For a Free Estimate
Call us at: 651-204-2054
For a Free Estimate
Call us at: 651-204-2054
10 Tips To Make
YOUR WEBSITE
When customers land on your site make it clear what you do, what the benefits of your service and product are and how it will help them solve their problem. Your site should be easy to scan, use short paragraphs and bullet points for quick easy reading and use graphic elements to get the point across.
Provide an obvious call-to-action such as a "contact us", "free estimate" or "buy now" button that uses color, style and position to call attention to the action you'd like them to take. Make sure that your contact form is short and easy to use. Put your contact information in an easy-to-find place on every page of your website. The most obvious places to put your contact information are either in your header, the top of your sidebar, or in your footer. Provide multiple means of contact if possible. A contact form, email address, phone number, and mailing address all add to the level of customer trust.
Examples of Tip #1:
http://www.funkpainting.com/home.html
Most people like to know whom they are doing business with. Online we tend to lose some of the personal one-on-one contact that makes people comfortable doing business with us; this is especially true in service businesses. Letting your corporate personality shine is not difficult doing things like including photos of key staff members on the "About us" page gives your company a human face. You might even consider a short video from the owner or president welcoming visitors to your site.
Other ideas to give your site the character of your company are to include news items about how your company and it's employees have gotten involved in your community or what fund raisers you've participated in and the results with photos. If you have a company blog, have your employees contribute so that people get to know them. Give your customers opportunities to get to know you with things like photo galleries, YouTube videos and stories or testimonials. In short the more comfortable people are that they know a little bit about you and your company, the more comfortable they will be doing business with you.
When you are establishing the content for your home page think about how you are going to establish credibility. Just as you'd establish a relationship with someone during a networking event or referral introduction you also need to convince people they have "come to the right place". Include copy that encourages visitors to stay on your site, click a link or read a blurb to learn more about you. Your copy should speak to visitors in a professional and friendly voice quickly giving them the benefits to your solution. Be sure to answer the age-old question: What's in it for me?
You also want to make sure your current clients can find information on your site that they may need. Develop a list of FAQ's with answers or provide instructions or education on your product or service either via a pdf download or a video. Make your site a resource that they will keep returning to.
You don't need to have a pricing grid on your site but you should let visitors know if what you offer is in their budget. One-way to communicate your pricing without giving specifics is listing a range to qualify your company as a viable option.
Your website is one of your most valuable resources. In the end, it is an online representative for your company, one of the first faces people see. Does your website live up to the image you want to project? How does it compare to your competition? Are the links on your site up-to-date and current? How quickly does it load? These are all questions that you should ask yourself on at least a yearly basis.
With social media becoming more utilized you may have multiple places that you show up such as on Facebook, YouTube or Twitter. Is your brand consistent across all mediums? Do you have a twitter background that highlights your image? Take a quick look at the areas across the web where you have a presence, is your brand recognizable, or do you have to look for similarities?
The nature of being on the Internet requires a timely response. We've seen many website owners who don't check their email for weeks only to find an old lead just sitting there waiting for a response. Whether the contact comes from your website's online form, Twitter or Facebook a quick email or phone call on your part (ideally within an hour) is essential. It's the best way to capture a lead before the client moves on to another vendor or changes their mind.
One of the most important things to remember when you have a website is to keep it up-to-date. If you don't currently have access or a plan in place for updating your website on at lest a quarterly basis you are missing opportunities to communicate. Current content positions you as an expert in your field, keeps your website fresh for returning visitors and the search engines love it!
Even if you don't think you have new information about your service or product there are ways to add new content such as announcing industry news or trends, publish testimonials, announce business news (what's happening in your office have you added anyone new, won an award, attended an event?) or promote a key element of your business. Up-to-date content allows you to optimize and fine tune for certain keywords that will help you get found and isn't that one of the reasons for your website in the first place?
No matter what the goals of your website, which doesn't always have to be money, you eventually have to ask yourself if your website is providing any value for your company. One of the best ways to find out if your website is working for you is to have a tracking mechanism in place. If you haven't already, you should ask your web provider if there is a Stats package that they offer if not, Google Analytics is a free tracking software that is easy to add to any site.
Once you have a tracking program in place you'll want to track your "calls to action". Do people click on the Free Estimate or Purchase Now buttons on your site? If so, do they purchase or contact you based on this action? Maybe your call to action is how many visits your dealer page receives or if you are utilizing your site to take over a customer service function, is that area of your site seeing activity? If you are doing any paid advertising online you will want to be able to track the visits you receive from each source and once on your site, what pages did these people visit?
Having a stats package in place allows you to make informed marketing decisions and changes when necessary to achieve maximum value from your website.
One of the easiest things that you can do is update or improve the content on the pages of your site. Content is one of the keys to driving traffic via the search engines. The content on each page should directly relate to the page name and the key phrases you'd like to highlight for that specific page. Remember to construct reasonable sentences that speak to your prospect, you'll want to include a call to action as well. Bullet points and short paragraphs make for easy and quick reading most visitors won't take the time to read everything on a page so call out the most important points in this manner.
Look at your competitors and learn from what they are doing, don't copy what they have written (that's illegal) but you can create your own content by understanding what they have done and have been successful with. When editing existing content don't be afraid to try something new and then track what you have put in place. If you do this and watch the stats for your site over time you will learn what content is the most successful for you.
Although it may be less expensive to do it yourself or hire your nephew to design and program your website it may not be the best option. You may think, "its good enough" but does it really represent your company in the manner that you'd like? Does it work for you both in the search engines and in converting leads?
A professional website company can help you not only design a pleasing website but one that works for you. Look for a company that partners with you and works to grow your business in the long term. One that will be with you to try and track different ideas until you find something that works for your company. Interview different providers until you find one that you feel comfortable working with. Web companies should be willing to educate you on things like SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and help you research best key phrases that you'd like to show up for.
Remember, your time is best spent building your business. Leave your website to a trusted professional website provider and you'll see the rewards.
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