It doesn’t matter how much website traffic you’re getting, if those visits aren’t yielding positive results for your business, what is the point? After spending time, energy, money and love on your website it can be frustrating when it doesn’t start paying you back. Here are a few ways to diagnose what’s happening and how to correct it.
Why do people leave a website? There are two main reasons that someone leaves your website; 1. It’s loading too slow 2. They can’t find what they’re looking for quickly enough. The first reason you will have to get your technical expert on, but the second reason is all down to the content of the site, which you can change today. If this visitor is an ideal customer but isn’t behaving as you’d like, follow these steps for a greater chance of success on autopilot.
What do you want people to do? Successful websites have at least three calls to action. For your website to be successful you need to clearly define what success is. So what does a successful visit to your website look like to you? Is it a sale? A request for a free quote? A newsletter sign up? A contact? Decide what it is, ensuring that it’s supportive of your business goals, and complete the following tasks with that goal in mind…
Tell your visitors what to do. This is often the easiest thing to miss. When you want someone to do something on your website, remember to suggest that they do it. At the end of a post, suggest another post they can go to next, suggest that they get in contact, that they join your newsletter, or a product you offer to solve their problem. Don’t leave a visitor to stumble through your website using the navigation bar at the top; you never know where they’ll end up!
Draw out a website path. A great way to engage web visitors is to create a specific route through your website that will lead to your end goal. It’s a bit like a long sales letter, designed to soften your prospects over time. Create the content and modify existing pages to send visitors along that route. This makes it much more likely that your website goal will actually be achieved. An example might be a series of blog posts on a subject which leads to an information product that fully solves the problem. If you never end a post or page without outlining where a visitor should go next, you will be leading them by the hand through your website.
How to avoid common traffic leaks:
Homepage: Your homepage is typically the first place visitors land and the point at which they could go anywhere. Consider limiting their options and make it very clear where they want to go to get the information they see. Don’t leave them with any doubt. To do this, consider what reasons your target market has for coming to your website? Provide a different route to satisfy each of these reasons.
At the end of a page: Perhaps they found you because they were looking to solve a problem and found your blog post on the topic. Then they get to the end of the post and are faced with what to do next? Don’t make them think to hard, SPELL IT OUT for them
Give visitors a reason to come back and remember you. Of course some visits won’t complete your website goal, for one thing, you may not have what they require or they are just might not be ready for you yet. This is where you want to make sure that the contact hasn’t been wasted. Make the most of each visit by creating a newsletter they can sign up for, give away an ebook, special report or workbook in exchange for their contact details, and encouraging them to connect with you on social media sites. That way it’s not an opportunity wasted, and you may get another chance with them later.
Are you tracking your results? I am nuts for analytics and you will be too once you see how small changes affect your website goals. Google analytics makes it possible for you to set up tracking and see whether your website goals are being met for free. You can see where people usually enter your website, where, why and your common leaks as well as seeing what path they take through your website and make improvements.
How do you plan to get your visitors to complete your goals? Share your thoughts.
About the author: Jessica Shailes teaches entrepreneurs how to build a successful online presence without expensive software or technical skills. See posts including how to use Google Analytics online at http://fluidwebworks.co.uk.
Thank you for the information. I am a cofounder of a startup tutoring company and we are in the process of designing our website (with the help of web development experts). This information will help us get off to a good start!
Nneka, I’m glad that you found it helpful. Good luck with your launch, I hope it goes well! Jess
Thank you Jessica!!!
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