4 Easy Ways to Improve Your Website

 

Small businesses can find building a website intimidating. During the dawn of the internet people who wanted to make a website were forced to learn how to code, typically HTML. Luckily, with website services like Wix and WordPress, those days are long gone. Now with a few simple clicks, a small business can have a functioning site in as little as two hours. Having a functioning site, however, isn’t enough anymore. Here are four things you need to consider to have a site that will set you apart from your competitors. 

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​Make Sure It Is Optimized For Mobile

 

About 55% of web searches are done on a mobile device, so your website must be legible when viewed on a smaller screen. Pull up your website on your phone and check the following:

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• Does any text go off the screen? Is the text too big or too small? 

• Do you have to ‘zoom’ in on your phone to click any buttons or read any text?

• Does your menu take up most of the screen?

• Are you having to scroll for more than three seconds to get to the bottom of the screen? 

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If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you need to reformat your site so that it is better suited for mobile use. Utilize a hamburger menu to cut back on space and make it easier for customers to navigate. Be very discriminatory towards what text you put on your website. You need to keep in mind that mobile users have a limited amount of screen space and big blocks of text can be exhausting for them to scroll through. You can check to see if your site is mobile friendly with this free tool.

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Make it Look Good, but Don’t Sacrifice Functionality

 

First-time web designers often make the mistake that their website needs to be full of visuals, i.e. text, graphics, or call to action buttons. Research has found the opposite to be true. Negative space, also known as “white space”, helps users focus on what is important. This doesn’t mean you should get rid of important information in the name of aesthetics. Clean, consistent layouts with easy navigation is always a good rule of thumb to use. If you have difficultly deciding on how to make a website look good, check out this blog post by Visme to see the most popular color palettes being used today and this post about 7 Key Principles of Designing Visually Pleasing Websites. It helps to check out some of your favorite websites and see what elements you can use in your own. 

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Check the Speed

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Users are busy people. Google funded a study that has found that most mobile users will leave a site if it doesn’t load within three seconds. This makes it imperative that your website doesn’t take forever to load. Check out your website's load time by using Google's free PageSpeed Insights Tool. Images are the most common issue for longer load times. You can help optimize your speed by compressing your images before you upload them onto your site. Microsoft has a tutorial on how you can do it yourself or you can visit websites like Online Image Compressor and have them do it for you. 

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Call to Actions

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Any marketing person can tell you a call to action is one of the most important things you can put on your site. Call to actions, simply put, is when you tell the reader/user what to do. For example, you should have a button on your site that says “Contact Us!” or “Get Started!”. The user then clicks on the button and it typically sends them to a form to fill out or another page. Make your call to actions obvious. Users shouldn't have to search for it and put them on every page. 

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You already know everything about what makes your product and service awesome. The only thing standing in the way is telling others about it. Setting up an amazing website doesn’t have to be intimidating. Follow these simple tips to increase user engagement and decrease your bounce rate. You will see a difference in no time! 

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About Innovative Timing Systems, LLC: Innovative Timing Systems, LLC is a privately-owned company, providing leading-edge sports timing solutions and race timing services through a network of over 500 locations around the world. ITS provides advanced chip technologies, race kiosks, large athlete displays, live web updates, automated race photos, social media integration and mobile apps. Founded in 2008, ITS is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri and has sales, support, and engineering facilities in numerous locations around the world.

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About ITS YOUR RACE: ITS YOUR RACE is the leader in online event management. An all-inclusive endurance event platform, ITS YOUR RACE offers easy registration and results with custom features including sponsorships, advertising opportunities, GPS tracking, athlete photos, finisher certificates, fundraising, and more. Over 10,000 events have chosen ITS YOUR RACE.

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Innovative Timing Systems is a registered trademark of Innovative Timing Systems, LLC. RaceTimes is a trademark of Innovative Timing Systems, LLC.