I frequently have people come to me asking about upgrades to their websites or blogs.  What I hear is, “When I started out, I didn’t have the money for a website so I did it myself….” or- “I couldn’t afford a web designer, so I found this great free web site program…”

And the next word is “BUT….. But, NOW I need….  But NOW, my current site won’t ….. But NOW, I need to update… and on and on.

What these entrepreners have done is use a free, or very inexpensive website builder to “get it (their website) up there.”  You can find website builder programs everywhere on the internet.  GoDaddy even has one.  I don’t have a problem with the programs in general when they are used for the right purpose.  The right purpose, I would suggest, is for personal sites. For example, a family blog or photo album.  However for business purposes, they have significant limitations. 

I try to impress on business owners that your website is usually the FIRST and sometimes ONLY impression your target clients will see!  A significant part of any internet business is establishing trust.  A site visitor will not stay and explore your site or contact you, never mind actually purchase, if your site does not project professionalism and trustworthiness.  You may be the best in your field but if your site does not convey this in about 3 seconds your potential client becomes just another “traffic” statistics as they click away to the next site.

To break it down, here is my short list of the Pros and Cons of using a site builder program for your business site:

PROs

-Free or very low cost initally.

-User friendly for the newbie

CONs

- Ends up costing you much more in the long term.

-Looks unprofessional

-Does not “grow” with your business

-Most have limitations regarding using video or conducting ecommerce

So my recommendation is to make budgeting for a professional website a top priorty.  What costs you a little more now will save you money, time and frustration as your business grows.

This is a good, short read that will give you some food for thought. Enjoy

Inc.

You’ve checked your site stats and you are getting TONS of hits (visitors) but you are wondering why no one is signing up for your newsletter or making a purchase?  It’s time to look at your Bounce Rate or how long your visitors are actually staying on your site.

Google Analytics definition is: “Bounce rate is the percentage of single-page visits or visits in which the person left your site from the entrance (landing) page.”

For the mathematically inclined, here is a formula:

Bounce Rate = Total Number of Visits Viewing Only One Page / Total Number of Visits

A high bounce rate indicates that visitors are not finding information that is relevant or interesting TO THEM on your landing page.  Note the “TO THEM.”  You may think your home page is very relevant and interesting but you need to think like your visitor.  The more compelling your landing page is to them the longer they will explore your site and increase the chance that they will become a customer. 

Here are a some tips to help improve your bounce rate and your conversion.

1-  Check your keywords.  Your keywords must be relevant to what you are offering.  For example, if someone is searching for information on choosing a paint color for their bedroom and lands on your fine art site because one of your key words is paint, they are not going to stay.  And they are not your target client.  So evaluate your keywords to be sure you are receiving targeted traffic.

2-  Keep your page short.  The most relevant information should be “above the fold.”  (You should see it without scrolling down.)  People generally have short attention spans and with so much information coming at them from all directions on the internet, they will generally do a quick scan for the information they are looking for.  If you don’t grab them during that scan, they are on to the next site.  All relevant links and your call to action should be above the fold.

3-  Evaluate the Layout of your site. When a visitor lands on your page, where does their eye go?  This is the first information they see.  Is it information they need? Is it a call to action?

I recently found a good tool to help evaluate a site’s layout.  AttentionWizard.com takes a screen shot of your site and creates a “heat map” of where your visitor’s eye is drawn.  Their description: ”AttentionWizard uses advanced artificial intelligence algorithms to simulate human visual processing and attention.” It gives you some interesting insight, it’s quick and free. Try it out.

4-  Keep your landing page fresh.  Search engines spiders like to find new food!  If you have fresh content on your home page, they are more likely to favor you in their search.  If you are a regular blogger, and this means at least twice a week, one way to do this is to make your blog your landing page.  What?! Radical?! That’s usually the response I get when I suggest it.  When I heard the idea, I had my doubts too.  But I decided to try it with my site and six months later my bounce rate is 25% lower!

There are many other things to look at concerning bounce rate and conversion.  But short of writing a book, these are a few things to get you started.  It can actually be fun.  If you have a question, or just don’t want to deal with it all and would like me to take a look at your site, contact me.