Many of the world’s websites suffer from very low conversion which can dramatically impact their effectiveness. Whilst every one’s visual tastes are different, there are several universal principles that successful websites embody. As the web matures, visitors come to your site with higher expectations. Failing to satisfy those expectations
can dramatically reduce the effectiveness of your website. Pheunix design a website that matches all your needs.
When a potential client visits your site, you have 3 – 10 seconds to grab their attention,before they go back and start looking for something new. Building trust for your online visitors cannot be achieved by just a single action. Research suggests that blue color can play a key role in building trust for your visitor and as witnessed in many famous websites like Facebook and Twitter.
Considering all the factors that we always consider in our development process for our clients, following this fact sheet will not only determine the success of your website but also provide a real and sustainable competitive advantage over your competitors. We’ve distilled down a simple list of critical success factors which will help convert your visitors into clients:
Navigating through your site should be intuitive. This means that the site navigation should be organized and presented in a manner consistent with accepted web navigation conventions.
1. Regularly add new content to your site. It shows that the business is alive and kicking.
2. Write articles for humans, not search engines.
3. Review all links. Doubts will quickly form in your visitors’ minds if links don’t work or, worse still, take them to error pages.
4. Publish REAL testimonials and third-party endorsements. Try to always use real names and link to websites where possible. Some sites show images of letters sent by happy customers.
5. Good grammar and spelling matter. Errors give the impression of sloppiness and carelessness.
6. Don’t put down, curse or insult competitors. It’s amateurish and unprofessional. It is better to offer an objective comparison of competitive services or products.
7. Focus on building your long-term reputation, not on making quick sales.
8. Make your ‘About Us’ page professional and comprehensive. It plays an important part in making visitors feel support friendly and trust you knowing that real people are on the site.
9. Provide Web addresses linked to the website webmail, not addresses from free webmail services such as Hotmail and Gmail.
10. Think carefully about reciprocal links. If your site is about organic food and you have links to Party Poker, people are going to question your integrity.
11. Think carefully about the adverts you display on your site. Ensure that they are relevant to your subject and audience.
12. Allow people to comment on articles. Interactivity and an exchange of views build community and a sense of involvement.
13. If people provide constructive criticism or comments in the forum, don’t delete them, but respond with your point of view.
14. Use the words ‘secure website’ whenever you try to get any information from visitors, including newsletter sign-ups, forum input, and payment.
15. Have you looked through an FAQ page and been irritated by the irrelevance of the questions? If so then you’re not alone. Many sites no longer have FAQ pages and have instead updated their content to provide that information
16. Don’t waste your home page with a “Click here to enter site” link or a gratuitous splash screen. Your website visitor is already here, so reward them immediately with useful, relevant content.
17. Audio should be used sparingly on any website and it should never be played automatically, especially if you are trying to reach users in a corporate setting.
18. The graphics on your site should enhance the user experience. This needs to be kept in balance – enough to ensure that the site is attractive and functional.
19. People access the internet in many different ways using an increasing number of connections, browsers, and devices. From fast corporate connections to mobile broadband, blackberries & iPhone, speech browsers, old browsers through to old-fashioned dial-up the range is enormous. Your site needs to be usable on any of the platforms that people are likely to access from.
20. Everyone wants to have the best looking site. Many web designers become obsessed with this – partly because it is fun and partly because it is an easy sell. Whilst your site should look great, its appearance is just one part of the puzzle. The key is to identify your target demographic and implement a design that they find appealing, but make sure that all of the other points mentioned above have been addressed.
If a lot of people are doing something, they must know something you don’t, right? Showing how other people are using your product or service can boost your signup rate. This can be done by giving a product purchase count/number of sign-ups.
Conclusion:-
To ensure that you are continually improving your trustworthiness, every time you go to a website, ask yourself whether you trust it or not. Then ask yourself why you have formed the opinion you have.
