Your website is one of your most valuable marketing tools, but simple mistakes could be making it ineffective. Three of the most common web design mistakes we see include: missing calls to action, missing information, and out of date content. The good news is that all of these mistakes are easily fixable, and today we are going to show you how.
1. Website has no clear calls to action
When a visitor comes to your website what do you want them to do? Depending on your business you might want them to do one of the following:
- fill out a web form,
- join a mailing list,
- follow a blog,
- sign up for a free offer,
- make an online purchase
- pick up a telephone and call you
The point is that you need to determine what you want your website visitor to do and then make it clear to them. Each page should have one desired action, and everything on the page should lead them to follow through with your desired result. If you aren’t already doing calls to action, your assignment is to go through your website and determine your desired visitor response. Then update your website to make the desired action clear and easy to follow. It might be as simple as adding a Contact Us banner across a page with a phone number to call. Some of you might need to embed a contact form or an email subscription sign up form on your main pages. Whatever option you choose make sure it is quick and easy for the end user to follow through with.
2. Website has missing or hidden information
How many times have you gone to a website and not been able to find the company’s phone number? Unfortunately this happens way too often where critical information is placed somewhere difficult to find. I have also seen many websites that were so busy being “artistic” that content was impossible to find ultimately making them unusable. When it comes to web design usability is a must. Go to your website and pretend that you are a potential client. What might you be looking for? Contact information including phone number, address, and business hours should be easy to find in the header, footer, sidebar, or contact us page. Pages should be organized in a manner that makes sense, and navigation should be easy to use. Turning on the “breadcrumbs” functionality if your website theme supports it is another great tool to make your website easier to navigate. I also recommend a search bar so users can quickly find exactly what they are looking for.
3. Website has out of date content
When you go to a website that has a web blog that hasn’t been touched in months what is your impression of that business? What if you see they offer coupons and the last one expired some time last year? If you are like me you wonder if they are still open. You might also wonder how seriously they are taking their business. Out of date content looks bad to customers. It sends the message that your website isn’t important to you, which reflects poorly on your company over all.
It also reflects poorly to Google. When determining where to rank your website in the search engines Google looks at what they call “content freshness”. Content freshness is just another way to say when was your website content last updated. If your content has not been updated recently Google assumes your business might be closed, or at the very least your content is not relevant. So what does Google consider “recently”. Most search engine optimization (SEO) experts recommend adding fresh content once a week to keep Google happy.
The best way to keep your content fresh is with a blog. A blog enables you to write new relevant content every week meaning you can engage with your customers while also appeasing Google. Your business is probably utilizing social media anyways, and a blog gives you great content to share.
Website needs help!
So how did your website do? Were you already nailing all three of these areas, or is there something that needs a little work?
If after reading this you discovered:
- your calls to action could be better,
- some of your content is hard to find, or
- your content could use some freshening up
then we would love to help!
We specialize in WordPress web design, and we would love a chance to talk to you about your website needs. Give us a call today at (208) 939-0493 for a free no obligation website consultation.