In basic terms, engagement is linked to interaction on the website; you want your visitors to read the content you have, explore and click-through the website. In more in-depth explanation, it is when visitors appreciate your content enough to stick around (come back to the site), like, comment, absorb the information and convert them or share. So, when you are setting your website or already own one, you always must remember about user engagement.
First, you must be quick to make a good impression on your potential clients. Users nowadays take around 20 seconds to build an opinion on the business through their website appearance.
Loading Time
Loading time is one of the critical factors to keep an eye on. A user can get discouraged to visit the website if the loading time is different just by one second. Keeping the loading time down to the minimum is a must on every part of your page. Hence, if you have image galleries or image-heavy content, be sure to optimise them with the right tools to be able to load them quicker. – Optimising your website’s loading time would be helpful as it would also maximise the amount of time a user would spend visiting your site. The quicker it loads, the more accessible it would be and that encourages people to explore the website further than visiting just the landing page.
Design
A straightforward design builds user engagement. Not overloaded with information but gives the main ‘What, When, How and Why’. Few bullet points would be adequate to have on the landing page. The main landing page should be easy to understand and well organised for the users to navigate. It will prevent the users from getting confused, which could lead to withdrawal or not exploring the website fully and missing things such as purchasing or looking through the offers. A straightforward design brings more customers and builds engagement as users view it as clean and organised, which connects with the business or brand. Having fresh and arranged websites means you are an organised person, or your business is, this builds trust to the brand.
Mobile-friendly is a must!
Be mobile-friendly; research suggests that mobiles are the primary device that users use nowadays to browse through the internet. Your website should either have a separate design that will work for mobiles (not differing from the desktop version too much as this will confuse users). If not, then the theme/design you have for your desktop, then having a responsive design is a way to go for you! It means the design you have on the desktop will change a bit when you are viewing it on the phone (take our website as an example). Your mobile version should be eye-pleasing like the desktop one to encourage users to stick with your company. Also re-designing a website is sometimes necessary to help build engagement and bring something new so your customers would not get bored with your web.
Longer Posts get more viewers now
If you’re a blogger, then you should already know that longer blog posts reach more people now and bring more engagement. While doing that be sure to remember to break down your content as readers don’t like to scroll through an article for ages to be able to reach the end of one enormous paragraph. Breaking the text down into sections makes it easier to read and more engaging. You can also use photos and graphics to help with the engagement and keep the reader occupied.
Live chats and Chat Bots
Finally, there is a recommendation to use live chats and bots nowadays. Especially if you’re selling something unique that is not specific to one location or if you have a blog. It allows you to be online 24/7 and helps with accessibility to your business. If you want to reach a higher audience outside your area (e.g. blogger from the UK reaching audience in the USA or Australia) it would be useful. Having live chat and bots on your website helps some customers/viewers search for information easier which would help them in, for example, buying processes.
Remember, useful websites bring new customers and encourage existing ones to return and recommend the business. We are here to help you if you have any question and would like to optimise your website to have higher engagement! Don’t hesitate to contact us now!
Social media apps are a great way to send more traffic to your online store and boost sales. What better platform to do it on than Facebook and Instagram?
