After building business websites for years, I’ve learned something important about web design: people do not visit a business website because they have nothing better to do.
Nobody pours a cup of coffee on a Saturday morning and says, “I think I’ll spend the next 45 minutes exploring the navigation menu of an HVAC company.”
People arrive with a mission.
They need a phone number. They want to know what a company does. They need to see examples of previous work. They want a price, an address, an appointment or an answer to a question.
And they usually want it right now.
At Rhino Web Studios in New Orleans, website usability has always been about making that process as painless as possible. A business website can be beautiful, technologically impressive and loaded with features, but if visitors cannot figure out where to click, there is a problem.
Stop Making People Hunt for Information
One of the simplest rules of business website design is also one of the most frequently ignored:
Make important information easy to find.
A visitor should not need the investigative skills of a French Quarter private detective to locate a phone number.
Navigation should be straightforward. Services should be clearly labeled. Contact information should be obvious. If appointments are important to the business, scheduling should not require six clicks, two menus and a minor in computer science.
There is a temptation during website development to get creative with navigation labels. Creativity has its place. Navigation usually isn’t it.
If a page contains information about the company, calling it “About” works just fine. If a page explains services, “Services” is remarkably effective.
Nobody has ever complained that a navigation menu was too easy to understand.
Mobile Is Not the Little Version of the Website
Years ago, websites were designed for desktop computers and then somebody eventually remembered phones existed.
That approach no longer works.
A large percentage of visitors will experience a business website from a smartphone. That means mobile design needs to be considered from the beginning.
Buttons need to be large enough to tap without accidentally calling somebody’s accountant. Text needs to be readable without pinching and zooming. Menus need to work properly. Forms need to fit the screen.
And for the love of all things holy, pop-ups should not cover the entire phone screen with an X approximately the size of a mosquito.
Mobile usability is not simply about making a website smaller. It is about understanding that somebody holding a phone interacts with information differently than somebody sitting behind a 27-inch monitor.
Speed Matters
People are not particularly patient online.
New Orleans residents will wait 45 minutes for chargrilled oysters without blinking, but ask somebody to wait six seconds for a webpage to load and civilization apparently begins to collapse.
Website speed matters.
Oversized images, unnecessary plugins, poorly configured hosting and bloated code can all slow down a website. Sometimes the problem develops gradually as more content and features are added over the years.
A website should be reviewed periodically to make sure it still performs properly.
The internet changes. Browsers change. Devices change. Software changes.
Unfortunately, websites do not maintain themselves.
Write for Humans
There is another usability problem that appears on business websites all the time: corporate gibberish.
A visitor lands on a homepage and reads something like:
“Leveraging innovative solutions to facilitate dynamic customer-focused outcomes.”
Wonderful.
What does the company actually do?
Business website content should communicate clearly. Industry terminology has a place, particularly when speaking to knowledgeable customers, but the average visitor should be able to understand the basic message quickly.
- Headings help.
- Short paragraphs help.
- Plain English helps.
Nobody should need a decoder ring to determine whether a plumber fixes water heaters.
Give Every Page a Purpose
Every important page on a business website should answer a question or help a visitor accomplish something.
- A service page explains a service.
- An About page explains the company.
- A portfolio demonstrates previous work.
- A contact page provides ways to make contact.
Problems occur when businesses start adding pages simply because somebody once heard that websites need lots of pages.
More is not automatically better.
A 100-page website that confuses visitors is not necessarily more useful than a 20-page website that answers every important question.
Good website architecture is about organizing information logically.
Forms Should Not Feel Like Applying for a Mortgage
Contact forms deserve special attention.
Some businesses ask for practically everything except blood type.
- Name.
- Address.
- Phone number.
- Email address.
- Company name.
- Job title.
- Annual revenue.
- Favorite Beatle.
- Mother’s maiden name.
At some point, visitors start wondering whether contacting the company is worth the effort.
Forms should collect the information necessary to begin the conversation. Additional details can usually come later.
The easier a form is to understand and complete—especially on a phone—the more useful it becomes.
Remember Accessibility
Website usability also means recognizing that people interact with websites differently.
Readable fonts, appropriate contrast, organized headings, descriptive image information and keyboard-friendly navigation can make websites more accessible.
These considerations are not decorative extras. They are part of creating a website that communicates information effectively.
The basic idea is simple: fewer unnecessary obstacles.
The Best Website Is the One People Understand
After years in web development, I’ve seen design trends come and go.
- We had tiny text.
- Then giant text.
- Then sliders.
- Then everybody wanted video backgrounds.
- Then animation.
- Then everything became minimalist.
Now artificial intelligence is changing website development all over again.
Technology will continue changing. Human behavior changes much more slowly.
People still want answers.
- They still want websites to load quickly.
- They still want to know where to click.
- They still get irritated when something does not work.
At Rhino Web Studios, that is the perspective I try to keep at the center of website development. A business website should look professional, but its first responsibility is communication.
Make the information clear. Make the navigation predictable. Make the mobile experience comfortable. Keep the technology functioning.
And please put the phone number somewhere people can actually find it.
