Due to my work as a online marketing specialist, many people ask me to analyze their website and comment on what they’re doing right not to mention what they can do to enhance their website.
Without a doubt, here are the 4 most frequent problems that I see over and over and over, and what you can do to correct these issues.
1. No pictures or videos.
The internet is a visual medium and people today *expect* to see pictures or videos on sites. Sites without pictures are boring and dated, and it immediately conveys to your website visitor that you’re way behind the times.
Other than your home page, probably the most essential spot to have your picture is the “About Us” page. Folks want to see who they’re going to be doing business with or buying from.
If I don’t see a picture of the business owner or staff on the “About Us” page I immediately get suspicious and question the validity of the business.
So if you don’t have a image of yourself on your site yet, get one up there immediately!
Just have someone take your photo with a mobile phone and publish it to your site. That’s plenty good enough.
2. Perplexing navigation.
A confused customer never buys. Always remember that.
Try to make sure the information on your site is well prepared and easy to locate. Don’t have a million buttons and links to click. That just confuses and irritates your visitors.
People are usually going to land on your home page. So arrange your information into categories and/or subcategories that they can click on and go further into your website for more information if they want to.
Even better, particularly if you have a lot of information on your site, set up a search box so your guests can immediately find what they’re trying to find rather than clicking forever through a labyrinth of links … only to become frustrated and leave your site.
Can you imagine how hard it would be to get something on Amazon.com if they didn’t have a search box?
However you elect to arrange your website, just make it *painless* for your guest to locate what they’re looking for swiftly.
3. Far too much data.
Make sure you don’t scare away potential customers by having them wade through tons of verbiage. Sum up your message in short, bite-sized pieces for your visitor.
Even if your product or service really is a little challenging to explain, you still need to do your best to break it down into easily digestible chunks of data for your target audience. Think of this as part of the pre-sales service you provide.
Also, avoid the temptation to just put up “stuff” on your site to fill up the page.
If what you have to say takes 1,500 words, but it’s truly engaging and interesting, that’s ok.
However, if you can legitimately get your point across in 3 paragraphs, then that’s all you should put on that page of your site. Seriously.
Write what you need to write to get your point across, and no more. In most instances, the shorter the better.
4. No “call to action” (CTA).
This is perhaps *the* most common problem I see when I evaluate a website. Not telling me what action you want me to take.
What’s the next step? Do you want me to call you for more information? Fill out a form on your site? Sign up for your newsletter? Watch a video? Request a consultation?
What do you want me to do?
Don’t be concerned that you’ll come across as pushy or aggressive. You won’t. All you need to do is politely guide people as to the intended next step you’d like them to take.
People are inundated with enormous amounts of data every day and they want you to lead them through the chaos. They really do.
Naturally there are plenty of other adjustments you could make to your site to improve it’s overall performance, but let’s not major in minor things.
If you did nothing else to your site but make certain you address the four fundamentals described above, your website will rock and I assure you you’ll stand out from the competition in your niche or market.
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How To Improve Your Website