JP Anderson, head of BT Web Consult and Build, shares his online must-haves.
Optimisation
Many businesses believe that, as long as they have some sort of web presence, then they’ve ticked the box. However, customers don’t see it that way. As a business grows and changes, so too must its web site and unless the site provides a real business benefit, all your hard work will be for nothing.
One of the best ways to get noticed and to attract more customers online is to optimise your search engine listing, and updating content is the first step to a better online position.
Keeping content lively and within your area of expertise and making it clear what the website is about will enable search engines to detect your work and help you climb up the listings. Or add information to external blogs that can link to your site. This will index well in search engines and generate traffic.
Design
Keeping your website simple is the best way to attract and retain more customers, whilst also appearing more professional. Research conducted by Carleton University in Ottawa found that the brain makes decisions within one twentieth of a second when viewing a web page, so appearance can make a big impact both on web traffic and your bottom line.
Many businesses make the mistake of trying too hard with the way their website looks. Using flash graphics, banner adverts and animation may seem impressive to you, but to your customers it can appear distracting and unprofessional. Keeping it simple and accessible is the key to a successful site. If you make it easy for your customers to see what they want, they will usually come back time and time again.
Content
Customers won’t go back to a website if it’s not changing – it’s that simple. Think of a website as a shop window; if there’s nothing new on show, what’s the point of going in? The same can be said about the products. If they don’t sound interesting, what would make people want them?
Keeping content to a minimum with the flexibility to view more detail and images at a single click means that you can constantly offer people more information without overloading them straight away. Many businesses struggle with this concept but it simply requires you to invest more time at the design stage and to plan your website properly from the outset. You should always be asking yourself what it is that your customers want and what information they need to get there.
Structure
Look at a website as if it is a breakdown of products and services. If you can’t find what you want within a few minutes, you can’t expect your customers to either. Many businesses forget that they actually want customers to buy something, so devising a customer journey and allowing easy navigation is the best way to help them get the most out of their time online.
The home page is the starting point for most customer journeys so it’s important that you use it to set out exactly what you can achieve by visiting the site. If you are an online shop, there’s no point in having the products at the very bottom of the links list on the side bar. Make the products, services and departments the very first thing a customer will see when they arrive at the site.
Transaction processes
To gain a return on investment you need some transaction with customers. Even if users choose not to buy, exchanging discount vouchers for personal information means they may return.
Customers will also want immediacy: seeing an item, putting it in the cart and buying it. Similarly ‘phone for a quote’ won’t work on the internet. If your business relies upon quotes, give guide prices or provide a facility to quote online.
Communicate
Communication is crucial if you are to give people a reason to remain loyal to your web site. Many businesses fail to realise the potential of using their online promotional tools. Email newsletters are a great example of how a regular communications strategy can gain loyalty and increase sales. However, to get and stay in touch with your customers, you must not overdo it.
Frequency of contact works both ways: too many or too few emails can become annoying and look amateur. Sending monthly newsletters that have your customers in mind, showcasing new products and offering discounts, is a great way to make people react quickly. Remember, it takes just seconds to click through from an email link.
Contact
While it’s vital for customers to be able to contact a business via its website, don’t restrict them to email. Being able to talk to someone on the phone is a must: one of the main reasons people don’t buy online is because they can’t find a contact phone number. How can you build a trusting relationship with customers if they cannot call and speak to you?
Customers may be confident about using the internet to shop but might still need convincing about security. Offering a 24-hour help line and providing bricks-and-mortar contact details will help you gain loyalty, and make you appear more professional and customer friendly.
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