A successful presence online requires each element to work together harmoniously. More than ever before, your website can make or break your business. Beyond web design, the functionality of your website and quality of your content play major roles in how visitors perceive your company. In fact, positive first impressions are crucial because users generally decide if they’ll exit a site after 10 seconds. For this reason, here are the most common website content mistakes to avoid:
A person is visiting your homepage – now what? The goal of any webpage should be made clear to the visitor immediately. A visible call-to-action will direct a visitor on where to go next. If your website is not e-commerce, this can be especially unclear. However, with a deep understanding of your goals, you can have the freedom to direct them wherever you want. Ultimately, you want to try to extend a user’s experience on your webpage for as long as possible. If they are on your homepage, direct them to your blog, for example. Once they have finished reading a post, offer them related articles to continue reading. The longer a person stays on your website, the stronger impression it will have.
In order for a visitor to stay longer on your website, all stages of the customer journey must be addressed. These stages include awareness, consideration, purchase, and retention. Most often, businesses will focus on one facet disproportionately more than the others. For example, a website may be all about branding and awareness, but lack substance in the stage of consideration. Another common example is businesses trying to solely drive purchase without acknowledging the natural progression of a user’s visit. Most often, the consideration and retention stages are the most overlooked, so take time to make sure they are included in the functionality of your website.
Related to the consideration stage, many sites may hesitate to list pricing. While it’s understandable to shy away from prices, you are withholding a key piece of information that potential customers are likely looking for. Customers use this information to make comparisons and educated decisions. Usually, visitors prefer to get an idea of what something costs before they reach out via email or phone call. At the very least, a website should include information on how to determine pricing and ranges. Being upfront will also foster a better sense of trust between your business and customers.
The organization of your website is just as important as the content you include. Organized site architecture ensures users will easily browse through a website and search engines can determine which pages are the highest priority. Listing pages in your navigation is a good start to maintaining structure and efficiency. Effective internal linking is also a great strategy to make important pages easier to find. Because website content often gets created continuously, proper internal linking must be approached holistically with your overarching goals in mind. This will help you prioritize which are the best pages to include links.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY