About a minute ago, someone clicked on your site…and left. Heck, you were lucky to get 6 seconds out of their day. The kicker? They didn’t even bother to let you know they were there. Know why? They weren’t compelled to stay.
When people are searching for services online, they possess a sense of urgency. They have a problem. They need to find someone to fix it as fast as my dog needs to find a tree first thing every morning. They need it bad and they don’t want to waste time on nonsense they don’t need. Making a few simple changes will help.
If your site is crammed with meaningless statistics, bloated copy and images of people you don’t even know, you’ve got a problem. If you opened your site on a mobile phone and your 12 year old can’t even read it, you’ve got major problems.
Here are some key things to ensure your site is capturing more leads:
- Make it mobile friendly. (If your developer doesn’t know what this means, fire them and hire someone else.) Test, test and retest it on every device available to make sure it’s working correctly and the text is large and readable and images are loading completely. Also, check all the navigation to make sure people know where to go next.
- Give ‘em what they want immediately. Know your customer’s pain and how you can solve it. Tell them how in the first sentence. Better yet, use the boldest, biggest headline you can right at eye level. Solve their problem. Give them an offer they can’t refuse, something of value.
- Lead people where you want them to go. Ultimately it’s about getting them to either call you or fill out your contact form. (If you can get them to join your newsletter list, consider that a bonus.) Make your “call to action” buttons as large and colorful as possible. Don’t forget your phone number in a large font on top of the page and at on the bottom.
- The best method I know to keep get people to stay on your home page longer is post a video. Their eyes will stay glued to the screen and on your site. Video is the most compelling way to keep people tuned in. Keep it under three minutes. Tell your story. Ask for the sale. It’s that easy.
With just a few tweaks, your site can be one of the best lead generation tools in your marketing toolbox. A good thing to remember, your site is not about you or your organization. It’s always, always about your customer and their immediate needs. Tell them how you can solve their problems on page one and you’ll get their attention and possibly get them to take action and actually contact you. That’s when the real work begins.
