Your website is like your elevator pitch. It’s the first contact your potential clients have with you and your brand. Make sure your website is as sophisticated as your company. Learn to make a website using the following rules, and you’ll easily turn visitors into customers.
- Easy Navigation
Make sure your site is easy to navigate. Are the menu items clear and concise? Do the words you’ve used in your menu items make sense? Can you trim down the copy in your menu items? It’s very difficult to figure out if menu items are easy for others to navigate. Sometimes it’s easier to have a friend or trusted advisor who has no connection to your company take a look at your website. That way, you can see how a layperson might view your site. You want it to be easy to navigate for everyone – not just you and your team.
- Clear Headers
Make sure your headers make sense. This means you might need to get a friend to look at your page again. Do your pages make sense? Is it easy to find information on your site? If you run an ecommerce site, can you easily find products with keywords, a search function or menu options? Have you included complete information, or does your website lack vital information that your guests need to find?
- Sophisticated Homepage
Your homepage is your website’s first and best way to make an impression. Does your homepage make the best impression to your visitors? Is it full of scattered information? Is it organized in a clear and concise way? Have you included too many images, videos or pieces of information that could be organized on another page? Have you included too much information or personal information that isn’t relevant to your site or your business?
- Clear Point of Difference
What makes your company and website different than any or all of your competitors? Why should a customer choose to buy high-end ski equipment from you and not another guy? Your website should reflect your point of difference in several ways. First, it should show your customers what makes your company shine. If you sell high-end ski goods, your website copy shouldn’t read like a frat house website. The colors, fonts, photos and text should all reflect your company. Again, get a second and third opinion from a non-involved party to determine whether your site has met your needs. Write your mission statement on your website.
- Clean Design
You might feel compelled to include lots of bells and whistles in your website. Tons of videos, Gifs, memes or photos could only attract customers, right? No. When it comes to a website, the best way to attract customers is to keep it simple. If you try to woo visitors with cheap tricks, your website will look cheap too. Your customers won’t respect you, and they won’t trust you either. Only include what you need to sell your product or inform your visitors. Make a list of your goals for your website. You should only include copy that backs up your goals – nothing else.
- Call to Action
Tell your customers what you want them to do. Give them a call to action. “Click here to buy”, “Call us for more info” and “Sign up for more information” are all examples of calls to action. You need to be very clear about what you want your visitors to accomplish during their visits; otherwise, your visitors will leave confused. They won’t buy your products, they’ll feel unsatisfied and you’ll be left with no sales. A simple call to action can mean the difference between a visit and a sale.
- Clean Copy
If you don’t know how to write good, clean website copy then don’t do it yourself. Find someone who can write copy that’s interesting and doesn’t beat around the bush. It’s not a bad idea to get a layperson to write your copy. It’s easy for someone in an industry to want to fill their copy with tons of jargon or words that mean nothing to the client. A good copywriter can translate your business jargon into every day speak. Use headers to break up copy. Use separate web pages to divide your content and make it easy to find. Use small chunks of data – no larger than your computer screen – for each page. Web surfers won’t always scroll to see information. You only have a few seconds to captivate your audience. What’s the most important and attention grabbing information on your site? Make sure that info is front and center.
- Good Quality Photos and Videos
Don’t use too many photos or video, but don’t forget about visuals altogether. People love reading information that’s aided by a good visual. Videos keep visitors on your site for longer time periods. Both can help you retain customers and keep them coming back for more. To captivate your audience, you need to strike a sophisticated balance between entertainment and content.
- Mobile Compatibility
Don’t forget about mobile compatibility when it comes to your site. Most visitors no longer log onto the Internet through a laptop or desktop computer anymore. They use smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. If your site isn’t compatible for these devices, visitors might feel frustrated with the way information is presented on your site. Or they might not be able to see your site altogether. Before they get frustrated, they’ll probably bail and head to the next site on the list. You only have a few minutes to captivate your visitors’ attention. Make sure you do it on all platforms.
- Include Your Contact Information
Don’t forget to tell your guests how to contact you if they need to. Use a “contact” button on your website’s menu. Include your email, phone number (if applicable), other websites, Facebook user name, Twitter handle and Instagram username. All these accounts give your visitors more information about you and your company. They also make you look like a real person instead of just another faceless site.
Above all, make sure your site accurately reflects your company. If you learn to make a website that looks awesome but doesn’t accurately reflect your company, your customers won’t trust you. It doesn’t matter how great your site looks if it doesn’t follow through on its promises.