You want your website to be easy to use. But what does that mean? It means you need to make sure it's intuitive, straightforward, and simple for users. This is especially important if you have a lot of content or products on your site. If the user experience isn't great, visitors won't stick around long enough to see what you have to offer.

Here are 5 tips to help you improve user experience on your site:

1. Slow site load time is the worst. Don't let it happen to you. Unfortunately this is a problem we see a lot. Many people don't realize what an impact it has on converting customers and don't make fixing it a priority. Ideal load time should be under 2 seconds.
   
   
2. 404 errors are not cool. You see an awesome product and click on it only to get a 404 error. Womp Womp! You just lost a potential customer. To make it even easier for you, here is a free tool to help you check for broken links.
   
   Take away: Slow page load time and 404 errors are highly frustrating to users and should be fixed today, not tomorrow.
   
   
3. Simple is better when it comes to navigation. One of he biggest issues we see is confusing menus and users not being able to find what they need quickly. Navigation should be intuitive and streamlined. Get rid of, or combine, any unnecessary components, steps, or screens. We often see these issues in the checkout process. Make checkout quick and easy, with the shortest form you can get away with and the least amount of steps or screens. Each extra second added to the checkout process decreases conversions.
   
   
4. White space is your friend. Pages should be readable and easy to scan, that's where negative space comes in. Peoples' eyes need a break. If your content is squished together and looks like one big run-on sentence, potential customers will quickly bail. So, give peoples' eyes a rest and build some white space into your page. To learn more check out this resource from Interaction Design Foundation. 
   
   
5. Don't bug your visitors with too many pop-ups right out of the gate. Nothing is more annoying to a user than having to close a pop-up or make a decision about joining your email list before they even have a chance to look at your content or products. Some call it "Death by pop-up" and it will make your visitors disappear. Instead, be strategic about timing and placement. 

Photo by Glen Carrie on Unsplash