These three basic, but sometimes overlooked, traits will ensure that people return to your website because they know it will work for them and is a nice experience to use. Do you utilize these traits?

1. Website Speed

There are not many things worse when browsing a website than it being slow and cumbersome, unresponsive, and reluctant to load. Apart from this wasting time in general, it also means that website users grow frustrated as it is a chore to reach their desired content. People appreciate a swift website experience as to whether they are browsing in general or looking for something, in particular, their efforts are not hampered and stalled. As well as this, they will come to recognize your website as a place to go to get results instead of loading screens.

Tips:

• Ensure that your website is optimized so that the design does not compromise the overall website speed
• Regularly check your website speed to make sure that any new features do not make it lag
• Do not neglect to monitor the mobile user experience when monitoring your website speed

2. Website Responsiveness

By 2016 standards, most modern websites have some slick features built into them that don’t only look impressive but also do impressive things. Lightboxes are one such example. If a user is reading a certain part of your website or hovers their mouse/cursor over a certain part, a lightbox can appear with more information or an additional prompt for the user related to what they are interested in. A more timeless and simple example is that of linked text. If you have a sentence on your website that mentions “available in our full range of colors”; ideally the text that reads ‘full range of colors’ should have a URL built into it so that when a user clicks on the text they are taken straight to the colors page. People appreciate this ease of use and welcome a website experience that provides them with easy options to navigate to where they need to go.

Tips:

• Check that your links do not bring users to incorrect or 404 pages
• Test that slick features such as lightboxes and popups only occur at the relevant prompts

3. Hosting and Support

Having a website that rarely experiences downtime is a big plus. It helps to have a dedicated server as on shared servers there is an increased risk that your website may experience downtime due to no fault of your own. This shows your regular visitors (and potential new visitors via word of mouth) that yours is a reliable and trustworthy website. Reinforce this aspect of trustworthiness by having the correct support and security setup in place. This should ensure that your website is never hacked (apart from extreme circumstances) and shows a heavy security presence where personal and card details are involved (if for example, your website has an online shop).

Tips:

• Decide whether a shared or dedicated server is a better fit for your website
• Keep your website software and plugins up to date to close any security loopholes that hackers may take advantage of
• Consult with your website developer as to the best security and back up options for your website

Consult with the experts at Ireland Website Design to assess if you have these three traits successfully integrated into your website. Our team of expert website developers, designers, and SEO experts can reskin or redesign your website so that the user experience is enhanced and therefore enjoyed by your visitors and future visitors to come.