Is Your Website Working Hard Enough?

Your website is one of your most important business investments. Why? Because it’s the ‘virtual’ face of your organisation and a valuable lead generation tool.

However, one of the fatal mistakes many companies make is to create a site, only to neglect it several months afterwards as they view it as nothing more than a tick-boxing exercise.

If you want your website to generate new leads that you can convert into new business, you need to be reviewing it regularly to ensure it’s constantly updated with fresh content and compatible with the latest design and technology developments.

Paying attention to your website is particularly important if you’re selling a service. For instance, you may be an e-commerce business that predominantly relies on your website for sales. Unfortunately, you’re less likely to sell your service or attract new customers if your visitors can’t even access your information while they’re out or about or in a hurry.

Not sure if you need to review your website yet? Here are 5 reasons you can’t afford to ignore:

It’s not responsive – is your website mobile friendly? 60% of internet access is made on a mobile device (InMobi) and 66% of mobile users find that web pages load too slow. (Keynote Systems Inc). Responsive design makes it easy for your users to view your site regardless of if they’re viewing via their desktop, smartphone or tablet.
Poor content – according to the Content Marketing Institute, 9 out of 10 organisations market with content. Carry out an audit of your copy. When was the last time you reviewed your content? Is it relevant to your target audience? Does it communicate your key messages? And is your proposition clear?
Weak images – we all come across websites from time to time that contain images that won’t show, text that appears disproportionate or out of place and some that just don’t appear properly at all. Content is obviously essential, but it’s your images that help balance your text and make your website more readable for visitors. A well-designed website that contains a good balance of copy, broken up with graphics, will increase your chances of people staying on your site for longer, anTd returning.
Non-existent SEO – SEO leads have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads (such as direct mail or print advertising) have a 1.7% close rate (Search Engine Journal). Investing in organic SEO is essential to making sure you rank highly in search engine results. If you’re not moving forward and improving your ranking, you’re losing ground to your competitors.
Unclear call to actions – do you have call to actions on your pages? Are they clear? And are they easy to find because they’re positioned above the fold? According to Go-Globe, only 11% of companies (Fortune 500 Companies) have social media links above the fold and 47% of websites have a clear call to action button that takes users 3 seconds or less to see.

Are you paying attention to your website?