Is Your Website Working for You?
How would you answer the question, "is your website working for you?" Maybe you're not sure how to tell if it is. We'll address that as well as give you tips on how you can improve your website.
Is it Working?
The main way to tell if your website is working for you is to determine if your web visitors are taking the action you want them to. Some common call to actions are:
- Sign up for your email list
- Request a quote on one of your services
- Purchase a product
Maybe you have neglected having call to actions on your website. Bad idea! Each website (ideally each page) should have a purpose and a desired action.
Let's think about when you go shopping at one of your favorite stores. What do the owners of the store want you to do when you visit? Buy something, of course. There may be secondary things they would like you to do such as signing up for a credit card or coupons, but ultimately, they want you to buy something. That is their desired course of action for their visitors.
So, let me ask you, what is your desired course of action for your website visitors? You need to know this and make sure you lead your customers through the process to take that action in the end.
Reasons Why Your Website Isn't Working
If you have now determined what you want people to do when they come to your website but realize that is not happening, here are some reasons why.
Call to actions are not clear or are missing. Maybe you have never thought about having call to actions before. You may have thought by just getting a website up, you have done your job. Not so. Make sure your call to actions are clearly stated. People are in a hurry today, so they want you to tell them what to do.- Poor navigation. If you don't make it easy for people to find what they want, they will leave your site before ever taking the desired action.
- Slow site speed. Like I mentioned, people don't have a lot of time and will not wait around for a website to load if it takes too long. According to a post by Search Engine Journal, "70% of consumers say a website’s loading time affects their willingness to buy." Wow, that is pretty amazing and shows the importance of fast loading web pages.
- Unattractive site. Let's face it, if your website does not make a good impression when someone lands on it - maybe the colors are not well coordinated or it's too cluttered - they won't stick around long enough to even find out what you have to offer.
- Not mobile responsive. According to an article published on CNBC in January, 2019, over 70% of the world will use only their phones to access the internet by the year 2025. If your website doesn't show well on a mobile device, you will lose customers.
To summarize, if you go to the trouble of having a website, whether you created it yourself or paid someone to do it for you, you want it to be effective.
The main way to determine if your website is working for you is to see if your visitors are taking the desired action(s).
Some things you can do to encourage more engagement once people are on your site.
Have an attractive website that loads quickly
Have a clear navigation that allows visitors to easily find what they want.
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Have clear call to actions
Make sure your website looks and functions great on every size device.
If you would like help creating an attractive website that works for you, please get in touch with us! We love to help entrepreneurs achieve their goals by giving them an awesome online home.