Building a presence online can provoke real disappointment particularly when there appears to be a lack of enquiry. Your marketing structures have reached beyond email and social media pathways and still, the enquiries are in famine mode. You need to look at the cause, not the effect. Look at the scenes of your website. Your website is the first thing your prospects see, but behind all the attractive fonts and images and engaging content, you need to find out what the cause of the failure is to attract enquiry.
There are several aspects to consider not least is that your website must be extraordinary. It must be beyond noticeable and above all it has to be memorable. What you’ve done in the past is gone. This is new technology and when you think of the expensive flyers you sent out that did nothing but create landfill, if your website is not enticing visitors to act, then you’ve got yourself an experience in repeat mode. You have an expensive online flyer that is doing nothing but creating expensive empty space.
Capacity of Conversions
You can use a variety of measures to gauge the success of your website conversions or leads. The most commonly used are:
- Invite enquiry by completing a form
- Clicking your phone number to call you
The two points above are your most successful calls to action. These are used by your hottest leads; people who have found your site informative and want to know more. They are ready to take the next step. Generally, this leads to a phone conversation where more information is imparted and the sale is close.
For warm leads, people who like what they’ve seen on your website but are not quite ready to commit, will have:
- Subscribed to your newsletter
- Opted-in to view your informative video
- Downloaded your eBook, voucher, or free offer
- Registered for an event (webinar, seminar, exhibition)
Now that you have the gist of what brings the attraction, we’re going to talk about common blunders that occur in web design and never fail to affect conversion rates.
Mistake 1: Bad Visitor Experience
We’ve all had one and they never fail to send us clicking off when faced with:
- Large blocks of text present too much to read
- Slow loading site (more than 6 seconds)
- Unattractive visuals – too much white space
- Confusing or insufficient navigation
- No ‘About Us’ page – Or sketchy information
- Contact info is difficult to locate
This valuable information is what Google gatherers and will determine where your page will rank according to time spent on the site, how many pages were visited, the load speed, the actions your prospect took and how many conversions there were. All this info becomes one of the veins in Google’s algorithm. It’s not only the keywords used in your content, it’s how your visitor behaved whilst on your site that tells Google a whole lot more than we’ll ever know. But in a word; User experience is paramount.
Mistake 2: Boring Copy
Never take the Written Word (copy) for granted. It is the essence of your success. It is the element that keeps your website alive. The written word, your content can’t be just typed into white space. It must say something relevant about your service. It must engage your visitor in several ways:
- Let them know of the benefits you offer immediately.
- Have the information right there in front of your readers. Information is key.
- Keep it friendly and easy to read.
- Keep your content short and to the point.
- Answer common questions
- Provide real testimonials or case studies
- Bullet points break up monotonous copy
- Keep your information appealing by relating to their needs
Blunder 3: Not Optimised for Conversions
Your website is better equipped with a conversion goal and should be optimised to easily guide visitors to take action. It isn’t only content that will guide them. There are other features such as:
- A Call to Action (CTA) on every page can be different so long as they relate to what is on that particular page.
- Ensure your CTA buttons are clearly visible. Utilise a contrasting colour to draw your visitors to take action.
- Have forms easily accessible for visitors to sign up. Make them short with only the very necessary information required for the next stage. This will improve opt-in rates.
Blunder 4: Not Optimised for Mobile Devices
Big mistake, given that not only 80% of all Australian’s are using a smartphone, but so is the world. You are marketing globally, aren’t you? So ensuring you have a mobile-friendly website will ensure success. A mobile friendly website has been designed not only to detect your visitor’s device, but its screen size, orientation, and will adjust layouts accordingly and quickly. Find more on this here!
Mistake 5: No Connection Point
This is a mistake often made by too many. When you fail to provide an easy way for people to relate to you, you’re failing to appear approachable. If you desire conversions have an easy to locate contact form that also provides an invitation to talk online together with a phone number. This approach lets your visitors know you’re happy to assist.
Blunder 6: Inferior Quality Images
Images are among the top expectations as visitors reach your page. They attract attention when they create a visual appeal. Otherwise, inferior images have the opposite effect. The second important factor is that top quality, appealing images compel your visitor to share your content on social media.
It is highly recommended that you use your own pictures due to the fact that free images or images from Flikr creative commons are likely to have been used by many others and especially shared all over the internet. Social media will probably have been flooded with the same images. Be unique:
- Employ a photographer; the investment is worth it and tax deductible.
- Use images that are relevant to the content.
- Don’t use pictures of your building or your vehicles – use action shots that explain what you do.
- Tell a story about your business by adding captions to your images.
- Make each image engaging and balanced with clear reference to who you and your business are.
Blunder 7: Confusing Navigation
Don’t allow your visitors to get lost on your site. They’ll find the exit door instead. Ensure the navigation bar guides visitors from point A to point B easily. Give them the opportunity to find what they’re looking for via a well-constructed navigation bar and add related content to be found on additional pages. Consider a navigation bar in the footer.
Wrapping It Up
A lot is involved in the development of and maintaining a high converting website. Investing in many facets is worth considering. Write your own content if you have the ability to coax and entice through your words, otherwise hire a reputable content writer to do it for you. Before you go tearing out your hair in utter frustration, look at your website critically and analyse it. Expect to spend a little money so that it pays for itself instead of attracting more expense and less of the conversions.
There are many, many websites that have been beautifully designed but fail to generate sufficient leads. This is probably due to the fact that the developers, specialising in their field, do not specialise in the art of marketing. Bear this in mind. You cannot expect to have absolutely everything you could possibly need in a one stop shop.
Be prepared to do a little foot work and utilise the expertise of many. Your website will thank you.
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