These days it has become a rule of thumb to capture visitors’ interest within 5 seconds or less. People tend to decide if they are interested or not in the service being promoted within seconds thus, it becomes exceptionally important to have a site that is easily navigable and meets visitors’ expectations in the first instance.
Within 5 seconds (or even less) your visitors should identify:
- What the webpage is about
- What problem you solve or what solution you offer
- What a visitor should do
If visitors are not able to make out what the site offers or what the businesses’ services involve, they will click away even though your site appears on the first page of Google Search Engine.
Simply, a fully functional or a creatively and beautifully designed website may not excel on its own. It needs to incorporate marketing aspects as well to be able to effectively grab attention and most essentially generate leads and sales.
Your website should stipulate the following:
- What you do
- How much you do it for
- What extra you provide to your client relative to your competitors who are in the same line of business
It is very lucrative to drift away and highlight everything about the business that you deem necessary without addressing the core needs of your audience.
This article attempts to equip you with the thought process and knowledge essential for renovating your existing website or if you are building a site from scratch.
#1: Define the Purpose:
First and foremost, take the time to plan what you intend to achieve with your website. Do not rush with this step because if you do, you may encounter issues in the future and fail to accomplish your desired goals – i.e. to get sales leads.
If you know what your business aims to achieve, you will have a clear vision of who your target audience may be and hence develop a site that addresses the concerns central to your audience relative to the vast population.
Eventually, this will allow you to carry out more targeted marketing.
#2: Improved Navigation:
When renovating or designing your website, navigation is the other crucial element.
And if you establish the relationship between different pages on the site beforehand, you can construct an easily navigable site.
Effective navigation allows users to find what they are looking for without confusion or worse, getting derailed to another site.
#3: Call-to-Action:
After defining a clear purpose, you are highly likely to have a succinct Call-to-Action that achieves the website’s purpose. What do you want your visitors to do when they are on your website?
- Make a call
- Book an appointment/consultation
- Register for something/request email address
And for the Call-to-Action to be functional and effective, you need to make sure that your phone number is clear and clickable.
Also, if you want users to visit the store, have the address and opening hours above the fold, or on the front page.
These simple tips for renovating websites may seem small but will have a real impact on converting leads to sales.
#4: Offers/Promotions:
Another important feature to include is Offers. List your offers on the front page of the website, preferably above the fold so that it is easily visible.
You must highlight what benefits people get for using your website. This can be in the form of:
- Special promotions/discounts
- Free delivery, free bonuses, coupons or vouchers
- Loyalty programs
The offer you are providing must be relevant, enticing and obvious.
#5: Social Proof:
Having great and quality content is not enough in this day and age. What’s more important is that it reaches your targeted audience. These days people are more commonly active on social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and so on.
If you do not provide the users with readily available and visible options, visitors may miss the opportunity to share the content with their network. Even though social media marketing is not part of your business strategy, you need to provide this option for your audience.
An effective website ensures great user experience and providing options, and the flexibility to share your blog posts on multiple platforms is part of effective user experience.
Social share buttons can be easily installed using the appropriate WordPress social media plugins. This option entices users to share blog posts and articles on their profiles, which would otherwise remain unpublished on social media platforms.
#6: Mobile-Friendly:
Studies have shown that more than 60 percent of users use mobile phones to access business sites.
According to Google, users are not likely to return to a mobile site that had difficulty in accessing in the first place. Users would typically switch to your competitors’ sites for a much clearer and better user experience.
Whilst in the design phase, you must ensure that your site content is optimized for mobile devices for an outstanding experience. Basic tips for enhanced mobile-friendly websites include:
- Clear navigation that is “finger” friendly with large touchpoints, particularly for Call-to-Action items
- Limit the requirements from users to type in too much information
- Clear and precise pointers instead of unnecessary graphics
Website Development Company:
One cannot understate the importance of engaging a website designer who not only does an exceptional job with the design phase, but also keeps in check search engine optimization aspects to ensure the site converts leads into sales.
We at City Web Designs are passionate and creative web designers with vast experience in delivering exceptional user experience. And this includes the basic yet crucial tips for renovating websites.
City Web Designs ensures that the business partners succeed online, and we have the experience and expertise to make this happen for businesses, including individuals and start-ups.
Building an online presence and visuality is pivotal to gain and expand your personal or business client base.