When you’ve invested heavily in developing your website, it can be painful to admit it may not be working for you as you’d hoped.
Websites are constantly evolving and it can be hard to keep up, not to mention expensive. But it doesn’t necessarily mean you need to start over again if you find it’s not converting as well as you’d hoped. There are often some simple, changes that could improve how your website performs…
Simplify your navigation panel
If you have a traditional navigation bar at the top, bursting with every page on your site, it’s easy to think you’re helping customers here. In fact, you’re overloading them with information and they won’t know what to click first.
Only put essential menu items on the top bar – for example, one link to your services. Anything people would typically search for (eg About, Jobs, Blog, Testimonials etc) leave in the footer.
Review your call to action (CTA)
Multiple CTAs on a website puts people off taking any action at all. While ‘Schedule a call’, ‘Get in touch’, and ‘Let’s talk’ might mean the same to you, your customer has seen 3 different asks, which subliminally is confusing. Make your CTA transactional – something your visitor can accept or reject – buy now, schedule a call etc. Passive terms like ‘learn more’ and ‘get started’ suggest we’re not confident in what we’re asking.
On story22.co.uk our CTA ‘Schedule a call’ is in the top right-hand corner, so it’s visible across our whole site and again multiple times down each page. Same colour, font and design.
Add a plan
If your website doesn’t have a three-step plan, add one now.
When our customers arrive on our site, we don’t want them to feel like doing business with us is a risk. One way to combat that is to help them understand what to expect if they move forward. A three-step plan eases anxiety here. A study by head of StoryBrand Dr JJ Peterson found businesses and non-profits saw a significant uplift in sales just by adding in this simple element.
Show website visitors what success looks like
Regardless of what you sell, what is the outcome your customer wants? When you’ve figured that out – show them, in images. If your products and services make people’s lives easier – show them a vision of success, people looking happy and content – success is what people buy into.
Add meaningful testimonials
Third party proof is a powerful way to demonstrate why people should buy from you. A strong testimonial should articulate what you did for them and how your customer’s life has improved as a result of working with you.
Add a lead magnet
Most people don’t buy on initial impressions. It typically takes multiple touchpoints before we’re ready to move forward. That’s why a lead magnet is a key part of your sales funnel that will continue to engage prospects without requiring them to make a purchase. Tools like Scoreapp are a great starting point, offering a range of formats including quizzes and assessments with dynamic outputs to pack in value for participants.
Use it to onboard your customers to your product or service, build trust and reduce resistance they may have around committing to a purchase. To attract customers, it should solve a problem for them. Be generous and use it to establish your brand as the authority in your field.
Enhancing your website doesn’t mean an overhaul – simple, strategic adjustments can yield substantial improvements. By using these 6 quick ways to improve your website you can transform your website into a crucial asset.
