It’s very common for us to get approached by businesses who already have a website but it isn’t producing the desired engagement or results for them. We also get approached by those who realized they picked a web development team who are actually unable to deliver the results they promised.
In these situations, we find ourselves faced with two options: fix the problems caused by the previous developers, or we scrap the whole website and start from scratch.
Often, the option that would bring the desired results and a higher-ROI is the latter option, but if that option is not viable for you at the moment, here are some of the most basic, non-technical, actionable tips that you can implement yourself to help boost your website’s ability to generate leads and prompt enquiries from prospects.
Landing Page Optimization
1. When someone visits your website for the first time, the very first question they seek to answer is, “What’s in it for me?”. So your home page (which is often the default landing page – or the very first page a visitor sees), must communicate what exactly it is that you do, what benefits/value you give, and who you do it for – in 5 seconds or less.
There are several ways you can do this, but one way is to include a tag line that summarizes what your company does in a customer-oriented way. Place your tag line so that it’s visible even if your visitor do not scroll down.
Unsure how to craft your tagline? Use a punchy, solution-oriented statement that emphasizes your unique value and describes your promise, using words your visitor would use.
2. The second concern most visitors have is, “Can I trust this person/business?”. Therefore, providing content/links to elements that boost your credibility is important:
- Provide links to your sample works and showcase the results and value you brought to your customers. If you have case studies and testimonials, showcase them.
- Include a link to your “Contact” page, and on that page include all contact information: email address, phone number and physical address.
- Include a link to your “About Us” page, with information about your business, your mission, and the people behind it. Team or staff photos add a touch of realness and humanity to a website, so include them as much as possible.
- Having a link to your business blog and posting amazing content on it regularly helps in getting visitors to perceive you as the real deal.
- Include a footer on every page of the website to reassure visitors that it’s a legitimate business, with:
a. Company name and business registration number (if applicable)
b. Contact details: postal address, email address, etc.
c. Landline phone number
d. Terms of Service link
e. “Privacy Policy” link
Copy Optimization
3. Communicate in a way your audience would understand. Don’t try to sound erudite, use highfalutin sentences and speak jargon – unless you are marketing to a crowd that speaks that way.
4. Give visitors enough information to help them understand what you do and how it relates to them, Have enough copy (not too short but not too long – about 200-300 words per page); it also helps search engines identify your pages as having enough information to help the searcher.
5. Use customer-focused, keyword-rich, well crafted messages that explains your competitive advantages and the the unique benefits of your offers. Demonstrate how you solve their needs, but don’t sound douchey, hypey or salesy!
6. Reading things online is different to reading things on paper. Make it easier for your readers by using “benefit-rich” bullets and short paragraphs (40 to 70 words each) to make the content easy to scan.
Lead Generation
7. Design your website so that it pre-sells and generates leads for you. Offer to give prospects something they truly value (what we call a ‘money magnet’) in exchange for their contact details. You can read about how to create a money magnet here and how to create a high-converting lead-generation page here.
Links
8. I once came across a website and one of the navigation links was “Thingamabobs”. It led to a page selling kitchen gadgets, recipe books and a collection of other stuff.
I got confused so I clicked away.
Lesson: use words as your navigation links that your visitors would understand: About Us, Portfolio, Contact Us. Using “clever” words often cause frustration, it wastes users’ time, and it also does NOT help the search engines contextualize your site’s content.
9. Make your anchor text look obvious (‘anchor text’ are text that are linked to another page – i.e. clickable). The standard appearance is blue underlined text like this. For branding purposes, you might want to use a different color scheme, but keep in mind that some people are color-blind, so keep the underline.
10. Use links within your content area sparingly so readers don’t end up clicking away too much and getting too distracted.
11. Avoid using anchor texts like as “Click here” or “Learn more”. Use descriptive, action-oriented, benefit-rich and keyword-rich anchor texts instead, like “Download your free Digital Marketing video tutorials now.”
