Mark Hultgren   Wordpress Specialist
Research has shown that your website usability many times will affect how well you do with sales and keeping customers coming back. Most people think that putting up a website and adding a few different things will make them a success. It does not work that way. In fact, the usability of your website can make or break your business and there is no doubt about that. Nobody wants to try and navigate around a site that is hard to find things. Most people will leave and never come back. Follow some of these tips listed below and you should see better conversion results from your traffic.

First, you need to know the things that make people want to come back to your site. Easy navigation is the number one thing that people look for when they visit. In fact, more than two thirds of the people claim that is their reason for return visits. If you have downloads on your website, you better make sure they download fast or you will lose customers. Updating your site often is another thing that you must do to keep them coming back. You will not get repeat customers if you let your site grow stagnant.

Another thing you need to look at is the quantity and quality of your content. Most people tell you they have this next one, but more than 40 percent of the people will tell you that customer service is very important to them. In other words, the basic things that you would want when you visit a website is what you need to also have on yours. Now, look at things to help you keep those customers coming back.

One thing that many webmasters forget to do is become familiar with the visitors that come to the website. Many times, businesses take the traffic to their websites for granted. The more you know about your visitors, the better you will be able to cater the content around them. Remember the KISS system that you were taught in school. This simply means, “keep it simple stupid” and it still works with websites today. Also, make sure that it is easy to read as well. No one wants to try and figure out every word of your text. Let your visitors have a place to give their feedback on issues within your site. People like giving their opinions on various subjects and there is no better place to do it than your website.

Test and test some more is a forgotten tip that some new marketers neglect to do. This means that you need to visit your own site as if you were a customer and see what you like and dislike about the site. See how long it takes to load and other factors that your visitors will see. This will let you see exactly what others see. It will help you make your site better and more user-friendly. That way, it will eventually lead to more sales.

 
Jun 4th 2008 09:36