With all the time we spend searching on the Internet, occasionally we’ve all come across websites that are dysfunctional, to put it kindly. I’ve seen sites that have made me feel really sad, but that’s my design sensitivity. Bad design is my kryptonite. For the success of your site, make sure your site is not one of those. Is your website broken–how do you know and what can you do to address the issues? There are signs you can look for. Fixing these issues can help in search engine ranking and expand your audience.
Is your website broken?
Your site might not be dysfunctional, but there can be many elements of a site that aren’t as effective as they should be. You may not realize that they are having a negative impact on your site.
Usability needs to be a major consideration for every website design. Without it, a site is just useless web real estate.
The answers to these questions could underscore the importance of a redesign:
- Can a visitor readily find basic information, such as your contact information?
- Is your site navigation confusing?
- Is your important content hard to find?
- Are your products and services up-to-date?
- Is there a buy button on your homepage for product?
Ask someone you know to visit your site and give you feedback on your site. Good, constructive feedback, more than what they thought of the colors. Have them fill out a form. Give them a task to do like search for a product and pay for it. Or book an appointment. Their experience can let you know how intuitive your site is. You want your customers to have the best experience. It may be difficult to do this yourself. Ask a friend do it for you.
For a list of questions that might be applicable to your user’s experience, check out these usability questions.
It’s a hard truth to accept, that your site might have issues. Better to face the truth and address those issues that are hurting your website’s performance. Be sure every change you undertake has a clear purpose and solves a problem within the redesign. If your website is broken, bring in a design professional to get it back in shape.