Graphics and Animations
12. Optimize graphics to web-appropriate sizes. Large files slow down page viewing, especially for those with lower computer specs or slower download speed.
13. Use images that truly supplement the message of your copy, instead of ones that serve as mere decors.
14. Flash intros, most often than not, are annoying. Most people don’t put up with it and they just click away. So ask yourself if you really must have it.
15. Video or audio should not autoplay, unless they are the sole content of the page. Give the users the choice to turn them on by displaying a PLAY button (and a call to action) prominently.
16. For maximum readability, it’s best to use black type on a white background. If you must stray from this for branding reasons, ensure there’s enough contrast between background and type, and the color palette should not hurt the eyes or cause confusion.
17. Overuse of bright, hey-look-at-me graphics and special font styles gives off a desperate, douchey look and feel, so use them sparingly or avoid it altogether. Limit font styles to 3 maximum per site. Don’t get too fancy.
Search Engine Optimization
18. Use your keywords in your Title tag (limit it to 70-85 characters max).
19. Use your keywords in your Meta Description. Write benefit-focused sentences that would compel your target audience to click (this may be displayed in Google SERPs; limit it to 150-185 characters)
20. Always write Alt tags to describe charts, photos and other graphics with relevant keywords.
Are these simple fixes enough?
Of course not. The problem must be viewed from a holistic perspective. Maybe your brand sucks. Maybe you’re not providing enough value. Maybe you don’t really understand your target market in the first place. You have to be willing to ask – and answer – the really tough questions.
Your website is just one tool in your marketing mix. But if you’re currently frustrated with your website, if you plan to get your new website done, or if you’re contemplating a website redesign, it’s best to work with web developers who don’t just know what they’re doing, but they also seek to understand what YOU are doing – and work tirelessly with you to help bring your vision come to life.
If that sounds good to you, let’s talk. 
17 Nuggets of Business Wisdom for 2011
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To say that 2010 was a huge year for Easisell is an understatement. Our network has more than doubled in terms of building friendships & working relationships with people who really matter, and we’ve experienced a larger turnover & profit in the last quarter of 2010 than ever before – more than we had imagined at the start of the year.
Although I believe a sizeable chunk of this success is the result of good karma, there are certain things we’ve learned and implemented to get here and I’d like to outline those for you now, so that you too can increase the success of your own efforts throughout 2011:
1. Major in your passion until you get bored of it or you kick the bucket.
Making it your job to do something you are clearly not interested in is a surefire way to a quick business death. Contrary to common conditioning, it is very possible to make a living (and an amazing one at that) from doing something that you’re completely passionate about. Even if you don’t make a shit load of money, then at least you’re fulfilled.
2. Think big.
You want to make big progress? Then take adult steps. Set lofty goals – there’s a really good chance you’ll make them if you put your mind to it.
3. Take action.
At the moment, Jim Kukral’s Gmail chat status is: “Doers get what they want.” Sean Malarkey usually quotes Abraham Lincoln when he tweets: “Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.” I generally listen to these two internet marketers because they practice what they preach and lead by example.
Any way you look at it, nothing ever gets done unless action is taken. If you want to get a ton of stuff done, then take a ton of action!
4. Hiding does not take danger out of the equation.
Stop curling yourself up like a ball. Instead, open up and be all you can be – experiencing massive success is more than worth the pain of negotiating the tough challenges on the way there.
5. SEO, SMO & CRO mean nothing if you don’t master in “Personal Optimization”.
The most important optimization in your business starts with YOU. If you cannot master your thoughts and emotions, then how the heck are you going to effectively manage your time and money?
6. Always be on the lookout for people/services/tools whose resources you could leverage.
Whether you’re at a networking event, you’re browsing the internet, or you’re taking a shower – there are opportunities passing by you at any time of the day. A lot of them go amiss, but many get noticed and some change not just business, but the world. As long as you’re on the lookout you’ll be equipped to catch them when they come along.
