As a result of my work as a online marketing specialist, a lot of people ask me to analyze their website and comment on what they’re doing right not to mention what they can do to further improve their site.
Without a doubt, these are the four most common problems that I see over and over and over, and what you can do to fix these problems.
1. No pictures or video clips.
The internet is a visual medium and people nowadays *expect* to see images or videos on websites. Sites without pictures are dull and dated, and it instantly tells your visitor that you’re way behind the times.
Aside from your home page, perhaps the most essential spot to have your picture is the “About Us” page. People today want to see who they’re about to be doing business with or buying from.
When I don’t see a picture of the business owner or employees on the “About Us” page I instantly get hesitant and ponder the validity of the business. And I bet you do to.
So if you don’t have a image of yourself on your site yet, get one up there today!
You don’t need to look like a movie star. Just have someone snap your picture with a mobile phone and publish it to your site. That’s plenty good enough.
2. Complicated navigation.
A perplexed client never buys. Always remember that.
Make sure the information and facts on your site is well prepared and very easy to find. Don’t have a huge number of buttons and links to click on. That just confuses and frustrates 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 deeper into your site for more information if they want to.
Better yet, especially if you have a great deal of information on your site, install a search box so your visitors can instantly find what they’re trying to find rather than clicking forever through a labyrinth of links … only to become annoyed and leave your site.
Can you envision how difficult it would be to get something on Amazon.com if they didn’t provide a search box?
However you choose to arrange your site, just make it *easy* for your guest to find what they’re looking for quickly.
3. Too much material.
Make sure you don’t scare away prospective customers by having them wade through tons of verbiage. Summarize your information 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.
Also, avoid the temptation to just put up “stuff” on your site to occupy the page. This isn’t a high school English assignment with a mandatory 1000 word minimum.
If what you have to say takes 1,500 words, but it’s truly compelling and intriguing, 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 cases, the shorter the better.
4. No “call to action” (CTA).
This is probably *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 worry that you’ll come across as pushy or overly aggressive. You won’t. All you need to do is politely guide people as to the desired next step you’d like them to take.
People are bombarded with massive amounts of data every single day and they want you to lead them through the clutter. They really do.
Of course 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 sure you address the four essentials described above, your website will rock and I guarantee you’ll stand out from the competition in your niche or market.
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