Businesses that have a great, leads-generating website have a few things in common:
Firstly, they know how important a website is.
And secondly, they know what to do and to avoid doing when it comes to website content and layout.
You might be wondering:
”What can I do so my website will bring in more leads and convert visitors ?”
Read on!
How can a website help your business?
Look:
So what better place to find and target customers than the Internet?
Having a business website is clearly a must have in the digital-media orientated market we are trading in.
The website acts as a store-front for your business, opening your products and services to an audience consisting of millions of people.
Websites have managed to play an important role in turning small organisations into million-pounds corporations, only by allowing everybody to hear about the business’ services or products in an easy and accessible way.
For many businesses, the website is also where they sell their products or services.
If big businesses already know that they need to have a website, many small businesses are missing out the opportunity just because they feel that they are too small to have a website. However, this should not be the case – any business, big or small, should have a website
and use it to:
generate more profit / leads
build a strong brand
create a good image or improve the existing one
increase brand awareness.
But here’s the catch….
As much as a website can help you improve your business, it can also bring you a bad image on the market and turn away valued customers if it’s not used properly or designed in a user-friendly way.
First step in ensuring that your website is in line with your brand image is choosing the right web domain name.
The web address should be consistent with your business name, brand and should not be hard to type or contain any unrelated words / numbers.
Secondly, the content on your website must be always updated and of the highest quality.
This includes text, images, videos and contact information. In my opinion, it’s better not to have a website rather than to have a badly written or poorly designed one.
The bottom line?
You must stay clear of:
Bad grammar or Spelling mistakes.
They happen to the best of us, so having a second person checking the spelling and grammar is of upmost importance.
Extra tip: Don’t always rely on the automatic spellcheck. It doesn’t always work or it might be set for US English instead of UK English for example.
Poor quality images.
Nothing says more ”unprofessional” than a blurry and pixelated image.
I recommend taking your own pictures, but always using a good camera and making sure there’s enough light. You can also choose professional stock images for your website.
Imagery that you don’t own the rights to use.
Copyright is a hot topic for businesses.
You must always use images that have the Commercial Licence for your business website.
The owners could ask you to remove the imagery or even ask for payment for the images. And, of course, your brand image will suffer if this becomes public.
It’s a good idea to get accustomed to the Creative Commons licenses before using images on your website.
Old, outdated content.
Not only that you must add new blog posts constantly, but you must be on the lookout for any outdated information across your old blog posts and on other website pages.
Scan your content periodically to replace any old and broken links and update the content to keep your information fresh and usable.
Now, let’s review what content you must have on your website
When somebody is visiting your website, they will be looking to receive new, valuable information that brings a solution to their needs or an answer to their questions.
This is why you must have some essential content to start with:
1. Home page
This is usually the first page your visitors will see on your website.
The first seconds will be decisive – the visitor will either bounce from your page or decide that this is what they were looking for and continue browsing.
Your home page should be easy to load, clear, concise, uncluttered, include easy navigation to other pages and contain one or more clear call to actions.
Use images wisely to inform your visitors about your business and add relevant text such as a brief description of your business and what you can offer or contact details such as a phone number or e-mail address.
Your call to action buttons will guide the visitors around your other website pages or ask them to perform other actions, such as contacting you, subscribing to a newsletter, booking a meeting or purchasing a product.
Essential elements to display on your home page:
Logo and business name
Menu bar with navigation to other website pages / sections
Relevant images
Tagline / Slogan
Summary business information (what do you do? what services you offer)
Business contact details (phone number, e-mail address, contact form, chat box)
USPs
Call to actions (usually in form of buttons)
A good exercise is to put yourself in the shoes of the website user:
– is it easy to find essential information? is it easy to read the text and see the images? does the website looks professional? are you prompted to perform an action?
You can also use your friends and family as website testers to see how they interact with the website and ask for feedback.
And, of course, you can use Google Analytics to see the overall user interaction with your website, including the user flow, bounce rate and drop pages.
2. About Us
Here is your chance to distance yourself from the competition.
On the About Us page you should add a brief history or description of your business and explain why your audience should choose you over your competition – think about what makes you special and make sure you share it with your website visitors.
Extra tip: You can also add images and a short description of your employees and/or company founders – use this just as a social media profile – it has to be interesting and relatable.
Your website visitors will love to see who they will be interacting with if they choose to work with you.
Elements to display on your About Us page:
Business description / story
Your location
Unique selling points
Meet the team section
Call-to-action button
3. Products / Services
Your website’s ultimate target is to convert visitors into customers.
This is why the products and services pages have to be as clear and explanatory as possible.
Use this space to add all product specifications you need in order to explain to your visitors the features and benefits of your products or services.
Tip: Make sure to include images into this section, as having a text-only page will drive your visitors away. A good example is Motorola’s product page for their phones.
If your product or service is not something your customers are purchasing on a regular basis, you can also include an explanation of the ordering process or what happens after they purchase your products and services.
Elements to display on your Products / Services page:
A full list of your services or products
A price list (if it’s possible for your business model)
Product / services specifications
Information on how to purchase your products
Call-to-action
Images / videos showing your products / services
4. Projects/ Portfolio/ Case Studies
Showing off your projects raises trust within your audience as they can see the level of quality of your products or services and the fact that others trust you to work with their business.
Also, by listing some of your top customers, you associate yourself with their band image, which might be highly regarded on the market.
For example, if you are a new established company and you have a big corporation as a customer, it will show others that you are to be trusted by association.
Elements to display on your Projects / Portfolio / Case:
Case studies
Reviews or Testimonials
A list of previous customers
- Images of your products
Call-to-action button
5. Contact Us
If a visitor is accessing your contact us page, it means that they are ready to take the next step into the buying process or to enquire about your products and services.
What you will want to avoid is making the contacting process too hard for them – remember that not everybody has the same preferences or computer literacy.
This means that you have to offer them a wide variety of options when it comes to contacting you:
phone number (mobile / landline)
e-mail address
street address / map ( and directions of how to find you if you have a physical location)
contact form
a call-back service or
online chat
5. Blog
Used correctly, your business blog will be a great source of website visitors and leads.
You can use the blog to share updates about your business, such as announcing new projects, welcoming new employees or adding pictures from your offices.
Also you can create a category where you discuss the industry and ask your readers to provide you with feedback.
Lastly, you can create knowledge sharing blogs, such as a how-to guide or a tutorial related to your work field.
Blog posts ideas:
News about your organisation
Guides
Opinion posts
Knowledge sharing
Roundup Blog Posts
Promotional Blog Posts
If you’re planning to creating a website for your own business, contact us to find out more about our web design services.