Make It Interactive – Design for how People Use the Web!

Since the Internet went mainstream a little over 10 years ago, having a website has been an important part of a business marketing plan. You operate a website to communicate your message to the rest of the world, to encourage purchases, or maybe even to sell products online. Your site exists for visitors to visit, read everything they want to know, and then become a customer.  It’s that simple, right?

Not exactly. A website must go beyond one-way communication, meet definable customer needs, and achieve company goals. Most websites are too wordy, asking viewers to read the site like a book instead of finding ways to use the site as an interactive branch of the business. Text-heavy sites are built with the incorrect assumption that visitors will patiently click one page after another and read every word, eventually finding what it is they are looking for. These sites fall short of quickly directing visitors to critical information, and fail to encourage an actionable goal out of their visitors. Read past the break to learn how your site can avoid the same fate.

People Don’t Read on the Web

I simply can’t stress this point enough. With few exceptions, such as blogs or news sites, people don’t “read” content on the web. Instead of starting at the top and working their way down, visitors “scan” a page, glancing for visual clues and points of interest that will get them to the content they’re looking for. Once the visitor finds a link that looks promising, they’ll very often click to see where it goes, and ignore the bulk of information on any given page. What their goal is will vary depending on the situation, but the well-designed site will take visitor habits into consideration, offering obvious points of interest based on feedback from users or how the company intends users to be directed through the site.

• Instead of writing long pages of copy, try to limit your pages to a paragraph or two of text.
• Large headers will inform the user of where he is and what he’s going to get out of this page.
• Bulleted lists and short pieces of information draw more focus than blocks of copy.
• Use buttons and areas of visual interest to direct the user through the site and get to the information or interaction he feels is most important.

If Everything is Equally Important, then Nothing Is

When faced with the challenge of pulling focus to specific information on a particular page, it’s important to make a list of goals that define what is most and least important to see. For example, if one of your site goals is to encourage people to download a file, creating a colorful graphic that stands out and directs people to click it is one way to meet that goal. By not defining important information, you run the risk that nothing will stand out as important at all. If all of a site’s text is the same size and all of the graphics look identical, users will be frustrated that nothing shows them where to go and what is important to take away from the experience.

• Define site goals, and use them to determine how to visually weigh information differently for levels of importance.
• Signposts, or elements that stand out, will help visitors quickly find their way through your site.
• Not every area of your site can be focused at the same time, or nothing will be seen as more important than something else.

Active is Better than Passive

People will visit your site in order to do something specific, which may include seeing what new products have been posted, price checking an item, or contacting you for service. You also have things that you want customers to do when they visit your site, perhaps seeing this week’s promotional deals or signing up for a monthly newsletter. Using these definable goals, you can design your site to create a much better, more interactive experience for your customers that directs users to the most important information and actions quickly, and improves the chances they’ll come back for another visit.