Do I need a website? You probably have a website for your business. Is it working for you? Do people visit your site, are you measuring it and are your web visitors taking action? If you answered “what’s the point of a website?” or you think “I have no idea if I am getting traffic to my website!” Here are some pointers that can help.
These tips can work if you have paid for a web company to build your website, or if you have had a frustrating experience designing your own website with an online website builder; maybe you loved that experience. Regardless of how your site was developed, what you should have at the end is a website that demonstrates your brand personality, professionalism, expertise and your trustworthiness. A site that allows people to get to know your company before using your products and services.
By now you know that having a website is important for your business. Your website is the face of your digital marketing and of your company, it needs to be well designed and function properly to get the leads and sales you want from it. Paying attention to these 5 elements on your website will help you get results.
Beautiful Design
Ever wondered why you are attracted to some websites and not to others? Or wondered why you interact with some sites but you are quick to hit the “back” button when you view others? Most likely, it did not catch your eye or you got lost in a disorganized website rather than seeing the message.
Researchers have proven that a web user forms the first impression of a website homepage in as little as 50 milliseconds! A prospect can make judgments about a website’s visual attractiveness within the blink of an eye.
It is important to plan your website. Think about your brand, your style, what you sell, industry standards, the tone of your company, not every design fits every company. Developing your message, a sitemap and a wireframe are great ways to make sure that your site is easy to use and simple to understand. Make sure your navigation is clear and that there are calls to action on each page that stand out. Use real images and include a personality behind the brand. Face to face you can easily build trust, so should your website. Online poor first impressions are often a last impression.
“What you do?”
Have you ever viewed a website and left because you couldn’t figure out what the business did? I am not sure how researchers figured it out but these days we have the attention span of a goldfish, about 8 seconds. If a user can’t figure out exactly what you do in 3-5 seconds or less, your web design will fail to capture them as a lead or sale. Be obvious, if you are a restaurant, tell them exactly what kind of food they will get; “Greek Food Served in a Family Atmosphere”. It is clear and obvious what you get if you go to that restaurant. You can see on the Cowlick Studios site exactly what we do – “We build beautiful websites…”. Your homepage message should also be this clear.
“How do you solve my problem?”
Once your website visitors know what you do, they need to know that you can solve their problem. The text for your website design should answer the problem you solve for your target market. This is not a history of your company or an about us page. This text speaks directly to the problem your target market is having and how you solve it. Also, remember that you have 3-5 seconds to answer this question.
We at Cowlick are speaking to anyone who has had a bad experience building a website. This could be with a website builder or with another company (However we will never intentionally put down another company!). We use the words “no-hassle” to try to explain that it will be an easy process. We tweak this text occasionally. For the most part we are trying to tell our target market that we understand their problem and are trying to provide a solution to that problem.
“How do I get ahold of you?”
You need to ask for the sale. This is a hard one because we don’t want to be pushy but if you didn’t ask your spouse to marry they wouldn’t say yes. Does your website need to have clear calls to action to ask for the sale?
Using the marriage analogy again your spouse would not have agreed to marry you if you didn’t first get to know them. Website visitors are the same. They need to know they can trust you and that you have the answers to their questions. These are called secondary calls to action. Unlike primary calls to action that ask for the sale, secondary calls to action provide a download or video providing content that the user can implement to improve themselves, their lives or their business.
This includes visible phone numbers on every page, clear calls to action like; “schedule a meeting”, “download now”, or “register today”
A Website can Make A Difference for Your Business.
A great website design makes it clear how to get a hold of you. This is not a “contact us” link in the main navigation. If you have a professional design, answered the basic 3 questions, then your web browser should contact you.
You can download our 47 Point Homepage Checklist to learn more about how to improve your design and functionality or check out this post Seven Ways to Double Website Leads. I learned a lot from reading this post The Brand Manager
Make these 4 changes to your website design and you should see an increase in leads from your website. If you are not sure about how to implement these on your website, contact us and we will be happy to help.
