As a travel advisor, you want every visitor to your website to have a positive experience that encourages them to book with you. When designing your website, prioritizing user experience can assure potential clients that you’re a professional who will make every aspect of their vacation effortless. User experience design is an entire field of study, but you don’t need a degree to see results. Here’s how you can ensure that your future customers have a frustration-free experience with your website.
Create Readable Text
Human brains are naturally attuned to motion. Have you ever turned your head because you caught something moving out of the corner of your eye? Since motion always demands attention, you should never use it as a text background. Text on a moving background is difficult to read, as the motion can distract from the text. You can use a GIF of the ocean on your site, but make sure it’s near your text, rather than behind it.
Choose a Consistent Color Palette
As you choose a color palette for your website, remember that simpler is better. Select a few colors for your website, and then stick to them. You certainly don’t need dozens of colors to design a great looking site. Most websites only need a background color, a text color, and a few accent colors.
Text color and text background color are also critical components of a good color palette. When choosing colors for your text and text background, keep color contrast in mind. Sufficient color contrast ensures that your text doesn’t blend into your background and keeps your content easy to read. Unsure about the color contrast on your website? There are dozens of great tools online that will compare colors mathematically for you.
Specifically, black text on a white (or light gray) background with an accent color is a popular color scheme for many well-known websites. Think about Facebook and YouTube as examples. These sites have have millions of visitors every day, and they use fairly simple color schemes. If it works for them, it’ll work well for you too.
Proofread Your Copy
Spelling and grammar errors will surely stand out to potential clients as unprofessional. But they’re not the only things you should be searching for while you revise your copy. It’s also critical to avoid confusing language. Your text should be clear and concise, so it’s easy for page visitors to follow along with what you’re saying.
When reading over your work, put yourself in the headspace of your ideal client. Focus on streamlining your words so that they can be easily understood by anyone who visits your website. And be sure to use descriptive headings and writing in the active voice (“He took the chair” instead of “The chair was taken by him”) to make your content easier to read and ensure clarity in your messaging.
Make Important Information Obvious
If you’ve ever struggled to find the right button while navigating the Internet, you know how important user experience can be. You wouldn’t want your future clients to scour every nook and cranny of your website for details just to book you.
Never bury the lead when thinking about the layout for your website. Prospects shouldn’t wonder about how to contact you, because your contact information or form should be available from wherever they’re looking.
For example, think about the next step in your sales funnel from your website. Elevate this next step–such as booking a consultation–to a prominent location. Whatever your “next step” may be, it should be easily accessible from your menu bar and readily apparent on your home page.
Your client’s experience with you starts even before they book you, and your website should help guide them through their buyer’s journey. Travelers book agents like you to make their travel lives straightforward, and that should start with your web design.