How to Take Your Website from Annoying to Inviting

Establishing a professional website is important for every business even if you aren’t selling your products online. Your website is the biggest first impression you have for potential customers searching for your services, and it will either convert visitors into real customers or send them looking elsewhere.  Make sure that your company has an updated and easy to navigate site that showcases your business in the best possible light. Here are four factors to consider when evaluating the kind of website you have.

Your website should be appealing. 

Much like the traditional retail storefront, customers want an experience with a company website that is organized, easy to use and helpful, convenient, and uncluttered. All of the necessary information should be easy to find on your website. Once customers have reached your home page, they should be able to find what they are looking for in a reasonable amount of time. If your website is cluttered with too many ads and irrelevant material, they’re more likely to feel overwhelmed and go to another site instead.

Your website should captivate visitors. 

Your competition is only a click away online. Online marketing gives you the opportunity to captivate an audience and fulfill their needs so your first step is to understand what your target audience is looking for.

If you’re selling a product that will be shipped to your customer, make sure that all the information that they need is easy to find. Have clear shipping guidelines in place including where you ship to, how you calculate shipping costs, and expected date of delivery. Offer discounts for multiple purchases, and give your audience a reason to come back for more. Utilize an online marketing specialist, like Yodle reviews, to help your brand captivate its online market.

Your website should easily convert visitors into customers. 

Invite people who are not connected to your business to navigate your website and provide feedback. Determine if there are any elements of your site that should be more user friendly. Review your website’s analytics. Google Analytics is a free service that no website owner should be without. It allows you to monitor the data that indicates how long people are staying on your site and how many pages they are visiting. You can also get stats on ‘bounce rate’ or in other words, how many visitors quickly navigate away from pages on your site. This will give you a good idea of how well you are engaging your site’s visitors. If customers are spending less than a minute or two before leaving, it means they are either not finding what they are looking for or having difficulty with the layout.

Captivate your visitors.

Ultimately, your website should give customers an experience that gives them no reason to look anywhere else. Online shopping allows consumers to navigate through a variety of retailers before they make their final decision. Consider your promotional strategy, and put a system in place that gives you a competitive edge. This can be done with coupon codes, daily specials, free shipping or other incentives.

Think of your company website as a storefront window. Be creative, engaging, and open for business! Create an impression that brings people to you and makes them curious to learn more and see what else you have to offer.

Amber Davis loves web marketing. She often blogs about effective marketing strategies using websites, social media, and online communications.