New Haven, CT
Dec 7, 2006, 17:08
Every day I work with people who manage their own or others' small to medium business websites. Most make fundamental mistakes that leave money on the table. While owners and webmasters often pay lip service to modern web marketing practices, too often their sites tell a different story. If you really want to know how your organization's site stacks up, take an hour to observing someone new to your site. (For how to do this read "Usability Testing on a Zero Budget," Web Marketing Today, October 31, 2006).
If you are an average small to medium business owner or webmaster, it's easy to make these assumptions about people who come to your website, that they:
- Know something about what your business is.
- Are willing to "work" and dig a little to find out about your business.
- Realize that your business is special or unique.
- Want
to do business with you.
- Are interested in your business.
- Came as a result of a recommendation or sought you out specifically.
- Know what you want visitors to do or "get" from your site.
- Understand the unique terminology and nature of your business.
While a few of these might be true -- sometimes -- a small to medium business site will convert far more visitors into customers if the site is built with the following assumptions. Your business needs your site to:
- Explain why your business is special right from the start.
- State simply what business you are in -- at first glance, from five feet away!
- Provide all the information a user would need to do business with you and, in case need more, offer an extremely simple way to get in touch with someone at your business identified with a name and a picture.
- Provide an easy way users can refer the site to a friend, not by just a URL but by directing visitors to a special page (or home page) that explains your business and unique value proposition, that is, what makes your business special. You don't want to unintentionally direct someone to a page within the site which fails to present your business at its best (such as a sign-up page).
- Give users a reason to act now.
- Eliminate all anxieties by clearly reassuring users that you won't misuse any personal information, that you offer secure transactions, and are trustworthy.
- Make sure, by testing new users, that your site works properly, is laid out sensibly, and delivers information in an intelligent way that leads to a lead or a sale.
Only by assuming that your users know nothing about your site will you convert the most visitors. The best part is that people who come to your site already motivated and with some awareness about you, will also find the site easy to navigate and respect your business sense even more.
Todd Follansbee is our Usability and Conversion Optimization expert. He is the founder of WebMarketingResources.net and brings to the table a focus on psychographic marketing, scientific usability testing, and a Persuasion ArchitectureTM approach to sales conversion. He lives aboard his 44-foot ketch "4 Bells" in New Haven, Connecticut.
