Is your website losing you customers? Here are eight tips to get it right!
Too many business websites aren’t fit for purpose – rather than winning customers they’re turning them away! Here are eight tips to help you get yours right.
When potential customers click on your website, what do they find? Are they greeted by a site that gives them exactly the information they needed, and helps them get to know you better? Or are they put off by a poor designed and written mess?
Is your website losing you customers?
For many businesses, websites are a box they need to tick. It’s an area that’s outside their comfort zone, and they think that as long as they get something up then they don’t need to worry.
But they’re wrong.
Did you know that it takes as little as two-tenths of a second for an online visitor to form a first opinion of your brand once they’ve viewed your website? And if they land on a website that doesn’t give them the information they need and make it easy to get to know you, they’ll quickly click away. (Quite possibly onto a competitor’s site..)
So it’s not just important that get your website right. It’s essential.
How to get your website right
Your website is your chance to help customers get to know you, and learn how you can help them. So use it to show your credibility. Detail your expertise and your background – always have an about us page, and try to make it personal to show the people behind the brand. (Here’s how to write your about us page.)
Do you provide a service for your clients? If so, make sure you have examples of what you have done for other clients and businesses. Even better, write them up as case studies. Consider a blog to demonstrate your solutions and skill set, too.
A good website will generate leads, so think about how you can do this (at the very least have a call to action with contact details on every page). Your website will also be the focal point for all your social media, so link out to your platforms (and check your links work)!
Once you have worked on an effective design layout it’s time to work on your content. Keep it short and relatively simple and don’t make claims which aren’t true. Legalities aside you will soon get found out. Also be wary of superlatives and statements such as ‘the best in town’ and ‘greatest ever’ unless you have proof that you really are!
Eight things to consider when writing your website
Even if you do not have a flair for writing there are a few tips you should always consider when embarking on writing copy for your website.
1) Identify your reader
Talk to your reader in a language they will understand, and enable them to get a clear picture of what you do and what you offer. Talk to them like you are having a conversation with them.
2) Tell them what you do
Give an overview of what do, but keep it clear and concise. Use compelling words that capture their imagination without too many adjectives. Too much padding and your reader will switch off and most likely move on to a competitor.
3) Show how you can help them
Simply listing what you do is not enough. Explain how and why you will help your reader, and how they can benefit.
4) Make your website easy to navigate
This might seem rather obvious but you do not want to have a potential customer wasting time on finding information – given the precious seconds they spend on each website you cannot afford to lose time or them.
5) Say what you do on your contact page
Remember not everyone starts on your home page. They might land on your contacts page first, so reiterate what you do there.
6) Don’t be too me, me, me
Just like meeting someone for the first time – do not just talk about yourself. What is in it for them? How can they save money? Be happier? Gain productivity?
7) Use visuals
Don’t forget to use engaging eye catching visuals – the icing on the virtual cake. It is often the pictures, themes and colours that people remember about websites. If emoji’s can speak many words then pictures will tell thousands.
8) Update it regularly
Websites will need to be regularly updated to keep them current and to showcase your latest products and services. Sometimes an established website will simply need a tweak or two to take it from appropriate to distinctive with dazzling copy helping your business to significantly more sales.
Piggy Goes To Market specialises in public relations and often help their clients re-write their websites. They also use their experience in branding know how to give an overview on the effectiveness of website image and content.
Photo by Igor Miske
