There are almost two billion websites spread across over 200 million domains online.
With that many choices, how can you help ensure that when somebody clicks onto your business’ page, they stick around?
The internet has expanded exponentially over the last decade meaning competition is fierce and users are picky. In times like these understanding and implementing website optimization strategies can mean the difference between turning visitors into customers and them bouncing off your site like a rubber ball off concrete.
We understand the frustration of business owners who are focused on providing their service to customers within their niche, developing a web presence to better serve them, and then being hit upside the head with gibberish about how non-optimal their efforts have been.
After all, not everyone is a website expert and most people have no desire to be (which is good news for us because if they were, we’d be out of a job).
To help assist in your understanding of website optimization, here’s a quick explanation of what it is followed by some of the simplest ways you can start implementing changes today.
What Is Website Optimization?
Website optimization is presenting your web content to visitors in a way that maximizes their experience. The better your user experience, the more conversions you’ll get.
Understanding where to start with optimizing your website comes from wrapping your head around who your consumer is and your relationship to them.
Why do people come to your website? What do they want? What do you want from them?
Taking the time to answer these questions can be invaluable to optimizing your site and can help inform how you should conduct your business well beyond your web presence. Be sure to take time to think about your customers and apply that knowledge to how you implement some of the simple optimization tips below.
4 Simple Website Optimization Strategies
1) Check Your Speed
If you type your website’s address into a search bar and elements on your page (or the page as a whole) are struggling to load, you could be losing a lot of money.
Ecommerce company BigCommerce found that a one second delay can decrease page views by 11%.
So log onto your website from your desktop via your ISP and your phone via its 4g connection and start taking note.
How are load times? Is your desktop and mobile site performance roughly the same?
Google’s John Mueller recommended an optimal speed of 2-3 seconds.
If your pages are plagued by slow loads, here are some simple ways you can improve them:
- Reduce the amount of JavaScript and other external elements you’re using
- Reduce your image file sizes
- Make sure your hosting service is giving you with good bandwidth
- If you’re using a CMS like WordPress, there may be some plugins that increase page load speed.
You can get more info on what might be slowing down your web page with Google’s page speed tool.
2) Make Your Content Web Friendly
People who are used to reading left to right have a bias of focusing on the left side of web pages heavily over the right.
To capitalize on that fact and the idea that you need to grab user’s attention as soon as possible to prevent bouncing, load all of the most relevant content on your page above the fold and towards the left if possible.
Keeping your most important content above the fold ensures people see it before losing interest.
Also, be sure that keywords users are most interested in on your page are sprinkled throughout your text and in the headings of your content. This will give visitors visual cues when scanning that they will find the answers they’re looking for if they choose to stick around.
Finally, don’t try to pull your visitor’s attention to too many places. This goes back to understanding what they want and what you want out of them. Streamline your content flow to guide users in a way that provides them value and leads them to the conclusion you want.
Implementing clean, modern design layouts on your website can be helpful when guiding user’s focus.
3) Build Pages with Purpose
If you don’t understand how each page on your website is helping guide visitors towards your product or service, you’re losing money.
No piece of content should be without a call to action. That’s not to say that you should crush visitors with marketing tactics. Most are too smart for that and hard selling does more to alienate online than it does to generate conversions.
However, when creating your call to actions, experiment with different styles such as bolding text and using buttons rather than links.
4) Get Familiar with Website Optimization Tools
There are tools that can help identify where your web pages need improvement.
For the non-technical among you, some of these product’s deeper functionality can be daunting, but most provide a suite of surface level insight that can help you on your way to optimization.
Here are a few to try:
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is used by most web professionals, and considered the industry standard when it comes to collecting site data. It lets analyze platforms people are using, demography, use time, page popularity and more for free.
Crazy Egg
Crazy Egg is heat mapping software that allows you to see what your audience looks at when arriving on your website. You can figure out how far they make it down your pages and can even view recorded sessions of their use.
Qualaroo
Knowing what people do on your website is good but knowing WHY they did it is better. Qualaroo asks users why they’re doing things on your site and lets you use their feedback to make impactful adjustments.
Wrapping It Up
Website optimization can mean a world of difference in the effectiveness of your pages when it comes to generating sales. Taking small steps today to up your user experience game can mean huge boosts in revenue tomorrow.
Our design experts at ZGN Creative are passionate about helping business owners build web platforms that stay on top of trends and connect with their audience on a deeper level.
For more information on how to improve your online presence, check out our blog!
If you’re interested in getting help for your unique site optimization needs, we can help take your business to the next level today! All you have to do is ask!
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