Why your websites don’t work for you – Part 4

It’s time to make your websites work for you! Be it reducing bounce rate on websites, increasing attention span of visitors or converting visitors into users, as discussed in my earlier blogs, there is one common link that acts as a solution for these issues!

Making Your Website Work for You:
Once you have identified the problem areas, it’s easier to narrow down to the solution. In web design, we need to primarily think about the visitor/user and why a person would even want to stay on your website.
A common thread to solve these problem areas is interactivity. Why interactivity? Well, let me do a quick check on this as well!

Let us see how we can resolve the problems discussed in the previous weeks with examples that reflect the solutions.

Overcoming High Bounce Rate with Interactivity


This website (above image) has successfully used a 3D flip book to present a company profile, its learning solutions, etc. The design is handled with great finesse as text is presented through an interactive flip book that helps to keep users on the page, which in turn reduces bounce rate! And yes, creating such 3D flip books is not as time consuming as you may think! Interactivity proves to bridge the gap between site visitors and website owners.

Increasing Attention Span of Visitors on Websites
A curiously simple yet interactive website, M studio has things right in place! It first holds attention of the website visitor with this interesting range of colors and panels. As you go through the site, the different sections of the site are revealed in association with the varied colors seen in the image. It makes the visitor explore it further. The rest of the sections are unfolded only when some action is performed on the site from the visitor. The information is interestingly presented through the creative use of Flash!

Turning Visitors into Users
As I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, there is a need to convert visitors into users on websites. In the example above, the website includes an interesting mix of shopping products showcased through an interactive Panning Cards model. Here, the site owner would obviously want more and more visitors turning into a valued shopper for the site! The presentation of the products through Panning Cards is truly a boon for readers. They don’t have to scroll through long text description. Besides, the interactive model makes browsing easy and fun! The design appears inviting for a user to glance and begin exploring the site leading to an instant purchase after browsing through deals. Interactivity sure does play a major role out here!

Well, all said and done, apart from interactivity, an attractive web layout and good navigational elements, you also need a dash of creativity and passion for excellence. With a combination of all these elements, I know your websites will surely work for you! Do post your most creative inspirations.

Why your websites don’t work for you – Part 3

For the last 2 weeks, we have taken a look at two basic problems in terms of websites and their design issues. Now, it’s time to tackle yet another common problem faced by webmasters.

Layouts That Don’t Turn Visitors into Users:
A website needs to be designed to convert visitors into users. This means your website should be able to convince a visitor to use your product, service or sign up on your website for any offer being displayed. Successful web design tackles the problems mentioned earlier which in turn gets a loyal fan following in terms of traffic. For example, if you have a product website, your casual visitor should be tempted into signing up for a product trial! Let us take a look at a website which offers various products to its visitors.

In this example, the website does have varied offers on products. However, visitors are not really motivated to sign up with such a site or explore the offers on display. The panels don’t seem very interesting, the coupons section appears cluttered and looking for information is a tedious job out here. The business of the website is clearly about selling DVDs. Here, it is of utmost importance that a casual visitor should turn into a user with the website. Isn’t this what web design should be all about?

Now, let us have a look at a website which is good in terms of its overall visual appeal, yet we will spot design issues out here.
In this website (seen in the above image), there are chances you may get lost! Well, there are few deals highlighted but the text and graphics do not really motivate a visitor to try something on the site. There is a need to reach out to maximum people due to the number of products. Yet, the website does not motivate a visitor to sign up or browse deals and turn into a user. I felt a little lost on this site but realized pretty much later it’s not just about computers but other products as well.

Let’s now move on towards solving both these web design related. Here lies the tricky part of converting visitors into users!

Ensuring Loyal Users
One slight trick can work like magic! Interactivity plays a major role out here as well! You can turn your visitors into users by highlighting the right elements through interactivity. In the first example given, the various offers on the DVDs can be better highlighted with interactivities such as 3D Flip Book. Users would enjoy the pleasure of virtually flipping through the book whilst reading about the product at the same time and leading to a sign up to purchase the product online. The second example can also be projected well with interactivities such as Countdown Timers or banners to bring user attention to an area. This not only increases curiosity of the users, the message can propel a person to sign up for a product trial or purchase!

As we can see in this series, these 3 common problems hinder the actual functioning of a website. By now, I am sure you are looking for a complete answer that will erase these issues! In that case, you need to watch this space next week to look up some interesting examples. Do feel free to share your websites as well!