DIGITAL GROWTH
How to UX your website in six simple steps
Digital Growth Programme consultant Rob Gregory (pictured) on what to consider when looking at User Experience (UX) and what you should be doing to keep your website engaging to users.
Website User Experience, or UX, is no longer the preserve of big tech companies with expensive agency- designed websites. As a business owner or anyone in a marketing function you have to think like a UX expert if you are going to win online. You might be looking to improve
your website or you might be completely new to the world of UX design. Either way, here you’ll learn the basics of UX and how to apply them to your own site.
WHAT IS UX? In truth it’s a broad discipline with lots of offshoots. My description is as follows: UX is an objective approach to designing a system or website that puts human beings at the centre with the express intention of creating an experience that is simple and engaging, and meets the needs of the intended users. UX is all about the user and how
we can make sure they get what they want from a website or system. So how do we design with user experience in mind?
USER PERSONAS We need to understand who our users are; to do that we create personas. A persona is a description of a real person that represents a group of users. This help us understand their demographics, goals and expectations. Without describing your personas, you end up guessing. Guessing usually ends up in a design that suits you and not your customers.
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE How you categorise the content on your site as well as the structure of the pages and navigation makes a huge difference to the way your
80 business network February 2020
PERFORMANCE If you imagine your personas viewing your website and it taking six-plus seconds to load you might also imagine that would be the last time they visit your site. Search engines now use site speed as part of the information they use to rank your website. There are many reasons your site
is loading slowly. Large images, too much JavaScript, old technology or simply a slow server could all slow your site down. Get to the bottom of the performance issues and fix them quickly. You need your site to be loading in less than three seconds.
users get to the answers they seek. Search engines also need to see clear categorisation and navigation structures; simple is best.
VISUAL DESIGN Once you know your users and you’ve decided the structure and the content you want to publish, you need to plan the look and feel. Your job as a UX-aware site owner is to forget what you like and pick a layout and design your users will like. Think about your personas and the user journey they’ll be going on. Choose a theme or template that is simple yet flexible enough for your needs.
FEATURES, UTILITY AND INTERACTION Check the features you think you need are achievable within budget and are within the constraints of the website design or platform you have chosen. It’s better not to have a feature than to have a poorly implemented one. Forms are a big win area when it
comes to UX. If you can simplify your forms and make them easier
to use, you can get ahead of your competition when it comes to conversions.
USABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY Make sure your site is built to meet your personas’ specific needs. Think about who they are and how they will use your site. You can make user journey and layout decisions based on how they are likely to interact with your content. Consider accessibility - can your site be read by screen readers, is your site well optimised for assistive technologies if your personas require that?
ROUND-UP If you consider the items above when developing a new site or use them as a framework to review your existing site, you will see the user experience improve. Your website is never finished, it’s an ongoing experiment. Keep checking the UX of your site to ensure it’s improving and not degrading over time.
To learn more about digital marketing techniques like these, join us at our next seminar. For dates and locations visit
www.leics-digital.co.uk/events
The Digital Growth Programme is managed by the Chamber. It is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, the Chamber and Leicestershire County Council to help SMEs in Leicester and Leicestershire embrace new digital technology to improve productivity and to aid growth.
To sign up, visit
www.leics-digital.co.uk/register or contact events and engagement officers Kam Atker on
Kam.Atker@
emc-dnl.co.uk or Collette Degia on
Collette.Degia@
emc-dnl.co.uk
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