As a business owner, you have an incredible opportunity to get it together when it comes to your website being a key tool to generate traffic, appeal to visitors and, ultimately, provide a powerful gateway to more clients + sales along with more revenue + profit.
So, if you aren’t generating biz from your website, here are a few tweaks you could make to enjoy more traffic and appeal much more to your audience:
1.
Valuable content hidden “below the fold.” Research tells us you have seconds to capture your website visitor’s attention. If your visitors need to scroll down your home page to view valuable content about your services and/or products, you’ll most likely lose them. Similarly, if you have a call to action to subscribe to your e-newsletter or blog (which, good God, I hope you do!), place it where it will be visible without scrolling down the page.
2.
Jumbled page. Some websites have too much going on; they look unprofessional and, quite frankly, like a hodgepodge of different things lumped onto one site. Others have ads that fill every nook and cranny. What can I say? Such sites are overwhelming.
Today, as small-business owners, you have the incredible opportunity like never before in history to have an online presence for little cost that competes successfully with the biggest players in your industry. Ensuring you have a website, brand and overall look that are professional and uncluttered is essential to driving big sales and big business through your website!
3.
No call to action. What do you want your visitors to do when they visit your site? To subscribe? To call your business for more information or an appointment? To leave a blog comment? To buy? Your job is not to give everything you have; your job is to give your visitor enough to take the next step.
Let them know what to expect and, if your request is reasonable, they may very well comply. If you don’t ask, they may not know what to do, and they’ll leave–perhaps forever–without taking action.
4.
Distracting ads. Unless you are going to rake in big bucks with pop-up ads, blinking ads, glaring banners, sexy ads, etc.–just leave them off your precious web pages. Why water down your message and brand with these type of ads that yield little ROI?
Remember the saying “KISS’–Keep It Simple, Stupid.” There’s something to it when it comes to ensuring that your website makes you money! If your ads are your content, then please disregard everything you’ve read on this blog.
5.
Making it all about you. The old broken-down model of websites for us business owners is one that somewhat mirrors a print brochure and, sadly, a lot of business owners have yet to get the “WIFM” online marketing memo. Meaning, ‘What’s in it for me?’
How many “I’s” and “we’s” do you have on your website’s home page vs. “you’s”? Communicating to your visitor in a value-added direct tone that makes it all about them by emphasizing the “you’s” is a key ingredient to any successful online presence. In fact, go count the “you’s” now on your home page–there should be a ratio of at least 75 percent “you’s” vs. 25 percent” I’s” and “we’s.” Be prepared to be awakened to quick, powerful shifts you can make ASAP with your home page to begin!
6.
Difficult to connect. Write for your ideal demographic only. I am not seeking to connect with everyone; I am seeking to connect with entrepreneurs who are committed to growing their sales and revenue and to being more profitable –oh, and are interested in using the internet to help support growth, too. If you visited my website and you are not an entrepreneur or at least not one looking for new marketing and business success solutions–you will not stay on the site very long.
However, if you are my target market, you will stay and most likely subscribe to our e-newsletter list–yep, our “call to action.” That’s what research shows via our analytics.
7.
Spelling and grammar mistakes. There ain’t no excuse for bad spellin and grammar. However, I would be fibbing if I told you we haven’t had typos on our home page before, ‘cuz we have.
But you want to do your best to have a system to continually check for these errors on an ongoing basis. We happen to love Microsoft Word in this office and are continually running new content through the program to ensure that we address these errors. Like right now, as I write this article for you!
8.
Old content. Fresh content is good for driving traffic via search engine optimization, as Google rewards you for “fresh, relevant, good quality content” and for attracting repeat visitors, along with more business. Think about it, do you really want to work with a company that has old content that looks circa 1999?
The more you see a business grow and innovate, doesn’t it attract you to want to do more business with it? If a business has content that appears the most relevant to your needs today in this current market cycle, doesn’t it also create a level of immediate trust that the business knows what it is doing with its products and/or services? That it is a true expert at what it does?
Your website is kind of like your credit score, in that it’s a moving picture, not stagnant. The more effort you put into it being great, the more business it will drive for you and fuel your overall company growth. You need to remember, as you expand your online presence, that your website will expand with you.
You will learn more about what does and does not work. What to upgrade and what to let go of. This is the beauty of the internet; it is always changing, and it is always open for business. Make a plan to implement these steps and re-review your site on an ongoing basis (i.e., every 30 to 90 days at minimum) to ensure that it upgrades with you as you grow your business.
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