Often small businesses spend a lot of money building beautiful new websites, but for some reason, the new website either doesn’t perform as well as the last one or sometimes does worse! Here some quick plus not so quick ways you can improve your site and why what your doing now might not be working.
1. Little to No Calls to Action
Many companies think that if they put weak calls to action on their website that their potential clients will click. Customers don’t like unclear directives. “Contact Us,” says, “If you feel like it click here,” this is not the same as “Schedule a Call” which is telling your customers the direct action they should take. Your customers want to know how to buy the product or service that they are interested in.
This leads to the second point; you need to put lots of calls to action on your website. The top-right menu of your website is a great start, but once someone gets further down the page, they don’t see the CTA, and out of sight is out of mind. Don’t you hate it when your a in a large department store and can’t find anyone to purchase your stuff from? Don’t leave your customers hanging. Be clear about the actions you want customers to take, don’t leave it up to them to try to figure it out for themselves.
2. No Lead Capture
For some odd reason, many companies use the contact form lead capture instead of providing value to capture leads. If a friend told you about a great recipe they made, and then you said, “Hey, can I have that recipe” their response might be, “Sure, send me your email, and I’ll give you the recipe.” This example shows how lead capture works. You have to create content that your audience would feel is valuable enough to exchange their email. Don’t try to capture leads through your contact form, which is on a completely different page.
3. No Lead Nurture
The number of times that companies capture leads but don’t have any follow up and lead nurture is also a problem. If you obtain a lead and send a lead magnet but don’t continue to send valuable emails, you will fall off your customer’s radar. Email lists are like tending a plant. If you don’t keep the plant fed and watered, it dies. The same happens with your list if you don’t continue to add valuable content to your audience.
4. Not Talking About the Client Problem Enough
Not talking about the problems you solve leaves your potential customers confused. They may understand what you do, but that doesn’t answer the question of how it’s going to help them. So many websites talk about being award-winning and having excellent customer service, but very few talk about the problems they specifically address. It’s great that your company is all those things, but that information is only focused on you, not your customers.
Additionally, you need to go below the surface problems that your customers have. Let’s say you’re a house cleaner. People contact you to have their house cleaned, but what’s a level deeper than needing a house cleaning? How do they feel when their home is dirty? Talk about the emotions that your customers so that you can connect with them at a deeper level.
5. Too Much Jargon
“We bypass the application to the XHTML system through the wireless SQL pixel!” What the fuck does that mean? Maybe you know, but your customers don’t. Your customer doesn’t have the same level of understanding that you have about your profession. Take the time to evaluate your content and make sure a 1st grader can read it. Put your jargon into plain English so your audience can follow along and not get lost in technobabble or corporate speak. In the immortal words of Antoine Dodson, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”
With a few changes to your approach, your website can start capturing leads, getting more sales, and creating more engagement. Adding more calls to action can be done immediately, but creating a lead magnet can take a little more time. However, these few small actions can help you produce significant results! So ask yourself, if you are communicating, giving your customers direct steps to take, and giving them enough places to purchase your product or service without having to figure it out on there own.
