Your website often provides a first impression to potential customers. Unfortunately, many small businesses’ websites only serve as a “digital brochure” and fail to provide interested prospects with their next step.
In this guide, discover how to upgrade your website into a 24/7 salesperson that actively converts visitors into leads.
Basic Design & Functionality
Potential customers quickly judge a business based on their website experience. Your business may be well-established and provide exceptional products/services; however, a website with an outdated design or broken elements can quickly sour impressions and lead prospects to your competitors.
Foundational steps include ensuring your website uses a modern and clean design that displays well on both desktop and mobile devices. Your site should also use readable fonts and high-resolution imagery.
As for functionality, prioritize fast loading to not only benefit human visitors, but also search engines, which reward page speed improvements. Also, ensure your content remains up to date and doesn’t include any broken links or missing images.
Learn more about website best practices.
Easy Navigation
After those foundational steps, begin to review your website through the lens of a prospect’s journey. Your site should feature easy navigation with clear next steps to doing business with you. If visitors can’t find what they need in two clicks or less, they’re likely to leave and visit a competitor’s site.
- Follow a logical site structure (e.g. Home, Services, About, Blog, Contact)
- Use a clear menu with 5-7 main items
- Feature prominent calls to action throughout your site, such as “shop now” or “get a free quote”
Clear, Customer-Focused Messaging
While your site should demonstrate your expertise, its messaging should center around the visitor and how you can solve their problems. Avoid using industry jargon or overly technical language. Plain language that focuses more on benefits than features boasts a much higher conversion rate. Also, use clear value propositions at the top of your pages to explain what you do and why it matters.
Trust Signals
As your visitors learn about your business, affirm their consideration and demonstrate your legitimacy with positive trust signals. Consider sprinkling the following elements throughout your site.
- Customer reviews
- Client success stories
- Industry certifications or badges
Contact Options
Make it easy for visitors to turn into leads. Offer calls to action throughout your site – not just on the homepage. While a prominent phone call button is helpful, keep in mind that not every prospect will be interested in making a call. Consider using a combination of the following options, depending on what is applicable for your business.
- Phone call button
- Contact form
- Appointment scheduling or quote request tool
- Email sign-up
Final Thoughts
Your website should make a positive first impression on visitors and serve as a 24/7 salesperson. To improve its conversion efficiency, it should be visually appealing, easy to navigate, and provide clear calls to action. In short, your site should make it easy for people to say “yes.”
