A website is usually a big investment, but not all business owners know whether theirs is working as hard as it could. A great site can mean the difference between whether customers choose you…. or one of your competitors. 

Here’s some tips for helping your website engage with visitors and convert them to customers.

1. Create a powerful first impression

When potential customers come to your site, they’re forming an instant impression of your business. What do you want that to be – one that is engaging, compelling and inviting, or…not so much?

Experiments have shown that users can judge a website’s credibility in as little as 3.42 seconds, so you don’t get long to make an impact.

If you were meeting a new client in person, you wouldn’t turn up in sweaty gym gear (unless you’re a personal trainer, perhaps). Having pages that are clean, fresh and easy to navigate will reassure potential clients that your business is professional and trustworthy. On the other hand, a site with spelling and grammar mistakes can leave the impression that you don’t know your stuff.

Are your website pages clear, easy to read and error-free? Not everyone is a grammar geek – or wants to be. If words aren’t your strength, a professional copywriter can create content for your pages that makes you look and sound as wonderful as you are at doing what you do. A good web developer can turn a mediocre site into something visually stunning.

2. Optimise promotion of your products and services

You’re in business because you have a product or service to sell, and your website needs to showcase that to full potential.

This is no place to be shy. High-quality images taken by a professional photographer will highlight products to their best effect. Concise but thorough descriptions of your products or services will boost credibility and help to answer any customer questions.

A good way to start is by imagining how you would describe your product or service to your ideal buyer. Think about the language you’d use – would it be humorous, sophisticated, a bit cheeky?  Use that language to write descriptions that your customers will easily relate to.

Remember to highlight benefits over features. Would you be more enticed by a lawnmower with a powerful engine and wider cut, or the one that will have you finished the lawn and sitting down for a beer in half the time? Or the practitioner with xyx qualifications or one who will see you today and fix your sore back?

Help your customers see why your products or services are superior, and how their lives will be better for using them.

3. Share social proof

You know that your business is awesome, but why should anyone else believe you? Offering social proof lets customers know it’s not just you tooting your own trumpet.

Testimonials are a fantastic way of showing that other people think you’re amazing. A personal recommendation about the quality of your business does so much more than you banging on about it.

If you’ve got great ratings on a review site, make it known. Online reviews have been shown to impact 67.7% of purchasing decisions, and almost three-quarters (74%) of consumers say they trust local businesses with positive reviews more, so use these ratings if you have them.

Use logos or images to display companies that you’ve worked with, or share any media outlets where your business has been featured. If you promote your business on social media, show how many people are sharing your content.  

There are plugins to do this on your site. Talk to your web developer about ways to make it easy for people to share your great content with their network, expanding your reach.

4. Have a strong call to action

Getting people to your website is a great start, but what do you want them to do? A strong call to action (CTA) makes it easier for visitors to know what to do next, whether that’s purchase a product, make an appointment to see you, register for an event, download a guide or subscribe to a newsletter.

Statistics from Unbounce show that more than 90% of visitors who read your headline will also read your CTA, while Adroll found that adding CTAs to a Facebook page can increase the click-through rate by 285%.

The positioning, style and colour of CTAs all influence their effectiveness, so talk to a marketing expert for advice. The wording also has a powerful effect. Would you be more likely to click on a button saying, “click here”, or one that says “Yes. Send mine now”? A professional copywriter can advise you here.

Any CTA is better than none, so get started with something, and do some A/B testing to discover what is working best for you.

Professional copywriters craft words for website pages, product and service descriptions, CTAs, staff profiles and case studies. Contact me to talk about creating copy that captures your unique brand voice and tells your story in a way that is compelling and engaging.