Episode 11: Seven Ways to Improve Your Website
On this episode of The Friday Habit, Ben and Mark shine some light on the ethereal subject that is website improvements as only two people who are experienced in branding and creative website creation could do. In fact, they outline 7 ways to improve your website that will not only provide you with a clearer and more effective website but also with greater clarity on your brand as a whole.
1. Make your text bite-sized – You shouldn’t have any big paragraphs that cause the reader to audibly grunt when they see what they are expected to read. Within 5 seconds, the reader should be able to answer basic questions about your company such as who, what, and how.
2. Capture email addresses – Use a lead magnet like a free e-book or other exclusive content to get people’s email addresses but avoid the intrusive pop-up technique.
3. Use real photographs – Put actual photos of your team members on the website rather than relying on the stale stock images that everyone is tired of seeing. Stocksy and Unsplash are great resources for less common stock images as well.
4. Make your customer the hero – The customer really only cares about what your company can do for them, so craft your messaging to answer their questions rather than boring them with a play-by-play of your career up to this point.
5. Add clear calls to action – Let your customers know what they can expect to happen next in their process with you. Don’t just have them click a button to “learn more”, but rather “schedule a call” or “request a demo”.
6. Test it on potential customers – Watch someone interact with your site, either in person or by using a service like Hotjar (free options).
7. Make updates often – Knapsack Creative recommends that you update your website weekly or monthly to keep clients coming back to see what is new.
Your action item after this episode is to review your website and implement some or all of these changes, then show your site to someone and ask for feedback.
Links:
“The Smart Agency” podcast: https://jasonswenk.com/smart-agency-master-class/
Stocksy: https://www.stocksy.com/
Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/
Hotjar: https://www.hotjar.com/
Knapsack Creative Co: knapsackcreative.com