With today’s rapidly changing digital trends, your website can feel outdated and old real quick. And, it’s difficult to keep up with the trends if you don’t have the time and money to invest in such a large ongoing project. To help you deal with this challenge, we put together 10 simple ways you can optimize your website to be more helpful and useful.
1. Make Your Website Easy to Navigate
A search bar goes a long way in allowing users to conveniently navigate across your website. They should appear on every page and be wide enough that visitors can read what they’ve typed. Also, check out your menus – are they simple? If not, make them clear, logical, and not cluttered.
2. Fix Broken Links
When you’re browsing websites, you may have come across a broken link or error messages. They’re annoying and you start second-guessing the company. Check all your links, including your internal links, and make sure they’re all working. Also, while you’re checking your links, differentiate them by visual cues like differently colored text or underlined text.
3. Be Mobile-Friendly
In this digital age, having a responsive, mobile-friendly website is critical to your success.
4. Use Clear Calls to Action
Don’t have your visitors guessing what they should be doing – lead them with prominent call to action buttons.
5. Make Copy Easy to Scan
Most people will skim through your content. Get your point across in small, bite-size pieces. Consider using simple language, readable fonts and colors, clear headings and subheadings, bulleted lists, and no large paragraphs.
6. Speed Up Your Website Load Time
Try optimizing your images, web fonts, or getting rid of unnecessary modules or plugins to speed up your website. You may have to perform a comprehensive website audit to pinpoint your weak points to fix them.
7. Replace Stock Images
People can spot generic or stock photos from a mile away and it can decrease trust. In a case study by Spectrum, Inc., they found that Harrington Movers were able to increase conversion on a page by simply replacing a stock photo with an actual photo of the team of movers. They experienced the same increase in conversion on a page where they added a photo of their actual moving truck instead of a stock photo.
8. Create Attention-Grabbing Headlines
A well-crafted headline is worth its weight in gold. Choosing the right headline and making it stand out can help guide your visitors through your site easily.
9. Show Credibility
A few years ago, Google Chrome implemented a policy where all websites that don’t have an SSL certificate be flagged as “Not Secure.” Not sure if your website is a secure site? Check out if your website is an ‘http’ or ‘https.’ An ‘https’ address indicates the website is secure. If you’re marked as ‘Not Secure,’ people may think you’re too risky to visit.
10. Make Your Contact Information Complete
Many websites are missing complete contact information. The more ways your customer can contact you, the better.
Which Fix to Make First
Ten fixes is a lot when you also have a business to run. You do not need all ten this week. You need the right two.
Use this order. Fix whatever stops a visitor from contacting you before you fix anything that only makes the site nicer.
- Anything broken. Dead links, a form that does not send, a phone number that is wrong.
- Anything that blocks mobile visitors. Text too small to read, buttons too close to tap.
- Anything that hides the next step. No clear call to action, contact details buried in the footer.
- Speed.
- Everything cosmetic. Photos, headlines, layout polish.
Most owners start at number five because it is the fun part. New photos feel like progress. But a beautiful page with a contact form that quietly fails is still costing you leads every day.
You have looked at your own website so many times that you no longer see it. You know where everything is. Your visitors do not.
So borrow fresh eyes. Hand your phone to someone who has never been on your site. A neighbor, a friend, your brother-in-law. Give them three tasks and say nothing while they work:
- Find out what this company does and who it is for.
- Find the phone number.
- Request a quote or book a call.
Watch where their thumb hesitates. Watch where they scroll past the thing you thought was obvious. Do not explain, do not point. Every time you want to say "it's right there," write that spot down. That is your fix list, and it will be more accurate than any opinion in a meeting.
Then do one more thing most people skip. Fill out your own contact form from your phone. Check that the message arrives, that it lands in an inbox someone reads, and that it does not go to spam. We have seen forms sit broken for months because nobody on the inside ever uses them.
Repeat the test with a second person if you can. One tester shows you a stumble. Two testers stumbling in the same spot shows you a problem worth fixing today.
What Small Fixes Add Up To
Here is a hypothetical to show why this is worth an afternoon.
Say your site gets 800 visitors a month and 8 of them reach out. That is one inquiry for every 100 visitors. You fix the broken form on mobile, move the phone number to the top of every page, and put one clear button on the homepage. Now 14 people reach out.
Same traffic. Same ad spend. Six more conversations a month, which is 72 more in a year. If you close one in four, that is 18 new clients from changes that took a few hours.
Your numbers will be different. The logic holds. Before you pay for more traffic, make sure the visitors you already have can do the one thing you want them to do.
After that, schedule a 30 minute check every quarter. Click every link in your main menu, submit the form, load the homepage on your phone using cellular data. Sites break quietly. A plugin updates, a page gets renamed, and nobody notices until a customer mentions it. If the basics are solid and people still leave fast, look at what keeps visitors on your website next.
3>Make Your Website User-Friendly Today!Are you ready to see how your website stacks up? We can help. The Rockstarr Sound Check is a deep dive into your website. Walk away with the framework to tune-up your site to optimize conversion, drive engagement, and make your audience go wild.
Frequently asked questions
What is a user-friendly website? A user-friendly website is one where a first-time visitor can understand what you do, find what they need, and take the next step without having to think about it. That means clear navigation, readable text, fast loading, and working links and forms on both phones and computers. Pretty design helps, but ease comes first.
How do I test whether my website is user-friendly? Test it by watching someone who has never seen your site try to complete a simple task on their phone. Ask them to find your phone number or request a quote, then stay silent and note where they hesitate. Those sticking points are your priority fixes, and they are usually different from what you expected.
How can I make my website more user-friendly without a redesign? You can improve usability without a redesign by fixing broken links and forms, simplifying your menu, adding one clear call to action per page, and putting contact details where people look for them. These changes take hours instead of months. Start with anything that stops a visitor from reaching you.
What is the most common website usability mistake small businesses make? The most common mistake is improving how the site looks before confirming that it works. Owners replace photos and tweak colors while a contact form fails on mobile or the main button leads nowhere. Fix what is broken and what blocks contact first, then spend time on polish.
How often should I check my website for usability problems? Check your website for usability problems at least once a quarter and after any update to your theme, plugins, or page structure. Click every menu link, submit your own contact form, and load the site on a phone. Sites break quietly, and a short routine check catches problems before customers do.