Where do I begin…
There are so many reasons to have quality content on your website and your reputation is #1. Without a clear and effective message, you will lose visitors.
Take a step back and really look at your website’s home page. Just the home page. What do you see? If you landed here inadvertently- would you know what the business or service is that the owner is providing. Are you the intended audience for such services? If you are a potential client, do you know what to do next?
The Message - EXPLAIN YOUR BUSINESS!
What is it that you do exactly? Who is your target audience? This is not the time to be elusive about what you do. So, no matter how pretty your site is…there still needs to be a clear message for your visitor.
- Avoid Jargon
- Stop talking in circles and spell it out!
- Pare it down- no one is going to read a novel, no matter how good it is.
- Use pointed titles or tag lines to separate out various service areas or areas of attention
The Traffic - SEARCH ENGINES ARE LOOKING FOR WORDS (AKA….Content)
If your website is all about flash, then search engines will be unhappy with your site because flash is not content. Of course, there is nothing wrong with having a dynamic and exciting website, but if the goal is to increase traffic, you may be cautious about when and where you use flash and images.
That being said - with the content you do have, are you capturing the attention of said search engines by using keywords effectively and in the right place? Now, go back to step 1 and revisit your message as it pertains to keywords. Are you using them?
- Review your list of key words
- Use some sort of analytics tool to gather valuable information about the traffic patterns on your site (Google Analytics is great!)
- If you have a blog- weave in your keywords when possible or additional ones as necessary
- Keep your content fresh- if it is over a year old- time to dust it off!
The Call to Action - WHAT DO YOU WANT VISITORS TO DO?
This is where you start to put up the neon signs, so to speak. Now that you know to whom you are selling to and how to get found by search engines, you need to make it painfully obvious to the visitor what you want them to do next. Whether you want them to pick up the phone and call you or want them to buy the product right now - you need to make it as easy as pie for them to know how to do just that. If you have not shown your visitors the way and they get lost…..lost they are for you as well.
- What do you want visitors to do?
- Provide clear links, buttons, etc for them to do what you want them to
- How many clicks does it take for them to accomplish the task? If there are too many steps you may want to reconsider the process.
This is not necessarily new information, nor is it the end all cure all for an ailing website. If you are unable to be objective about your website content or just need help pulling it all together, get some help. Quality content is a direct reflection on your reputation and you cannot afford to take chances on that first impression.
This is a guest blog post by Samantha Bovat
