3 Ways To Make Your Website So “User-Friendly” That Your Phones Will Ring Non-Stop

Posted on:

August 28, 2015

Over the last few months, we’ve discussed the main strategies, updates, and tactics to implement on your website to improve your web presence. Updates to your title tags, being active on social media, and updating your content regularly are just some of the basics to optimizing your business.

But, this month we want to talk about a few other factors that tie into your search rankings, and why they are so important to your marketing game plan. Google for example, not only looks into the code of your website, but also looks at how “user-friendly” it is. They want the results on page one to be easy to navigate, visible on any device, and make it easy for users to get to what they are looking for.

The first website usability factor that can affect your SEO is whether or not it is mobile-friendly. Almost all websites can be opened on any device. So, you may think, “Oh, I see my website on my phone, it must be mobile-friendly.” Unfortunately, that is not what search engines are looking for. A website that is mobile-friendly will be uniquely displayed on whichever type of screen it gets pulled up on. This is where the term responsive comes into play. When a website is built responsively, it will be compatible with any device.

The next part of your user-friendly website is your content. From title tags to the main content on your Air Conditioning Service page (as an example), content is an extremely important factor that can help your search rankings; specifically content that is unique, up to date, and easy to navigate. Don’t make it hard on your visitors! Make sure that your pages are clear, easy to get to, and have quality content. Search engines will favor those sites that are more user-friendly and have a “menu bar” that is clear to everyone. It’s the search engines’ job to make sure that someone looking for “air conditioning in Chicago IL” is able to get to a website quickly, and find the information they are looking for. Here’s an example of a website with a great navigation bar, check out www.pateac.com.

Lastly, outbound links on your website should be real and relevant. If you are active on social media, then links to your social media pages should be on your home page, and users should have easy access to them. Some other links that can improve your SEO could be links to articles you’ve been featured in, or links to events that you were/will be a part. Search engines will see where these links point to and figure out whether it is a “quality outbound link.” Links that have nothing to do with your business could be affecting your SEO in a negative way.

Usability and user experience have a lot to do with how you rank in 2015, as they measure whether your visitors are getting the information they need, as quickly as possible! Take a look at your website and make sure everything is organized appropriately, the site is easy to read on a tablet or phone, and that you have quality outbound links on it. If you need help with any of these, or are unsure how to check them yourself, feel free to call us at Market Hardware and we can walk you through it.

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Brian Kraff

President at Market Hardware, Inc.

Brian is a co-founder of Market Hardware. He is a member of the ‘club’ of Internet media executives who are tapped into the daily changes of how the internet affects all small businesses. Brian is a frequent speaker at Industry and Association tradeshow conferences. He was an integral part of the group of marketing experts who pioneered the pay-per-click model in 1996, the pay-per-lead model in 1997, and has been at the forefront of getting customers from the Web ever since. Prior to founding Market Hardware, Brian was the founder and CEO of eStudentLoan, the world's largest comparison marketplace for student loans. His role as a Founder and Chairman of 13 Colonies Software (now part of Interwoven/Autonomy) was a highlight of his experience in the Enterprise Web Content Management space. Brian has a B.A. from Cornell University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.