How to Design a Website That Converts

​Many people spend hundreds or thousands of pounds on their business website only to go live and to discover that it simply doesn’t make the telephone ring. 
 
Is there anything more disheartening than this? 
 
We don’t think so, which is why we put together five things you can do to improve your website conversions.

1. Is anyone finding your website?

The first point to check is to see if any potential prospects are finding your website. If no one is visiting your website every month, however much time and effort you spend on improving it from a conversion viewpoint it simply will not work without any visitors. 
 
The easy way to discover how many people are finding your website is to install Google Analytics. Add the code to the website, wait for a month and then see how many people are visiting your website. 
 
For a small business, you can expect anything from a few hundred visitors a month to around 10,000 people per month. 
 
If you discover that you are not attracting people to your website, the two most effective ways to do this are:

1. Search engine marketing. Ensure that each of your pages on your website answers one main question that your prospects might ask, is optimised for that search term (in other words you repeat the phrase 3 to 6 times when it is sensible to do so) and use a tool such as Yoast SEO which helps you to do this.
   
2. Use Google Adwords to instantly deliver people looking for your services to your website. You can set a daily cap on your spend so that it does not break your bank, but Google Adwords is very effective at delivering targeted prospects to your website.

2. Does every page end with a call to action?

Once you know that people are finding your website, the next thing to check is that every page ends by telling your visitor exactly what they should do next to make contact with you. 
 
Do not make the mistake of expecting your visitor to find your contact page. With most people only visiting one or two pages on your website you run the risk of them hitting the back button and heading off to your competitor’s website if you do this. Provide your telephone number, a link to an enquiry form and your email address as methods for them to contact you.

3. Does every page have one clear purpose? 

​Each page on your website should have one purpose. Usually it will be either that the visitor makes contact with you, or that you want to provide some information of value for them in exchange for their email address. 
 
Once you know which your primary purpose is, ensure that it is very clear to your website visitors. 
 
Far too frequently a visitor feels overwhelmed as they are given too many options. What happens when a prospect has information overload? They leave your website and head off to your competitor’s website.

4. How much?

​Everyone wants to know how much you charge but no one should be told this on your website! What does this mean? Quite simply, the lessons we have learned from many years of testing is that if you list your prices fully on your website, your visitor has absolutely no need to contact you because they know what you charge. 
 
Instead, they head off to your competitor’s website and because they do not list their prices, they call them to find out more. On that call they become convinced that they are the right people to help them, so you miss the chance to win the business. 
 
Therefore, we advocate that you mention that initial enquiries are free of charge, even mention your competitive or fixed fees, but then go on to explain that all of this information will be provided when you have had a chance to discover more about your prospects needs on the telephone. 

5. More bites of the cherry

​When it comes to improving conversions from your website, the more tools or interactivity that you can add which make it easier for the visitor to make contact with you, the better. 
 
Live chat consistently improves website conversion when it is hosted twenty four hours a day, seven days a week on your behalf. There are service providers who will do this for you and we usually find that despite their charges, the additional new clients generated make it a very profitable business relationship for the website owner.

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Author Bio

Nick Jervis provides marketing consultancy and marketing services for the owners of law firms. For more info, please visit www.samsonconsulting.co.uk.