Just like the ever-evolving digital landscape, your website should never remain stagnant, Website Improvement is an ongoing process, but we have some timeless tips to share with you.. Whether you’re a small business owner, a start-up entrepreneur, or a seasoned digital marketer, there’s always room for enhancement. Here, we will share effective, tried-and-true tips to supercharge your website’s performance, user experience, and overall impact.
In our fast-paced digital era, a website serves as the first point of contact between businesses and potential clients. The quality of this encounter can make or break your audience’s perception of your brand. That’s why it’s essential to ensure that your website is not just aesthetically pleasing, but also functional, user-friendly, and aligned with your business goals.
Today’s consumers have little patience for slow, confusing, or dull websites. Instead, they seek out online platforms that provide value, convenience, and a seamless user experience. Keeping your website up-to-date and optimized is key to retaining existing customers and attracting new ones.
Contents
- There’s nothing exciting about building a brochure website
- Why Your Website Does Not Make You Any Money
- Always get them coming back to your site
- Google checks your domains whois
- Is Your Traffic Working?
- A Definite Chief Aim But For Your Web Pages
- How to use Chief Definite Aim for Your Website: 7-Step Guide
- Conclusion
There’s nothing exciting about building a brochure website
“5 pages with a contact from please, I need a website for my business so people think it’s professional and I need a email so I can add it to my business card”……. boring
The brochure website is dead, its been like that for a while but people still think having such a website will boost their business. Number of pages , gallery , contact forms don’t necessarily mean more business. Some people may land on your website and it may look pretty and a hand full of people may say you have a nice site. But that’s it, nothing more… and guess what? they have not even rang you for your business.
So whats going on?
A website should be treated as a extension tool for your business which is automated and can generate leads and more business for you while you sleep. In most cases when people land on a site they don’t even know what you do or what you can offer them. There is no call to action or anything of value often leaving a visitor un-interested, unless they are just checking you out.
If you design your digital media with your prospects best interest at heart and appeal to their values outlining the benefits whilst being able to catch their attention then the chances of the user taking action to find out more are allot higher.
No matter what industry you are in there is always something you can offer in order to get their name and email so you can now use this information to funnel and market your services. Think about this, if you had the contact details of people who land on your site, then you can follow up and provide more value which can edge them to using your services over your competitors.
Another element is to consider direct response webdesign. This is when your site/ pages are designed with a specific call to action to get the visitor to DO something, weather its to call you, give you their email or connect on social media. If you can clearly direct people to where you want them to go then the user journey is allot more powerful and meaningful.
Use compelling headlines to grab attention, provide some valuable content about your industry that the user can use and apply such as a training videos, or pdf’s or guides. Due to the law of reciprocity if you give something to people they tend to reciprocate. So give them value before you when try to bring them on board as a customer, this builds trust and also increase your reputation as a quality content provider. It also allows people to find out more about you and business first so there for no longer like a cold call. If when they land on your site you capture them then marketing to them is easier.
You see , just by adding these elements to your site its no longer boring but becomes alive and active. People start ton interact by providing their details in exchange for some FREE content or training. Once you have their email or mobile details you can now using automated marketing systems to send out a series of message which keeps your business fresh in their mind. They say the average person needs at least 7 interactions before they take action. If the process is automated then you personal don’t have to do anything as its automated.
Therefore plan your pages and the purpose of that page. No other distractions are necessary on the page. Think about your main call to action and devise the page around this. Think about the users journey across your site.
Why Your Website Does Not Make You Any Money
Having been in the online industry for over 18 years you get to see how the industry has changed/changing as well as the many misconceptions people have about their online business. Even today many factors hold true and many business still don’t know the power of the internet and whats possible. At the same time they still hold many misconceptions and then wonder why their website is not making them any money or not getting them quality leads.
Firstly I highly recommend you stop treating your websites as a joke and actually start to treat it as a tool which will help you grow your business, so take it seriously. Today the number one way to find out about something or someone is pretty much Google, hence the term just Google it. (But facebook is not too far behind so would not be surprised if people start to say just facebook it soon. ). Really think about how your website could best serve you but more so how it can serve the industry you supply.
Secondly shift your attention from the classic brochure website to direct response web design, lead capture and sales pages, which are designed to highly target and convert leads into prospects. The days of the brochure site are gone in terms of “build it and they shall come”. It’s still ok to have content pages so people can find out more about you but the way you attract and what you offer to your prospects is much more important.
One of the main misconceptions people have about websites is that they think as soon as the website is live, “that’s it” , “its all over “, “I’ve done it”, “gonna make my millions”, and then …….. NOTHING! And because no one has explained it to them , or sat down to formulate a digital marketing strategy they wonder whats happening and start to assume their web guys are rubbish, or their design is not good enough, they think “I have the perfect product why does no one want it?” But then if you dig deeper and look at the traffic to the site you see it’s only getting about handful or zero traffic on a daily bases.
