Two of the most important elements to consider when building your business’s website are the copy and the user experience (UX) design. Ensuring you write quality text and construct a visually appealing design will give you a great basis for an engaging website. When you combine your focus on these two elements, however, you’ll end up with a truly attention-grabbing business site that will keep your audience coming back.
Unsure of how to go about merging your copy with your UX design? Below, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members shares 11 tips to get you started.
Building a Website? 11 Tips to Grab Users’ Attention
- Incorporate eye-catching headings.
- Present copy through animation.
- Integrate a chatbot.
- Focus on navigation.
- Use the ‘bucket brigade’ technique.
- Create a clear identity and tone.
- Use your homepage for important text.
- Aim for visual engagement.
- Ensure elements support each other.
- Break up walls of text.
- Tell a story.
1. Incorporate Eye-Catching Headings
A website cannot be effectively engaging with high-quality copy or good UX design alone. Your UX design should complement your copy and vice versa. One tip I would give to do this effectively is to incorporate eye-catching headings throughout your site to break up large chunks of text and to help your user find exactly what they’re looking for, as your UX design and copy should serve to aid the user. — Ismael Wrixen, FE International
2. Present Copy Through Animation
Animation is proving to be the way forward. You will have likely seen similar executions yourself. More information about the brand might slide onto the screen as you scroll through, or clicking on a particular link might unfold a new page rather than hyperlinking you elsewhere. Lots of creative ways exist to present your copy with animation and graphics without looking unprofessional. — Nick Venditti, StitchGolf
3. Integrate a Chatbot
One way to merge UX design and the website’s content is to integrate a chatbot with specific questions and professionally curated responses to your site. Doing this not only grabs users’ attention but also improves their experience on the site as well. It’s a great way to help users clarify any pre-sales queries and doubts, which, in turn, help them make better buying decisions too. — Josh Kohlbach, Wholesale Suite
4. Focus on Navigation
To create a website that engages visitors, you need to cater to the user first and foremost. One of the most important elements of your website is your links and navigation menu. If readers want to explore different web pages, they need to easily find them. Without a clear link menu, you’ll fail to keep visitors’ attention for long and send them away. — Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms
5. Use the ‘Bucket Brigade’ Technique
Copywriting is core to all of our websites, and every design decision we make is in service to delivering engaging copy to viewers. One of the most effective techniques we use is the “bucket brigade,” separating high-impact sentences into their own paragraphs. This highlights important sections, improves readability by breaking up long passages and takes advantage of infinite vertical space. — Bryce Welker, The CPA Exam Guy
6. Create a Clear Identity and Tone
One of the most important aspects of creating a website is making it engaging. This means that you need to take into account both design and content. One tip for how to merge UX design and content is to have a clear identity and tone for your website that is consistent across all of your pages. — Kristin Kimberly Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC
7. Use Your Homepage for Important Text
To merge UX design with your website’s content or copy, make your most important information available from your homepage. Users shouldn’t have to scroll all the way down your site to find what they’re looking for. Instead, the major links, campaigns and information should be visible as soon as they click on your website. This ensures that they have access to it from the beginning. — Jared Atchison, WPForms
8. Aim for Visual Engagement
A basic UX principle is that pages should be visually engaging. This includes having sufficient white space and also providing a pleasing combination of written content and images. Visuals, which include videos and infographics as well as photos, should be used strategically and not overused as to distract visitors. — Kalin Kassabov, ProTexting
9. Ensure Elements Support Each Other
One tip for merging UX design and website content is to make sure that the design of the website supports the content. For example, if you have a lot of text on your website, make sure that the font is large and easy to read, and add plenty of white space. When you don’t use much text, you can use visuals. UX design and website content should work together to create a well-rounded website. — Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner
10. Break Up Walls of Text
Few things cause users to bounce from a website faster than being confronted by intimidatingly large blocks of text — especially above the fold. You only have a few seconds to grab a visitor’s attention, and no one wants to read a novel on your product or service, no matter how great it is. Use bullet points (preferably three per selling point) and focus on benefits, not features. — Andrew Powell, Learn to Win
11. Tell a Story
Storytelling is a critical feature in both UX design and modern website content creation. Your business’s content writers and UX designers should sit down and talk about what your customer needs. Using the customer’s narrative, you can merge content writing and design to create web content that truly grabs your audience’s attention. — Blair Williams, MemberPress
