Every week we get asked questions about how to improve their website experience (aka 10 Tips To Make Your Website Pay Its Way). Generally, we respond with these 10 questions.
1. Is it ‘On Brand’?
It’s so important that all your communications convey the same style, tone, sentiment, message or offer. Consistency in brand behaviour is essential in building trust and trust is essential in a buyers decision. Think of your brand as a ‘person’ and ensure it always behaves inline with its character and values. The minute someone senses incongruence in this regard they are less likely to take the next step in the buying process. Here’s a definition of what ‘on brand’ means:
“A company’s ability to deliver what it declares is fundamental to its reputation. The ability to move from a compelling strategy to an authentic delivery of the brand is paramount in building trust.”
– Barlow and Stewart
2. Are you key messages telling your true story?
When someone arrives on your website they are looking for information about your business, product or service. Captivating images are important but they need to be accompanied by clear and succinct statements about what you’re offering AND most importantly, how you meet their needs.
3. Does your ‘Call to Action’ stand out?
We all know the modern brain is easily distracted. Everyone is in a hurry to find what they’re looking for and won’t hang around if it takes too long. Including bright, bold buttons beckoning your visitors to delve further, will help them find what they came for and move them closer to buying or enquiring.
4. Is it easy to navigate?
Again, this refers to providing an efficient pathway for visitors to find what they’re looking for – in record time. If they can’t find it quickly, you’ll probably lose them.
“The average human attention span has declined from 12 seconds in the year 2000 to 8 seconds now. This is much shorter than the attention span of a goldfish (at 9 seconds)”.
– This was revealed by a study by Microsoft Corp. in 2015 that surveyed 2,000 people and monitored the brain activity of 112 others using electroencephalograms (EEGs).
5. Is your ‘About’ page compelling?
About pages are the 2nd most visited page (after the home page) on most websites, so it’s crucial their completely compelling. The best thing you can do now is read this post by Bernadette Jiwa. It will tell you everything you need to do.
6. Are your contact details easy to see?
This is of paramount importance in this ‘mobile, in the moment’ world we live in, and especially so if you’re a local business. If a visitor has an impulse to call or email, but can’t easily find the contact details they’ll probably move on. Best practice is to have your phone and email clearly visible in the header and footer of each page PLUS a ‘Contact Us’ tab on the main menu leading to super clear contact details.
7. Is it ‘Search Engine Optimised’?
Here are 3 questions which will help you answer this:
- Does your website appear on the first page of Google for a search query that people might use to search for your products or services?
- Have you created a list of keywords and phrases that closely relate to your business’s products and services and then optimised your page content accordingly?
- Are you using Google Search Console to analyse search analytics?
8. Are you analysing traffic?
“If you don’t measure it, you can’t improve it” – Lord Kelvin, mathematician and physicist.
So, if you don’t have Google Analytics plugged into your website do it today. And if you don’t have Facebook Pixel installed, do it today. And if you’re not tracking events and goals…
9. Is your website fast to download?
This is one of the most overlooked optimisation tasks. Put simply, the longer your website takes to download, the higher the drop off rate of your visitors. And if you have an online store – A single second delay in your website loading time can result in a 7% loss in conversion, and 40% of web users will abandon a website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load (source: https://hostingfacts.com/internet-facts-stats-2016/). And to add salt to the wound, a slow site is also a (negative) ranking factor to Google that your website does not provide a good user experience.
10. Is your website mobile friendly?
Mobile is changing the way we live and the world we live in. People are communicating and looking for information on their smartphones. Most people are now starting their search for products and services using mobile than desktop computers. The majority of users coming to your site are likely to be on a mobile device. If your website is not optimised for the mobile user, it should be a matter of priority. If you’re unsure if your website is mobile friendly, check it using Google’s Mobile Friendly Test.
