Are you a service provider with a less than stellar website? You hear everyone talking about how great their websites are at bringing in steady clients every day.
But your website doesn’t do that. How can you get your website to bring you continual leads day in and day out?
It can be overwhelming to know which website components to focus on first. Don’t worry any longer. We’re going to break down the top 12 tips to help optimize your online presence, establish authority, and draw in new customers.
Keep reading to find out the key elements that will have the highest ROI for your digital marketing budget.
1. Make Your Site Is User Friendly
No one likes to have to hunt around for the information they want. They also don’t want to have to wait around for a slow site to load.
One of the most important aspects of a website you should consider is how user-friendly it is. In today’s savvy customer-centric world, you will lose your visitors if they can’t find what they’re looking for, or if they have to wait on that information.
There are too many other websites out there that will offer them these features, so you can’t rely on customer loyalty unless you’re already an established brand.
When your website performs poorly, that speaks to your services. Maybe you think that’s unfair as you’re very good at what you do, but that is the fact of the market today. Take the time, or hire someone, to improve the useability of your website right away.
2. Ensure You’re Mobile Friendly
In 2020, you should add this component as everyone should already have a mobile-friendly website. But the fact of the matter remains, one in four websites are still not mobile-friendly. And if yours is one of them, then sadly, you’re missing out on a ton of traffic.
When it comes to local, service-based providers, the majority of your traffic is going to be from mobile. People will be searching for “electricians near me” and if you’ve taken the time to optimize your Google My Business profile, then you will likely rank for anyone in your area searching for your services.
So, make it a priority to ensure your website is mobile-friendly and accessible from all devices.
3. Provide Helpful Content
When you create your website for your service-based website, you’re telling the world that you’re a professional and they should trust you. You can do this by creating helpful content. But what does that look like?
It can be through tutorial blog posts. It can also be through walk-through videos. These types of helpful and original content are what will make you stand out in a crowded online market.
Additionally, Google rewards in-depth, high-quality content by ranking it higher. So, if you want to get found in the search engines, then you need to make creating helpful content a priority component of your website.
If creating content is not your specialty, and you would rather work on your business instead, then we suggest you outsource this to a professional. There are several freelancers and agencies available to help you create amazing, high-caliber content that will attract your future clients to your website organically.
4. Establish Authority
You’re an expert in your industry. When someone is searching for how to unclog their toilet you want them to find your website. They’ll watch your video, solve their problem, and then remember you the next time when they have a much larger plumbing problem they can’t fix themselves.
In the previous section, you might have wondered, what sort of valuable content you could create. When it comes to prioritizing certain components of your website, establishing authority is vital.
As a service provider, your content will assure your audience that you are an expert in your field. It’s not enough to simply list your credentials on your About Me page. You need to solve your customers’ problems through valuable content and this will show them that you are an authority in your industry.
5. Be Results-Oriented in Your Strategy
Your website must be results-oriented. Before you even begin creating your website, decide what result you want to drive your visitors toward. Do you want them to sign up for your email list so you can continue to market towards them on that platform?
Or, would you rather lead them towards scheduling a consultation with you? Whatever, final result you want your website to deliver for your business, this needs to be established first.
Then when you create your valuable content that establishes your authority it needs to naturally lead your viewer towards your most desired result. Some articles and videos will have differing goals. Some might leads toward your email list for further information, while others lead directly to the sale.
When you create your website and your content with your goals in mind you will find a highly converting website that delivers you new leads and potential clients day in and day out.
6. Easy to Navigate
As mentioned in the first, most important, website component, having a website that is easy to navigate is crucial to your success. People will bounce off your page and find something else if they can’t immediately locate what they’re looking for.
Have your categories clearly mapped out rather than a singular heading that says “blog” forcing your viewer to scroll through multiple pages of content to find what they’re looking for.
If you don’t want to create categories, or once you find yourself with several pages of blog post articles, create a search bar to help your visitors find the information they need.
A search bar is a simple widget you can add in the back end of your website and most themes offer this without any coding required. However, if you find yourself unsure about how to create a user-centric website that is easy to navigate, speak with a developer who can help you.
