, make sure the content you put up is creatively crafted to create value for your user. (Do not unnecessarily stuff your website content with too many keywords in the hope of ranking on the search engines.)
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Too less content –
Now, this is not the way to do it either. Without quality content, your website will not be of any use to your user. And what is of no good to the user, it is of no good to the search engines either. So say only what you need to say with your website content, and say it nicely. Try taking the ‘hey! I am here to help’ route rather that ‘hey! Here’s what you can buy’ route. Strategically place your CTAs so that they naturally lead the user to the next level without coming on too strong! And whatever you do, remember to keep it crisp!
Slow loading time –
You have about 8 seconds to grab their attention! Asking the audience to show more patience is asking too much. The audience on the internet are impatient . So, you have to match up to their attention span. Keep your website optimised to enhance user experience. Avoid too many heavy images and flash files as they increase the loading time of your website. If you have downloadable files on your site, keep a track of the number of requests that you get, and adjust the infrastructure of your site accordingly.
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No contact information –
Your website should always have your contact details and it should be made visible to the user at all times. Just imagine your user falling in love with your site. They find the content to be heart-touching; your products, services and testimonials have got them smitten. You are just the one they need. But wait! Where do they find you? How do they get in touch? They had combed the whole website for contact information to find absolutely nothing! Wouldn’t you be disappointed if they were you?
Apart from these seven things, what annoys the user most is disrespect. Coming online is users choice, but that doesn’t mean you can be mean to them in any circumstances. You have to be courteous and woo them gently! Your user hated it endlessly, when a video starts to auto play without their consent. It is also irritating for the user, if they have to sign up forcefully to browse through your site.
To avoid any such unpleasant exchanges, update your site regularly and be in sync with the guidelines released by Google. Also, optimise your site adequately for mobiles and tablets. That should get you sorted!
