website updates

Time for a Website Update? Start With Just Two Things.

When was the last time your website got an update? And I’m not talking about the backend updates. I mean images, layout, links, content and everything else. Your website is your online lobby and you don’t want it look like the dusty never visited one with the 10-year old Reader’s Digest sitting on the table.

Your website should be focused on your customer and their needs. And how you help them meet those needs. An updated and customer centric website is a more effective website.

Here are a few things to get you started:

Clear call to action.

What is the one thing you want your visitors to do? I want people to “Schedule A Meeting” and you’ll see that button prominently displayed in numerous places on my website. What is the one thing you want guests on your website to do? Buy your product? Schedule a consult? Get a quote? All good, clear calls to action. Simply including a clear and active call to action will increase your websites profitability.

Side note: please do not use “Learn More.” It’s a passive call to action. In other words, there’s no action required – Buy, Schedule, Get are physical movements but learn is a brain activity.

How you solve their problem.

Why should I buy your product or service? How does it make my life better or easier? For example, buying the Acme Widgetizer will make doing the thing easier and allow for more time to relax in a hammock. Working with dkSolutions will help your business thrive. Working with a bookkeeper means I can spend less time stressing about my business finances and more time growing my business (or relaxing in a hammock.)

Side note: Don’t assume (we all know what that means, right?) people know what you want them to do. Your website needs to be so clear that people don’t have to think twice. People don’t want to take time to decipher your marketing.

Those are the two things you should start with for a website update and here are two things to do away with:

Your company history.

It is impressive that your great, great, great grandpa founded the company. Really. But the reality is, the average person finds it interesting but not compelling enough to get them to buy. It doesn’t serve their bottom line – how does the fact that the business has been around for 100 years make their life better? Easier?

At the very least, don’t include this on your home page. It’s a great secondary “About Us” page.

Pictures of your building.

There’s a great video of Donald Miller doing live website reviews. The whole video is worth a view  but the website reviews start at 8:32. In one of them (starting at 22:48) his first question is: “Are you selling this building?” His point is that a picture of a building does nothing to inform a customer about the product and why they should buy it. It does nothing to show how it makes the customer’s life better or easier.

Side note: the exception is if a picture of your building would help people find you. And even then, it shouldn’t be front and center but just on the front page somewhere.

Your website is your company’s first digital introduction – don’t let the impression be old and outdated. Take a few minutes to give your website the update it needs. And your business deserves.

Don’t like what you see? Or not sure what you can do? Schedule a meeting with me!

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