7. Lots of White Space
We are all inundated with information overload, and you don’t want your website to overwhelm or confuse your visitors. Don’t deluge your potential visitors with too many options and too much information.
Each blog post and video should solve one problem. If you find yourself veering off onto another topic, save that information for another post. Likewise, each page and post should only have one goal, whether it’s converting to your email list or scheduling a call or consultation, choose only one and showcase it.
8. Have Multi-Media Integrated Throughout Your Website Components
Video and images are imperative in today’s digital marketing climate. Without them, your website will seem obsolete and outdated. We live in a world of scanners and scrollers. Images and videos get your readers to stop scrolling and take notice.
Whether it’s for your website or off-site content such as social media or a YoutTube channel, you can utilize the power of images and video to get your viewers to stop scrolling and start paying attention.
Think that YouTube is only for your teenage kids? Think again.
When your future clients have a problem, they turn to YouTube. Over 2 billion people in over 100 countries watch an average of a billion hours of videos daily on YouTube. And the average age of viewers is 18-34 years old.
So, don’t delay in adding multi-media graphics to your website today.
9. You Need an Optimized Website
Think about it through the eyes of your customer. They might not know what they’re looking for. They know that something is wrong with their dishwasher because it’s making a funny sound.
But that’s about it.
So, they head to their favorite search engine and enter “Dishwasher making a funny sound.” Well, if you have a blog post titled “Top 10 funny sounds your dishwasher shouldn’t be making” then they will find you and your website.
As mentioned in the previous section, more people than you think are searching on YouTube for the information you have to offer. Don’t just make a video and upload it expecting to get legions of viewers. Use the power of search optimization to get the information found by the right people who want the services you have to offer.
And finally, Google won’t send any traffic to your website if it’s not secure. So be sure to secure your website today. This provides peace of mind to your viewers as well as conforms to Google’s standards.
10. Be Sure You Have Analytics Tools Installed
Along with your optimized content, you need to have analytics installed on your website.
Without this, you can’t improve on what you’ve got, and you won’t know what your most successful posts are.
Once you have some data gathered from your analytics tools, you can make strategic decisions about what content to continue to make. Perhaps you thought everyone would be searching for a particular concept only to find a small handful of viewers. While another topic you never assumed would do well brings in thousands of views and dozens of new clients every month.
When you track your data you can make strategic decisions about the future content of your site.
11. Provide Social Validation
Today’s savvy customers want to see testimonials from previous clients and customers. Proudly display any good references you have from your satisfied customers and you will see your conversions increase.
Many themes offer a place to enter testimonials along with pictures on your website. However, if you don’t know how to do this, don’t skip it. It’s too important in today’s online environment to not have.
So outsource this service to a digital marketing expert so that your website can work as hard as you need it to and deliver warm leads every day.
12. Make Sure Your Visitors Can Easily Contact You
Make it easy for users of your site to contact you quickly and easily. Have a scheduling calendar available so they can make an appointment for you to come to check their windows rather than needing to call your office. Save time and money by automating your scheduling and customer service through your optimized website.
Going back to tip five, whatever the end goal is for your website needs to be prominent on every page and post. If you want them to schedule a call with you, tell them this in the content and link to your calendar. If you want them to call you, have your contact information in the footer so they can find it regardless of the page they are on.
Take away the obstacles and make it as easy as possible for your website visitors to become potential leads and future clients.
Utilize These Tips to Turn Your Website Into a Conversion Machine Today
Each component on this list is important and choosing just one to do today will improve your website functionality and success. When you invest in optimizing all the components on your list, the synthesis of all the pieces will result in a highly-engaging, highly-converting website that brings you new leads and future customers passively and organically.
And when you judge the success of your website, this is what will show you the highest ROI for your business. With a successful website, you will be able to scale your business and grow your customer base day in and day out.
If you’re looking for help with completing any or all of these website components, contact us today. We’re here to help you design the perfect website that will convert casual visitors to loyal customers.