Imagine this, you own an Island in the middle of the ocean. How would people find out about it? How would they get there if they don’t know it exists? or know how to get there? or even know what you offer? You need to build the bridges (links) from one Island to another in order to create the pathways along which traffic (people) can travel, so to lead them to your landing pages (offer page) which best serves them. Then once they get there offer them exactly what they need, get into their mindset, understand how they work and what the issues and problems are.
When you can start to structure your website FOR YOUR PROSPECTS and understand their NEEDS and show them you have the SOLUTION to their problems only then will you start to see traction and movement on and around your site. And not because you want it to be a particular way because you think it looks good, do take on board what is being suggested in terms of direct response. Google and other search engines only love you when others love you first, so get others talking about you.
Let me tell you a little secret, it’s not just because of all the points mentioned above that you don’t see the results, its because :
- Nobody knows you exist online
- You have no idea who your target audience is and what they want / are looking for
- When people do land on your site they have no idea what you do
- and they have no idea what to do when they land on your site (no clear call to action)
- Your message is not clear hence why would they choose you? Whats in it for them?
- Your offer is not strong enough or appealing to them
- You are doing nothing extra to increase traffic
- You don’t follow up with them
- You create or provide no value for them
- No compelling headline to grab their attention.
These are just some of the basics, business owners still do not address. In order to win online you have to do your homework (or get someone to do it for you). After doing your home work then you can really start to create you website, pages and offers with direct response to create more conversions and hence generate more leads and sales.
Always get them coming back to your site
One of the key things businesses want is more traffic to their site. However people are always trying to get new traffic and more traffic but what about the missed traffic due to not having a strategy in place to keep them coming back to your site?
I see so many wasted opportunities because of random posts people put out on social media which have no clear calls to action or no thought as to the purpose of getting the message out, almost desperate behaviour wishing someone will bite…. not good.
I’ll share some basics you can keep in mind. Saying that it’s not really basic but simple powerful advice.
The purpose of having an online presence is to build a tribe/fan base of people who love/need your products or services so you can make some money to live your life or to serve others. But in order to do this the product or service has to fill a need and be helpful.
So the first thing to do is to keep the content you produce in line with what the user needs or is looking for.
The second thing to keep in mind is that if you put content out there what are you trying to achieve? for example
- do you want to build a mailing list?
- do you want to get people to like your Facebook page?
- do you want people to subscribe to your you tube channel?
- do you want people to call you?
- etc etc
Think about the purpose of your message and the call to action you require. When you have this in mind then you can make sure the call to action is inbuilt into your message.
Now keeping the thought of more traffic to your site in mind, make sure that the content you share is already on your website. For example don’t just send people to your youtube video url as this is wasted opportunity. Instead insure you embed the youtube video into your blog post and then SHARE the website url on social media platforms. This is key! and will mean people land on YOUR site.
Now think about this for a moment, if people land on your site doesn’t it mean you can capture their details or make them aware of your products and services? You can also direct them to a page on your site where your product/service is highlighted. Always think “How can I keep getting people back to my site’
To keep them coming back to your site make sure you put the content on your site first then share your URL online and on social platforms as this will increase your traffic form your existing reach. If it goes viral and when people share then at least your site URL is in the mix 🙂 …… if people find your content useful then they will share with others.
If you have any questions please let me know and all the best.
Google checks your domains whois
Did you know that google checks your domain name “whois” info. It then uses this information to also rank your domain.
The number of domains you have registered in your name is looked at.
The number of years you have registered the domain name is also looked at.
This means if you register your domain name for 10 years it likes this. If you have other domain names it will check them and then your new one to determine your credibility.
If you have an old domain name which has been around for long and you use this for something new, its like transferring all the credibility other to the new. The longer you have had the domain name the value it holds
Makes you wonder doesent it? how much informatation google is holding on you?
Is Your Traffic Working?
You’ve put techniques into place to drive traffic to your website. Good for you! But do you actually know if you are being successful? There are some great tools available to you to help you determine which techniques are working for you and which are not.
The best way to determine if the techniques you are using are working is through the use of analytics. One of the most popular analytics to use is Google Analytics. It’s free, very reliable, and will provide you with a great deal of information about the traffic to your website, and the behaviour of your visitors.
If you choose to use Google Analytics in its more advance form you will be able to see the number of daily visitors to your website, the top sources of that traffic, where your traffic is coming from, even which search engine is sending you the traffic.
You will also be able to explore which keywords your visitors are using, and which pages of your website they actually land on. That’s an amazing amount of information for you to see and all for free. It’s a great way to quickly see whether your traffic techniques are working in your benefit, as well as just how well they are working.
If you aren’t targeting the right visitors to your site, you are wasting traffic. It’s of no value to you to have tons of traffic if they are not at all interested in what it is you have to offer. You can use your analytics to determine this by looking at your bounce rate. For example, let’s say your bounce rate is 90%. This means that 90% of the visitors to your site immediately hit the back button and bounce back to another domain.
This means you need to look at things like the keyword that’s causing the wrong visitors to make it to your site. You can also examine whether the traffic is coming to your site from the country you are targeting. Look at the visitor segmentation ñ languages, browsers, network locations, etc.
