Why do you have a website for your business? For most of us, the website exists in order to promote our businesses, therefore you don’t want to do anything half-assed! The problem with a number of websites we see is that so many feature ‘ things not to do on your website ‘, and we’re talking basics! Here we’ve put together our top 3 things that we come across which really are no-nos for anyone who wants to get the most from their website:
1. The ‘party starter’ is missing!
Party starter you ask? We’re talking about having an opt-in on your website that is sufficiently enticing that visitors want to give you their email address in return for it. We say ‘party starter’ because we feel that too many websites are offering ‘stale old crackers’ for an opt-in. When you decide what yours will be, look at it like inviting guests into your home for a party – you’re going to serve them the good stuff, right? The best opt-ins are those that provide good value and are very relevant to your target audience. This means rather than churning out another eBook (which, let’s face it, will probably sit in downloads unread – how many of those do you have?), think about original content that is quick to consume and provides just enough value to get the reader hungry for more…
Why have an opt-in? Well, how are you going to keep in touch with all of your guests otherwise? Not having an opt-in is letting a lot of potential future customers leave without giving you their details which means you lose the chance to proactively keep in contact. With all the billions of websites out there, you can’t risk that they ‘may’ come back – get them onto your email list so you are kept in their minds!
2. Not having a blog
Ok, you might question the value of a blog if even some dogs have blogs these days, but a blog done well acts as a drawcard for Google searches. This again means having unique, valuable and relevant content that is added to regularly. It’s all about optimising your website so that you are in the best possible position to become a traffic magnet (or SEO – Seach Engine Optimisation). In other words, by not having a blog and putting up regular content, your website is likely to stagnate and drift somewhere many pages into a Google search…
On top of attracting organic traffic from search engines, producing regular, quality content can also give you a following who come back to your site looking for new content. It’s about stamping your name as an authority in your market.
Some of the top reasons people give for not having a blog is either not having time or not knowing what to put up there. Using your own voice to communicate is one of the best things you can do. It allows you to build a community who appreciate you for your authenticity. If you struggle for content, we addressed different avenues you can look in our podcast ‘How to Collect Web Content’. We also recently addressed ‘What is Working in Blogging’.
If you genuinely have no time to be creating blog posts yourself, consider having different contributors to your site, or having someone else on your team who knows your work well enough write them. Ignoring blogging is ignoring a valuable source of website traffic…
3. Not having clear navigation
This one is a biggie – what do you do if you are on a website and it is unclear where you should go? The chances are that you click away in frustration! Your website needs to be super-clear as to where people need to go and what you want them to do. This means having obvious menus and including things such as categories or related posts so that people can easily see where to go.
It is a good idea to regularly audit your website and make sure navigation hasn’t gone out of hand: what are the primary things you want visitors to do? Is it crystal clear where they click next?
We hope you enjoyed this as much as we enjoyed creating it for you.
If you’re as serious about your website and turning it into a money making machine, then you’re probably going to want to have a look at our personalized Website Checklist. It’s a checklist that we have developed over the years to show you the TOP 25 THINGS all successful websites share. The difference is that OUR TEAM of professionals will do the checking for you…. it’s too simple… and for only $7, you would be silly not to have us take a look at YOUR website.
