In my column for The New York Times, I critique websites submitted by readers and it amazes me how many smart businesspeople fail to treat their websites the way they treat their brick-and-mortar businesses.
While every site has its unique issues, four themes keep coming up:
1. Poor messaging/failure to differentiate
The most popular button on any website is the back button. There are millions of websites, and you need to give visitors a great reason to come to yours and stay there. Before you embark on any website project, get a clear understanding of your value proposition.
One of my favorite sites is Zappos.com, which sells shoes exclusively online. What differentiates Zappos is exceptional customer service. They offer free shipping in both directions, a no-questions-asked return policy and 24/7 customer service. All these offers are made prominently on their homepage. Clear messaging combined with great graphics, clear navigation and a clean user interface is one of the reasons their sales are over $1 billion a year.
2. Failure to monitor
Imagine if hundreds of people walked in the door of your brick-and-mortar store, looked around for a few seconds and then took off without even walking down a single aisle. If that happened, you’d immediately make changes. The one thing you wouldn’t do, is nothing.
An astoundingly high percentage of businesses with websites fail to install analytics. Google has a powerful analytics tool that is free and easy to install. Analytics tell you:
- Bounce rates: This is the percentage of people coming to your site and leaving without clicking to another page. A high bounce rate tells you something is wrong with your messaging or user interface.
- Pageviews: This gives you an idea of how many times your pages are viewed per visitor.
- Most-visited pages: This is an excellent way to learn what customers are really interested in.
- Traffic sources: This can provide feedback on advertising efforts and information about your competition.
- Time spent on the site: This shows how engaged your visitors are.
- Conversion rates: How many visitors take the steps to do business with you?
Make sure that someone at your company regularly keeps track of your analytics. If you use a marketing company to follow the analytics, make sure they are providing you with regular, detailed reports. A good marketing company will not only report raw numbers, but also provide you with ways to improve those numbers, such as better landing pages.
3. Failure to convert
A results-driven website is designed around the goal of driving specific user behavior. It’s great to attract visitors to your website—it’s even better to engage them. However, what you really want them to do is take specific action, such as:
- Buy your products
- Call for a quote or appointment
- Sign up for e-mail alerts
If your visitors aren’t taking these actions, then your website is a failure. For service providers, the failure to convert visitors is often the result of poor calls to action. Many business sites bury their phone number so deep it would take a detective to find it.
Calls to action (“Buy Now” or “Subscribe Here”) should be displayed prominently and clearly. If you look at the Blue Fountain Media homepage, you’ll see a series of compelling calls to action:
- View Our Work
- Request a Quote
- View Our Portfolio Video
Nothing frustrates visitors more than not being able to take the next step. Nothing frustrates businesses more than visitors who browse the site but fail to take action.
4. Failure to generate repeat traffic
Nobody wants a visitor to come to the site just once. Visitor loyalty must be earned. You must give visitors reasons to keep coming back. This requires a commitment to delivering fresh, engaging and useful content to your target audience.
For an e-commerce site, it means constantly displaying new merchandise and providing deals geared specifically to the online audience. It can also mean sending out e-mail blasts to subscribers to get them to come back to your site.
Blogs are a great way to encourage repeat visits. A site that sells health food products, for example, should blog about latest in diet, fitness and nutrition. This information also demonstrates and reinforces the firm's expertise. If you blog, then update regularly. Nothing turns off a visitor more than a blog that hasn’t been updated in weeks.
Another great way to create visitor loyalty is to integrate social media platforms with your primary business site. Use Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to engage your visitors. Provide exclusive deals to your social media fans. Most importantly, provide ways for visitors to share your content. This not only creates greater loyalty, it can expand your visitor base.
In conclusion
Your website can be your most important sales and marketing tool. Unfortunately, the majority of companies fail to maximize the business-generating potential of their websites.
Take a look at your website through the eyes of your target audience. If you're not delivering your core message, if you're clueless about the site's performance, if your site is not delivering sales and leads, then it is time to get professional help.
A bad site hurts more than just your sales. It damages your brand.
OPEN Cardmember Gabriel Shaoolian is the founder and CEO of Blue Fountain Media, a results-driven web design and online marketing company based in Manhattan.
Source: http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/marketing/article/the-4-biggest-business-website-mistakes
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