Make Your Website Easier To Navigate

An original website is often a good thing to have, but remember that usability should be your primary concern. Keep reading to learn about the best techniques to make your site accessible to everyone.

AJAX and Javascript open up new possibilities in term of interacting with your visitors, but not everyone has this software on their computers. Make sure you include a link to download these programs on your website in case the content is not loading properly. However, many users will not go through the trouble of downloading and installing a program to see your content: if your audience is not likely to keep their computers up to date, avoid using this kind of scripts.

Having an XML sitemap helps search engine spiders navigate your website and index the pages that they find relevant. This means your visitors will easily find the page that corresponds to what they are looking for in search results instead of going through your website. Creating an XML sitemap is also a good way for you to reflect on the organization of your website and perhaps improve it.

A tagline, also known as a meta description is what people see under the link to your site in search results. A good tagline means more people will be clicking on your link. Your tagline should contain keywords relevant to the content of your page and make readers want to find out more. Look at your competitors’ tagline and make sure you choose something that makes your website stand out in comparison.

CAPTCHA are a good way to keep spam away from your website, but they are not convenient. If you need to use CAPTCHA, give your visitors the option to listen to the CAPTCHA and choose a CAPTCHA generator that uses easily recognizable words. If your visitors cannot easily recognize a CAPTCHA, they will refresh the page a few times before giving up. If you can, avoid using CAPTCHA on your site and moderate comments and posts instead.

Add a search button to your site. Your visitors should have the choice to look for a keyword on your site, or to look for it on the Internet. This will help them find what they are looking for in a few seconds only. If finding a specific piece of information takes too much time, a lot of people will simply close your website and look somewhere else.

Do not trick your visitors into buying your products or registering for your newsletter by creating a sign up or an ordering process that cannot be canceled. You should give your customers the option to cancel their actions, or at least to get in touch with you to cancel their order if they already sent it. Make sure you test every feature of your website as well as the cancellation process under different platforms and browsers.