Halloween is almost upon us. As are the spooks and frights that come with it and the things that go bump in the night! Whilst many enjoy this time of year, there are plenty that don't. With the dozens of trick or treaters knocking on your door, it can definitely be a time of frustration for many. Let's translate this into your website – does your website offer a trick or a treat? Is it spooking your potential customers?
In this article we are going to do some website ghost busting! Here are a few scary things on your website to look out for and what to do about them...
1) Website Security – Or Lack There Of
Since the crack down on HTTPS in recent times by Google and internet browsers, website trust and security is more vital than ever before. Does your website currently serve content over HTTPS or HTTP? If it is the latter then your potential customers could be frightened away by the fact that your website is not secure. We posted an article back in August this year about why now is the time to switch to HTTPS. You can read the article here. There are some key reasons in this article about why you should make the switch as well as some crucial things to consider and look out for!
Secure your website now or continue scaring your prospects away. You decide.
2) Usability
The next point I want to dig into is usability. The experience you provide your website visitors with should be an enjoyable one, not one that leaves them with nightmares! If you don't want your website to turn into an eerie ghost town that no one visits, your usability needs to be excellent. There are a few main points to take into account when it comes to the usability of your site. These are:
- Website navigation: Your website should be easy to navigate and it shouldn't be confusing. The main areas of your website should be within easy reach to your visitors and no more than a couple of clicks away from when they first land on your site.
- Availability: It is important to make sure everything that should be available on your website actually is. Ensure you invest in good hosting to avoid your website going down, make sure there are no broken links on your site, and confirm that it is mobile responsive.
- Be clear: Your website should be clear and not distracting. It should guide your visitors, be consistent, be well structured and should give them immediate feedback on any actions they take. For example, if they fill out a form on your website it should say either thank you or that there were errors with your submission etc.
Top Tip: Remember that good website usability is not something that comes overnight. It is important to test, test and test until you get it right!
3) Speed
Onto my next point, website speed. How fast is your website? Does it load in less than 2 seconds? Web surfers now, including your prospects, expect a website to load almost instantaneously. If yours does not fall into this bracket then you are going to be missing out on a lot of potential customers! Use Google's own Page Speed Insights tool to diagnose your website speed. You can use it to check your current speed score and get a rundown of what is wrong and what can be improved. If there is room for improvement then my advice to you is to implement this as soon as you can. Pass the feedback onto your website hosts or developers and they should be able to resolve the issues.
4) Content
Time for my final point in this article. The last area we are going to discuss that could be spooking your website visitors is content. If your website content is not useful or informative and only talks about you then prospects are going to look elsewhere. Your website content needs to have substance and needs to explain how your product or service benefits potential customers. It should be written for people and not search engines and should be easy to understand. A lot of website content on the internet today is still very salesy. This aggressive approach to content just doesn't work as effectively as content that is more benefit driven.
The Spooks Need To Stop
Okay, so what next with your website? Well, you could continue to scare away your website visitors or you could provide them with an enjoyable experience that will make them want to keep coming back. Stop the spooks on your website by implementing the points I have mentioned in this article.
If you need more advice and you still feel your website isn't generating as many leads as you'd like, download a copy of our Ultimate Website Conversion Rate Checklist here at no cost. Also, feel free to take a look at our other free guides.
