Your website is what people see first when they search you over the World Wide Web. It’s your digital ID. Every design flaw reflects your attention to detail and competence; every word choice can either make or break relationships with visitors and potential customers. As such, it makes strategic sense to make sure your website is refined constantly to meet the needs and expectations of your audience. To help take your website to the next level, here are six tips:
Add a Mission Statement
A mission statement, also referred to as a value proposition, tells visitors what your website is about the minute your page displays on their screen. Being clear with what you offer and why you do what you do is a quality people appreciate when visiting websites. They don’t want to waste time trying to determine what your company is about. Put a concise, well-written mission statement on your website’s home page, either as a headline or on your “About Us” section.
Streamline Navigation
Your site’s navigation serves two main functions – helps the user find what they are searching for and helps search engines rank your page. Of course, your visitors should always be the priority over search engine rankings. When designing or improving your website’s navigation, be human. Use descriptive navigation rather than run-off-the-mill “what we do” words. Use words that people use on an everyday basis and words that people might search for when they browse the web.
Include a Call to Action
CTA, or call to action, is a big thing in eCommerce websites. If you have a poorly written call to action, you can’t convert leads into paying customers. Most dotcom entrepreneurs focus all their resources into getting users on their site. So you’ve got people on your site and they are interested in buying or subscribing. Now what? A call to action text is key to closing the sale. Use a first person voice when writing your CTA, such as “Download my Ebook now”.
Implement a Web Application Firewall
WAF, or web application firewall, is designed to protect a website from sensitive data exposure. This piece of program is advantageous for businesses that handle large amounts of user data on the web, such as online retailers. In cases wherein cybersecurity measures are inadequate, user data is left vulnerable to hackers and their malware. If this data is breached, your business can suffer large financial losses and can lead to distrust from existing and future users.
Make Sure it is Mobile Responsive
When people talk about websites from a technical standpoint, the phrase “mobile-responsive” is more often than not thrown into the mix. Today’s consumers are using their smartphones and tablets to browse and shop for products and services. A website that is not mobile responsive will have a different layout and feel when accessed via mobile devices. Navigation and design may turn off visitors and prevent any lead conversions. If that’s not enough reason to switch to a mobile-responsive design, Google started penalizing websites that are not mobile-friendly a couple of years back.
Boost Page Reload Speeds
Website page reload speed is one of the key factors that decide the bounce rate and session time of your visitors. Even a two second delay in your page reload time, especially in the middle of a transaction, can cause your customers to cancel the transaction and empty their carts. Some ways you can minimize page reload delay include lowering the number of HTTP requests, minifying and compressing files, and using asynchronous loading for JavaScript and CSS files.
Final Thoughts
You don’t need to spend money on top talent to do a top-to-bottom makeover of your website nor should it take you countless hours of site modification. By implementing the six steps aforementioned in this article, you can see significant improvement in site performance and visitor statistics.
