In this day and age of eCommerce it isn’t enough to just have a great product, offer a great service or have the best reviews! Your website is essential in how you can stand out from the rest of your competition and start converting visitors into paying customers!

Website Design

We will start with one of the most important if not the most important factors. You want the design of your website to properly represent and reflect your business/brand. Your website should look nice, be easy to navigate and make people want to click that offer, order that product or hire you for that service.

The design and look of your website represents your brand and business no? You want your physical brick and mortar location to be as nice as possible right? Well your website is your online B&M. Trying to sell something on a website that looks like a third grader made it in Microsoft Paint is just not viable today. People are getting smarter about their online safety. They won’t risk putting their credit card information into your site if:

  • Your logos and design don’t match.
  • Your images and content are low quality.
  • You use bad place holders for product images.
  • The overall design of your website feels “cheap."
  • There is no clear design or flow.
  • Poor use of link forwarding and click funnels or no knowledge of them at all.

Why would a potential customer or client purchase from you if you can’t be bothered to make sure your business is represented well and provide them with a good experience? You might throw up a drag and drop site and think “good enough, it will work.” Wrong! If you don’t have a high quality website, expect very low sales and a miniscule conversion rate on your website. That is just the truth on the matter.

A poorly executed website should always be looked at with caution. If you land on a website that is horribly put together, looks cheap and not well done, we always suggest you inspect the website thoroughly to check its legitimacy or leave immediately if you are suspicious. You or your visitors have to think, why is it so bad? Is it all they can afford and their best effort? Then go for it, support that small business! But what if they just don’t care enough about their product/business to offer their online visitors a good experience? Should you in return support them? There are many people out there starting and trying to grow a business that really care and give it their all. Support them. Some people throw up quick sites and try to make a buck. But it just doesn’t work. Also, more sinisterly, what you have to watch out for with low quality websites is they could be scams or phishing sites, and some of these malicious sites can be pretty high-quality too. Which is all something we will cover in another blog of ours coming soon, on how to spot them, avoid them, and stay safe online!

Your website layout should also be clear and concise, leaving only small gaps that are needed between website content. The clickable elements such as a navigation bar or CTA’s should be clearly laid out for users to quickly access what they want. Also note that there is plenty of white space to aid in providing the right feeling of comfort, but not too much as this reduces the need to skim through pages and reduces the feeling of endless scrolling causing the exit of your website – which is a key factor in customer interaction.

Call to Action

You generally should have a main Call to Action (CTA) that should be immediately visible when you land on your site, with a specific call to action that includes a clickable link or address on your landing page. An eCommerce store for example should include a link to a list of your most popular products on the main page, as close to the top as possible, with the design allowing.

Also having a “Related Products” or “Others Who Viewed This Also Liked” product sections can be very beneficial. Something like that is especially important when the page is on an exit page or purchase page, and that is just scraping the surface of what is possible if you start actually trying to build click funnels.

If the purchase page includes a call to action that doesn’t link to another page or a unique offer it is no longer effective. If customers don’t know what they are looking at or where to click, how can you expect them to? You have to give them the option to upgrade, add on or inquire about more instantaneously as they are moving around your website and making their decisions.

Calls to Action are Important for Conversions

The reality is, you aren’t going to get a direct message or purchase from every user of your website and that’s ok, but you need to be proactive and provide your customers with choices so they feel free to purchase your product or service at their convenience and they have the feeling of options.

High-quality options for your visitors are always great. But are they clear and concise? When they click your CTA do they know exactly what they are getting? Can you use CTA’s to get people excited to purchase before they actually click the button? Absolutely! Getting someone to click your offer and complete the purchase can start a long time before they even make it to your website! We at White Hat Web Solutions get great results with cross platforms CTA conversions! Contact us today to find out more about how we can help you grow!

Make the Entrance Easy

The first thing visitors see on your website is your landing page. You need to make sure that it contains two things: visually inviting content and a properly funneled CTA. Your content is what your website is all about, what you have to offer visitors. If your landing page is nothing more than a giant, unreadable font, this may put visitors off, who are looking for a lot more information on your website.

The way your page comes up on screen when first visited should be eye catching, interesting and informative. You want people to want to check out more of your site while giving them just enough information in that first glimpse that they know they are in the right place and they know what you are about.

As we said many times before, the design and quality of not only your landing page but your whole website is just as important as your product or the services itself. Through your website you can gain that visitors trust with a great looking website, ease of use and solving their problem. Your homepage needs to be easy to navigate, clear and visible. This will attract visitors to start a consultation with you, a purchase, or take part in one of your campaigns.

Be Sure You Have A Clear Purpose

Any business should have a clear set purpose that is immediately obvious to the visitor of their site, however, if the business’s purpose is unclear, no matter how great the product or service is, it won’t be successful. While there are many different types of purposes, one of the most important is to establish what a business is about from the very beginning. This will help your customers to determine what they need and if the product or service you offer will fit in with what they want and expect. However, to be seen as ‘the one’, you need to be able to offer something more than just a service or a product, you have to build a brand, and your website is your headquarters!

Conclusion

If you want to be good at selling, you will have to think bigger than just your product or service. You have to think about appearance, outreach, and what your goals for the business are. It is only by knowing where we want to go, that we can figure out a way there. Whether you’re selling vintage goods, new clothing, own a plumbing business or a restaurant, having a beautiful, professional website will make your life a lot easier and your business a lot happier. Whatever form it takes, it’s much easier to sell something if it is nicely displayed, in-person and online. What about you? Do you have a website or marketing plan for your business? Let us know! Contact us today if we can help in any way!