You should never get bored with your analytics whether Google or another source. They provide key information so that you can quickly know whether your traffic techniques are working for you and to what degree they are working, or if they are failing you and itís time to make changes. Make use of the tools at your disposal!
A Definite Chief Aim But For Your Web Pages
A Definite Chief Aim >> Napoleon Hill says “the main cause of failure is having no definitive chief aim in life — or failure to set clear and attainable goals and plans to accomplish these goals” – The main lesson is having a definite objective toward which to strive and never to drift aimlessly. Having this definite chief aim will affect the subconscious mind, thus leading toward the attainment of the objective. Napoleon Hill also emphasises the importance of writing down your definite chief aim and goals to achieve it in a clear, concise way.
Now apply this to your website!
In any situation with too much choices can lead to confusion. Common sense right?
You go into a supermarket and want to buy some cookies, you look at the shelf and have no idea what to go for because there is so much variety.
We might worry about what we might miss (opportunity/cost), shall I try something new, shall I go for what I like?? etc.. and we struggle to make the decisions in the abundance of choice available to us.
You can make your target audience happy by limiting the choices they have on your website and the pages they go to. Let each page have a chief definite aim / purpose/choice/goal which tells them exactly where to go next and let them know its the best choice.
We recently redesigned a website and made each page have its own purpose. The product page only had products on it, the event pages only had events on it, the blog page had all the bells and whistles you would expect to have on it. The response we got and the client has been getting is phenomenal, nothing but praise and results.
Why? > Because we limited the choice and provided “a definite chief aim”. We live in times where there is an overload of information. We made the pages simple and the message clear and people know what to expect from the pages and realise the purpose. We kept it simple and concise.
If each page on your website has one primary goal then you will be much more effective at engaging your audience.
Take Google for example > Ultra clear message and purpose, “search here” and the results page call you to click on the results which give you the best answer. Google does have other options , but not to many and they are hidden away but are there if you need them. Plain and simple.
So what can you do? or should do for your web pages?
Each page should have one primary goal. This is how your mindset should be, keep it simple and have a definite chief aim. These could include:
- Contact you
- Buy a product
- Build Trust & Loyalty
- Join your Fan Page
- Email Opt-In
- Social Shares
- Other bloggers/Journalists/Sites to link to it (backlinks)
- Recommendations to friends
- Pre-qualified clicks on affiliate/promotional links
- Product purchase
However don’t think that it only has to have one primary goal, it can have a second goal as well, but it’s suggested you keep this to minimum and in some cases not having them at all for when you setup pages with paid traffic or an opt in page only for example.
The secondary goal of a page should not distract them from the main goal. They are only there as a option after they complete the main goal or if they don’t complete the main goal.
Too much choice leads to less interaction. Keep it simple and only show the information that invokes a call to action that you require the visitor to take. Simple pages and good navigation will do wonders for your site making sure each page has a purpose.
Have A Definite Chief Aim ==>The webpage goal = Increase conversion
How to use Chief Definite Aim for Your Website: 7-Step Guide
Having a clear and definite chief aim for your webpages is crucial to increasing conversion rates and achieving your website’s goals. Here are some tips to help you achieve this:
- Define the primary goal: Determine the main action you want visitors to take on each webpage. It could be making a purchase, filling out a contact form, subscribing to a newsletter, or any other desired outcome.
- Keep it simple: Avoid overwhelming visitors with too many choices or distractions. Focus on one primary call to action per webpage to ensure clarity and reduce decision fatigue.
- Streamline the user journey: Design your webpage layout and navigation in a way that guides users toward the primary goal. Make it easy for them to understand what they need to do next to accomplish that goal.
- Provide clear and concise messaging: Clearly communicate the value and benefits of taking the desired action. Use compelling headlines, persuasive copy, and visually appealing elements to grab visitors’ attention and keep them engaged.
- Minimize additional options: While secondary goals can exist on a webpage, they should not distract from the primary goal. If you include secondary actions, make sure they are presented after the completion of the primary goal or only as alternative options.
- Optimize for mobile devices: With the increasing use of smartphones and tablets, it’s essential to ensure your webpages are mobile-friendly. Mobile optimization improves user experience and makes it easier for visitors to take the desired action.
- Test and analyze: Continuously monitor and analyze the performance of your webpages. Use A/B testing to experiment with different layouts, messaging, and calls to action to identify what resonates best with your audience and yields the highest conversion rates.
By implementing these strategies and focusing on a definite chief aim for each webpage, you can increase conversions and drive meaningful results for your website.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is crucial to treat your website as a powerful tool that can generate leads, increase conversions, and drive business growth. The days of a static brochure website are over, and it’s important to adapt to the ever-evolving digital landscape. By implementing direct response web design, providing valuable content, capturing leads, and streamlining the user experience, you can supercharge your website’s performance and impact. Remember to have a clear and definite chief aim for each webpage, focusing on one primary goal and minimizing distractions. Regularly analyse and optimise your webpages to ensure they align with your business goals and effectively engage your target audience. By following these tips, you can transform your website into a dynamic and results-driven platform that drives success for your business.
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