You have approximately 8 seconds to grab the attention of your website visitors before they lose interest and click elsewhere.
This means that your website has got to be good - it has got to work very hard to engage the visitors' attention and quickly demonstrate that your business has the solution to their problems.
The following ten tips are designed to ensure that your website both grabs attention and then converts that attention into whatever action you want your visitors to take.
Be Very Clear On Your Website's Objectives
Lots of website owners are still not clear what they want their website to achieve.
It's vital that you decide whether you want your visitors to buy something immediately or to pick up the phone and contact you or to request more information etc.
It doesn't matter what response you want but you must be clear in your own mind so that the text is written accordingly and the website is designed appropriately.
Content Is King
Content is crucial both for your visitors and for Google.
Your visitors are looking for solutions to their problems so they want high quality content, well written, up to date and different to what they can find everywhere else.
Google also loves high quality content. If Google deems your site to have lots of top quality information that isn't just parroting other sites, it will reward you by making your site visible to its users.
The Magic Word
When writing your content, make sure you use the magic word - YOU.
Remember your website isn't about you, it's about your readers. By writing in this way you are personalising your content to your readers. In effect you are holding a dialogue with the reader and making him or her the centre of your focus.
Include Your Keywords
You must ensure that your website can be found by people looking for your product or service. Search engine optimisation is a very complex and continuously changing topic. One thing you must ensure is that you include your keywords appropriately within the text.
A note of caution here is if you "key word stuff" ie use your keywords too many times or inappropriately Google will penalise you.
Visitors Don't Read - They Skim
The sad thing is that website visitors don't read your text, they skim it. Large, intimidating blocks of copy will encourage your visitors to click away..
With this in mind, make sure your copy is short and sharp.
- Short sentences hold the attention.
- Bulleted lists are easy to skim.
- Sub heads break up the page and give you a very quick feel for the content.
Make It Easy For Them To Contact You
With any luck, your visitors will want to contact you. Make it easy for them. If your visitors have to go to the Contact Us page they may not bother. Have your phone number and email address prominently displayed in the top right hand corner of every page.
Tell Them What You Want Them To Do
As I said earlier, you must be clear what you want your visitors to do. You must then tell the visitors. Give them a call to action.
"Call Us Today"
"Fill In Your Contact Details"...
"Download Our Special Report"
Whatever it is make sure you include a call to action on every page.
Make It Look Good
While content may be king, people also buy with their eyes.
Make your site look good. Make it aesthetically pleasing. Use a good designer. Include plenty of visuals.
However take care that design doesn't get in the way of your messages.
Don't Underestimate The Power Of Testimonials
We can all say how good we are. But how much more impactful is it when someone else sings our praises?
Make sure you have a testimonials page but also include a few on the home page. Get as many testimonials as you can. If you have loads of testimonials, people may not read them all but they will get the message that lots of customers think you're great.
Get Their Contact Details
One of the primary objectives of websites is to get visitors contact details. To achieve this you must offer them something of value for which they will exchange their details. Special reports or white papers to download are the normal offering but if you can think of something of even greater value then the number of people taking up the offer will increase.
Once you have the contact details you can start marketing to them directly.
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