Your website is your virtual location: it is often the first impression that users have of you and your company. Like any physical location you have, it needs have curb appeal and draw customers in. You need to package your website the right way to accomplish this. Here are a few tips for you.
Killer Headlines
Whether it is on your homepage, a blog post, or a landing page, you need to have killer headlines to draw people in. This means they need to not only be clever, but be relevant as well. The headlines you create, and all of your content, must relate well to your domain name, whether that name is a reflection of who you are, what you do, or both. Just be sure when you are creating titles and pages that they follow some simple principles:
- Relevant: The headline and page names on your site need to be relevant to your business and to the content on the page, and even the internet search that may have led the user there. Posting recipes might get you traffic, but it may not result in customers who buy your products or subscribe to your services.
- Simple: Your website name and page names alike need to be easy to say, spell, and pronounce. Otherwise users could miss what you are trying to convey.
- Carefully Phrased: Often if you run words together or abbreviate incorrectly, you can get domain or page names that are embarrassing or worse, offensive.
Killer headlines can make the difference between a user who stays and one who leaves and goes to another site to find what they are looking for.
Homepage Happiness
Speaking of your homepage, this is often the first impression users have of your site, and it should be well constructed and appealing. Like a good landing page, it should have a good headline, a sub headline that explains in more detail who you are and what you do, followed by a more detailed description. This is also where your website navigation starts, and your menu and how it is constructed is one of the most critical elements at this point. You need to have simple drop-down menus that are easy to find and follow anywhere on your page, a robust search feature, and a clear and simple way to contact you and your team.
Your homepage is not only the sign on the front of your store, but the window users look through to see what you are all about. The better your homepage, the more likely that users will dig deeper into your site.
Relevant Blogging
We all know how important it is to have a blog, and an active one. However, many times businesses have no idea what message or content to share on their blog, or they run out of ideas quickly.
So, what should you talk about on your blog? There are a number of key topics you can tackle.
- How To’s: How do customers use your product or service, or what are some ways it can work for them. Show them value, and give away this information for free.
- FAQ’s: Do your web visitors often email you with the exact same questions over and over? Answer them on your blog, and then you have a place to refer them.
- Search Questions: Want to rank well in Google? Answer the questions that people in your niche are searching regularly. There are a number of SEO tools you can use to find out what these questions are, or you can use social listening to determine them for yourself.
- Industry Information: Educate users on your industry and what you do, keeping it very general. This will show them you care about what you care about, and they will come back for this information over and over.
You also need to create content for several different kinds of users to make sure you are reaching your target audience. Knowing who they are and what interests them will go a long way toward bringing traffic to your site.
The Landing Zone
Speaking of landing pages, these are vital to the success of your website. So what is the difference between a standard page and a landing page? A landing page has a specific call to action (CTA), essentially something you want the website visitor to do.
Landing pages can vary in their purpose, from wanting a user to subscribe to a newsletter, redeem a coupon, or subscribe to a service. While they are part of your website and usually hosted on the same domain, they don’t have the same navigation and other distractions your full site has. No matter what the purpose, a landing page needs a few key elements for it to work well.
- A Killer Headline: Just like your other pages, this is what inspires the user to stay.
- An explanatory Sub-Headline: This is what lets the reader know a little more about the purpose of the page.
- An offer: The next section reveals the details of your offer, and lets the reader know how they will benefit from it.
- Features: The offer section tells the reader about the benefits of your product. This section can be a brief explanation of features, ingredients, dimensions, and more.
- A Clear and Simple to Follow Call to Action: The whole purpose of a landing page is to get a user to take a prescribed action. Make sure it is clear what that action is, and that taking it is easy.
Landing pages are where many of your conversions come from. Be sure they are appealing, packaged and constructed well, and that they fit with your branding and the rest of your website.
Your website is your virtual location, and it needs to be packaged in such a way that it appeals to your potential and current customers. Follow the steps above to make sure your site is wrapped up the best way possible.