It’s time to start the new year on the right foot for your business. Have you been putting off your website updates or guilty of waiting around for customers to find you? Well, it’s time to put some simple steps into place to update your website and position your business for future growth.
In an article on Inc.com, contributing editor Geoffrey James, an author, professional speaker and blogger, identifies some easy steps you can implement on your website that both reflects your current success and also positions you for further growth:
Rewrite your topline message to address customer needs: The home page of most business sites explain what the company does, what products/services it offers, when it was founded and by whom, forcing the customer to map that information into what they feel they need to achieve their goals. Hint: most customers won’t bother. Instead of describing who you are what you do, try changing your topline message to describe how the customer will benefit once s/he has purchased your product or service.
Create a single call to action: If you’re a media or catalog site where you want shoppers to click around to various products, this action items isn’t necessarily for you. However, if you have a lead-gen or brochure website, you don’t WANT customers to wander around, clicking aimlessly through the pages. In that case, you should have a prominent call-to-action like offering a free eBook, a contest, or a try-before-you-buy offer that allows you to collect basic information about site visitors.
Simply navigation choices: Start to eliminate unnecessary content on your website, which will in turn make it easier for visitors to navigate the site. You may want to try relocating lots of corporate info that only a few will find useful to links at the very bottom of the page, rather than including them as options in the top navigation bar.
Eliminate stock photography: Stock photography is a glorious thing—but it’s not what you want people to notice about your website. Get rid of the cheesy images of a businessman/woman in an office setting and the classic photo of a team high-fiving and smiling. If you’re going to use images on your website, hire a professional photographer to shoot images of your own office setting or featured products.
You may also want to try starting with the basics: selecting a web strategy that matches your business model or by replacing self-praise with testimonials (stop claiming to be the best… post real feedback from real customers). For the full article, visit: http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/7-easy-ways-to-supercharge-your-website-first-90-days.html.
Thanks for reading, and until next time… stay WISE!
Image credit: Hubspot