Design a site that delights
By Melanie Haber
A top-notch website is an essential component in the modern entrepreneur’s digital toolbox. You need an effective website to build credibility in the competitive marketplace, to showcase your products or services, and to connect with current and potential customers on whatever device they choose to use.
Is your website working its best for your business?
Let’s look at how to improve your site to stay up to date with the latest trends and technologies and to ensure an awesome experience for website visitors. Doing so will help you move to the next level on your journey as an entrepreneur.
7 ways to improve your website
Improve your website right now with these seven strategies:
- Add a value proposition.
- Make sure your navigation is easy to use.
- Be mobile friendly.
- Include strong calls-to-action.
- Don’t forget to get social.
- Keep up with current trends.
- Never give up, never surrender.
Let’s go!
1. Add a value proposition
First things first: Let your visitors know exactly who you are, what your mission is, and what you can do for them. For instance, if you are a real estate agent, you might offer the following information on your home page:
Since visitors only give your site about 15 seconds to provide them with a glimpse into your offerings, this simple trick will let them determine at a glance if your business is what they are looking for.
2. Make sure your navigation is easy to use
Now that you have your visitor’s attention, make sure you don’t lose it with antiquated menus and intolerable navigation links.
Ensure that your navigation menu is easy to find from the top and bottom of your site as well as on mobile devices (more on that below). Do a tune-up if you find some of the links take you to the wrong page or are broken.
The moment a navigation link doesn’t work, this gives the impression that everything else about you and your business is less than perfect.
Remember, a fully functional website is another way that customers measure the credibility of your overall business and that can make or break your online success.
3. Be mobile-friendly
According to Statista research, between 2009 and 2018, mobile web usage has ballooned from 7% to more than 50% and growing.
If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you could be losing more than half of your visitors.
Doesn’t look good for the bottom line when put in that perspective, right?
Put your website to Google’s Mobile Friendly Test. If it’s performing well, great. Just be sure to keep checking on how well it is working on the newest devices.
If your website fails the mobile-friendly test, take steps to improve it, including:
— Adopt a responsive web design.
— Improve site speed.
— Use legible typography.
— Improve accessibility.
— Don’t use flash content.
Research done by Stone Temple shows that mobile bounce rate was 50%. Bounce rate refers to the number of visitors that visit the site, only to leave it without any interaction or other page clicks. Using a tool like Google Analytics can help you identify which pages your visitors are landing and departing on so you can evaluate and improve them to get your visitor’s interest.
4. Include strong calls-to-action
Now that your visitor knows who you are and can find the info they want quickly, how do you get them to move forward?
A call-to-action (CTA) invites website visitors to make the next move — whether it is a “buy now” or “call now” button, or even a “would you like to learn more?” link to a contact form.
Again, since more than 50% of your visitors could be on a mobile device, make sure the CTAs can execute actions such as going to a mobile-friendly contact form or shopping cart.
5. Don’t forget to get social
Renowned salesmanship strategist Dale Carnegie once said, “People do business with people they know, like and trust.” Although digital social media platforms didn’t exist in his day and many businesses did not operate on a global platform, this is still important from a customer’s perspective.
To close the relationship gap on a local and global scale, social media is the divine device that creates the perfect segway for customer interactions.
Establish a presence on the social media platforms where your target customers spend their time. Include links to your social media profiles on your website. And make it easy for site visitors to share your website content by placing social sharing icons prominently on your web pages.
6. Keep up with current trends
While functionality is vital, the look and feel of the site itself is important, too. Like everything else, website design evolves. If your website looks outdated, visitors may expect your company to have archaic methods of doing business, as well.
Keep abreast of current web design trends to improve your website.
Not sure what the current trends are? Just visit large corporate sites that enlist the expertise of professional web designers. You can also look online for examples that have been collected from real-world trends.
Improving your website sometimes can mean a complete rebuild. Old platforms usually only give you obsolete tools and formats. One easy way to improve your website yourself can be a transition to a DIY modern-looking template-based website builder that has ever-emerging designs to meet contemporary trends.
Don’t have time to rebuild your website yourself? Have a website design service provider like GoDaddy to give you the freshest and most effective website.
7. Never give up, never surrender
With the constant changes in technology, you should never be satisfied with your website.
Invite friends, family and customers to visit the site from different devices to make sure everything loads and works correctly. Make a schedule to review your website on a consistent basis to ensure everything looks modern, works properly and has up to date information.
Just like seeing your doctor, do an examination of your website frequently for any issues or quirks. An outdated website is an illness that can cause your business to die a slow death. Using these seven ways to improve your website right now can help you bring your website from the Dark Ages into the glowing light of the modern age.
Author bio:
Melanie Haber is a Content Marketing Project Specialist at GoDaddy. She’s passionate about social media marketing, writing content for websites, creating branding materials, and educating small business owners on how to successfully market their own businesses.
Comments are closed.