Why Isn’t My Website Converting Visitors Into Clients?
I don’t understand why my website is not converting, Nick. I get over 3,000 visitors to my website each month but hardly any enquiries for my legal services. Where am I going wrong?
This was the question asked by a solicitor who had asked me to carry out a Website Marketing Critique http://www.smallbusinesssalt.co.uk/video-marketing-review.php LINK for him, so he knew exactly what he needed to do to make his website work harder at generating new clients.
I have a system for carrying out these reviews, having done hundreds of them over the years, so, as always, I started with the Home page.
Now the Home page is an interesting part of the website. People often become mesmerised by it, believing it to be the most important page of their website. It is indeed an important page, but it is definitely not the be all and end all.
If you think about it, most people who land on your website on your home page are doing so because they already know you. If your business name is Smithers Jones, they Ggle your business name, possibly followed by your town or city name, then they land on your home page, because it is the most prominent one and obvious one for Google to send them to if they are specifically looking for your business. You should have your firm name within the page content and also in your meta tags. In fact, this is the only page your business name should be featured on (more on that in the next blog post).
Once people arrive at your home page, your objective is to get them to the information that they are looking for absolutely as quickly as possible. So, if we think about someone who already knows you and lands on your website home page because they have Googled you, what could they be looking for?
Well, here are the main things for which they need quick and easy access:
- Your contact details;
- Your list of services;
- The most commonly taken action (if you offer a free guide, that will need to be easily accessed, if the most common method of enquiry is a completed enquiry form, that should be available);
- Your media coverage and contact details (for local press looking for a quote from you).
So when I was carrying out the Website Review for this client, I knew what I would like to find on the Home page, but did I find it?
Sadly not. In fact, it was one of the worst Home pages that I had ever come across.
First and foremost, it did not have any of the features that I mentioned above. It was simply a page full of content with no easy access links to an enquiry form or the contact page, aside from the top navigation bar.
However, that is when the real problems started. I started clicking the navigation items and even when I was being redirected to another page on this website, clicking a link opened up a brand new tab. Now some people do not think this is a problem, but I promise you that it is.
When I visit your website, if I click a link contained on the page, I expect to stay in the same browsing tab and for that new page to open seamlessly. Opening a new tab is just as if you were sending me to a completely new website, one which I haven’t ever requested. Nasty; and nasty leads to me leaving your website.
This was bad enough, but then I was faced with even more serious problems from the navigation. When I clicked a couple of the items of navigation, not only did a new tab open to show me this page, but in addition I was actually taken to a brand new website.
This business owner thought that I might like to see some related websites, so from their home page they sent me off to them, never to return to their own website. This sort of thing actually makes me feel slightly physically sick, because I know that it is costing the owner of that website thousands of pounds each and every year in lost revenue.
If a website visitor has a messy journey around your website and is presented with lots of options on your home page, none of which provide the solution they are looking for and some of which send them off to a completely different website, there is no way that they will make contact with you. They will be off and away to the next business in their search results.
Come on people. Business can be hard or easy. I choose easy every time. If you have links to other websites on your home page or in your navigation, get rid of them as quickly as possible. If you must have them, tuck them away, but better still, remove them completely and make your life easier and your profits bigger.
Remember what I said above about your Home page and all that it needs to do for you. If yours is currently not achieving this objective, it will be costing you lost income.
Small changes to your website are what will reap the biggest rewards in time. Leaving your website exactly as it is and never adding content or information to it, changing it, measuring your conversion rate or monitoring its performance means that it will stagnate and eventually die.
Make small changes at least once a week and monitor the improvements. It is a very rewarding experience, especially for your business bank balance.
Click the button below to see the four most effective marketing tactics for small business owners:
Small Business Salt – Practical Business Advice For Small Business Owners.