Double Your Enquiries in 2008 - Part 2 - Design

This is Part 2 of the series Double Your Enquiries in 2008

Have you been having problems with a low conversion rate, even though you get lots of traffic?

Put simply, there is no point in having lots of Brides come to your site if none of them end up buying from you (converting).

One of the possible reasons this could happen is that the design of your website is not up to scratch. You could have all the greatest content in the world on your site but if it looks ugly or doesn’t function properly then Brides will leave immediately.

Here are a few self assessment questions to help YOU improve your design and kick-start your conversion rates!

Ask Yourself This…

Can you visually ascertain with ease that you are on a website related to weddings? If not, a potential customer could think the site has nothing to do with weddings and leave immediately.

To prevent this, add wedding related photographs and graphics on your site, make it obvious the site is wedding related.

Strategically placed words such as ‘Wedding’, ‘Bride’, ‘Marriage’ etc will help a visitor know what the site is about in milliseconds. Make sure you emphasise these words by making them big, bold and prominent on your page.

Is your website within the ‘3 second rule’, meaning, is your attention caught and directed to go ahead and delve further into the website within the first 3 seconds you look at it?

Make your website engaging and professional. Add promotional copy that will draw in your visitors to make them explore your website.

How is the overall look? Does it look nice and polished, professional? Or is it rough in places, and appear more amateurish?

You need to build trust with your visitors if they are to go on and convert into customers. One way to build trust is to make sure your site appears reputable. If your site looks unprofessional more often than not, visitors will leave your website immediately. Don’t let this happen!

Is your website navigation performing properly and is it easy to use? Once you have done the hard work of getting your customers through the virtual door and onto your website they need to be able to get around easily. Don’t make it hard for them! Make it as easy as possible for a Bride to find your content.

How does your site design compare to your competitor’s websites? Are the look, feel, and content comparable? If you know a competitor’s website is performing well, study it. Take ideas and apply them to your site (without blatantly copying them).

Have you tested your site? Have you used different browsers, and formats, such as Internet Explorer, and Firefox, as well as, different size monitors (screen resolutions) to ensure that your site is properly displayed on all? (Don’t forget that now mobile phone and PDA devices can be used to view and explore websites as well)

These days the 21st century Bride is using all sorts of devices to access the internet. Therefore you must make sure that your site is accessible to everyone, whichever device they are on.

Where is your ‘Contact’ link or information? Is there a phone number clearly visible or is it hidden in the depths of your site?

To double your enquiries in 2008, you must have a way for Brides to enquire. This method of communication between you and the customer must be visible on the site and easy to find. If a visitor can’t get hold of you, how on earth to do you expect to make any sales?

When your site is loading, does it lag, or is it nice and quick? If a website takes ages to load, Brides will leave your website instantly.

Brides are in a rush, they don’t want to wait around for your site to load, give them what they want quickly. If you are using technology that takes time to load, such as Flash, then at least put a friendly message stating that the page is loading.

Do you see any errors on your website or on any of your features that use scripts?

Error messages are not good! It comes back to this element of trust. If a Bride sees error messages plastered on your site this gives out a terrible impression. What is there to stop a Bride thinking that there are ALSO errors in your product or service?

Are all the pages on your site accessible by as few clicks as possible? Allow Brides to easily find your content. For example if you sell wedding cakes, make sure that a Bride can get to information on all your wedding cakes within 2 or 3 clicks (1 click is even better!).

What about search engines? Is your site optimised for Google, Yahoo and MSN?

Over the next coming months I will talk a lot about this. The big 3 search engines above are one of the best ways to market your business for free. They have the potential to send hundreds of Brides to your website at no cost to you.

Above all, these Brides will be hungry for your product or service as they will actively be searching for it. Brides searching on the engines like Google, know what they want, and if they find you and you meet their needs, they will buy from you!

Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - Design
Part 3 - Content