In a previous post we looked at some the most important aspects of UX (User Experience) and how integrating strong UX into web design is vital in delivering a competitive online profile.

• We identified that online people don’t read, they scan.
• That fewer clicks don’t necessarily make users happier
• That broader, shallower menus work best.

Here are three more UX tips that you can integrate into your site design giving your visitors the best possible experience and you the best opportunities for fast and strong ROI.

Scrolling - If you have a sizeable amount of information to share, rather than chopping it up into lots of separate pages don’t be afraid of including it all on a single page. Despite talk of visitors only being interested in ‘above the fold’ content, people are more than happy to scroll these days if what they are experiencing is relevant and of interest. Jakob Nielsen’s eye-tracking studies support the fact that despite the information at the top of the page naturally enjoying most attention, modern day Internet users are happy to scroll.

Accessibility – With an estimated 15% of the population suffering a disability such as impaired vision or hearing it’s important to include UX features that make your content accessible to everyone. It’s not just users who appreciate accessibility. The search engines also recognise accessibility as a web design best practice and reward sites with higher placements. Search engines are unable to read text in images, they can’t interpret JavaScript or applets, and neither can they “see” many other kinds of multimedia content. Making your site accessible, for example with textual descriptions for audio files or alt tags that describe images, is good SEO. Accessibility is neither expensive nor difficult and despite what some might tell you, it won’t damage your site aesthetic.

Stock photos – Take care. Despite some research that indicates blogs with images are more likely to be read than blogs without, many web users if they notice your images at all are increasingly sensitive to stock photography. Unimaginative images actually run the risk of doing you harm, visitors regarding them as filler or dead space. Use images that enforce your messages, not undermine your credibility.