{"id":47206,"date":"2022-01-03T14:03:09","date_gmt":"2022-01-03T12:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themeisle.com\/blog\/?p=47206"},"modified":"2023-12-07T23:09:17","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T21:09:17","slug":"improve-user-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themeisle.com\/blog\/improve-user-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Improve User Experience: 8 Ways to Make Your Site More Engaging"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you want to improve the user experience on your website, you\u2019re not alone. An easy-to-use site can mean higher traffic and happier visitors. However, deciding how to design your site for the smoothest possible experience can be tricky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, you don\u2019t have to perfect your site through trial and error. By understanding a few universal techniques, you can better serve your visitors and take your web presence to the next level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, we\u2019ll walk you through eight ways to improve the user experience on your site. Along the way, we\u2019ll provide a few examples, as well as some tips to help you get started. Let\u2019s dive right in!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

How to improve user experience: actionable tactics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here are the eight tactics that we’ll cover – keep reading for more details:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Consider a visual approach<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Make sure your site is responsive on all devices<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Implement accessibility features<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Track your user experience metrics<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Use a marketing funnel<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Keep each page’s design flow in mind<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Make sure your content is ‘skimmable’<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Be careful with your ads<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Let’s go through them…<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\t

    <\/div>\n\t\t\t
    \n\t\t \t
    \n\t\t \t\tYour site's not engaging enough? Here are 8 ways to improve #user #experience \ud83d\udde3\ufe0f<\/a>\n\t\t \t<\/div>\n\t\t \t
    \n\t\t \tClick To Tweet \n\t\t \t\t<\/span>\n\t\t \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n
    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    1. Consider a visual approach<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    No matter how high-quality your content is, it\u2019s possible to have too much of a good thing. Visitors who have to confront a wall of text may be intimidated. This could lead to them skipping over your best work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Therefore, you might want to consider a more visual, image-based approach. One way to do this is by mixing up your formatting. Even the occasional photo gallery or video can break up lengthy content into a more manageable format. You can consider Pinterest as an extreme example of this method:<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"An<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

    By focusing on the visual elements, Pinterest makes it easy for users to understand content at a glance \u2013 even when there are dozens of options. This can improve the user’s experience by helping them consume content quickly and easily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Even if you have to rely on lots of text, try to insert photos and screenshots throughout<\/a> to make it more digestible. With just a few images, you can break up an otherwise lengthy post into easier-to-read sections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you have a text-heavy post that doesn\u2019t lend itself to additional photos, you can also create an accompanying infographic<\/a>. This format conveys all of your written information in a way that\u2019s easier to read.<\/p>\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    2. Make sure your site is responsive on all devices<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    You probably don\u2019t need us to tell you that there are lots of mobile users these days \u2013 7.1 billion of them [1]<\/small>, to be exact. These visitors make up a huge part of your audience, so it\u2019s important to improve your site’s mobile experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There are a few ways to make your site more mobile-friendly. One important step is to pick a mobile-responsive theme<\/a> from the start. Virtually all modern themes are responsive by default, but we recommend digging in and actually testing how your theme works on different devices to make sure the user experience is optimal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You might also want to create your menus<\/a> carefully. Cluttered navigation can make it hard for users to find what they\u2019re looking for. Therefore, consider building in plenty of submenus to reduce the options your users have to sort through on mobile devices:<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"An<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

    You may also want to examine how much white space<\/a> you\u2019ve included. Since mobile screens are smaller, they can be harder to accurately use. If a user keeps clicking on the wrong tab due to minimal spacing, this creates a frustrating experience. Generous spacing<\/a> can go a long way towards easing that pain point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Finally, let\u2019s talk about speed. Loading times are essential to smooth navigation. However, mobile loading times can differ from those on desktop devices. Using a tool like PageSpeed insights<\/a> can help you ensure high performance on all devices.<\/p>\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    3. Implement accessibility features<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Making your website more accessible is key to improving the user experience for a group of visitors that often gets overlooked. An accessible website is one that users can navigate even if they have some motor or visual disability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Without proper accessibility, some users won’t be able to experience your site’s content. However, there are a lot of strategies you can employ in order to change this. Two great ways to improve accessibility in WordPress include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. Using an accessibility-ready theme.<\/strong> The WordPress Theme Directory includes a subset of accessibility-ready themes<\/a>. These are themes that meet a number of criteria that make them more accessible to users with disabilities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Using accessibility plugins.<\/strong> We recommend starting by checking out the WP Accessibility<\/a> plugin. This plugin addresses several accessibility issues including helping you identify images without alt text and adding labels to forms.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      If you’re not using WordPress<\/a>, there is still plenty you can do to make your website more accessible. The first step in your accessibility journey should be to offer text or audio alternatives to images. Being diligent about adding alt text to images and other media files will enable visitors to get an idea of what that content is even if they have visual impairments:<\/p>\n\n\n

      \n
      \"Adding<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

      It’s also essential to ensure your site is easy to navigate using the keyboard. This can help visitors who can’t use a mouse and rely on the keyboard to navigate through pages and between them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Finally, we recommend you watch for opportunities to increase visual contrast in your designs. One great way to do this is to ensure the colors of text in your pages contrast with the background so it’s easier to read.<\/p>\n\n\n

      <\/div>\n\n\n\n

      4. Track your user experience metrics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      We’ve covered the importance of using analytics<\/a> many times. However, there are a few metrics that are particularly insightful if you want to improve user experience across the board and you can use several different tools to gain access to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Use heatmaps to understand user behavior<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

      One popular tool for analyzing your visitors’ behavior is Hotjar<\/a>. It shows you where your users are clicking and engaging via a heat map. This can give you valuable insights in an easy-to-read format:<\/p>\n\n\n

      \n
      \"An<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

      These heatmaps<\/a> show you the most popular aspects of any given page. Thus, you can use it to evaluate your site’s successes and failures. For example, you may notice that an area with important content isn’t getting the appropriate level of attention. You may want to revisit the design of that area, so more people will be drawn to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Use analytic tools to understand usage metrics<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

      Another set of data points you might also want to take a look at are your site’s usage metrics. You can track these easily via Google Analytics<\/a> and similar tools. There are many numbers to keep an eye on, but some of the most important are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n