Tips for a More Effective Website

 

Tips for a More Effective Website

As a business owner your website is your single greatest asset. It is often the first impression that potential customers will have of your business, and with the internet being such a significant part of todays daily interactions, having a quality website is a necessity. People will often judge a business on their experience with the business’s website. So, even if you run a tight ship, but you have a poorly designed or poorly functioning website, then your business will suffer. A lot of business owners will outsource the creation of their site to a developer, which may be a good idea to get started, however, no site is perfect upon creation and will need to be tweaked over time to maximize effectiveness in converting site visitors. In this sense, working with developers can get very expensive. You will want to either find a developer who will work with you over time to maintain and update your site or learn about how to maintain your site on your own.

The good news is that there is a lot of information on developing quality sites and implementing features that drive conversions, increasing your site’s effectiveness. Many people make the mistake of focusing solely on design, but the trick to making your site work for your business is to balance design with function. Here are a few tips to think about when designing your site.

Think Bigger Than Just a Homepage

Don’t limit your site to just a homepage, create targeted landing pages to encourage conversions. You want to streamline the path to conversions. The more times a user needs to click to convert, the less and less likely they are to convert. This means that if someone makes it to your site through a specified external link (a link about a very specific thing that your company offers), then you don’t want to waste your time and their time sending them to a homepage, and instead send them to a targeted landing page that’s about the specific that they are looking for. Make it as easy as possible on your leads to become conversions.

Let’s say, for example, that you sell different types of furniture on your site. If someone is specifically looking a nightstand, but your link sends them to a homepage that shows chairs, coffee tables, dining tables, etc. then you are adding steps to their path for no reason. Instead, send them to a page specifically about nightstands. It can be a challenge, specifically for Ecommerce sites, to compete with the big names like Amazon, Walmart, Nike, etc. so you will need to do everything in your power to convince people to choose your company over theirs. Having a streamlined path to conversions by using targeted landing pages will help.

Pay Close Attention to Responsive Modes

Gone are the days where everyone will see your site from a desktop. For some years now, the most common way people will view your site is from a mobile device. It’s a rookie mistake to design your site purely for desktop view. Your site should look and function well in all responsive modes; desktop, tablet and mobile. The good news is that this has become much easier to do than it was in the past. For example, Elementor, the drag and drop page builder for Worpress, has a very simple set up to view and modify responsive modes to see what your site will look like on any device. This is becoming standard in these types of site builders. So, there is no excuse for your site to look terrible on mobile.

Spend Time Writing Well Thought Out Copy Text

Words hold a lot of power, and good copy text can be the difference between a sale and a missed opportunity. There are a lot of aspects that need to be covered with your copy. Don’t be ambiguous, be extremely clear with your call to action. Tell users exactly what to do in order to convert. Be clear and concise with your offer and what services or products you provide. Think about your audience, not . saying, but make sure your text is easy to read. It’s amazing how many sites put dark text over a dark background, light text over a light background, or (most commonly) use crazy fonts. Aim for clarity and relevance.

Make Capturing Emails a Top Priority

The vast majority of 1^st time visitors to your site are not going to convert. With the number of other sites around the web, your site can quickly get lost and forgotten. That’s why it’s crucial to make collecting emails a priority. This allows you to engage with visitors after they have left your site. Some of these may end up becoming conversions down the road. Set up a drip campaign to help warm up these leads until some of them eventually make the leap to conversion.

Use A/B Testing to Optimize Your Site

A lot of site development should come in the form of testing features and aspects of your site to see what you can change to increase efficiency and efficacy. A/B testing combined with analytic analysis will help you alter your site to speak more to your audience. For example, try an opening image, then try an opening video. See which one performs better. Try different colors and see if they make a difference in user interaction. Try changing copy text to see how you can better connect with your audience. It’s important to focus on specific changes to see which is more effective. If you make lots of changes, then it can be difficult to pinpoint what changes are actually making a difference.

Successful Youtubers will often change the title and thumbnail of their videos to see which will be the most convincing in getting people to click. There is a lot of data out there that shows this type of tweaking on any kind of content-based web platform, including your website, can have big impacts on engagement.

Conclusion

In order to make your site work for you and your business, there are a number of things you want to pay attention to. The goal is to connect with your audience, hold their attention, make it easy to convert, and always strive to increase efficacy. This can be achieved by creating targeted landing pages, paying attention to responsive modes, writing good copy text, capturing emails to further engage with site visitors, and continuously testing and tweaking to find out what works and what doesn’t. Your website is your biggest asset, but it will take some effort and maintenance to perform at its best. The value of a great website is worth the effort.

One of the biggest disadvantages of hiring a web developer is that they often don’t know what makes your business tick and how to optimize your site to convert. And while they may make a beautiful site, the whole point of having a website for your business is to make sales in one form or another. Not to worry, Direct Placement is your one stop shop for everything web related. From developing and maintaining your site, to advertising, to site security, and even blogging services, you can rest easy knowing your online presence is in good hands. Contact Direct Placement to help your business thrive on the web.

Direct Placement, LLC is a digital marketing agency that offers a variety of digital ads and services. Our trained and certified team of Account Managers and Internet Marketing Advertisers is dedicated to helping your business achieve its advertising goals. They will work diligently with you to help ensure our advertising efforts are tailored to your specific needs. Contact Direct Placement, LLC today or visit our website to discover how we can start transforming your business one click at a time! You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or Blogger for more online marketing related content.

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