You want your website to be easily understood, easily accessed and used to the greatest extent possible by as many people as possible. This includes people with and without disabilities.
If this sounds like what you’re looking for from your website and its elements (and it should be), you’re looking for a site and elements that are universally designed. In fact, every point mentioned above are points inherent in the definition of universal web design.
Businesses that don’t have a website with a universal design can take steps to apply universal design principles to their site. However, there are three areas in particular that such businesses should consider starting with:
- Blog pages.
Many digital marketing strategies seek to improve organic traffic to a website, among other key goals. And that’s where blogs come in. Blog posts allow businesses to educate their prospective customers, gain their trust and encourage them to visit the business’s website.
Yet blog pages that aren’t universally designed have a much lower chance of keeping potential customers on a site. Instead, poorly designed blog pages are more likely to send users clicking back to the search results in search of another option.
- Forms.
For potential customers who come into the site via an organic search pathway, forms are an element they’re likely to interact with after a blog post. The reason? The blog post answered their question(s), encouraged them to trust your business, helped them see that you offer a solution to their problem or all of the above. So, they want to reach out to you about your products or services, and that often means filling out a form.
Now, imagine that such customers are eager to start filling out the form only to have difficulty finding said form. That they make it to the form only to have trouble understanding what information the form is asking them for. Do you think they’ll finish filling out the form? Odds are that they won’t. Yet making sure your forms are universally designed means you’re taking steps to foresee and address such difficulties before your potential customers ever have to worry about them.
- Locations page(s).
Another common pathway to a business’s website runs through its locations page or pages. It makes sense, right? Potential customers want to know if your business is close to them and, if so, exactly where it is. However, locations pages that aren’t universally designed are far more likely to have people swinging by the location of a competitor than one of yours.
Does it REALLY matter if these and other pages on your site are universally designed?
We’ve alluded to it when talking about each page, but let’s say it again clearly (hitting one of those universal design principles). Universal design really matters to these three pieces of your website. Research shows that 94% of a customer’s first impression of your website is design related, and these three pieces are more than likely the first parts of your site that people will see.
If they aren’t universally designed, they’re more likely to drive off potential customers and make it harder for your business to meet its growth goals. If they are universally designed, potential customers are more likely to form a positive impression of your site and brand, and are thus more likely to become your customers. It’s as simple as that.
Want to have a universally designed site waiting to greet your potential customers? BURG+CO. can help
Increasing traffic to your website plays a major role in increasing conversions and landing new clients. However, it’s difficult to turn these visitors into customers without a universally designed website. Fortunately, this is one of our specialties at BURG+CO.
Our team has years of experience in helping businesses improve their digital presence through universally designed websites that are designed to attract new leads and help retain existing ones. If you’re looking to perform better in search engine results, attract more visitors to your site and turn more visitors into customers, we’re ready to talk to you to see how we can help. Contact our team today for more information about our web development and design services or to schedule a complimentary consultation.
