Are you searching for ways to improve website design and performance on WordPress?
I have you covered.
With only a few tweaks and targeted choices, you can quickly remedy any glaring issues plaguing your website and help your content perform better if delivered by the WordPress content management system.
From mobile design to the use of cookies, the goal should always be to give your visitors an easy and predictable experience throughout the use of your website.
1. Ensure Your Mobile Menu Works Properly
On average, I continue to see traffic for many websites come in with 60% of users operating on a mobile device, and almost always more than half of users now vs. desktop users.
With this increase and the majority of users viewing websites on mobile phones, it’s essential to make sure your website works well when viewing on handheld devices.
Periodically, open your website on your personal smartphone and double-check everything works properly, all works open correctly, and images display at the appropriate width. Additionally, it’s helpful to click on your mobile menu and test its dropdown capabilities to ensure it isn’t blowing over the edges of the screen or being covered by ads or other design layers.
2. Use Heading Titles to Distinguish Content Sections
When scrolling down a website, users need to have a seamless experience and a full understanding of what they’re looking at.
Take a moment to scroll down your website yourself, on both mobile and desktop, and think to yourself, “Does this content section make sense? Do I understand what’s being shown?”
Photos, videos or large paragraphs of text without context can make for a confusing website, so consider adding larger heading titles to break out sections and help distinguish the content.
3. Make Sure Dates Are Correct in Your Footer
Often overlooked, the copyright year in the footer of websites is outdated.
Double-check your theme’s footer dates to make sure they’re correct, and you’ll invoke more confidence in your brand as a current, detail-oriented entity.
4. Remove Any Unnecessary or Unused WordPress Plugins
WordPress websites are notorious for getting bogged down with the endless parade of plugins available. So, it’s necessary to occasionally run through the list of plugins installed to check if any could be uninstalled due to limited or no use.
You should see a performance and speed improvement on your WordPress website with a few bulky plugins uninstalled, so it’s a worthwhile process to pick through the details of your own site.
5. Check for Accessibility
All websites need to adhere to ADA compliance standards, which include things like including ALT tags for all images, using enough contrast for ease of reading between elements, and more.
Although there isn’t an exact set of standards for ADA compliance, there are tools available to help point you in the right direction. On WordPress, the WP Accessibility plugin can help your website run in a more accessible manner, and the WAVE Evaluation Tool can be used to identify issues where you might be able to enhance your ADA website compliance further.
6. Create a Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions
To ensure your website operates while adhering to the latest privacy laws, it’s necessary to create Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions pages and link to these pages in your website footer so visitors can easily view them.
If your website uses cookies in any way, it’s also recommended to establish a cookie policy to share with visitors how cookies work and operate when using your products and viewing pages.
7. Include Links to Your Social Media Accounts
If not included already, make sure to link to your social media accounts somewhere on your website theme, whether in the website header or footer. Make it easy for your viewers to find and visit you across your profiles.
You can link to your social media accounts with buttons, or with linked social media icons.
Do you use Instagram? If so, displaying your latest Instagram posts as square tiles can be a significant visual to pull viewers deeper into your brand. On WordPress, there are many different plugins available that will help you to embed your Instagram feed as a widget.
Need more ways to improve website design and performance on WordPress?
If you’re looking for more ways to improve website design and performance, speaking with a digital professional can help you view your online assets from an outsider’s perspective and help to identify changes that will return the maximum benefit.
