As a website owner, it’s important to recognize your target market and make it as simple as possible for potential customers to find your products or services. Internet users can be impatient, and with no shortage of competition, visitors can quickly lose interest in your website and move on to the next one in the search results. Now, if you have this particular problem, then at least you have traffic going to your website and it’s simply a matter of how you keep your visitors engaged. This article will address some of the common errors I see on websites.
I see a lot of different websites from all sorts of industries every day and there are some basic errors that I see quite often that are easily fixed. It’s not about the design or SEO, but about the simple and most basic details that are often overlooked. For example, let’s say I’m a DJ and I have my own DJ company called “John’s DJ Services”. My website has been designed to showcase my services offered, show pictures from past events, and even some testimonials from past clients. I have contact information including my business email address and a phone number. Sounds like a pretty good website concept? It’s not bad, but what’s missing? Where is this DJ company located? In what area of the city, country or world are these great services being offered? It’s amazing how difficult it can sometimes be to determine where geographically a business offers their service based on their website. I often find myself using Google to look up the area code in their phone number just to find out where in the world the business is located. The only reason I’m bothering is because I’m reviewing your website on request. If I were a potential customer, there was no way I would waste my time and go to the next site. I see this daily and I guarantee you it is costing these companies money.
The point here is not to make fun of the websites or their lack of such details. What I really mean is that sometimes there are very simple ways to improve your website without spending a dollar on SEO or expensive redesigns. Website designers often overlook these details as well because they focus more on the visual aspect of a site and typically only use content provided by their clients. SEO companies often take a website designed by someone else and clean up the code, embarking on elaborate link building campaigns that also sometimes overlook the simplest details. However, as a business owner, it is important that you think about your website from the perspective of your client and not from your designer or SEO companies. You know the needs and desires of your client. SEO designers and companies know how to showcase their products and services, but they are not experts in their field.
When considering designing a new website, updating an existing website, or increasing traffic to either, first take a step back and ask yourself: “If a customer was looking for my product or service and found my site website, does he or she find it useful? If a client in St. Louis is looking for a “health spa” to visit and can’t find hers, perhaps she should make sure her website clearly says: “St Louis Health Spa-Relax at Sarah’s Health Spa” . Show this somewhere easy to see, like in your title tag and in your header tags. Do not make the user search for this information, this is just as important as the actual service you are offering. Think of the Internet like a big shopping mall, except all the shoppers are lost and have no idea what city they are in. They have an idea of what they want, but they don’t know where to find it. Make it easy for them to get the information they are looking for.
Another common error I see regularly on websites is the “intro page”. First of all, what are you trying to accomplish by being there? It’s telling me what I already know: I’m on this website. Let’s look at this issue from the perspective of a potential customer, and I’m the customer. I’m using Google to search for a “seafood restaurant in San Francisco”. I get the results for the first page and see that the first is from Google Maps, and the next two are directories, before seeing that the fourth result is an actual restaurant website. So I’m going to start with that one. I click the link to the site and after waiting 15-20 seconds for the page to load, I am shown a visually stunning “intro page”. At this point, I’ve already spent more time than I wanted to with this website, and I’m thinking about hitting the back button and moving on to the next result. What if I’m trying to load your website in my hotel room and I have a weekly wireless internet signal? Now instead of taking 15-20 seconds to load, it could take up to a minute! I guarantee you now that I will not be dining at your establishment. The point here is not that all visitors will be upset with your intro page and leave, but many will. Why would you want potential customers to leave your website before you have a chance to convert them into actual customers?
The solution here again is simple. It ends with the meaningless intro page. In fact, remove anything on your home page that slows down the loading of your website. Small images are great for most people’s Internet connections and browsers, but text is obviously best. It’s fast and to the point, which is how you want your visitors to find your website.
Think like your customers, walk in their shoes, and you’ll be more successful in meeting their needs.