Is Your Website Working?

You’ve done all the right things to get a solid online presence. Your site has a logical architecture and great design. It’s optimized for search engines and is ranking high on keyword results pages. Visitors are definitely arriving on your site to check it out. But then what?

If your visitors are not turning into customers, your website is not doing its job.

How can you tell if your website is working?

Have a look at your site statistics. What is your conversion rate? That means how many visitors are either making purchases on your site (if you are an online business), or how many visitors are turning into named leads? If your conversion rate is low – or nonexistent – your website is not effective, no matter how many people you get coming to it.

Your site statistics will also tell you what your bounce rate is. That means how many people arrive at a page on your website and then leave without doing anything. They don’t navigate through to any other pages. They don’t sign up for anything, or contact you, or leave their details. They don’t buy anything. If your bounce rate is over 40%, your website is not doing its job.

Get your website working.

The way to get your site working is to talk to your customers, call them to action, and make it easy for them.

You need to talk directly to your customers, and you need to think like them. They are at your site for a reason. What reason is it? What do they want? Are you giving it to them? And are you giving them an easy way to get it from you?

Your content needs to be customer focused.
• Use simple language and a conversational style
• Use first or second person (I, you)
• Be user-benefit oriented (talk about their needs and concerns, not about yourself)

Your content needs to be action-oriented.
• Craft relevant and compelling calls-to-action: special offers, online ordering, quote-request forms, downloadable ‘how-to’ guides, e-newsletter subscriptions
• Use calls-to-action on every page – don’t make users have to click through to action pages
• Use hyperlinks right in your copy to make navigation to other pages simple and compelling

Your content needs to be easy-to-use.
• Simplify any lead generation forms to make them quick, easy and comfortable
• Give users a way to contact you on every page instead of making them go to the ‘contact you’ page
• Make sure your phone number is visible on every page

Remember that your website is only effective if it's actually working. Having lots of ‘hits’ and ranking high in search engine results won’t matter if your website doesn’t do its job when the visitors arrive. Try incorporating the methods outlined here, and watch your website work wonders!