9 Things Your Website Is Doing to Drive Visitors Away …And How You Can Bring Them Back By Maureen O’Grady Condon and Darius Eslami www.precisionmarketinggroup.com
9 Things Your Website Is Doing to Drive Visitors Away… And How You Can Bring Them Back
Every business needs a website that attracts, engages and converts qualified leads. Whether your company is building its first site or looking to enhance its existing one, it’s critical to avoid the things that drive visitors away – potentially into the arms of a competitor. Here are 9 things your website might be doing wrong – and several strategies for fixing them. 1. Overlooking clear navigation. You get to a site that seems to offer something you need, but then you can’t find your way around the site. There is no way to go to a previous page without hitting the ‘back’ button, page titles in the drop down menus are confusing at best, and when you want to find a specific form, you need to click and dig and click and dig until you find it. Unclear Navigation Detailed & Rich Navigation 2. Bringing Them Back Create a site map and organize your pages thoughtfully. Instead of naming a page Service Offerings, for example, specify the kind of services you offer – Accounting Services, Salon Services, etc. Choose a few courtesy links to always display in the top right corner of your site (About and Contact are good choices for courtesy links). You may find that top navigation does not fit your site’s style; lean towards left‐hand navigation instead of another option. When a user hovers over a menu items, allow the subpages to appear so they can select their option easily. In the end, if a visitor can figure out where they are going, then you are headed in the right direction! ~SEO Bonus~ If you use accurate and well‐named phrases in your navigation, not only will the user have a clearer way of getting around your site, but you will benefit from optimization. Clear navigation allows you to work your keywords into navigation page titles.
Page 2 of 9
9 Things Your Website Is Doing to Drive Visitors Away
3.
Duplicating content. You are under deadline and want to make sure your site is really complete. However, consistency does not mean redundancy. Maybe your About Us and History pages have the same content. Or the intro paragraphs on each services page may be identical. You might call this saving time. Who needs unique content on each page? Just a little bit of copy and paste will bring you a bunch of pages for your ‘in‐depth’ site, right? Wrong – because your visitors will see right through it. Bringing Them Back Take the time to go through each page on your site and jot down a few points you’d like to highlight on that page. If your points are becoming too lengthy, consider breaking down those pages event further. Next, create rich and unique copy to go on each individual page. If there is something different on each page that offers new insights and details, a visitor will more likely press on to read, instead of leaving after seeing the same content over and over. ~SEO Bonus~ Not only will your visitors not appreciate duplicate content but search engines do not appreciate it either. There are numerous reports of content not being indexed when it is a duplicate of other content on your site or content from other site. There are a number of subtleties and rules but avoid them all by using unique content to support your optimization efforts.
4.
Ignoring metadata. Who needs title tags and meta descriptions? You do! If you are ignoring your search engine optimization tactics, visitors will have a hard time finding your site, let alone surfing through its pages. Page titles help your visitors and search engines understand what your page is about. Specific, Long Tail Title Tag Weak, Generic Title Tag
Page 3 of 9
9 Things Your Website Is Doing to Drive Visitors Away
Bringing Them Back Create unique and relevant meta descriptions for each page on your website. A meta description is the little blurb a potential visitor will see under a certain page’s name if that page comes up in a search engine query. You want that description to be enticing and around 150 characters – anything longer will get cut off. Also, make sure that description relates to the material on the page; nothing is worse for visitor retention than duping a visitor! ~SEO Bonus~ Meta tags and descriptions help search engines recognize data on pages throughout your site, which allows them to catalog your pages correctly. Plus when it is displayed in the search you help your chances of receiving a click when the person searching sees the words they entered front and center in the description. 5.
Ignoring internal links. Believe it or not, internal links (links that lead from one page on your site to another) do matter. Nobody likes clicking on a link only to receive an error message or an Under Construction page. Internal links are what direct visitors to more information on your site and generate more traffic to other pages. Now, who doesn’t want to generate a little bit of traffic? Bringing Them Back Consider running a tool that can check for broken links on your site. If you regularly update various pages with links, you may want to manually check them once in awhile to ensure a goof up hasn’t happened. If you miss one, your visitors probably won’t. ~SEO Bonus~ Internal links are just as important for optimization as external links. Your linking structure within your website can direct visitors to your strongest pages. And internal links also help search engines "see and follow" so that more pages on your site are indexed. Take advantage of this!
Page 4 of 9
9 Things Your Website Is Doing to Drive Visitors Away
6.
Losing grip on the homepage. As long as your homepage is flashy, people will like your site. Just toss up some cool images, bright colors, and play some music – every visitor wants to see/hear that, right? Wrong. Think of your homepage as the front door to your website; if you don’t have your act together there, good luck getting someone to ring the bell. Boring, ‘Empty’ Homepage Gripping Homepage Bringing Them Back More than any other page, your homepage needs to reflect your business. It should be clean, understandable, and inviting. If you have one of those “Click here to enter site” buttons – get rid of it! Use homepage images strategically – choosing a select few can really impact the appeal of your site. Try to include any social media accounts on your homepage as well as any awards you’ve received. It is also effective to have a What’s New feed on your homepage so visitors can see what’s going on with your company. This conveys a friendly attitude and makes visitors feel engaged and welcome. ~SEO Bonus~ Through organic searches, a few of your other pages will come up, but people will always check your digital welcome mat. Ensure your calls to action and optimization tactics are in place.
