Erika Madden| Business Tips, Website Design| 21 Comments
You’re frustrated. You have a beautiful website that you’ve spent long hours designing yourself — or a lot of cashacquiring via the skills of aprofessional web designer — but it’s not helping you make money like you had hoped.
In fact, you’re getting only a few meagerwebsitevisitors tosign up for your email list, hire your services,buy your products…or even fill out a contact form inquiry!
What gives?
Havingdesigned websites for over a decade, I’ll tell you:
A pretty website does not mean a profitable website. (Tweet it.)
And even the most visually elegant designcan stink when it comes to conversion rates.
That’s because effective web design is only partially about aesthetics like crisp, eye-catchinggraphics anda cleancolor scheme.
In order to be successful from a business perspective, a website also has to be designed with savvymarketing, psychology, and user-experience principles in mind.
Beloware 7 pro web design tipsyou need to know if you want your website to make you more money. Print them out and give them to your web designer, or use them yourself for your next redesign!
1. GO MOBILE-RESPONSIVE
If your visitorsstill have to do the “pinch and swipe” to get around your website, you’renot just momentarily annoyingyour potential customers, you’re harmingyour bottom line (AND your reputation).
In a Google study on mobile-friendly sites, 1 in 2 peoplesaid that they even if they like a business, they will use them less often if the website isn’t mobile-friendly.Aboutthe same amount saidthat a poor mobile experience made them less likely to engage with a company andmade them feel like the company didn’t care about their business.
(That’s a lot of negatives.)
On the flip side, almost 70% saidthat when they visit a mobile-friendly site, they’re more likely to buy a site’s product or service!
Having a mobile-responsive design isno longerjust a really good idea; it’s a must.Ready for a challenge? Set a goal to make your website mobile responsive by the end of this year. It’s time.
2. DON’T OVER-PROMOTE SOCIAL MEDIA
To understand your online goals, I want you to think about your website as if it were areal brick-and-mortar location in your city.
Meanwhile, your social media accounts arethe networking and customer serviceevents you doaround town (where you casually hang out, share your expertise, and make people aware of your business).
When people come to your office or store, whatkeeps you profitable? Showcasing what you do and getting them tostick around awhile in hopes that they’llgive you business…or bombarding them with flashy signs telling them to go findyou at the next Chamber of Commerce meet-and-greet?
Your website is a greatplace to show people that you’re on social media, but rememberyour priorities. To make sales with your website, people need to be drawn into it and encouraged to stay there.
Don’t make it easy for them to leave too soon by over-advertisingyour social accounts!
“Oooo, look at all of her fab photos on Pinterest…Wait, what’s that one? Hey, I’ve been dyingto learn about how to do that! I’m gonna go check itout…”
You can keepyoursocial presencemuted with simple, small icons and no more than two unobtrusive “like” or “follow” widgets. (I stronglyrecommend just one that you switch up everynow and again.)
3. DISPLAY AT LEAST THREEEMAIL OPT-INS
Building a solid email list is key for manybusinesses, especially if you’re online-based. But you can’t get subscriberswithout first getting people to notice the opt-in form!
People need to see something an average of seventimes before they take action. Yet, most emailsubscription formsare small, appear once on-page,and blend intoan already-crowded sidebar. (Where’s yours? Be honest!)
If growing your list is a priority, you’ll want to give your email sign-up more exposure. A smart strategy is to placeit in three prominent places on your website:
- at the top of the page
- at the bottom of each blog post
- in the footer
(This is much classier than perpetuallyannoying your visitors withan obnoxious pop-up, and you’ll get more qualified leads this way, too.)
Like earning EXTRA CREDIT?You get bonus points if you also find a place to put it insideyour About Page!
4. REDUCE BUYING OPTIONS
If you want to sell more, you should offera lot more options…right? Wrong.
Giving people an abundance of choices is one of THEbiggest mistakes people can make in their business.Offering manycustom options leads to “choice overload” —instead of encouraging people to buy, it makes them so overwhelmed that they decide not to go through with a purchase at all.
(To learn more, watch Sheena Iyengar’sbrilliant TED talk on how to make choosing easier.)
So, instead of offering 10different baby shoedesigns in 20 different colors, aim for 3signature designs in 5 best-selling colors. Or, rather than offering8 levels of your service, whittle it down to 3 irresistible packages.
Featuring a few high quality offerings on your website will not only help people feel confident and clear about buying from you, it will also help bolster your reputation as an expert. (Because you and I know that real experts don’t do a little of everything. Theydo a lot of one thing…with excellence.)
5. GIVE SOCIAL PROOF
Before someone will buy from you, they need to trust you. However, gaining this trust is a BIGchallenge online. Your word alone won’t cut it when people are choosing whoto hand a substantialchunk of their change.
That’s why if you want to get business through your website, it’s essential that it displays “outside” evidence that you’re legit.Examples of this kind of social proof include:
- personal and/or biztestimonials
- logos of clients and/or media outlets that have featured you
- the number of subscribers to your email list
- the number of people following you on social media
- awards you’ve won
- books you’ve written (and actually sold)
- videos or podcasts of you being interviewed/giving a speech
- tweets from people praising your work
- photos of you with widely recognizedpeople
- your (completed) LinkedIn profile
Sprinkle these trust tidbits around your site, but focus on placing themin headers, sidebars, and footers on your homepage and/or blog.
And, naturally, you should always showcase them on your sales page. That’s your place to shine; don’t be timid!
6. CUT OUTFORM FIELDS
On average only 1 in 5 people complete a website form after starting it.
This isn’tgood news for you if your business depends on lengthy website forms to initiate project inquiries. You may think you’re making it easy on yourself by getting every last shred of information up front, but in reality you’re creating a biz-limiting obstacle to what should be your primary goal:
Making personal contact with your interested customer!
A good website makes ita breeze for people to move into a business relationship with you.Website forms should be brief (no more than 7 fields) and require only the most necessaryinformation.
For instance, if you run a graphicdesign business,do youREALLY need to know what fontstyles a personlikes when they first reach out to you? Those questionscan — and should — wait until after the firstcontact, so go on. Delete it from your form.
7. FREELY SHARE PRICING
What is the #1 thing potential customers and clients want to seeon your website? Hint: it’s not your contact information, your credentials, or whether you’re on Google+.
It’s your prices.
Failing to be transparent with your prices is a dud business practice. A website usability study by the Nielsen Norman group found that when people can’t find your prices, they automatically assume the worst (and quickly leave your site).
“If I have to ask, I probably can’t afford it.”
“They’re hiding the information I want…I can’t trust them.”
“I have no way of knowingif this is for me and my budget, so I’ll looksomewhere else.”
You gain nothing by shrouding your prices in mystery, so start putting them out there.Also, be assured that if your prices vary — particularly if you’re in the creative or consulting industries — it’s perfectly acceptableto give price ranges or “starting at…” figures.
Readers, what’s your take? Have you changed something about your website that resulted in more conversions?What is your favorite web design tip here?
Share your thoughts in the comments below and let’s discuss!
(Chief Olyvia)
