Want more Squarespace website traffic? Focus on user experience (UX)
Google is increasingly putting more and more emphasis on user experience. To put it succinctly, you are more likely to show up in search engines if your website provides a good user experience. People generally come to your website to get something done. Google knows this and Google wants to provide the best possible result to people using their search engine. Consequently, you need to design your website to meet user needs.
To learn more about the relationship between UX and SEO, the article, “Understanding the link between UX design and SEO” is well worth reading.
Building Squarespace websites with the user in mind
The core model developed by a very talented UX designer, Ida Aalen, is a tool that allows us to focus on both business goals and user needs. Often when we build a website we can get carried away with a lot of content that we think is important, but it isn’t helpful to the user. The core model helps keep us on track and makes sure the information we provide is:
Helping us meet our business objectives
Helping the user meet their needs
Remember, Google is focusing on the individual making a search query. They want to help them solve their problem as quickly and simply as possible. While we may think it is important to write several paragraphs about the history of our company, this information may not help someone determine if we are the best fit to assist them.
Business objectives vs. User tasks
While the core model is meant to be used to help several stakeholders reach consensus, I believe it is an excellent exercise to use when building a website. Often, websites are built without considering what information or pages are truly necessary. The core model reminds us to consider if these pages help us reach our business objectives and provide information potential customers are looking for.
No matter the size of your business, user experience is important
This task generally asks us to sit down with our UX designer, content strategist, graphic designers and so forth. Just because you aren’t a major corporation with a large team or several stakeholders, doesn’t mean the core model isn’t useful. While this exercise is usually done with a group of key stakeholders and facilitated by a third party, I think the questions the core model asks us to consider are just as relevant for a large corporation as they for a small business or solopreneur.
Building Squarespace service pages using the core model
I think the core model is an extremely valuable tool when it comes to building service pages on your website.
Let’s consider a fictitious small business, such as a painting company. This company offers both interior and exterior painting for commercial and residential locations.
Core page:
Interior residential painting
Business goals:
Sell someone our interior painting services
Illustrate to a potential customer why we provide the best interior painting services
User Tasks:
Learn more about interior painting choices
Book someone to paint the interior of my house
Inward Paths (how are people finding this page):
Googling “interior paint companies near me”
Googling “what is the best type of paint for my living room”
Homepage of our website
Paid social media Ad
Core content:
Information about interior paint
Examples of why we are the best company to help
Before and after photos
Social proof via testimonials or accreditation
Forward paths (where do we want to send our user next):
Fill out a form to contact us
Learn more about trending colour palettes and design inspiration
Call us for more information
Using the core model with your Squarespace template
Whether you are building with Squarespace, Wix, Webflow or Wordpress you are bound to come across beautiful templates. Templates however are most often filled with “lorem ipsum” or dummy text, and no matter how trendy or visually appealing, no one website template fits all.
After all, if you are building a website it is likely because you have a goal in mind. That goal is often to sell a product or service. The core model will help you keep the user in mind. Often when we start building a website, it is easy to get carried away talking about things that we think are important. Building a website however, should start with empathy and considering how we can solve the pain of someone making a search query as simply and quickly as possible.
If you are looking for help with your website or digital marketing efforts, please reach out anytime!
