Four Key Elements to Help Deliver a Valuable Online User Experience
Discovering and implementing tactics to secure a competitive edge in today’s ever-shifting online marketplace presents a challenge for many startups. How can your SMB hope to compete with industry giants backed by large advertising budgets or well-established local businesses with a large consumer following?
Often, capturing and holding user attention boils down to presenting a positive and engaging online experience for visitors. Below, we’ll explore key elements of site content optimization, keyword usage, page tagging and more which can help focus your limited resources to yield game-changing results.
Building Positive User Experiences on a Shoestring Budget
Many startups and SMBs spend precious limited resources attempting to boost site traffic, increase conversion rates and build rapport with users. Often these efforts fall into the category of short-term strategies which fail to yield long-term results. Fortunately, tailoring your business’s site to make it more appealing, actionable and, ultimately, useful to a user does not require an extensive investment in either time or money. The four strategies outlined below, when used together, can help build a positive user experience and may keep visitors coming back for more.
1. Speak Directly to Your Audience in a Language They’ll Understand
Are you using outdated keyword phrasing or not featuring language which your target audience uses frequently? If so, you could be missing out on valuable opportunities to connect to consumers. Speaking in the same language your target audience uses not only builds rapport, but can also boost the authoritativeness of your site. Tools such as Google’s Keyword Planner and Wordtracker are just two ways startups can help target products, services and content to reach specific users.
2. Optimize Your Site’s Content
Another key element of demonstrating value to users lies in the content featured on your site. Keeping a user’s attention and moving them logically down the sales funnel is often a matter of hosting engaging, actionable and well-written content. Devoting some time to procuring or writing entertaining, conversationally written content can be extremely valuable in boosting the number of repeat visitors to your site. In addition to content, consider the verbiage used in your calls to action as well as your site’s structure and linking strategy. Is it easily navigable? If not, you could sour users’ opinion of your site.
3. Deliver Rapid Access to Valuable Information
Speed is a critical element users lock on to when accessing a site’s value. Slow page loading speeds lead to frustrating user experiences and can diminish your chances of securing repeat customers. Overcome page latency by ensuring your site is fully optimized for mobile access and be sure to compress large files such as images to a more manageable size.
4. Utilize Engaging Page Tagging Strategies
Last, but not least, on this list of elements to lock on to when crafting site pages which attract user attention, is page tagging. Do your meta descriptions accurately depict the information a user can expect to find if they follow your link? Inaccurate or misleading descriptions will immediately sour a user’s opinion of your site and increase the likelihood that they’ll abandon their engagement. This concept also applies to headings and titles in your site’s content.