As the old saying goes: “you never get a second chance to make a good first impression.” This holds true with websites more than ever when it is so easy to click and close a site that looks unappealing.
You need to get someone’s interest within the first few seconds they spend on your site. You want to create the right impression and encourage them to spend some time there looking around before they make contact with you.
Here are a few things that will help with that:
1. Add USPs and Sales Messages
On your home page tell people in a few words what is special about your company. This needs to focus on the benefit to the reader of using you and could include supporting information about how long you have been trading, where you are based and how many happy customers you have. The shorter the better for this message so it can be easily read and understood.
2. Keep navigation simple
Many websites have a long list of menu items across the top of the page and when you hover on one another long list appears. For a marketing website keep the navigation simple with 6-8 menu items and avoid dropdown lists where possible. Rather than showing a list of products when someone hovers their mouse over the menu button it is far more effective to take them to a product overview page and show what you do with a couple of lines of text about each.
3. Use full screen images
Desktop monitors are getting larger so it makes sense to have images on the home page that will expand to fill the screen rather than a small image in the middle of the page.
4. Clear calls-to-action
Always show visitors what to do next. When they have read a service overview page clearly show the way to a more detailed page. At the end of that page prompt them to contact you and make it easy by providing your phone number and/or a link to a contact form. Always tell people what you would like them to do next as you lead them through your site.
5. Show testimonials
Everyone knows there are a lot of bad companies around and until they have used you they don’t know if you are one of them. Including a few testimonials from existing customers and maybe client logos gives reassurance that you know what you are doing and can be trusted to do a good job.
