How To Improve a Website: 7 Expert Tips

The almost infinite improvements you can make to a website mostly fall into four categories: user experience, SEO, technical performance, and brand expression.

If a potential customer lands on your business website, will they stick around or leave within a few seconds? More importantly, will they convert? Just as unclear signage and cluttered displays in retail stores can drive customers to the competition, a frustrating or unappealing website can make site visitors switch tabs before they know what you have to offer.

In a world of rapidly changing digital trends, there’s almost always room for improvement on your website—whether it’s page speed improvements or major design changes. Consider these four common categories of website improvements and seven tips for keeping your website top-notch.

Categories of website improvements

1. Conversion and user experience (UX)
2. Search engine optimization (SEO) relevance
3. Technical performance
4. Brand expression

Website improvements can generally be grouped into four main categories:

1. Conversion and user experience (UX)

Although not all user experience (UX) edits are immediately in service of conversion, they’re all ultimately in service of conversion. Every UX improvement paves the way for smoother conversions in the long run, even if the immediate impact isn’t visible.

For example, easy navigation to your FAQ section or a simple login process can remove obstacles that might otherwise prevent a customer from completing a transaction or making repeat purchases.

2. Search engine optimization (SEO) relevance

A well-designed website isn’t valuable if no one can find it. A strong search engine optimization (SEO) strategy helps your site rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) and aligns content with customer searches.

You can use keyword research tools to find words and phrases people are searching for that are related to your business. Then, you’d review your website copy to ensure it includes those words and phrases.

3. Technical performance

Slow page load times and broken links are frustrating and can send visitors straight to the competition. A technically sound website not only enhances user experience but also performs better in search engine rankings. Technical website performance improvements include:

• Checking Core Web Vitals, Google’s standardized metrics on page performance

• Fixing broken links

• Improving website accessibility

• Implementing lazy loading, which staggers website loading to improve speed

• Reducing image file sizes

4. Brand expression

Branding helps customers understand who you are through visual identity, web design, and storytelling. When improving your website, consider how it communicates your brand to your audience. If your website presents your brand identity in a way that resonates with and captivates customers, they’re more likely to overlook UX imperfections when shopping.

While brand expression is difficult to quantify, you can measure it through brand recognition, customer loyalty, and sentiment analysis.

How to improve a website: 7 practical steps

1. Optimize for mobile devices
2. Use consistent UX/UI best practices
3. Consider new vs. returning customers
4. Establish benchmarks
5. Start big, go small
6. Consider your audience and channel
7. Market products based on thinking patterns

Here are seven effective ways to improve your website:

1. Optimize for mobile devices

With more than 75% of retail site visits in the US happening on mobile devices, mobile-friendliness is a must to reach potential customers. Mobile website design is also a baseline requirement for good performance in search. Google uses mobile-first indexing, crawling the mobile version of a website to determine where it appears in search results.

One strategy to ensure mobile-friendliness is to design in mobile first and then port that to desktop. You may also choose to test in a mobile development environment first.

Consider the following when optimizing for mobile:

• Include a hamburger menu for easier navigation.

• Design for vertical screens by keeping key messaging at the top of the screen.

• Make calls to action (CTAs) large—at least 48 by 48 pixels—and within thumb reach.

• Reduce copy and keep the text simple.

2. Use consistent UX/UI best practices

UX focuses on a website’s functionality, while user interface (UI) focuses on visual design. When improving a website, it can often feel like your brand’s uniqueness is in constant battle with your website’s usability. Because people expect websites to look and function a certain way, veering too far from convention for the sake of originality can create confusion. 

When thinking about the tradeoff between uniqueness and functionality, it’s best practice to stick with convention when it comes to UX (usability), but you can experiment with UI (uniqueness). This could mean playing with button shape, color, or font while keeping elements in the place people expect on the page.

For example, people expect a navigation bar to be at the top of a page, so placing it anywhere else would be confusing. On copy-heavy web pages, people expect to scroll vertically, not horizontally.

Similarly, people expect mouse functionality when they visit a website. Skin care brand Blume fulfills user expectations but plays with UI by changing the mouse to its signature shade of orange.

