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April 30, 2015

Why Your Website Doesn’t Bring You Business

Author: Valerie Baker

Your website is a potential lead-generating machine. Whether you realize it or not, your website can hold the power to unlocking unfathomable business for your company. However, chances are, you might be seeing the results you’d like to see. Why?

You have a fancy website design. You’ve invested thousands of dollars. You’ve optimized your website to show on the first page of Google. You’ve created a space online for people to contact you. What could you possibly be doing wrong?

The Ever-Evolving World of Web

The world of web is always changing and as such, so are best practices. What was best a year or two years ago may no longer apply. On the opposite end, there are new algorithms from Google a few times a year that affect the way your website gets ranked for keywords, which affects your overall traffic (and hence, business).

(Also, throughout this post, you may see me interchange the words “conversions” and “leads.” A conversion on a website is an action you want your visitors to take and can also be thought of as a lead.)

As a Client Services Manager for Atilus, part of my job is to continually keep my eyes out for things that can help our clients get more business online. Here, I’ll delve into some reasons why your website might not bring your company business.

Your Website Isn’t Mobile-Ready

According to Marketing Land, nearly 77% of those using a cell phone are smart phone users. Chances are, you’re a part of that 77% and I ask you to consider what you use your phone for. Does any activity on your smart phone include researching goods and/or services? With the amount of people using smart phones in their daily lives, it’s no wonder why Google released one of its most significant algorithm updates to date: “Mobilegeddon.”

 

To put it simply, Google will now begin ranking websites based on whether or not it is ready to be viewed on mobile devices. If your website is slightly outdated (say, 2 years or older), I strongly urge you to consider making changes to make your website ready for mobile use. According to The Social Media Hat, nearly HALF of consumers say they won’t return to a site if it does not load properly on their mobile devices.

Long story short: if your website isn’t mobile-ready, then your organic rankings may be punished and visitors/potential customers or leads may not return to your website.

Your Website Does Not Have a Clear Call-to-Action

This one sounds simple enough, but as a web development company, we are sometimes surprised by the lack of clear calls-to-actions on specific sites. But first, what is a call-to-action?

A call-to-action is what you ask visitors to do on your website. What is your main goal? For example, if you have a construction website, your main call-to-action will most likely be something like:

  • “Get a quote today!”
  • “Call us today!”
  • “Contact us today!”
  • “Start your project today!”

You want your calls-to-action to be very simple and very prominently displayed. By prominently displayed, I’m referring to placement most likely on every page and in an area where visitors will see it (oftentimes, that is the upper right-hand side). It’s also important to offer these two things in a call-to-action:

  1. What you want that person to do, i.e. call, contact, start, etc.
  2. A sense of urgency for when to do that, i.e. now, today, etc.

Long story short: when you provide a clear call-to-action, you are giving your website visitors the tools they need to contact you or pursue you as a solution to their problem.  

Your Website Isn’t Regularly Updated or Maintained

If you have a car, you’re well aware of the “you should get your oil changed at every 3,000 miles” speech. You’re aware that this type of maintenance is required in order to make everything operate smoothly. However, there is no set standard like this for websites.

Your website will never be a static thing that lives on the web. Your website is a sales tool that is available to potential customers/clients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Given its importance, it’s vital that a website is updated and maintained on a regular basis.

You may wonder what website maintenance even means. To put it simply, website maintenance is the overall review and testing of a site to make sure it performs properly for users AND search engines. Remember the Google algorithms I mentioned earlier? Since those change all the time, code that was put in place a year ago might not make sense anymore. Things change so often in web that overall website maintenance is very important.

We typically recommend maintenance and website testing on a monthly basis. Tests can include site speed, broken links, checking SEO information, or other small things of that nature. They may be small – and easy to fix – but they are important. As an example, according to KISSmetrics, a 1-second delay in site speed can cause a 7% decrease in conversions. There are simple changes that you can make to increase this and ensure that that 7% don’t leave without contacting you first.

Long story short: if your website is not maintained or tested regularly, your organic rankings and user experience may be suffering.

Your Website Asks for Too Much Information

We’ve all been there. You’re ready to sign up for a product and/or service, only to find out that it’s asking for tons of information. There are a million and one reasons why you may not fill out all the information, but the point is this: if your contact form is too long, you may be losing potential leads.

For example, say you’re a construction company in Naples. On your website, you ask for the following:

  • Name
  • Work Phone Number
  • Cell Phone Number
  • Email
  • Message

That may not sound like an overwhelming number of fields, but are they all truly necessary? According to QuickSprout, conversion rates improve by 50% when form fields are reduced from 4 to 3 fields.  Take a moment to think about the information you truly need and compare it to the information you collect. If you can narrow down your website’s contact form fields, do so.

 

Long story short: decreasing the number of contact form fields on your website can help increase leads.

Your Website Doesn’t Use Trust Symbols

Trust symbols are things you can use on your website to help visitors that might not know anything about you to trust you based any specific credentials you may have. Examples of trust symbols are:

  • Security symbols – if you have an e-commerce site
  • Customer logos – highlighting those you’ve worked with
  • Award logos – any awards your company has won or received
  • Memberships – chambers of commerce, industry associations, etc.

Using trust symbols can show potential customers or clients that you are indeed trustworthy and provide a valuable service. If you’re unsure of what types of trust symbols are best for your website, I’ve created a few examples below.

  • Atilus (web design/internet marketing company in Bonita Springs) – we’re a Google Certified Partner and proudly display that badge on our homepage.
  • Team Holly CPA (accounting company in Fort Myers) – they’re an A+ member of the Better Business Bureau and have this displayed in their footer.
  • Somero Enterprises (concrete machinery supplier headquartered in Fort Myers) – they’re members of the ASCC (American Society of Concrete Contractors) and wrote a blog post about their affiliation.
  • Deanglis Diamond (construction company in Naples) – they’re members of the USGBC and the Florida Green Building Coalition and display this within the footer of their website.

Long story short: give your potential customers a good reason to trust you with trusted affiliations, awards, memberships, etc.

Questions about Getting More Business through Your Website?

The above items are just a few of the things that affect conversion rates or leads generated from your website. If you have a question about things you can do to help grow your business online, leave your question in the comments!

Valerie Baker

Valerie is the Senior Account Manager & Project Manager here at Atilus.

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