Whatever it is that you want to sell or display on a site, it is important that you do it well. This means that you need to have a website that is designed for that particular function. If it is a sports website, for instance, it needs to be laid out in such a manner that it would display the various segments in an appropriate way. This will definitely differ from other sites such as eCommerce sites or sites for charitable organizations.
Whenever you are putting together a website, the most important thing to consider is the traffic flow. After all, it is traffic that you are targeting and the main reason why you establish yourself online. Incorporating features that jeopardize and lessen the experience of traffic on your site will work against your overall online goals.
This brings us to the main area of debate and discussion. The question is, “how do you ensure that your site is friendly to online traffic?” This is the ultimate solution that you need to bear in mind when designing and laying out your site. The following are some of the components that are indispensable if you want an excellent online traffic experience for your site.
Page Loading Time
Bearing in mind that online users have a short concentration span (30 to 40 seconds on average), you need to ensure that your pages load fast and within the expectations of the traffic. A slow-loading page, in addition to being a turnoff to potential traffic will also increase your bounce rate. Page load times are affected by a number of things, including the elements that are present on the site.
A website that has so many graphics will load at a slower rate as compared to a site that has more text on it. The web hosting provider also has a role to play as far as page load times are concerned. The servers they place you on and the quality of their service will determine whether your site will load fast or not.
The Layout of Your Web Pages
A page layout may be a web design issue, but it affects the way your traffic interacts with your site at the end of the day. A well laid out page needs to have the appropriate arrows and scroll bars that will enable the visitors to move from one section to another within the same page and also move from one page to another with a lot of ease.
You need to be aware that traffic has no time to waste on a page with no clear layout scheme. You should link the rest of the pages to the home page and the landing page. This will ensure ease of navigation for the visitors irrespective of the page on which they land.
Site Advertisements
Unless you are on a sponsored site where you pay nothing for hosting, entertaining some advisements on your site can be detrimental to your relationship with your traffic. Pop-ups are specially designed to capture the visitors’ attention and respond to a call of action, but these can obscure the main content when handled inappropriately.
Remember, traffic comes to your site not because of the adverts but because of the content in the form of articles and web text on your site. Banners can be glaring and distractive and hence needs to be used sparingly so that they don’t turn off traffic to your site. A site that is full of advertisements is also viewed as a promotional site an aspect that can give it a negative perception.
The Weight of Page Elements
On a website, you may likely want to promote some things more than others. For instance, you may not want your products to be so much outstanding as to obscure the logo and brand upon which your business is pitched. This means that you need to be strategic in the way you design page elements to get more attention and visibility in the order you want them to. The bigger the page element, the more likely it is that traffic will be attracted to it.
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