This is written for everyone with a website that fails to generate enquiries or new clients. The tips and ideas are particularly relevant to businesses that sell services, information or knowledge – like accountants, solicitors, financial advisers, business coaches and other professionals – but there are ideas in here too for your business if you sell products. Service and knowledge based businesses often fall into the trap of developing brochure type websites which provide little value to the visitor and hence generate no return for the business. Follow these 10 simple steps and you can change all that.
Make it interesting
No rocket science in this one – but how many websites have you visited that are so dull you don’t get beyond the first sentence. Visitors don’t need to know (not on your home page at least) that you were established in 1954 by two brothers, nor probably that you are located in Warwick town centre. They need confirmation that they are in the right place and something to keep them there.
Give something for free
The online world has created an expectation amongst people that they can get a certain amount of information or even product for nothing. Think carefully about whether you can include a free download, article, e-book or even a free product. This will start to cement a relationship with the visitor and make them far less likely to navigate away from your site.
Get visitor details
All the research shows that a first time visitor to a website is very unlikely to buy or even to enquire. So you need to find ways to encourage them to return – the first two tips here will help – but if you can gather their contact details and maintain a dialogue with them you can encourage them to return again in the future.
Shorten your sentences
And your paragraphs for that matter. Online we all want information quickly – especially when we first arrive at a website. There’s no time for waffle, exaggeration or any form of unnecessary stuffing. People want information and they want it quickly. Keep sentences to a single point and paragraphs to a single message.
Look at your page layout
People are less likely to read a whole passage online than they are off line. Instead they will scan around for key words and phrases so if they are looking for payroll services or a divorce solicitor they expect to see these words. Make sure these are in your headlines and subheads as well as in your body copy.
There have been a number of studies done which look at how people’s eyes scan web pages. Our eyes apparently tend to scan in a classic F pattern - across the top of the page, down the left hand side and perhaps across the centre of the page too. Anything outside of these areas is likely to be missed by the majority of page visitors.
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