Making your website user-friendly is the best way to keep people on your site and entice them to return. If users don’t find your website easy-to-use, they’ll leave before finding what they came for, and that isn’t what you want for your business.

Creating a space that’s user-friendly is imperative, and we have some great tips on things to include and leave out, although it certainly depends on your industry and what you’re hoping to achieve with your site. Read on for our ideas!

Simple navigation

One of the biggest mistakes we see people make with their website is making the navigation too complex. Keeping it simple and organized will allow users to find what they need quickly and easily. If you find you need to add a new page and it won’t fit in your current navigation, maybe you need to add dropdowns and reorganize your page structure so it’s all easier to use. Similar pages are best grouped together under a parent page or heading, and it’s best to think it all through each time you make changes within your site.

Call-to-action buttons

Call-to-action buttons tell users what to do next, so they are important on any page on your site. After an intro paragraph on the homepage you can have a button that says “Find out more” or “Contact us today” to direct them to a page within your site and encourage them to stay and find out more. At the bottom of your services page you can say “Get in touch today to get started with us” instead of just leaving them with a list of services and no where to go next. Give them a reason to stay, an action to complete or something else they can do on your site.

Easy contact options

One of the main reasons people visit a company site is to find their contact information so you want to make sure it’s easily accessible. Sometimes that means putting your phone number and email address in the header of every page, or including an easy to find contact form on the homepage of your site. It’ll depend on how you want them to contact you and what forms of communication are best for your users too, but don’t make them dig too much to find it, or they’ll leave to find someone else’s information.

Keep things as expected

We do love changing things up and doing the unexpected sometimes, that can be a great way to make a stir with your site. However, sometimes it’s best not to reinvent the wheel with your site and change conventional items, especially if you’re targeting an older audience or a group that might be less computer-savvy. We’re all about utilizing new technology and embracing new things, but certain things are expected and it’s best to follow those practices for best results. For example, the main navigation is usually best on top because it’s where people expect to find it. You can place it on bottom, it just might be harder for some to find it. Another example, scrolling can go to the right instead of down, and it might be really neat for something different. But it also might confuse some of your users too. So think about your audience, and your company, and what will be best for your users!

Keeping things simple, organized and easy is usually best for most audiences. You don’t want people making too many clicks to find what they need or to get to the good stuff on your site because they really will leave before finding it if you make them dig too hard.

What are your best tips for user-friendliness on a website? Share with us in the comments below!