Source: Blume

3. Consider new vs. returning customers

Consider your homepage’s target audience when merchandising products there—bearing in mind new customers usually want easy access to your hero product—i.e., your most iconic product—while returning website users tend to look for variety in a diverse product mix.

Mature brands with more than 30% returning customers, for example, may feature a product mix with new products or seasonal drops on their homepage. If you’re newer to the market, your job is to introduce new customers to your brand by showcasing your hero product or a few signature items.

For example, although blender brand Blendjet offers a variety of portable blending accessories, its hero product—the Portable Blender—is featured prominently on its homepage.

Source: Blendjet

4. Establish benchmarks

Deciding what to test and improve on your website can be overwhelming. As you work toward your website goals, establish benchmarks to measure progress against. For example, a beauty ecommerce company might set subscriptions or repeat purchase rates as key benchmarks.

Shopify has built-in benchmarking resources for conversion rate optimization (CRO), SEO strategy, and technical performance. If you’re unsure, research industry trends, ask other store owners, or consult with a digital marketing agency.

Once you have peer-level benchmarks, review your metrics using both qualitative (non-numerical) and quantitative (numerical) data to prioritize. For example, you might use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) for quantitative data, including landing page conversion rates, revenue per session, and revenue per website page visit.

For qualitative data, heat mapping software like Hotjar and Microsoft Clarity can show click patterns and drop-offs. You can also review customer chat logs to identify common questions and inform additional improvements.

5. Start big, go small

For newer websites or small businesses, changing button colors and shapes can enhance UI, but rarely move the needle on their own. Instead, first ask what foundational improvements you can make to your website experience. Examples include:

• Optimizing load speed

• Simplifying navigation

• Updating homepage messaging

Bigger changes, like the website navigation, can give you the more significant wins you need to continue growing. Conversely, if you start immediately with a strategy of tweaking things like button roundedness, you won’t be able to get conclusive data because it is such a small change.

Once you have a strong foundation, you can optimize UI elements like fonts, colors, and buttons such as:

• Adding a sticky header

• Adding a search bar

• Testing CTA colors

6. Consider your audience and channel

Match your website with your audience. The best tactic for a competitor’s target demographic might fall flat for yours. If your audience is young or mostly from social media, they may expect a lot of brand personality. Michael Steele, CEO of growth marketing agency Flywheel Digital, advises to lean into uniqueness to stand out among the sea of sameness. For example, Yellow Beauty includes bright yellow tones to evoke happiness and warmth and emphasizes its mission to empower women with diverse imagery and callouts to social causes.

If your website users arrive primarily from search, they’re typically looking for something specific. In this case, emphasize functionality and clarify the page’s purpose. For example, Ever focuses on product efficacy to convey how its skin care products address specific needs.

Source: Ever

7. Market products based on thinking patterns

Psychologist Daniel Kahneman says people think in two modes: System 1 thinking is reactive and instinctual, while System 2 thinking is analytical and logical. Product selection might seem like a System 2 process, but designing for System 1 first creates an experience that feels intuitive. This helps customers make quick decisions without overthinking.

This might mean featuring your bestsellers on your homepage, like luggage brand Monos does, including a “most popular” callout, or sharing a guided quiz that recommends products based on a few simple questions. As visitors progress further in their buying journey, provide comparison tables or in-depth blog posts to support System 2 thinking. For example, Monos offers a comparison page where shoppers can assess luggage options based on the length of their trip and how many outfits they plan to pack.

Source: Monos

How to improve a website FAQ

How could a website be improved?

You can improve your website by:

• Improving mobile responsiveness
• Creating an intuitive user experience (UX) with common navigation elements and button placements
• Ensuring relevance for search engine queries by incorporating strategic keywords into copy
• Improving technical performance by fixing broken links and implementing lazy loading
• Improving brand expression with unique design elements

How do I enhance website performance?

You can enhance website performance by:

• Improving slow page speed
• Reducing image file sizes
• Fixing broken links
• Improving website accessibility
• Implementing lazy loading

How do you make a website eye-catching?

To make a website eye-catching, use a consistent design with visual cues like color contrast or arrows to draw visitors’ attention to key information. Improve readability by differentiating hyperlinks with differently colored text and including visual breaks to make content easier to scan. Consider the customer’s perspective by balancing aesthetics with usability.