Making your website easy to use
Some websites are just plain hard to figure out. That's what website usability addresses. Done right, usability can not only increase sales, but can also impact your website's performance in search engines.
Websites that are easy to understand and easy to use are a pleasure. You can find what you need, and can do what you went there to do. This translates, for the website owner or company, into sales, subscriptions, and everything else the website is intended to achieve.
Unfortunately, usability is not an absolute consequence of building a website, and as many people have found, lacking proper ease of use is a quick way to lose customers.
Usability can increase your customer base and sales
Ever been to a website that you knew had what you wanted -- but you just couldn't find it? Or spent time pondering what a website's "mystery" symbols were supposed to mean? Or you just plain couldn't get the website to work?
This falls under the subject of website usability -- how easy it is for visitors to use your website, find what they want, and do what you want them to do.
All you need to do to lose customers is to use confusing links, or mislabel your links, or leave out vital information. Does it take forever to download? Can they find what they're looking for? Once found, can they find it again? Are annoying windows popping up at them? And so on.
The essence of website usability is to assist people to help themselves to do what you want them to do.
At DianeV Web Design Studio, we take website usability seriously. Your website is an investment that should benefit you and your company by helping your visitors find what they're looking for — and that should help them to achieve your goals. In addition to ensuring that your website is clear and easy to use, we'll address issues of necessary information, speed of download, how information "flows" through your site, and more.
