I’m not going to call this an emerging trend but it seems to be something that was put on the back-burner for far too often…and Google has noticed. To be fair, it’s not like they never considered the user experience important, in fact, that was the whole reason Google was created in the first place. For years and years, a user’s experience was mainly focused on how to get the correct information that they were looking for. It was all about finding what best fit the searches rather than how the web design was perceived (overall performance and presentation). Now that Google’s been doing this for over twenty years, things are starting to change…more or less. The focus is still on search quality but the dynamics of that quality have become enhanced. It is still about delivering the best information possible but with the acceleration of technological capabilities, speed now has to be considered (amongst other things).
Don’t take this post as meaning every page of your web design (whether it be denver web design or austin web design) has to be laser focused on one thing to be good information but getting to a point is helpful as well as providing maybe a little movement or calls to action to help out with users being able to stay focused or be able to contact you if they’ve found what they’re looking for. This is also where load speed comes into play. Meaning, we have to consider every little thing with website creation as a whole to contribute to an overall experience. Therein lies the key term for this post, “experience”.
Everything we must do (in Google’s eyes and hopefully your own) is about the total user experience. Mind you, I’m not talking about making your site a fantasy escape like Disneyland, but something that keeps a user wrapped in with good content (what they’re actually searching for) and a little razzle-dazzle to keep them entertained. This comes in many forms but can aptly be expressed by a nice amount of visuals (pictures or movement), as well as, site speed. Everything has to be taken into account, even the little call-to-actions spread throughout your site. Every little thing has an effect on if someone is going to stay on your site or simply navigate right back off.
It is probably best to start off with a great top of your homepage. By this I literally mean the top of it. Think about when you meet someone for the first time. We have a tendency as human beings to base a lasting relationship with a person on the initial impressions we got from them. I’m no psychologist so this can vary when it comes to humans but the fact of the matter is that people don’t have the time to try and understand the personality of a website (i.e. your company) when they’re searching for data. On this note, give them something to initially be drawn in. This is best represented by a visual that also may contain pertinent information. From there it’s up to you (or whoever’s designing your site) to lay information out in a helpful way. A great way to think about a homepage is taking the term “landing page” quite literally. If you were going to search for information in your field and landed on a site, would you want to know that your in the right place right away or would you take 30 minutes to explore content before deciding this is not what you’re looking for? I think the answer’s pretty obvious.
With the homepage in mind, we have to make sure that the rest of the site follows a similar structure so that people don’t get easily confused trying to navigate our site. Then for a little added entertainment, why not throw in some movement to catch someone’s eye with information they may be important?
When you’ve finally gone through your denver web design entirely, then take a moment to find out what the speed of your load time is. Trust me when I say that this is a critical factor for a user’s experience (if not the number one with mobile views nowadays). Once everything seems good to go then you have yourself a bonafide user-friendly site that will keep people constantly returning for more. Well maybe not but they’ll find what they’re looking for and call you for help.