It’s polite. When someone visits your home or office you need to be a good host. Think back, remember the things your mother taught you about how to make people feel welcome. Now apply those same strategies to your website.
Why do you need a good website strategy? Because your website is your online home. In many industries, it is the only store-front your customers will experience so make the experience a good one. Are you ready for company? Here are a few suggestions on how to be a good host and make your visitors feel welcome.
Make it about them.
In real life when you welcome someone into your home you make small talk. It would be rude to launch into a monologue about everything you were doing as they walked in the door. The same is true on your website. Before you tell visitors about your expertise, great service, smart employees, etc. take the time to prove you understand their needs, desires and challenges. Your accomplishments belong on the about us section, after you have convinced the visitor they are in the right place.
Encourage the visitor to take a seat at the table by leading with copy which speaks to their pain point, not your services:
- Are you ready to lose weight?
- Do you want more sales?
- Find your strategy here.
Tell people where to find things.
As a host you may show your visitors where to find the coffee or a comfortable chair. Your navigation and calls to action should do essentially the same things, directing people to the information they are seeking quickly. I am not suggesting you place a link to everything on your home page, instead do your homework. What do people want to find when they come to your website? Make sure that information is front and center.
For example, studying our analytic reports we discovered our Meet the Team page was one of the most popular pages. When we redesigned our website a year ago, the link to that page was placed prominently on our home page. In contrast, we noticed our case studies on the bottom of our home page were rarely viewed. This is important real estate to waste on something which wasn’t important to the majority of our visitors. Today, the case studies are nestled in with our portfolio and actually seem to have more traffic because of the logical placement.
Invite people back
If you are a good host and people have enjoyed their visit they will want to come back. On your website you can do this by serving up plenty of content such as industry news, how-to instructions, helpful guides, special surveys and reports. Encourage visitors to subscribe to your newsletter or download special content in exchange for their email address. Now you can invite them back when you have new information.
Also, be sure all downloads include your company logo, contact information and a link to your website so when your content is shared with other people, they can drop by as well.
So I hope you have enjoyed your visit to Roundpeg today. We would love you to become a regular visitor, so please tell us what else you would like to see when you drop by.