What is your website doing?
The main points I come across when discussing websites with clients are they want traffic, they want ranking and they sort of want customers but there is not one thing on their website that actually lets a visitor become a customer.
Yes, there may be a “sign up for our newsletter” type optin form but really, there is nothing that actually makes that visitor want or need to stay.
Most websites are made up of the following components (to a greater or lesser degree)
Home Page- that is the page you land on and this page directs you to where you want to go… if the page actually holds you for long enough to click through to another page.
About Page- this page tells you something about the company/business/person that apparently you want to know?
Contact Page- you may get a map, but you will some information about how to contact the owners of the site
The rest of the pages hold information about products, maybe a blog and a lot of fluff that most people don’t read thoroughly, unless that is the reason they arrived on the website in the first place.
I consider that these “websites” are more or less, web brochures. They are the pretty picture you get in your mailbox that has lots of colour but lacking substance for the majority of people. Yes, they do hit the spot for some people but as a business owner and owner of a website, is hitting the spot for a few people, enough?
In just about all cases, the answer is a resounding NO.
Ok, so having determined that, what are your options?…. well as Justin Brooke from The Traffic Strategist says
“Too many people are in love with their website, videos, sales page, etc.”
“They’re “high-fiving” their designer and their buddies, but the REAL test is what happens when you send $1,000 bucks worth of paid ads to it.”
“Unfortunately, what happens too often is because they are soooo in love with their creation they blame the ads instead. No one wants to call their baby ugly.”…
For me, this is the major question website owners who are looking to expand their business should be asking themselves “what happens when you send $1,000 bucks worth of paid ads to it?”
Does the visitor become engrossed in what you have to say?
Are they engaged?
Is there a “Call to Action”
Is there an easy progression for the visitor to become a customer?
How do your visitors actually become a customer?
Think about the question “what happens when you send $1,000 bucks worth of paid ads to it?”
Search the internet, there are so many examples of websites that do not do anything with their visitors, It appears they don’t even know what they expect the visitor do. (apart from “become customers”)
If you aren’t clear on what you expect your visitor to do when that visitor arrives at your website, how do you expect the visitor to know?
You must come up with a strategy to turn your site visitors into paying customers, otherwise, you online presence is just another brochure being stuffed in a mailbox by someone who doesn’t seem to care.