Every minute of the day, people are searching online for answers. If
they need a new car, it is more than likely that they will first
research it online before ever visiting a dealership. If they are
looking for a restaurant in a particular area, chances are that they
will “Google it” to find it. The internet serves as the perfect
matchmaker between businesses and potential customers.
Once a potential customer has stumbled across your company’s website,
you have about two seconds to capture their attention. If you haven’t
captured their attention within those first couple of seconds, they
simply click off of your website and onto the next one down the list.
That is why it is crucial to have your website set up for optimal
conversion. If your website doesn’t have these 15 elements, then it’s
probably not bringing you business. Here are the 15 must haves and must
not haves of an effective website:
1. A Bold Headline at the Top of Every Page
The headline should be short and it MUST depict what benefit the
customer will get by reading further on. People today are busy and the
internet includes millions of other websites that people can move onto
if your site does not capture their attention immediately. Too many
companies make the mistake of marketing about themselves rather than
about the consumer. This is called “Ego Marketing.” To be effective, the
headline message must always be about how your company can help the
consumer or what you can offer to them.
2. “TMI” (Too Much Information)
No more than 2 paragraphs on a page. In this busy era, people don’t
have the attention span to read any more than that. Plus, if you give
them too much information, then they have no reason to contact you. The
whole idea is to get the website visitor to call, stop in or contact you
in some way, right?
3. Have a Call to Action on Every Page
… but have no more than two calls to action per page. Studies have
shown that if you give people too many choices then it overwhelms them
and that is when they will take no action at all. That’s the point where
they will usually say “I have to think about it.” So put a clear call
to action on every page and actually tell the website visitor what to do
next on each page. Examples- “Click here now” or ” Call 1-800-555-5555
for more information.”
4. Have a User Friendly Navigational Bar
A prominently placed menu bar makes each page of your website easy to use. Keep it simple.
5. A Picture
A picture can easily replace a thousand words. A picture that depicts
what the page or product/service is about can capture their attention
much more effectively than paragraphs of text which will only send
visitors clicking away.
6. Consistent Branding
It is important to have a consistent look and style throughout all of
a company’s marketing pieces. This instills a reputable image of your
company to the consumer. Avoid having a different style on your website
than what you have on your other marketing pieces.
7. Name and Contact Info of the Company on Every Page of the Website
It seems simple, but if you search around, you would be surprised at how may companies overlook the basics.
8. Limit Color to No More than 3 Complementary Colors
More than that is too busy to the eye. It will distract the visitor’s attention away from what you want them to be focusing on.
9. White Space
White space is a breath of fresh air for the eyes. If a person can
look at the web page for two seconds, and then look away and be able to
tell you what the main subject was of the page, then you’ve got a
winner. If not, then go back and eliminate items until the two second
rule applies.
10. No Auto Load Music or Video
A sudden burst of noise when a visitor clicks onto your website
typically will cause users to click right back off of the page. Let the
website visitor click on the video or sound file to play it when they
are ready to.
11. An Email Sign Up Form
… on at least one page of your website will provide leads that can be
followed and nurtured for months. Even if the website visitor is not
ready to make a purchase that day, they may be ready a couple of months
later after they have received regular emails from your company.
12. An Interactive Link to Contact Your Company
Whether it be an email link or a form box, make it easy for the
website visitor to contact your company with just a click of the mouse.
An interactive, simple to use website produces more leads than a site
that makes the visitor work for it.
13. An Interactive Map to the Company Location With Directions
With Mapquest and Google maps, this has become the common way for
people to get directions. It can be added to a website in just a couple
of clicks and it gives the visitor an easy way to find you.
14. Company Business Hours
Surprisingly this is quite often forgotten. It is also smart to add
the time zone… remember, this is the world wide web. Visitors to your
site are not necessarily in your same time zone.
15. Keep It Relevant
It’s nice to add a personal touch to your website, but remember,
people who are looking for a company to do business with, may not have
the same personal, religious or political beliefs as you do. So be
certain to only include information relevant to the business. Don’t
include personal pages on religion, politics or other non-relevant
information. No one wants to lose a potential customer due to opposing
personal beliefs. Remember, business is business. Leave your personal
life at home.
Every year, statistics keep rising on the percentage of consumers
that first search online in order to find information on new products or
services. In 2011, it was upwards of 85% depending on the type of
industry being searched. Don’t miss out on your opportunity to capture
that potential business. Follow these 15 tips and then analyze the
response that you get. If at first you
don’t succeed, tweak it until you start getting results.
Angela Thompson writes for etegy.com
which is a do-it-yourself marketing website that is dedicated to
helping small businesses market themselves on-line and offline. Their
Do-It-Yourself toolkit makes even the smallest business able to compete
with the big dogs.
They offer some free tools at: http://www.etegy.com
Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources
