13 ways to improve your website user engagement
The manner in which online users interact with a website tells you everything you need to know about the quality of that website. And if you have a lot of traffic on your website but no engagement or conversions, something is off. A website is more than a way to advertise your business online. It is a way to interact with consumers and establish an initial relationship with them. That is why brands invest so many resources into the development of their websites and the constant improvement of user experience. In this article, our web design New York team explores the subject of how to improve your website user engagement.
Why is User Engagement so important?
The overall success and ranking of your website is dependent on the amount of website user engagement that it produces. And so, getting users to engage with your content and take action is a vital step in the ability to convert leads into customers. Without that initial engagement, you can bid farewell to convincing site visitors to connect with your brand and make a buying decision. What you end up with is a high bounce rate and no rankings to get your online presence out of the gutter.
It’s a fact that first impressions matter. After all, the way in which customers process that first visit to your website determines the rest of their journey when it comes to interacting with your business.
13 ways to improve your website user engagement
#1: Work on optimizing your page loading speed
Online visitors have high expectations when it comes to page loading speed, even more so than search engines. While Google’s algorithm asks for pages to load in under 3 seconds, more than half of online users won’t tolerate a page loading longer than 2 seconds. Therefore, your website user engagement will depend on your ability to boost the performance of your page. And the best way to accomplish that is through a combination of on-page optimization and design simplification.
Of course, there are plenty of ways to boost your website loading speed. Whether you’re hiring an SEO agency or have an in-house SEO team, either one can help you cut all that extra weight from your page and give it the kick it needs.
#2: Simplify your website layout
It’s so easy to throw a multitude of ideas into your web page layout. After all, why go through the trouble of diversifying your content into multiple pages when it’s much easier to just mix it all up on your homepage or landing page? Because cluttering one page with too many elements leads to confusion for those that land on the page. And since modern consumers don’t have the time to decode all that data you bomb them with, they are more likely to simply bounce from your website. High bounce rates lead to less website user engagement – it’s just that simple.
So, while web development New York specialists are focused on website performance, there has to be room for trimming the overall weight of your page layout. And so, go with the basic notion of – simpler is better. By limiting your content, leaving plenty of white spaces, and accenting your menus, CTAs, and services/products – you can establish a simple layout that customers will find easier to interact with.
#3: Focus on the ability to navigate through your website
People today are constantly racing with time. With so many things to do and so many websites to sift through, online users are searching for swift resolutions for their queries. Therefore, the ability of your website to offer a very straightforward way of navigating through the inner pages to the answer visitors are looking for will play a crucial role in improving your website user engagement. And there are three very simple yet practical steps to make this happen:
- Have a proper menu in your header;
- Introduce important links in your footer;
- Implement a sitemap for your website.
#4: Organize your inner linking structure
A lot of companies miss the entire point of linking web pages to one another. When going through content, site visitors expect to be able to easily get additional information for topics related to the content they are reading. That is why having brief and descriptive anchor texts with links leading to separate pages relevant to the topic in question is such an important factor. User engagement relies on the ability of the site visitor to be able to explore topics in-depth through transparent and working links.
#5: Mobile responsiveness
With over 80 percent of users today using mobile devices to access websites, mobile responsiveness is more important than ever when engaging with potential customers through your website. The ability for your website to adapt to different types of devices that site visitors access it from will determine their will to engage with your content and to convert into customers.
#6: Optimize and expand your content
Despite their desire to save time on finding answers to their queries, consumers enjoy insightful quality content. And this is something that is proving to be more true as time passes. A study by SEMRush revealed that 3000+ word articles get 3x more traffic than your average-length article (900-1200 words). We can deduct from this result that length does play a significant role when it comes to content. This, of course, does not refer to taking a 1000-word article and expanding it with irrelevant information and feelers to get it over that 3000-word counter.
#7: Structure your content to make it more appealing
Although we’ve established that users prefer lengthy content that goes into details on how to solve their problems, it’s not enough to just pile up thousands of words into a single paragraph and leave it like that. There is still the matter of making it appealing and easy-to-read for online users.
Therefore, you want to make sure that the content you produce is structured and informative, easy to navigate through and interpret. These are the criteria that will help you increase your website user engagement on a long-term basis. And although you might not be able to get as many words from your inner pages, the more you get, the better off you’ll be, both in terms of SEO trends and user experience.
#8: Use banners and CTAs to clarify your expectations
One of the ways businesses lose out on engagement is by counting on your site visitors to come to conclusions on what they are expected to do. Whether we’re talking about filling out forms, following links, clicking on phone numbers or emails, it’s important to clarify these actions to visitors. The amount of engagement your website gets will depend on your ability to guide visitors to take specific action while on your website.
#9: Display related content
Nowadays, site visitors like to have additional options. With rushing through everything, there is always something that we are missing or forgetting to do. And so, by displaying links to related content, you are in fact providing potential reminders for users. As a result, they are inspired to engage further with your business and order more products.
#10: Add a search box
When you have a specific product or service in mind, you don’t want to waste time having to navigate through a website to get there. And too many websites operate with the belief that customers should spend time exploring their website structure to get to their desired page. Instead, what they get is a higher bounce rate at the end of the day.
You can avoid this entire issue with the introduction of a subtle search box. This way, if customers have difficulties navigating through your website, you have a failsafe to help them search for the page/post they need.
11. Implement a chatbox
Engaging with people on your website should always be a priority. And by adding a helpful chatbox, be it live chat or a chatbot, you can offer an additional way for users to navigate through your website. Your job here is to make the chat non-intrusive and to personalize it with the name and photo of one of your team members. That way, you maintain a very natural website user engagement with your potential customers.
#12: Subscribe visitors to your emails
Improving your website user engagement is not simply a matter of one-time contact. A business needs to have a long-term strategy in mind, noting that the initial engagement is the start of your relationship with customers. By getting visitors to leave their email addresses or other contact information, you can engage them through email marketing campaigns and nurture your relationship with them. This not only helps your conversion efforts but also contributes to the strength of your brand.
#13: Hold contests or giveaways
Modern consumers love websites that offer tokens of appreciation in the form of giveaways, coupons, etc. These are minor efforts that can benefit page visits, subscriptions, conversions, your website user engagement, etc. And it is also a great way to send your brand message and leave a great first impression on customers.
Start growing your engagement with site visitors today!
These are some of the major steps in boosting the impact of your website on online users. There are, of course, plenty of other tips and tricks that a business can apply to capture additional attention. With its years of experience, Digital Dot has had the opportunity to experiment with different ways of engaging customers online.
- Schedule a consultation with our web development NYC team today and open your eyes to new and exciting ways to increase your website engagement!