Your visitors come to your website got there because of a specific search for your product or service. They need what you're selling but when they get there, they also need the answers to some basic questions. So what do you put on your website? If they can't answer those questions on the first page of your website, they will be heading to your competitor's site before you know it.
Getting visitors to your website is the all-important first step. Once they are there, your goal is to keep them there and, maybe, direct them into a sales or information funnel. To keep them around, you need to give them the information they are looking for once they land on your homepage.
It can be easy to assume that because this visitor searched for and clicked on your website, they know what they're looking for and how it can help them. However, just because someone knows they are looking for a realtor or HVAC repair service doesn't mean they know how YOUR realty firm or HVAC company can help them.
Are you known for excellent customer service? Speed? Quality products? If you're in a non-essential business, maybe landscaping or pool installation, you need to make the case for why this person who may be thinking about relandscaping or adding in a pool should make that investment.
The next thing visitors are looking to know is how you are different from your competitors. Why should they choose to work with you? Why should they choose your product over the same, or similar, product made by your competitors?
Again, this could come down to the speed or quality of your service. The history of your company and your mission and values, the ingredients you use in your product, the story of how your company started can all set you apart from your competitors and will humanize your company in a way that will have visitors identifying with your story, which is a great way to build brand loyalty.
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Visitors want to be able to easily find the information they need. If your website lacks a clear navigational structure, your visitors will get frustrated and leave before buying your product or service.
Studies have shown that 50% of visitors will use your site's navigation menu to orient themselves once they get to your site from a referral site. If your site has an overly complicated navigation structure, you're not doing yourself any favors in getting people to stick around.
One of the biggest factors in the decision to make a purchase is whether the visitor trusts you or not. If there's even a doubt about the legitimacy of your business and your website, visitors will leave. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to demonstrate the trustworthiness of your business:
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This last one isn't so much a question as an expectation. Visitors want details about your product in an easy-to-digest manner. That means bullet points, not text blocks. Images and video demonstrations. Short paragraphs of no more than 3-4 sentences.
As web users, we're used to scanning pages to get the information we want. We save our dedicated attention spans for e-books and news articles. When we're looking at products and services, we want access to all the relevant information, and we want easy and fast.
A well-designed homepage with an easy-to-understand navigational structure, intuitive sales funnels, and clear, compelling content is what your business needs to knock out your competition. If you think your homepage is falling short, give us a call. We'd love to help you out.
