4 Basic Website Design Tips to Improve the User Experience

✍️ Author: Sinead O'Connor

In recent years, offering online services like registration or on-demand content has become essential for wellness and fitness businesses. Today, if you don’t have a user-friendly website, it doesn’t matter how beautiful your studio is. If clients struggle to navigate your website and register for offerings, they can simply go somewhere else.

Luckily, you don’t need to be a design expert to have a simple, user-friendly website that showcases your business. Let’s unpack 4 basic website design tips that you can implement yourself — no design skills needed.

Advice for Planning Your Website

Looking at competitor websites for inspiration and direction is helpful, but don’t get caught up in the details or lost in comparing yourself with others. Take stock of what you can do with the resources you have and do your best.

Reflect on excellent websites you’ve visited in the past.

• Is web copy concise and readable? (short chunks, broken into bullets when appropriate)
• Are you sure of the next action you should take? (Book now, learn more, contact me, etc.)

It’s safe to bet that websites you return to again and again have concise copy and clear calls to action. The key to web design that may surprise you is this: Less Is More.

4 Simple Web Design Tips for Growth

• Clean Home Page
• Include Essential Sections
• Write for Readability
• 3-Click Rule

Clean Home Page

According to a study from Hubspot, 55% of internet users spend less than 15 seconds on a given website. This means you’ve got to be judicious with the information you include on your home page.

A common mistake new business owners make on their home page is including too much information. Your home page isn’t meant to be a summary of your entire website. It has one simple function; communicate your core message immediately.

Home Page Design Tips:

• White space is good. Leaving space on the page gives a spacious and balanced feel. It also helps users digest your bite-sized paragraphs.
• Include images. Pictures of you and your business are great for hero placements and to showcase services, but you can also use little icons to communicate ideas and break up copy.
• Have a clear call to action. Whether you want someone to sign up for your newsletter, book a class, or sign up for a membership, that next action needs to be incredibly clear.
• Put important content ‘above the fold*’. Visitors need to understand what your site is about without scrolling or clicking.

*In web design, above the fold refers to the page content that shows without scrolling.

Include Essential Sections

There are a few pages that your website absolutely needs; a contact page, your bio, your schedule, and your offerings. Let’s discuss each one. 

Contact

Even if someone is not yet ready to book your services or classes, it’s critical to provide ways to contact you.

This could be as easy as a contact form where messages get sent to your inbox, or maybe you include your email address and social handles, inviting visitors to connect with you wherever you are on the web.

Make it as easy as possible for existing or potential students to contact you with questions or feedback.

Your Bio and Background

This can be the most difficult section of any website to tackle, but it’s really important. When we say biography, we don’t mean that you need to sit down to write your full memoir, but depending on what you are offering, this is an appropriate space to share:

• Your professional training, experience, and credentials.
• How you got into this work
• Why you’re so passionate about it

This background gives your potential students and clients a chance to get to know you and what makes you special. Consider some helpful bio prompts and tips to get your gears turning.

Schedule & Offerings

Most of your business revolves around scheduling classes or services and filling your offerings. Having your schedule up on your website is absolutely essential. New and existing clients want to see what you offer and when and also have the opportunity to sign up.

Having a page separate from your actual schedule that details your offerings is also vital. Prospective clients want to know what they’re signing up for before they commit.

Write for Readability

If your website is readable, that means it’s easy to scan or skim read. The key elements of readability are short paragraphs, concise language, contrast, and bullet lists.

What do those key elements look like in practice?

• Short paragraphs: The more a visitor has to read, the less they comprehend. If a block of text is too long, they’re likely to skip over it entirely.
• Concise language: It can be tempting to use flowery language and long descriptions, but getting straight to the point is better for the reader.
• Contrast: Contrast between text color and background color is important. You can also take advantage of bolding important phrases or using italics for emphasis.
• Bullet lists: If you can break an idea down into list form instead of paragraph form, it’s much easier to read.

The less a visitor has to read. the better they will be able to process what’s on the page.

3-Click Rule

The 3-click rule is pretty simple. A user should be able to navigate to any page on your site in three clicks — or at least the important ones. Otherwise, they will probably give up and find a different yoga teacher or massage therapist whose website is easier to navigate.

It’s okay if you have old blog posts and such that take several clicks to find, those won’t make or break a prospective client’s decision. Again, focus on the essential pages:

• Schedule
• Contact
• About
• Services
• Packages & Memberships
• Online Store (if you have one)

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