Is Your Website Working for You?

Five seconds.

That's all you have to make an impression on a web visitor – to convey a clear  message about who you are, what you do, and the service you provide.

Does your website do that? Most business owners and professionals are not web marketing experts and don’t have the skills to tell if their website is working for or against them (by attracting new clients and customers or by driving them away). So, what can you do?

By using these simple tips, you can give your website the once over and determine if you've got an effective tool and customer magnet or just a collection of cyber trash.

The Top Seven Items to Look For:

1.  A Focused Message: Look at your home page. Can visitors actually tell what you do in five seconds? Effective home pages are like billboards. People whiz by them, view an evocative image and read the accompanying message. If it appeals to them, they'll explore further. (No time here for paragraphs about your mission and education. Save that for the "About" page).

2. A Simple Interface Design: Effective websites let visitors find information, interact with tools, and communicate. It's a trap to put too much on any one page. Presenting 10 items of equal importance causes confusion. Weight your page with one main idea, one main image (larger than the others), and one main area of text.  Place your announcements, eBook offerings, and tools in a smaller box or off on a side column. Think "less is more" and "MISS" (make it simple stupid).

3. Easy-to-Use Navigation: Can visitors find information easily?  Have you broken down your content into main category and subcategory pages such as "Physical Therapy" and "Experienced Staff"? Or, are multiple categories all jumbled on a page? Are the "About Us", "Contact" and "Directions" pages listed in the navigation bar? Is there a "Search" field in the upper right corner of every page (50 percent of users find information this way). If you answered no to any one of these questions, you may have just lost half of your visitors. 

4. Headings and Keywords: What's makes for an effective heading? A concise and descriptive phrase. For example, if you are a divorce attorney, "How to Create an Effective Parenting Plan" would be an effective heading. Why? First, it incorporates "keyword" terms that users search by – in this case "parenting plan." Second, it answers a question. Nearly half of all Google users type in a search term in the form of a question, i.e. – "How do I create a good Parenting Plan for my children?" If the answer happens to be on your website, good job, you're in business.

5. Images That Actually Mean Something: I visit other people's websites for a living. So, I often come across images that look great, but don't relate one bit to the subject matter. The same goes for icons that are just plain indecipherable. Do use images, illustrations and photos, but make sure they aren’t just decorative--if they don't offer meaning and advance your message, then drop them. The best images hit you emotionally.

6. Effective Social Media Integration: Exploit the power of social media - Facebook, LinkedIin, Twitter, and YouTube to attract additional clients and customers. Write a blog article and Tweet it. Create a LinkedIn profile for yourself and your business, join discussion groups, and participate in conversations about topics relating to your field. Promote your business on Facebook by creating a fan page and invite your friends and their friends to visit. Shoot a few one-minute videos on the frequently asked questions your clients and customers ask you and put them up on your website, Facebook fan page,Twitter, and YouTube.  

7. Calls-To-Action That Motivate Responses:  Last, and perhaps most importantly, ask your visitors to email or call you. These should be everywhere. You can tease them with an offer for a free article, a five-page eBook on a related subject, or a 10 percent discount. But, don’t ask them for too much information. Their email address is all you really need to contact them later.

If you still feel unable to judge the effectiveness of your website, ask a professional - a web marketer or web interface designer. Find someone who is focused more on the business side of the web than on the graphic design side. Why? Well. it's nice to have a pretty website, but pretty websites don’t necessarily motivate users to buy, email or call you. After all, that’s the real goal, right?