A better-performing website means sticking to familiar conventions

When it comes to keeping visitors happy on your website and convincing them to eventually take action means following familiar design conventions. 

Getting straight to the point here, no one wants to arrive at your website only to get frustrated trying to figure out how to use it. It’s like going into a grocery store, you’d expect it to be organized and operate like any common grocery store you're familiar with. (Don't confuse this with boring visual design though.)

There have been enough studies on how people naturally navigate and behave on websites. People are comfortable with what is familiar and intuitive to them. 

 People spend most of their time on other websites

A good thing to remember is that people spend most of their time online on other websites. If you mess with convention, you might be asking for trouble.

Typical conventions for site design include:

• A click on the logo (anywhere on your website) should always take users back to the homepage.

• The last link in a horizontal navigation menu (or the bottom one in a vertical menu) should be “Contact.”

• You should have contact information in the footer.

• Strive for consistency: Navigation and other important elements should remain in the same location throughout the site.

• Links should be easily distinguishable from regular text.

• If users can (and should) scroll down, the scrollbar has to be visible.

• Left-aligned text is easier to read than right-aligned (since Westerners read from the left).

• Display descriptive help messages and notifications.

• Use plain language terms throughout the website that users can understand (e.g. use “Contact” instead of “Communication”).

Yes, there are always exceptions to the rule—but innovation is difficult and risky. In most cases, don’t re-invent the wheel on your business website. Have the stuff work like people expect it to work.

I hope you found this helpful!

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