It’s easy to get complacent when you have an attractive website that looks the part.
Nice branding, a great user interface, professional photography and a glossy video. All the bells and whistles and ingredients that will be sure to impress.
But if it is not geared around conversion, i.e. getting a visitor to raise their hand and get in touch, the results will largely be lacklustre. It turns more into a vanity exercise rather than one that gets results.
We need to find a balance between the two. A business website that looks the part and also performs.
Maybe you are driving traffic from paid sources such as Google Adwords, Paid Social Media Ads. Potentially the site is performing well from a search engine optimisation perspective getting heaps of organic Google love because there is lots of long form quality content. Sometimes getting people to your “virtual door” is the easy part. Getting them to respond in the way you want them to is harder!
You keep seeing these visits showing up in Google Analytics but they aren’t getting in touch. Why oh why!?
Are website visitors responding to you?
This is called Lead Conversion. It can mean different things to different companies. Examples include attracting online sales via an ecommerce shop, email subscriptions and opt-ins, or having customers getting in touch with you via a form to make an appointment. Maybe it is as simple as getting the phone to ring.
The best website designs work hard to stop potential customers clicking on to your homepage, then bouncing straight off again. Studies show that people spend less than 15 seconds on a web page on average, so you don’t have much time at all to grab their attention.
Keeping them going in the right direction, to explore multiple pages through your website means having a website optimised for a great UX or User Experience.
Website design tips to provide a great user experience.
Here are a few tips on creating a website that performs well on lead conversion.
Keep it simple
A site that’s overcrowded or slow to load is a big turn off. Stop trying to cram more stuff in. Sure, bells and whistles might look impressive, but unnecessary add ons and pop-ups can dilute your website effectiveness. On the homepage , keep the number one headline “above the scroll” of the homepage. At a glance, people will see who you are and what you do. There is nothing wrong with scrolling but prioritise the important messaging front and top.
Use Iconography
Rather than boring old text, inject display your products, services or features and benefits via illustrated icons. Make these unique and specific to the subject matter.
Get product benefits up front
Make sure your selling messages and compelling statements shout out from the second site visitors click on.
Use white space
This can be any colour! It refers to the way content such as messages, links and images can “ping” and become unmissable, with some visual reinforcement.
Make navigation seamless
Which is vital as one of the biggest turnoffs is “multiple click syndrome”. Modern consumers don’t have the patience for that. Your website design should help them find what they want quickly, then take them swiftly to the transaction or reaction page.
A strong call to action
Don’t make the visitor thing too much! General rule of thumb one page, one intention e.g. “Get In Contact”
Keep checking Google Analytics
This can help you to identify any roadblocks or gaps that are having a negative impact on your conversion rates. After all, you can manage what you don’t measure. Maybe there is an incredibly high bounce rate. Possibly there are technical issues that are blocking visitors to your site. Keeping a check on this will ensure you have the real time data to see what is actually happening on your website.
The Round Up
It all comes down to having an online presence that’s well constructed to meet your business aims, backed by great design and functionality. Finding the balance is the tricky bit!
Contact us to speak to a local web design Gold Coast company you can rely on to create a measurably effective performance; as well as one that looks amazing! We have been designing websites for over 13 years of experience in putting these websites together and achieve consistently great outcomes for our clients.
