By now, almost everyone feels like they need a website to help promote their business. Unfortunately, far less realize the real success their business can have online when the proper steps are taken in the creation of their website. In the following article I would like to discuss the “what’s” and “why’s” of successful websites and how you can impact your business’ return on investment (ROI).

1) Design

Studies show that more than 75% of your visitors will judge your business’ website based on looks alone. These decisions are usually made subconsciously and can turn someone away from your website in a matter of seconds. Make sure that your business’ website looks to solve this problem by being creditable, professional and organized. This will ensure that these split second decisions go in your favor and not to the competition.

The visual impressions that your website presents to your customers, will influence their decision to either work with you or not. So in all cases, having a nice looking website is always better than having a mediocre looking website. There are some instances where a poorly designed website can out-perform a nice looking website any day of the week. This happens when the unattractive website is a better “converter” than the competition with a nice looking website.

Conversion: The percentage of visitors who successfully complete the primary desired action. Counting the number of visitors who reach a unique “success” or “thank you” page— one accessible only via the landing page— is the simplest way to determine this.

2) Conversion Friendly Design

It’s become a trend for websites to be taken less seriously than other forms of marketing. In this day and age, this is a huge mistake for any business. It is not nearly enough to have a website online, you need to make sure that the website is focused on conversion. You need to make sure that the website can tell a customer “This is who we are; What we do; Why you should pick us.” And finally, “Now just follow me so we can get you started.”

The single most important part of ensuring that your website can be a successful converter is making sure that you’re working with the right people. This is the “trust building” phase of your professional relationship. You want to make sure that the team you are working with is on the same page as you are. Do they have a clear idea of what your vision is and are they confident that they will be able to make that vision a reality? Do they have a proven track record with other clients; successfully delivering on their vision and expectations? If you have any questions or doubts, never hesitate to ask. This will save you time and money. Poorly defined communication between you and your web team will only result in time lost, and as we know, time equals money.

When you get through the “trust phase,” you will want to make sure that the company you’ve chosen has a clear idea of who you are, what your products or services include and why the visitors to your website will want to become customers. Identifying with your web team what makes your company better than the competition will help them to create better visual queues for your visitors. This ultimately turns your website into a better converter.

Converting on your website can be done by using visual queues to tell the visitors where to go next. At any moment, when a customer has any questions, they should be able to easily find answers. When someone is ready to purchase or call, there should be clear indications of how to do that. If they are interested but still not sold, they should be able to easily read more about your business. When someone wants to contact you using a form on your website, it should be easy to fill out. This type of website “converting optimization” has been shown to increase your conversion rate extensively. Any moment that a visitor has to stop and think, the less likely they are to convert to a customer. A professional/conversion friendly design is the first, most important step to having a successful website for your business.

Conversion optimization starts on your website homepage, but this is by no means where it ends. It is very rare for a conversion to occur just based off of your homepage. More likely, people will want to dive deeper into your website and confirm that the initial professional, visual impressions they receive from the site are consistent through the rest of it as well. This is why you want to make sure that every page is given the same amount of attention as the homepage. This doesn’t mean that every page has to look unique or that your web team must spend extra hours designing a new layout. The conversion friendly homepage design should give you a great framework to create the rest of the internal pages from. These internal pages can then be optimized individually by using similar methods applied to the homepage.

3) Analytics

One of the most significant advantages that websites offer business’, where other forms of marketing fall short, is the ability to track website traffic very precisely. Once your site is optimized for conversion, your web team should be able to provide you with up-to-date analytics for your website. It is infinitely valuable to be able to track who is coming to your website, where they are coming from, how they are finding you, how long they are on your site and on which page they are leaving. All of these metrics will help you to refine your website to be truly optimized for conversion.

With this data you will be able to figure out who your biggest audience is and then begin to think about how to break into other demographics. You will understand how people are finding your business online and start to expand into new areas on the web. You will see if your website is interesting enough to keep your visitors’ attention and which pages people are leaving on. This will allow you to understand more clearly how to get them moving further through the conversion funnel. Make sure the web team you choose is willing to work with you on continuously improving these metrics.

4) A/B Testing

Last but not least, A/B Testing. A/B Testing allows you to furthur your optimization by displaying 2 versions of your website to your visitors. You have a Control (current website) and a Test (new version). An equal amount of visitors will see either “A” or “B.” By putting both of these websites up against each other, you will be able to see very clearly which website performs better.

What can be tested? Everything can be tested. Most people like to start with things such as:

• Calls to action or visual queues
• How your content is phrased
• Where your content is placed
• Where your images are placed
• The layout of the website
• Promotions added or moved
• Using video

You may not believe it, but the smallest change in position or wording on your website can do more to improve performance than most other efforts put forth. If you’re not currently using A/B Testing you are throwing a “hail mary” hoping that someone catches it. With A/B Testing you are leaving it to the visitor to define what they want instead of guessing; comparing what you thought was correct with what you now know is correct.

If your web team doesn’t offer A/B testing you are taking a risk with your investment. Without proper upkeep your website will soon become more of an antique than a conversion focused asset to your business.

Conclusion

With all of this in mind it may still be hard for some business owners to see the true impact that a website can have for business. If you run a business and are truly looking for success online, then these tips will help you achieve your best possible ROI. This article was a brief overview of many website topics, I encourage you to read more about each of them to help your website become all it can be for your business.