I recently had the pleasure of meeting Natalie Sisson, the owner of WomanzWorld. After working with her to redesign her site, we’re now in the process of putting together a kick-ass, stupendous webinar on what constitutes effective design which should kick off within the next 30 days. All of this stemmed from one blog comment.
7. Outsource as much as you can that you aren’t good at, but need done.
When you start taking massive action, this and #6 are going to be absolutely necessary to implement if you want to make your continued growth sustainable. Without help from others, you’ll have to do everything yourself and that’s just not possible when you have big plans. There are plenty of places to outsource your work depending on what you need done, but ScriptLance, oDesk & LinkedIn are some of the sites that I prefer. If you want to know all about how to use LinkedIn, I recommend you read Lewis Howes’ blog and connect with him on Twitter.
8. Aspire to be a true leader.
True leaders inspire their workforce, lead by example, maintain composure in the toughest situations, use clear & thoughtful communication, balance metrics & gut instinct, are honest with themselves as much as they are their workforce, take responsibility for their actions and the state of the business and follow through no matter what – among other things.
9. Build friendships, not relationships.
A new friend I recently made is James Coleman, the founder of Tech Room and an advisory board member for Apple. The majority of what we’ve spoken about to date has been outside the boundaries of conventional business, but rather of our passions, life and those little nuggets you just have to share for the sake of conversation.
When you make a friend, they become more than just a connection in a chain. They become a powerful force in your life who will help you any way they can to meet your goals, just as you would for them.
10. Work on eliminating what you can until you have left only what’s useful.
This doesn’t just go for physical items, but also intangible ones such as concepts, excess emotions, stress and such. The less you have the more focused you become. Focus on what MATTERS.
11. Use criticizm as an opportunity to better yourself.
See your “criticizms” as stepping stones to success. Think about it as a feedback system – you can either act on that feedback or not.
It’s also important to note that taking someone else’s opinion to heart is kind of… well, insane! If they have that opinion of you then so be it – that’s their business. What you think about yourself is what really matters. If you believe you’re worthy then nothing anyone else can say will ever bring you down.
12. Be strong enough to say “no”.
Chris Garrett says it perfectly in this blog post.
13. Have the confidence to ask for what you’re worth.
Dave Navarro talks about the 3 Reasons You’re Not Charging What You’re Worth and it’s a must-read for freelancers and business owners everywhere.
14. Communication is key.
If you have issues communicating what you mean when you talk, then you have a problem. If you have issues communicating what your business is and does when you market, then you have even bigger problems.
Both inter-personal and marketing communication in businesses are extremely common problems that can be solved with a little quiet time (introspection), careful review of past problem-scenarios and solutions on how to improve. If you can locate the root causes of the communications breakdowns then you can begin to fix them.
15. Be spontaneous – even outrageous.
Do you feel thrilled with life? If not, what the heck happened? When did it become mundane? Oh wait, I have a solution - BOMCHIKAWAHAH!
You totally didn’t expect that, did you?
16. Your language could be the reason for your shortfalls.
Ever notice yourself saying the most negative things when you’re simply walking around living your day to day life? If so, you’re not alone. Negative chatter is just one of the things that we have when we’re scared of the unknown for example. It can be so powerful that it filters into our verbal communication and vice versa.
By really focusing on being aware of when this negative chatter happens on – either in your head or through your mouth – simply noticing it should be enough to eventually ween yourself off of that behavior and this can open up doorways for you that perhaps you felt had been closed indefinitely.
17. Focus on customer experience, and continuous improvement.
The two most important things in the life of a business. The customer experience is intimately linked with the site conversion, word of mouth buzz, reputation, customer attrition and so on. Continuous improvement will guarantee that your customer experience and other elements of the business are always improving, not slipping.
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Thanks for reading this post – if you like it please share it with your friends. If you want to share your thoughts or your own top 2011 tips for business success, then leave us a lovely comment.