When you have a great website, it’s easy to think “I’m done!” and move on to other things.
Unfortunately, it’s not always that easy. Much like your children, your pets, and grandpa when the holiday wine starts flowing, your web development must not be left unattended. Let’s settle in and take a look at some easy website adjustments that can boost your site’s design and help you accomplish more for less:
1. Optimize Your Search
Most sites these days have figured out that straightforward site navigation is what the people want. After all, there’s not much point in creating content that can’t be found, and you only have to dig through a site without search functionality once to understand how necessary this feature is. Almost as bad are the sites that have search tools available, but haven’t categorized their blogs and deliverables with the right tags to help their search engine track them down.
You’re better than that. Make sure the web development for your site includes a search bar, properly tagged content, and accessible navigation tools to help your users find their needle in the haystack.
2. Personal Landing
Many business-oriented pages utilize the magic of Google Adwords and PPC advertising methods to drive users to their site. No problem—but if you use this type of outreach, make sure you do it right. Personalization is key when advertising to any market, and your PPC campaign should reflect that.
Create unique landing pages for each PPC phrase that you’ve paid for. This will ensure a customized experience no matter where your users come from, and can contribute to measureable revenue increases in the way of reduced bounce rates and higher conversions.
3. Simple Sign-up
And while we’re on the subject of ecommerce, any page using a call-to-action and sign-up forms should review how well their page is performing. Converting prospects into customers is a tricky process; many sites perform A/B testing on various CTAs and web forms to test what works and what doesn’t.
As a rule, people don’t like giving out more information than they have to. Keep your web forms simple and easy to find. This simplicity will decrease the visual clutter of your landing pages and will likely generate more conversions all in one move.
4. Into the Fold
Are your users disinterested in your material? Do you have a hard time building a steady flow of traffic? “The fold” may be the cause of your consternation.
The fold is the cutoff point between what your users see when your site loads and what they must scroll down to view. Web development with excellent navigation and stellar content may still fall victim to a lack of interest caused by a poor first impression.
If you want your audience to stick around a little longer, make sure the information above the fold is attention-grabbing and engaging enough to make them want more. Save the web forms and CTAs for later—their initial impression is critical to whether they’ll stick around or bounce, and trying to snatch their info from the get-go isn’t the best way to begin your relationship. Interrupt their daily routine with well-written copy and eye-catching visuals to drive their interest and make them curious about what you can do for them.