A recent nationwide marketing survey and report has revealed some rather startling information regarding what customers are actually looking for from your website. And, why most small businesses don’t have what they are looking for. Today, your website, and its overall presentation, is truly the key to your future success as a business.
- The research revealed that today’s consumer wants to feel that a company, and its website, is authentic. Authenticity inspires trust in the customer’s eyes as well as establishing your credibility as a company. What is, also, surprising, is how many small businesses don’t have the simple essentials for establishing that trust.
- Believe it or not, many companies have extremely vague contact information. Many sites simply have a couple of email boxes for you to send along a message to them. Companies that have such a setup, and they are legion, are finding that potential customers are fleeing their sites in droves. Consumers today want to know you are real and they want to know where you are and how they can get in touch. That means a physical address as well as a phone number where they can actually talk to a person. The research stated that around 98% of the people surveyed stated that they will leave a site if it has no phone number listed in its contact info. Why would you NOT want potential customers to call you?
- Another of the most trusted, and looked for, parts of a company website is the About Us section. This is where you can draw potential customers in. Let them see who you are. Introduce them to your team. Plenty of inside photos and maybe even a short video about your company and your people. Get a professional photographer to take head shots of your team. No selfies. Have links to their LinkedIn profiles and Twitter accounts. This section is the biggest online marketing opportunity you have so go all out because consumers put great stock in a great About Us section.
- While you must be optimized and mobile ready, the recent research found that over 60% stated that mobile ready sites didn’t have any direct affect on their decision to buy. That just may be because they expect every site to be mobile. If they are under 45, they are highly likely to be looking for you via their phone. Keep things simple and your site easy to get around. In addition, make certain your social media links are large and visible and don’t bury those calls to action. They must be prominent and everything must lead toward making the visitor click and convert.
-Written by Kevin Sawyer
SearchPro Systems
2024