Your website content is your online sales-rep – but how often do you check if it is performing well?
You’d keep an eye on a physical sales-team; making sure they are up-to-date with current offers and promotions and that they are selling in a way that is on-brand, and that they are generally representing your business well – but does your website get checked for the same?
Here is a checklist to give your website the once-over for optimum health.
- Can people find your contact details in the first 8 seconds?
If they have to scroll around and click through a bunch of pages to figure out how to get in touch – chances are they won’t! Make sure you have a contact page, info in the footer, and clear calls to action throughout your site which link through to your contact details. If you have a WordPress site, read here for how to be contactable.
- Can visitors find out what you do/offer without scrolling or clicking?
Along the same lines as easy to find contact details, the first thing people should read or see on your site is enough information for them to know if you are offering what they are looking for. If you only have images or vague content on your home page, your visitor isn’t going to click around and do some digging to see if you are the right fit for them – they will just back-click and find someone easier.
- Can your visitors instantly see where you are located?
There is nothing worse than shopping for half an hour, finding what you want then discovering at the checkout that the company is actually in Timbuktu – and they don’t offer international shipping! The same goes for any location-based services like Landscaping or a Beauty Salon, make it clear you are a local Perth business, or ship world-wide, then your visitor quickly knows if they can use your services.
- Do your headlines offer enough info/interest to make people want to read more?
8/10 people scan every website they visit before committing to reading the details, so if you don’t use headlines to convey the important stuff, they might not realise you are exactly what/who they need in their lives. Read here for more on how to create headlines that POP!
- What shows up when people search you?
When you Google a business, the little bit of blurb that shows up about the company is called your Meta Description or Meta-Data. Does yours clearly and quickly convey what you offer? You only get 160 characters to entice someone to click through to your site – make them relevant and make them count!
- Does your content speak to the visitor in the “tone” of your brand?
Does the way your content is worded match the way you want your company to be seen? You quickly get a sense of a person’s personality when you are face-to-face, but did you know your website can show personality too – just by the way it is written? If your business is classy, professional and knowledgeable, that’s how your content should come across – because those are the types of people you want to attract. If your business is quirky and fun, your target audience probably is too – so you want the content to attract the kind of people who will respond to the fun and flavour of your brand.
- Do you have good internal links?
These are useful for channelling people around your site, helping them find what they need when they need it, like contact details, as well as for SEO and Google-friendly purposes. Just having ‘here’ isn’t great, instead, try ‘head here for more information on our landscaping services’. This tells the visitor and Google exactly what they will find when they click on the link. You can also get a few more good keywords into your site this way – Win Win.
- Is it readable?
This is a big one and takes a lot into account; are you using a clean font, size 12 or over, is the copy formatted – uses headlines, broken into chunks, no long wordy paragraphs, have you done a CAREFUL spelling and grammar check, etc. Another thing to check; is it easy to understand? It helps to get someone not in your industry to read through it, they will quickly tell you if they have no idea what you are talking about or if it’s too full of jargon.
Obviously, there is a lot that goes in to making great, clear, on-brand website content for your business, but just remember how important it is to have a high-quality website today, so it’s well worth the investment.
80% of people who get your business card will head straight to your website to check you out before calling – that’s a lot of potentially lost business if your website isn’t up-to-scratch.
But it’s not all doom and gloom, with a bit of time and care, you can have a fabulous website that shows everyone who visits exactly how amazing your business is.
And if you don’t have the time or the words, let us help – we want your website to be every bit as awesome as you are.