It’s a new year and you’ve probably reviewed last year and came up with plans for the year for your business. Looking back, has your website contributed to the success of your business? If you’re like most website owners, the answer may be ‘not sure’, or ‘not at all’. You see, the sad fact is that the role of websites has changed over time and you were too busy to notice. Thankfully, we got your back and here we’ll share a few pointers to help you evaluate your website and position it to work for you.

Your Website At First Glance

When a prospect first lands on your website, are they impressed by what they see, or do they quickly hit the back button? Are the colors, layout and general structure inviting and right for your industry? If the website was built a while ago, then one of these elements above may not be in order. With time, computers have changed in size and speed making the small website layouts look really tiny now. This is a big turn off. Having an outdated website may mean that you do not keep up with the times, or worse, that you’re no longer in business.

Solution: Get a redesign of your website. If you had your website developed 2 or more years ago, then it’s time to freshen up the look. Keep in mind that this does not necessarily mean that you have to redo the whole website. Sometime it may just be as simple as updating photos or company logo. At Front2Back Studio we redesign websites for businesses and help them improve their image online.

Slowly Loading Website

A slowly loading website will not stand a chance of being seen by users online. Users online expect everything now so a website that requires extra loading time will lose because no one is willing to sit around and wait anymore. We’ve written an awesome article on this issue which you can view by clicking here.

Text on Website Pages

While having an appealing website prevents visitors from hitting the back button, it is the text on the website that keeps visitors on the pages. Unfortunately a lot of websites have the wrong text on the pages. Outdated text, typos, and the wrong size of fonts are among the top issues with text on websites. Text related issues on a page may communicate a lack of focus on details by the business.

Solution: Set some time aside to go over the text on each page that a user will see and make sure that the text is correctly written. Also, this is a good time to dummy down those industry specific words. Keep explanations to a minimum and be sure to have 2 – 3 other people read the text and make sure they understand what it means.

Complicated Website Menus

Poorly linked pages within a website is one of the most frustrating issues on websites. A visitor looking for a product lands on your website and they get lost or can’t find the page with the product they wanted to buy. We’ve all been there at some point. Businesses lose countless sales due to poorly constructed navigation menus.

Solution: It’s time to think like a visitor on your website. How would you navigate the website to find what you’re looking for? Is it easy for visitors to figure all this out on their own? One highly effective technique used on e-commerce websites is inviting a friend to go through your website as you watch how they do it. By watching a user navigate your website, you’ll quickly learn what needs changing.

Web Forms

A form on a website can help a business collect important data from users, thereby reducing the time it takes for customers/clients to submit the forms in person. The reality is that these forms can be a huge barrier to the success of a business if they don’t work right. For example, if the form requires certain types of data that the user is not aware of then it may cause a lot of frustrations when filling out.

Solution: Evaluate the use of each form on your website. Provide helpful tips to allow users to fill out the form once. If at all possible, allow users to save progress on the forms in case they run out of time. When collecting personal information, state how you intend to use the information. Users will appreciate your upfront honesty and you’ll gain their trust.

Conclusion

A website is no longer a brochure. It is a live channel and connection to your business. You have to keep it fresh and improve on it every so often. As always, we’d love to consult with you and help your website become relevant again. Get in touch with us today.