Your company’s website or app leaves a lasting impression on your customers. Whether that impression attracts and retains customers depends on many different factors, but ultimately comes down to user experience (UX).
UX design focuses on the overall experience your customers have when using your product such as your app, website, or merchandise. Your product needs to be designed with user experience in mind to see any kind of consumer action.
So how can you improve your user experience?
How can I enhance my UX design?
The goal of UX design is to offer a unique solution to your customers that corresponds to the need your customer has the moment they access your product. Your product needs to provide the solution to your customer’s needs.
Your customer has a problem, your product has the solution.
Here are a few tips you can use to improve your user experience to make sure your customers’ needs are always met.
Make sure the user can find you
“The smart companies know that SEO is here to stay and not just in Google,” says Mical Johnson of Cyberize Group. “SEO has never been more important for business as it is today.”
Search engine optimization isn’t just for better search engine rankings but also to make sure your customers find you and the solutions they need. Cameo Moy from Bizzistance points out that investing in AdWords over SEO isn’t a good idea for this reason.
“[By investing in AdWords], you sacrifice the long-term benefits of building a lasting, content rich website for the short-term benefits of the quick-click visit statistics,” Moy says.
Invest in providing quality content
“If you truly want to rank on Google, you must be able to give the searcher what they want,” says Jacob Amundsen of Venture Creative Studios. “This means creating quality content that is better and different than what is currently ranking on the first page of Google for your target keyword.”
JR Griggs of RedWall Marketing says the biggest trend in digital marketing right now is diversifying SEO. “We are seeing much better results with longer pages and posts that have more info,” Griggs says. “Helpful blog posts that are relevant to the popular search terms.”
Griggs also points out that grouping posts, or creating multiple posts on a topic, can enhance the terms your business is found for. It also keeps visitors on your website for a longer period of time because the user can navigate through each article.
Why is providing longer, more creative content such a major trend right now? Google’s most recent updates have been moving further away from keyword-stuffed articles and more towards content that gives users the solutions they need.
When you optimize your website with target keywords and relevant, informative content, everyone wins.
“I continue to see relevance playing a huge role in online marketing,” says Daniel Moscovitch of More Hot Leads. “Making sure our content is relevant to the search query and that your brand messaging and landing page copy is relevant to the particular pain points that visitor is likely feeling is and will continue to be a high priority for us moving forward.”
Create a unique voice for your content
If you’re not sure how to get creative with your content, another way you can stand out is with your voice, tone, and vibe. Tell your business’ story and explore how that makes your business unique.
“This focus [on your business’ story] will always be relevant and resonate with people on a personal level,” says Jeremy Greenberg of 97 Switch. “It also helps develop topics for the entire website and different marketing opportunities.”
When you focus on your business’ story, it also increases the amount of trust between you and your customers. One-Click Lindsey Anderson of One-Click Lindsey refers to this increased trust as a part of the Challenge Method.
“[Our] number one method to generate traffic and leads is the Challenge Method,” Anderson says. “All you need to start … is a Facebook group filled with your perfect clients! Then, over the course of four or five days, you’ll build trust with them by sharing free and useful information that ties in with your services.”
Speaking of Facebook and creating a unique voice for your business, you also want to be sure to reserve your business name on your social media profiles. Bob Bentz of PurpleGator suggests establishing social media sites using a generic company email.
“Be sure to reserve your business name on all social media profiles even if you don’t plan on using them in the short term,” says Bentz. “You may not have a need right now for some of the social media sites, but you should still reserve it before somebody else.”
Users are more likely to trust your business as a legitimate company if they see you have different social media sites, even if a few of those sites aren’t in use.
Increase page load speed
Many businesses are focusing on increasing their page load speed this year, and for good reason. When a website doesn’t load fast enough, it immediately increases its bounce rate.
“When is the last time you waited patiently for anything to load on your phone or desktop?” says Christina Walsh of Here 2 Help Services. “Exactly! You probably didn’t and neither will anyone else.”
“Lower your bounce rate by increasing page speed,” says Walsh. “This will keep people on your site instead of them hitting the back button. When someone sits the back button it sends a signal to Google that your content is not relevant (even if it is).”
Erik Radle of Miller Ad Agency is also focusing on the need for speed for 2019.
“We’re experimenting with using a CDN (content delivery network) for some clients [and] increasing page load speed by serving content that is closer to the user,” Radle says.
“[Customers] want a fast site that looks great and gets a user to what they are inquiring about as quick as possible,” says Richard Jacobs of Lead Stream. “Make it easy, simple, and quick.”
It’s all about making your users happy
Keyword research and SEO are still an essential part of your business’ content marketing strategy. But it’s also important that you’re writing to fulfill your user’s intent.
Quality, unique content keeps your audience engaged and coming back for more. And when your users return to your website or app, it tells Google and other search engines that you have quality work.