Back in the day creating a website from scratch was considered to be a pain in the neck. It was very complicated, required tons of knowledge and expertise and most of the time, it ended up looking boring. However, nowadays professionally creating a website is no big deal because of the availability of large online website creating tools such as WordPress, Wix and more.
Now anyone with a great idea can come up with a site with a fantastic layout because there are now thousands of good online website designing tools which means a lot of competition. As a result, websites with poor design or content end up having a high bounce rate.
According to a study by Jakob Neilson titled “How Long Do Users Stay on Web Pages?”, The average page visit of a person lasts less than a minute. In the same study, he talks about the aging effect of a webpage on the user according to which the first 10 seconds of a page visit are very critical for a user to decide whether to stay on the page or leave.
The probability of bouncing off in the first few seconds is very high because users are tired of scrolling through poorly designed websites, so they act accordingly and leave the page rather than wasting their time. However, if the webpage survives these first 10 seconds chances are the user will stay on your page for long.
It is imperative for websites to practice inbound marketing on the web through good content, through use of keywords, through use of appropriate font and so on. So if you want to have an irresistible website, you better make something that stands out, and for that, we have 10 basic rules that you should follow:
- Search Engine Optimization and Quality Content
Search engine optimization plays an important role in making users land on your website and spend more time there. This is a process of increasing online visibility of a website and increases the organic reach of a webpage.
To make sure people land on your website, it is imperative that you use the relevant keywords, page description throughout your site. Having said that it is useless having a high reach if you are unable to engage your users on the page for that you need to make sure that you have quality content on your website which is valuable for your users. Even if the site is beautifully designed, it is an empty shell without good content.
According to Google’s guidance on building high quality content, users find content to be valuable when they can trust the information that is presented on the website. This is when the data is given logically and is well edited without any grammatical errors. Also, make sure not to bombard your visitor with lots of ads and pop-ups, as this can be annoying and can increase the bounce rate of a website.
- Make sure you know your audience
You should know who you are aiming for. It is significantly important for a website developer to understand his/her target audience. If the product or service the website offers is for kids, the website creator should make sure to use a lot of colors and animations to attract children.
On the other hand, if the site is for professionals the website developer should make sure that the layout is formal, the colors used are not so bright and the information presented is straightforward and factual.
- Make your website accessible
Users cannot get enough of a website that is accessible. If your website is difficult to access people won’t go on it. But how do you make your website available?
To do so, you should make it mobile friendly and make it shareable so that people can share the link to your website on social platforms this, in turn, will increase the footprint of the site.
- Be considerate
It is highly important to be considerate of your visitor’s time by not asking them to fill in unnecessary details when they land onto your page otherwise your visitor will leave the page as soon as they open it. Also to make your site irresistible consider giving your visitors space to read.
No doubt a “live chat” option is useful for your users, but a big box popping up on their screen may just annoy them. Resist the urge to initiate a chat unless they open up the chat window themselves.
- Style it right
You need to match the style of your website with the product or service that you are offering. Style it in a way that allows people to engage with you. If you are providing a high-end luxury brand, use colors that reflect elegance. Your website should reflect the class and luxury of your product/service.
- Keep the layout simple
When people are scrolling through some web pages, they are in a hurry. If you want them to stay on your webpage make sure the journey that they go through on your website is smooth and easy for them.
Design your website in a way so that it feels well organized. Build tabs that lead to relevant content in a single click. Do not provide unnecessary information that a visitor would not like.
- Make it fast
Page loading time is an essential part of a user’s website experience. According to Google’s SOASTA Research conducted in 2007 if the page load time goes from 1 second to 3 seconds the probability of bounce rate increases to 32 percent.
Therefore website designers should make sure the images, videos, and content are optimized for the web to do so you can use online templates to build websites as they are already tuned to suit the web.
- Show visitors your unique added value
It is very important to show the users what product/service you offer to them, but it is equally important to tell them what you can do for them, what is it that makes you different from other companies on the web.
- Visible contact details
Some of the visitors may want to contact you, therefore, make sure that your contact details are easy and quick to find. If you feel you might get a lot of emails that you won’t be able to answer use WordPress CRM plugins to manage all those emails.
It may sound very obvious, but many companies have their contact details hidden at the very bottom or corner of the website which may turn their visitors off. Sometimes the number given on the site is inaccessible which again turns a visitor away from you, and they go running back in the arms of thousands of competitors showing in their Google search result.
- Show consistency
Visitors shouldn’t feel like they see a new website every time they open a new page on your site. To make navigation more comfortable for your visitors, it is imperative to have a consistent design across pages within your site.
If you follow the tips mentioned above, viewers will fall head-over-heels in love with your site and come back to you every time bringing more people to your site. Got any more tips for us? Let us know in the comments below!
