I was having a chat to a local business owner from Torquay last week and he mentioned that he’s done reasonably well online through social media but he felt his website is letting him down. He was getting plenty of business through his social media presence due to his reputation in his industry but he couldn’t help but think his website might be like a leaking bucket. He felt it has outdated information, design and the way it functions and was embarrassed to show me. It’s a common issue.
Over the years I’ve been to a lot of networking events where they pass me a business card and without any prompt, tell me reasons why their website isn’t up to scratch. It’s partly because they know I’m a web designer and developer but it’s mostly because, deep down they know their website is letting them down.
Setting your business up on social media platforms is a great, low-cost starting point if you’re building a business on a shoestring budget however the most important aspect of your online presence is your website. Yes, I may be biased but hear me out. Even if your social media is smashing it, you have plenty of people tagging you in on potential leads and referring you, the next step they’ll often take is assess you and your business based on what Google says about you. They might find reviews and testimonials that can be important and they’ll likely find and review your website too.
Your web design and content need to attract your visitors and improve their engagement. A reliable website serves as the primary platform of your brand online. Make it the mother-ship for your online marketing strategy. If you get it right, you’ll close more referral-based business and those that found you on the socials. The website will help you validate your brand. If you take it a step further, you can attract buyers directly to your website when they use the search engines. When people spend time on social media, their intent is to socialise. When they spend time on a search engine, they are quite possibly looking to buy.
If you focus on establishing a web design that aims to bring in more leads and sales for your business, you’ll build your brand. Assuming you do a great job, your grow your potential referral base of raving fans who might mention you on the socials. In this way your social media and website can work hand in hand. By building an audience for your website, you’ll find visitors who use your content in a variety of ways for all sorts of reasons. There are some who will read your blog posts, subscribe to your email list, and some who will make a buying decision right away.
Keep reading below to find out how to tweak your website design to potentially increase your conversion rates.
Call-to-Action (CTA)
Your call-to-action (CTA) is probably the most important aspect of your entire website. What is it that you want them to do next? What’s the next logical step they should take? What will guide your website’s visitors to know what they should do after reading your content or skimming through your pages. Often a simple button or link with a compelling reason is all it takes to improve your leads and sales online.
As a general rule, it’s ideal to have just one main CTA per page within your website. If you offer too much, it may confuse your visitors. A confused mind can’t make a decision. They’ll just move on to someone (possibly a competitor) who makes it easy to take the nest step.
It needs to be simple, straightforward, and relevant to your ideal clients or customers. The CTA should be designed in a way that it can’t be missed yet is consistent to your brands look and feel.
User Experience (UX)
Keep it clean, clear, and fast loading and you’ll be on your way to a fantastic User Experience (UX). Gone are the days of making a coffee while you wait for your internet to fire-up. We want the webpage to load almost immediately. If your website’s loading speed is letting you down, you’ll lose visitors and therefore potential business.
A professional website design should be built in such a way that it’s light-weight coding so its optimised for speed. Forgive me nerding out for a moment. While there’s lot of DIY web builders online these days, there is usually a compromise and its’ often the speed of the website you build. A lot goes into a drag-n-drop web builder to make it function and it doesn’t usually write the coding very well.
You can also achieve a faster loading time by using a dependable hosting provider, optimising your images, and applying a simple web design structure for quick and easy results.
White Space
Novice website designers have a tendency to cramp too much into the space available. Just because there is a space, doesn’t mean you should fill it. You’re not paying by the centimetre like you may have for advertising in the newspaper in years gone by… Maybe some still do that…
A professional designer can often improve a website simply by making good use of white space. It doesn’t need to be white by the way, it could be a flat colour. It’s just the way we designers explain the space that serves as a breather for your visitors. It helps them read your content without feeling overwhelmed with all the information they’re receiving. It can also help guide the eye through the page in the way you want the content to be seen.
Conclusion
The good news is your website may be just a few small tweaks from producing a higher conversion rate and therefore more leads and sales.
It’s essential to showcase your products and services on a platform that can further support your brand’s growth. The problem is design trends and user expectations are always changing so websites quickly become outdated. An experienced designer will often see the problem areas in your design and know how to quickly improve the design.
Are you looking for a website design agency to handle your company’s website? Uplift 360 aims to help under-performing websites achieve more traffic, leads, and sales. Get in touch with us today to start optimising your website!