Improving Your Website's Usability

The key to a successful website is often more than the brilliance of its design. Even the most well-coded website can make it difficult for users to reach the content they are looking for. If that is the case, your website's performance will suffer as a result. So it is important to improve your website usability, which you can do using these simple steps:

Make sure the typography of your content is appropriate and clearly laid out so that users can read content without distraction. Large blocks of text detract from website usability, and the longer a single line of text, the more likely the user will have to scroll, which will take away from their user experience.

The font size should be big enough that anyone can read it, yet not too large as to become intimidating to a visitor. Any font that causes eye strain should immediately be changed, as the visitor will not like to experience this kind of stress while on your site.

It should also be easy for visitors to find content on your successful website, especially when this content is vital to their experience. Having thousands of articles on your website but making it difficult for a user to find the single article they are looking for will immediately detract from your website's usability. Most people won't want to take the time to search very hard to find what they're looking for. Provide a hassle-free way for users to find what they are looking for, even if they need an SQL-driven database search engine or simply an index or article glossary that you can provide. These features will help visitors remain on your website.

Another important aspect of successful website usability is how quickly your site loads. It is said that you have approximately 3 seconds to keep your visitor's attention - so if it takes 4 seconds for your website to load, you may have already lost their business. Nearly all visitors leave a new website if it hasn't completely loaded in 15 seconds or less, so the content of your website should load as quickly as possible in order to retain your visitor's attention.

Finally, every link on your website should be thoroughly tested before your website goes online. A single broken link can create a lasting blemish on your professional image. Even if you fix the link immediately, you have already given a poor first impression. To optimize your website usability, all broken links should be taken care of before even a single visitor has visited your site.

About the Author:

- Resource Box - This article may be distributed freely on your website, as long as this entire article, including working links and this resource box, are unchanged. To find out how you can bring the pieces of your online business together, go to: http://www.elitewebsolutions.com . Copyright 2009 Larry Lang. All Rights Reserved. Lang Enterprises Inc.