Ten top tips to improve your business website

Your website is the online face of your business. It’s where customers go to learn about your products or services, get in touch with you, and make purchases. But having a website isn’t enough. For your website to work for you, it needs to be attractive, user-friendly, and effective in helping you achieve your goals.

We spoke to Zen’s website manager Emma Hargraves for some top tips on improving your business website.

1. White space

It isn’t usually something that automatically comes to mind, but effective use of white space is an important element of successful web design.

Using white space between the elements of your website – such as text, images, buttons and menus – can help to create a clean and elegant design, improve readability, and help users find the most important information.

But don’t overdo it. While white space around text and titles can help increase user attention, too much white space can make your website look empty and boring. It’s important to find the right balance to create a pleasing and effective visual effect.

2. Page speed

Page speed is how fast your website loads on different devices and browsers, and it can affect not only user experience but also how well your site ranks in search engines. Back in 2016, research from Google found that 53% of mobile users abandon a site that takes longer than three seconds to load. That’s quite a statistic, indicating just how important a well-optimised page can be.

Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool is a handy way to analyse your website performance and get suggestions for improvement.

Some other general advice for optimising your page speed is to test on slower devices and connections (not everyone has the latest and greatest devices and broadband), and keep image file sizes small (less than 100KB if possible).

3. Call to action

A call to action (CTA) is a prompt for the user to take a specific action, like signing up for a newsletter, downloading a file, or buying a product. A CTA is one of the most important elements of your website, as it guides users towards taking an action you want them to take.

To create an effective CTA, consider the following:

• Placement: A CTA button or link should be visible and easy to find on your website. You can place it towards the top of a page (so it is visible without scrolling), at the end of a blog post, or in a pop-up window.
• Size: The CTA should be large enough to stand out from the rest of your content, but not too large that it is distracting or takes up too much space.
• Colour: The CTA should contrast with the background colour of your website, but it should also match your brand identity. Colours that evoke a response – such as red, orange or green – are good choices.
• Text: The CTA should have clear and concise text that tells the user what they’ll get by clicking. Consider using action verbs like ‘Start’, ‘Download’ or ‘Buy’.

4. Hyperlinks

A hyperlink is a word or phrase that links to another page or resource on your website or another website. Hyperlinks help users to navigate your site, find more information, and can increase engagement.

But if they don’t stand out from the rest of your text, users may miss or ignore them. That’s why good hyperlinks usually contain one or more of the following characteristics:

• A different colour
• Underlined
• A different font or size
• An icon or symbol

5. Bullet points

Bullet points are a great way to present key information in a concise, organised, and more easily digestible way. They help users scan your content quickly, understand your main points, and can even make your content easier to remember.

Bullet points are especially useful for:

• Listing features or benefits of a product or service
• Highlighting facts and statistics
• Summarising steps or instructions
• Comparing options or alternatives

To make your bullet points more effective, you should:

• Use one bullet point per idea or piece of information
• Start each bullet point with a capital letter
• Keep each bullet point short and simple

6. Images

Images are powerful tools for enhancing your website design, conveying your message, and evoking emotions in your audience. They can also help users understand complex concepts and illustrate examples. But using images effectively requires some careful planning. Here are some tips to use images wisely on your website:

• Choose relevant and high-quality images that match your content and brand identity.
• Optimise your images for the web by cropping, resizing and compressing them.
• Add alt text (alternative text) to your images to describe them for search engines and users who can’t see them.
• Avoid using too many images or images that are too large, as they can slow down your page speed and distract users.
• Use original or royalty-free images that you have permission to use or give credit to the source if you use someone else’s images.

7. Headlines

Headlines are the titles of your web pages, blog posts, and sections of your on-page content, and they are crucial for capturing the user’s attention, communicating your message, and encouraging users to keep reading.

Headlines also help users to scan your content and find what they are looking for. To create effective headlines, you need to consider both design and writing:

• Design: The headline should be prominent and easy to read. You can use larger, bold, or different coloured font to make your headline stand out. You can also use white space, images or icons to enhance your headline. And don’t forget the importance of H tags for accessibility and making your site more findable on search engines.
• Writing: The headline should be clear and concise, conveying the main idea or benefit or your page, post or section. You can use keywords, numbers, questions, or emotional triggers to make your headline more appealing and relevant. Subheadings can also be used to break up your content into smaller, easier to read sections.

8. Consistency

Consistency is the key to creating a professional looking and trustworthy website. Consistency means that all the elements of your website – layout, design, colour scheme, font style, navigation, tone of voice – are aligned and coherent across all pages. It helps users navigate your website more easily, to recognise your brand identity, and even builds trust and loyalty with you.

To achieve consistency on your website you can follow these steps:

• Create a style guide that defines the standards and rules for your website and content.
• Use a template or theme that provides a consistent structure and layout for your pages.
• Use a grid system or framework that helps you consistently organise and align the elements on your pages.
• Test your website on different devices and browsers to ensure that it looks and works the same everywhere.

9. Broken links

Broken links lead to 404 errors, those messages that appear when a user tries to access a page that doesn’t exist.

This can happen when a page has been deleted, moved, renamed, or mistyped in the URL. A 404 error can frustrate users and make them leave your website. To prevent this happening, you need to catch your 404s and redirect them to relevant pages on your website. To help you find and fix broken links on your website, you can use tools like Google Search Console, or an online broken link checker.

10. Mobile friendly

Modern websites should be responsive and mobile friendly. Many (perhaps most) of your users will be accessing your site on their phones, and a responsive website will ensure that users have a seamless and optimal experience whether they’re visiting via a desktop computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone.

A responsive website is also essential for improving your search engine rankings, as Google favours websites that are mobile-friendly.

To make your website more responsive and mobile friendly, you can use these techniques:

• Use flexible layouts that adjust to the width of the screen.
• Use relative units (such as percentages) instead of absolute units (such as pixels) for sizing elements.
• Use fluid images that scale with the layout of the page.
• Use tools that provide ready-made templates for responsive web design.

We hope the above information helps you to make your own business website more attractive, user-friendly, and effective. By following these tips, you can enhance your online presence, increase your traffic, and grow your business.

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