7.
Being vague and mysterious about what you do/sell. It has undoubtedly happened to everyone. You visit a site via a search engine query, peruse the homepage and About Us section, and come away with no clue about what this site is actually offering. “We cherish our customers and provide vital services and products to calibrate individual results, making your processes simpler and more efficient.” A very vague example, but you get the point. Bringing Them Back Be as explicit as possible about what you do. If you are a counselor – let it be known. If you bake
Page 5 of 9
9 Things Your Website Is Doing to Drive Visitors Away
custom cakes – spill the beans. If you are an outsourced IT company – just say so. Guessing games are fun at parties, but not when you are trying to win over visitors. If you are having a hard time finding the right words, think about your elevator pitch. What exactly do you say to someone if they ask what you do? It’s the same situation… except in writing… and on your website. ~SEO Bonus~ If you are upfront with what products and services you offer, you are taking advantage of keywords specific to your industry. There is no reason to be vague; it will only hurt your optimization efforts. 8.
Overwhelming visitors with information overload. Somebody comes to your site and they immediately need to know everything that you do, have done and plan to do in the future. Quick, list in detail every service/product you offer and tack on 25 testimonials. Don’t forget to add five different calls to action! Time to breathe. It is good to inform your audience, but use moderation and separate your information in appropriate areas – try not to promote everything all at once or you might scare your visitors away. Too Much Information Relevant & Understandable Page Bringing Them Back Give a visitor as much information as they need, but make sure it is relevant to the page they are viewing. It is understandable to want to unload everything onto them as soon as they make the effort to stumble onto the site, but it is actually a very intricate game. Provide a little more than ‘just enough’ information, and then direct them to a different page on your site via button or link for more details. This way, your visitor gets the information they want and may continue to read on – given they like what they see. Which brings us to our next point… ~SEO Bonus~ Instead of overloading a few pages with a ton of information, having many pages with relevant
Page 6 of 9
9 Things Your Website Is Doing to Drive Visitors Away
information works for you when it comes to optimization. More pages give you more opportunities to rank for keywords and showcase internal links. 9.
Not engaging a visitor. If my visitor feels like reaching out to me – they will; I don’t need to put in any effort. I don’t need to entertain my guests; it’s all about me after all. Actually, it isn’t! Having calls to action helps to ground a visitor and create traction, making them feel a part of the experience. One might think that content alone will spark the interest of a potential lead, but (surprise, surprise) some effort is needed to engage the visitor. Bringing Them Back Get creative! Plain and simple – call to action buttons are a great start. Be colorful and light hearted, but still try and maintain your company’s personality. Maybe you want to try your hand at making a video showcasing a demonstration, how‐to, or just something plain funny. Perhaps you start a blog and feed that throughout your site, encouraging comments from your visitors. Anything that can initiate a back and forth with a visitor is a great thing. ~SEO Bonus~ Calls to action are great ways to compel your visitors to do something on your website, allowing you to measure whether it is successful or not.
10. Forgetting to include different options for a visitor to contact you. You want visitors to reach out to you, right? Maybe you have a phone number in the top corner of your website. Maybe you have a footer link leading to a contact page. Here’s a thought: Maybe, just maybe, your visitors would love to reach out to you in multiple ways. Only One Method of Contact Multiple Methods of Contact
Page 7 of 9
9 Things Your Website Is Doing to Drive Visitors Away
Bringing Them Back Be available for your visitors – if they have a question, you want to make sure you have a way to answer it. Options include: 24‐hour email turnaround, contact forms, phone numbers, fax numbers, live chat, and 24‐hour phone support. Just being there for a visitor in multiple ways may reassure them of your reliability, responsiveness, and desire for great customer support. This can sometimes make or break a deal – keep that in mind. ~SEO Bonus~ Allowing visitors to contact you is a secondary effect of optimization. You go through a lot of trouble with choosing the right keywords and meta descriptions, so why would you not be available to your customers once they find you? Take the time to offer various methods of contact to follow through with your efforts. These are just a few tips on using your website to drive sales. Using these in addition to other tactics will help you increase traffic, engage visitors and inspire conversions. ©Precision Marketing Group, LLC.
Page 8 of 9
9 Things Your Website Is Doing to Drive Visitors Away
About Precision Marketing Group, LLC Precision Marketing Group (PMG) offers outstanding outsourced marketing services to entrepreneurial, B2B organizations. Each of our client engagements centers on our core values of Excellence, Integrity, Flexibility and Fun! We are passionate about marketing and excited about all of the opportunities that exist for companies who are ready for “marketing that makes money.” Our principals, Maureen Condon and Susan LaPlante‐Dube, and the talented PMG team are committed to creating and delivering practical marketing programs that help our clients to see tangible results that meet their goals, timelines and budgets. See some rave reviews from our clients and then contact Precision Marketing Group to learn how we can help you!
Our Company Values
Excellence…Integrity…Flexibility…Fun!
Page 9 of 9
9 Things Your Website Is Doing to Drive Visitors Away