By Your website is your online shop window. Whether you bake cakes or sell homes, your website needs to demonstrate what your business does and how you can meet the needs of your online audience.
Without trying to teach you to suck eggs, your website needs to be accessible 24/7 and be viewed on a mobile or desktop computer. Your website is the door to your business, are you going to leave the door ajar, or welcome visitors with tea and biscuits? In this blog we provide you with our 10 top tips to ensure clients will want to stay on your website and have a look around.
What you do: this sounds simple, but there are websites that basically say “Hello, we’re Smith & Smith here are some pretty pictures to take up web space”, and include photos that are not related to the business (more on that later). Clearly show what your company does in a few short words that will grab the reader’s attention and keep them interested in you. Think of your recent elevator pitch, or you ten word top line. If you’re describing your company in novel terms, you are likely to have lost your reader before the end of the first paragraph.
Links to social media: whatever social media platform your company uses, make sure they’re prominent and also in the ‘contact info’ (see point 4). Whilst your website is generally quite static, your social media will portray the more fluid side of your business as this is (and should be) constantly updated.
Easy navigation: what can irritate your visitors is the inability to get around your website easily. Imagine having visitors to your home, as they enter they have to jump hurdles and belly dance a low hanging beam in order to get to another room - get the picture? Ensure your menu buttons are clear, also include a site map as this will help your visitors find their way. A site map will greatly help with SEO as it will tell search engines how your pages are linked.
Contact information - make it easy for customers to get in touch. This is vital in terms of Call to Action. If there’s a property they’ve seen on your website and would like to view, how can they get in touch? Don’t forget to include all contact details, office telephone number and social media handles. If your shop or estate agency is open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, how else can your visitor get in touch outside of these hours i.e email, chat form or tweet you.
Client testimonials - this builds credibility for your business. It’s worth noting people buy from people and much like word-of-mouth recommendation, a testimonial from previous clients are just as impactful.
High quality images - it will do your credibility no good if the pictures you put up a blurry and pixelated. Including stock imagery is ok, but the best images are those that are high resolution and real. How about including pictures of your office or your team? If you’re showing visitors pictures of properties to rent, it would be essential for you to provide good, clean imagery - give the visitor something to ponder on, not think ‘what am I looking at, it’s so blurry….’ get the picture (literally).
Overview of your services - akin to point 1 above, if your business offers more than website design, say so; if you’re an estate agency that deals in renting as well as buying, say so. Perhaps you’re a one-stop-shop chartered surveying practice dealing with investments to lease advisory, say so. Don’t leave your visitor guessing what your services could be.
Clear call to action - whether it’s to download property details, call you to make a viewing or buy from you, make this clear with a prominent “Buy now”, “Request for Quote”.
Your logo and branding - this goes without saying really, however this point can be easily missed. Your logo may be the smallest content on the webpage, but it needs to be repeated consistently on all pages - remind visitors where they are, make your logo memorable. Additionally with your branding, do you have a corporate tone-of-voice in your blogs but the rest of website speaks like you’re talking with a friend, or a different typeface on one page to the next? Again, ensure your branding is consistent with your business to make sure you stand out.
Fresh and original content - Primarily for your ranking on the search engine results pages, you ought to make it a point to make sure the content on your website is updated regularly. Do you have comments on the recent budget, for example, that is relevant to your business? Include these in a blog section with the relevant keywords to ensure you are able to rank higher on the search engine pages.
Bonus tip - use video: did you know, if you include video on a landing page increases conversions by 80% woah! We understand it isn’t suitable for all businesses with varying budgets, however if you can - do it. Your visitors are likely to be engaged in your website that much longer.
We hope you found this article useful, perhaps there is something you would add or take off the list? Do let us know and we’d be happy to hear your thoughts.
By 