Creating Effective and Usable Websites
First impressions REALLY count, especially in today’s fast-paced Internet markets. Web users have a short attention span. You only have a few seconds to give site visitors what they are looking for. Each page is just a click away from your competition. Your website should immediately send the message that you appreciate the visitor’s time and attention, and that you want to provide services for them.
Is your website reflecting your business?
Signs of an Effectual Website
Your website should:
- Clearly identify or explain your business up-front
- Indicate you are still in business by including recently updated items
- At least appear in search engine results – then ideally in the first page or two of results when someone is searching on keywords that describe your expertise
- Follow the 3-click rule (Generally, site visitors should never be more than 2 mouse clicks away from key information and they should always know how to get back to the beginning.)
- Display well on the common browsers (Fonts and graphic files show up differently on Mac and Windows platforms, and on different browsers and mobile devices, but you still want your site to show well.)
- Load quickly. This used to be more of an issue than it is now – but still important to be visible on mobile devices.