The Features That Users Not-So-Secretly Hate About Your Website

While your website is an important part of branding your business and sharing information about what you do, you always want to be sure that it creates a pleasant user experience. If visitors dread going to your site, they’ll seek out a competitor instead. Here are some of the features your site has that might be driving users insane:

Music or videos that play automatically

While these features can be engaging, when they begin playing automatically it’s often annoying to visitors. Many people are looking at your site at work, during their commute, or in other places when they don’t want music blasting without warning. Instead, give visitors the option to enjoy this media by hitting “play” when they’re ready.

Pop-up ads

It’s one thing to have a small box encouraging users to sign up for an e-mail newsletter, eBook, or other offering. But when you have pop-ups that constantly flood your site, it makes it difficult for a visitor to fully enjoy your content. Keep pop-ups to a minimum in order to encourage people to want to click around your site.

Generic images

Stock photography makes it hard to fully brand your site. The images have a fake feel to them, and it prevents the full personality of your business from shining through. Instead, invest in a session with a professional photographer and get quality images of your office and your staff to use.

Making it hard to find information about hours or the business’s location

If you run a brick and mortar store, visitors are probably heading to your page to find out where you’re located and when you’re open. Put this information in several spots on your site, and make it easy to find. If you force people to click around to locate these details, they’ll eventually get frustrated and give up.

Paragraphs and paragraphs of content

Visitors want content that’s easy to digest. They need short paragraphs, bullet points, subheadings, and other quick bites of information that allow them to learn about your business without dedicating three hours to reading your website. Hit them with paragraph after paragraph of text and they’ll quickly lose interest.

Not providing contact information

If you want to include a “contact us” form that’s great, but you should also feature a way for visitors to get in touch immediately, without having to wait for you to respond to their inquiry. This includes a phone number, e-mail address, and links to any relevant social media pages.

It’s always wise to comb through your website regularly to make sure that you’re presenting the best user experience possible. If you’re unsure, Contact Me today for a one-on-one consultation on what we can do to make your site exactly what your visitors were hoping to find!