Four web usability basic you must incorporate

The usability of a website is very important. Having a user-friendly website will encourage users whatever their experience and allow them to use your website for its intended purpose with ease.

Testing the usability of your website is easy to do, put yourself in your customer’s shoes and ask yourself:

• Can visitors easily find what they are looking for?
• Can the user easily identify what you have to offer?
• Is your site efficient, intuitive, engaging, and overall user-friendly?

Here are the main points you should review.

1. Navigation

Navigation is one of the most important components on your website. A well planned navigation will immediately show the user how to navigate through your website quickly and efficiently.

A good navigation will be consistent. It should never move and always keep the same buttons throughout your website. The navigation should stand out and be interactive. Having rollover buttons and hover links gives a visual cue for the visitors to click.

2. Design Elements

Over doing the graphics, incorporating flash and large images will slow down the loading speed of your website. This will generally result in a usability issue.

3. Content

The majority of us don’t really read the content within a website; readers tend to scan a lot of the content so make sure it isn’t bulked together and is laid out nicely.

The text should be clear, informative and to the point. Sub-heads and bullets help break up text and let the reader find what they're looking for faster.

 

If you still aren’t sure if your website is user-friendly ask someone who isn’t familiar with your website to review it. They don’t have to be a professional or even experienced with the internet as the point behind this exercise is to accommodate for all people.

By Luke Stanley
SEO ConsultantÂ