3 quick ways to make your website more effective

| Web design

3 quick ways to make your website more effective

If someone was to use Google to search for a “Chartered Surveyor” or “industrial properties” or “commercial agents” in your town, does your website appear somewhere at the top of page one?

If it does, then that's peachy.

So that means you must be getting great levels of traffic to your website? Traffic that stays a while on your website? You must be picking up lots of new business leads as well? If your answer to this is no, then your website is letting you down and it is probably time for a new one. The problem is, your website does not appeal to your target market and all that hard work achieving high search engine listings is wasted.

So why could this be happening? It could be a combination of factors, but here are three quick points that you could consider:

Poor Visual Design

This is probably the most powerful factor, as first impressions do count. Your audience will make judgements on your company based first on what they see, not what they read. In fact the way that you visually present your company will dictate whether they choose to read what you say about yourself anyway.

At Resource Techniques we talk about ‘3 seconds to impress’. This is how long prospective client take to formulate an opinion on your company when first visiting your website. Dated or poor design will not inspire confidence and they will leave.

Saying Too Much

Less is more. Try to convey what it is that you do in the most clear and succinct way possible. Try to encapsulate what it is that makes you different from all the other commercial agents in your area.

In practice however, any number of fine words will not be able to convey your differential as quickly, effectively or emotionally as great visual design.

Poor Layout

White space is one of your greatest weapons. Don’t cram the copy in. Tests have shown that the more white space around headlines and headings for instance, will be more engaging for your audience.

People don’t read websites, they scan. Try not to have long rambling pages of text, by making use of bullets. Position your most compelling messages on the top-left of your website page, where people traditionally start reading.