What do people want to see from your website? This should probably be the first question when designing a new website but many websites do not engage fully with their audience, the majority of people will always be able to find a criticism, so what do people really want to see on a website?

I’ve been reading over websites daily and reading through articles on the internet and here is my view on what people want to see on your website:

Firstly, people want to feel attracted to your website. You want to catch the audience’s eyes, you want them to look at your website and automatically feel satisfied that this is a website they can bare to look around, and that looks interesting. Nobody wants to read a boring, dull and full of facts website. Of course, a website needs to fit to the eyes of its audience, for example if your audience is young adults, your website needs to be colourful and get straight to the point with as little words as possible.

76% of people say that the most important factor in a websites design is that ‘the website makes it easy for me to find what I want’.

Your website needs to be easy to get around (navigate). It is recommended that it should take no more than 2 clicks for someone to find what they need, does your website do this? People get frustrated if they can’t find what they are looking for, or takes a long time to do so. Make buttons have easy navigable headings, so when people click on them they know what information it will lead them to. People prefer this as they can get what they need from your website much quicker and efficiently. If people can’t find something they are not going know about it/buy it or donate to it!

Contact information – if people can’t get hold of you, then you have a serious problem! People can get extremely frustrated if they need information from you that they can’t find on the website, people are more likely to give up looking for information if they can’t find it on your website and then have no direction on who to contact for further information. You simply need to include a contact number and general email.

It’s also handy to have a search facility on your website, especially if it holds a lot of info. If people are in a rush they would much prefer to search for what they are looking for in a search engine than navigating around your whole website, it is a lot quicker.

Many charities don’t think about security but if you are making sales or taking donations then it’s very important.  SSL is an encryption system that helps protect the privacy of data exchanged between a customer and a website. This is important as people who are leaving their details on your website need to know that they are protected. If you have an e-commerce site that takes credit card information, customers want to know that their sensitive data is encrypted. Get SSL if you don’t have it. If you do, let customers know that and about any other safeguards you proactively take as it will encourage them to use your website as they know it’s safe.

Hopefully this has allowed you time to think whether I would like to view your website, if not then it’s time to get changing!