Since the majority of our clients are small, local businesses I thought I would write a post going over some of the more important things we consider when building a new website for a client.
As we’ve mentioned on our site before, you only have seconds to capture a visitors attention before they leave your site. Seriously, you only have seconds. According to Microsoft Research, who did a study on this matter, you have less than 10 seconds before a visitor decides whether to leave your site or not.
So when we build a new website for a client we focus on low bounce rates and high conversion rates. We want to engage a visitor so they stay on your site, and we want them to perform some type of action. This action could be to either contact you or to buy something from your online store.
I’m not going to give away all our secrets, but here’s some of the main things that are extremely important to us when building a new site:
- Loading Times
People are impatient and aren’t going to wait around for your site to load. If you’re site is slow to load, you’re absolutely going to lose out on customers. They’re going to hit the back button and try someone else. - Design
If your design looks bad or unprofessional, you’re not going to have much success. Even if it looks good, your design might be inappropriate for your market. For example… If you’re in a creative market your design might be a bit too plain or stuffy. - Your Message
Are you getting your message across to a new visitor immediately? They need to know they’ve found what they’re looking for right away. You need to ensure your message is clear and direct. - Call To Actions
Sometimes people just need to be told what to do. So don’t be shy.. Tell them what to do! If you want them to contact you, add a button that stands out saying “CONTACT US!”. We’ve done tons of A/B testing with different call-to-actions and know what works best for most types of sites. Certain things like fonts, colors or placements can make a huge difference.
Having a good website is one of the most important things for any business. I say it all the time, but it’s so true and something that a lot of business owners don’t realize. So do yourself a favor and let our Peterborough Web Design team take care of your website.