Website usability is important for your business to succeed online. Websites are become increasingly important to the success of a business. However web design trends and customer expectations have changed over the years. Customers are likely to leave your website if usability expectations are not met by your company’s website.

I have compiled a list of the 10 website usability factors that could be driving customers away from your website. If your website is suffering from these usability issues, you should address them now to improve your performance.

1) Not Having a Mobile Ready Site

Mobile marketing is one of the fastest growing areas of advertising. An increasing number of consumers are now accessing the Internet over smart phones, PDA’s and tablets. Yet a recent survey showed that less than 30% of businesses surveyed had got around to having a mobile version of the site. You risk loosing out to competition eventually if your site is not mobile enabled.

2) Poor Quality or Misleading Content

Poor quality content written purely to attract search engines or misleading information also drives customers away from your website. Optimise your content for search engines but write content using natural language with your readers in mind.

3) Not Doing Enough to Engage and Retain Visitors

There are many ways to retain visitors on your website. The more value your website offers and the more you keep them engaged, more time users will spend on your website and the more regularly they visit.

Good internal linking, calls to action, and content lists such as related content, most popular or most visited content helps to keep the user engaged and on the site for longer. Whereas regular features such as newsletters, resources such as eBooks or whitepapers, and interactive features such as comments encourage users to keep visiting your website for more.

4) Interfering Multimedia on Website

Rich graphics, videos and podcasts improve the quality of your content. However, make sure media does not play automatically; impact load times or interfere with usability. Try to refrain from using unnecessary flash animations or company intros unless they serve a purpose.

5) Not Listing Full Business Details

Not providing full company details on your “about us” section or full contact details on your contact page can be detrimental to your online success. Studies have shown that detailed information about your business including address and telephone are essential to instil confidence and trust in website visitors.

6) Irrelevant Graphics

It is essential for the graphics on your website to reflect your branding and be relevant to the content on the page. Choose your images with care. Don’t use stock images only because they look nice.

7) Not Easy to Share Content on Social Media

Customers expect to find Social media features on business websites today. Make it easy for readers share your content. Users can get easily frustrated trying to find Facebook “Like” or “Tweet” button on your website, if its not prominently placed on your website. Not finding it at all can result in a bigger disappointment. Properly implemented social sharing features will not only promote better usability but also increase sharing resulting in more exposure and traffic.

8) Not Having a Blog

Blogs have become increasingly common on business websites. Blogging successfully will not only improve your search engine rank but it also adds credibility to your business. This is my top recommendation for any business that does not already have a blog on its website.

9) Difficult to Navigate or Explore Content

There is more to navigation than menu. The sections your website divided into, words used in menu items; all play an important role in usability and navigation.

If you have a large website, consider a drop down menu or sub menus within specific sections of the site. Sitemap, breadcrumbs, search facility and good internal linking are also equally important aspects of navigation.

10) Too Many Ads

There is nothing wrong with making money on your website with ads. However keep ad units on a page to a minimum. The most popular ad system Google Adsense allows a maximum 3 ad units per page. However, this does not prevent you from displaying ads by other networks alongside Adsense on the page. Too many ad units on a page interfere with usability and can affect the readability of content.

Conclusion:

Most businesses have a website but very few websites are able to fulfill their full potential. Poor user experience and overall lack of results can be frustrating for the users as well as the business and lead to missed opportunities. This list will help you address these issues when designing your website and lead to better performance.