Why $500 websites Suck!

Choosing to get a new website built can be a big decision. With 68% of internet users having made an online purchase in the 2010-2011 period and 79% of households in Australia with Internet access, having a website is a necessity. Having a website that works well is a luxury, a luxury that will give you an advantage over your competitors and give you the best return on your investment.

Consider the following example:

In this example we assume ‘Website A’ has been developed to a much lower standard which affects both the conversion rate and traffic of the website, It also means the initial cost of the website has been reduced.

‘Website B’ has been developed to higher standards which equates to better conversion rates and more traffic. While the initial cost of the website was more, the overall profit earned is far more valuable.

It’s worth noting that even if the traffic to each site was the same, ‘Website B’ would have returned almost 4 times the profit over 1 year.

When deciding on your next website, don’t just consider the initial cost, consider who is building your website and what they can do to increase your traffic and your conversion rates, this is what will pay off over the long run.

Here are some key factors for driving traffic and getting sales or leads:

Conversion Rates

Clear navigation structure
Websites users need to move around your website easily and intuitively. The ‘don’t make me think’ principle applies here.

Great ‘calls to action’
Users need to be made aware of what to do and when to do it. Don’t use headlines like ‘Sign up today’, make them more appealing: ‘Get a FREE Consultation, Sign up today!’. Make sure your important messages are getting across, and users know how to act on them.

Relevant Content
The content on each page of your website needs to be original and well written. Try to make your content clear and concise.

Fast page loading
No-one likes to wait, especially on the internet. If your server is down, or your website takes too long to load then people will leave.

Easy checkout process
If you are making sales directly from your website, make sure your checkout process is easy to follow. The shorter the checkout procedure the higher your conversion rate will be. Also make sure you provide good options for payment.

Getting Traffic

High quality website coding
Quality website coding allows search engines to fully ‘read’ your website and understand its content and layout. Good programmers will always leave special clues for search engines to rank your website highly.

Relevant content
Search engines want to display website with the best and most relevant content to people doing searches. If you type ‘blue bikes’ into Google you expect the search results to be websites relating to ‘Blue Bikes’. Some of the most useful websites Google ranks highly are the ones which have the most relevant content.

Search engine optimised
Having your website built by someone who understands search engines allows them to code the website in a way which gives you maximum results. They will be able to structure your navigation properly and arrange your website content the way search engines expect.

Conclusion

It is not good enough to just have someone ‘build’ your website. Your developers need to understand your business, products and services in order to design a website which caters for the people who are going to use it. The more effective your web team are at meeting the expectations of potential customers and search engines, the more effective your online campaign will be.

Sources [ Australian Bureau of Statistics: http://www.abs.gov.au/]

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