People often ask me to review their website and comment on what they’re doing right as well as what they can do to improve their site.
Without a doubt, here are the 4 most common problems that I see over and over, as well as what can be done to fix these problems.
1. No pictures or videos.
The web is a visual medium and people nowadays *expect* to see pictures or videos on websites. Sites without pictures are boring and outdated, and it immediately tells your visitor that you’re way behind the times.
Other than your home page, probably the most important place to have your picture is the “About Us” page. People want to see who they’re going to be doing business with or purchasing from.
If I don’t see a picture of the business owner or staff on the “About Us” page I automatically get suspicious and question the legitimacy of the company. And I bet you do to.
So if you don’t have a picture of yourself on your website yet, get one up there immediately!
You don’t need to look like a movie star. Just have someone snap your photo with a smartphone and upload it to your site. That’s plenty good enough.
2. Confusing navigation.
A confused customer never buys. Always remember that.
Make sure the information on your website is organized and easy to find. Don’t have a million buttons and links to click. That just confuses and frustrates your visitors.
People are usually going to land on your home page. So organize your information into categories and/or subcategories that they can click on and go deeper into your site for more information if they want to.
Better yet, especially if you have a lot of information on your site, install a search box so your visitors can immediately find what they’re looking for rather than clicking endlessly through a maze of links … only to become frustrated and leave your site.
Can you imagine how hard it would be to find something on Amazon.com if they didn’t have a search box?
However you choose to organize your site, just make it *easy* for your visitor to find what they’re looking for quickly. Keep it simple.
3. Too much information.
Make sure you don’t scare away potential clients by having them wade through tons of verbiage. Summarize your message in short, bite-sized pieces for your visitor.
Even if your product or service really is a little complicated to explain, you still need to do your best to break it down into easily digestible chunks of data for your reader. Think of this as part of the pre-sales service you provide.
Also, avoid the temptation to just put up “stuff” on your website to fill up the page. This isn’t a high school English assignment with a mandatory 1000 word minimum.
If what you have to say ends up taking 1,500 words, but it’s truly compelling and interesting, that’s ok.
However, if you can legitimately get your point across in 3 paragraphs, then that’s all you should put on that page of your site. Seriously.
Write what you need to write to get your point across, and no more. In most cases, the shorter the better.
4. No “call to action” (CTA).
This is probably *the* most common problem I see when I review a website. Not telling me what action you want me to take.
What’s the next step? Do you want me to call you for more information? Fill out a form on your site? Sign up for your newsletter? Watch a video? Request a consultation?
What do you want me to do?
Don’t worry that you’ll come across as pushy or aggressive. You won’t. All you need to do is politely guide people as to the desired next step you’d like them to take.
People are bombarded with massive amounts of data every day and they want you to lead them through the clutter. They really do.
Naturally there are tons of other adjustments you could make to your site to improve it’s performance, but I would definitely start with these four.
If you did nothing else to your site but make sure you address the four fundamentals described above, I assure you that your website will be better than most.
Focus on fundamentals and be brilliant at basics.
