Is Your Website Losing Customers?

Every site can perform better. Every effective website is a work in progress. That's why a regular web evaluation is so important.

Think of it as an annual check-up. An objective evaluation is the single most important thing you can do to improve your site because it identifies problems affecting your conversion rate. Whether you want visitors to make a purchase, submit a form, or pick up the phone and schedule a consultation, even a small improvement in your conversion rate will pay for an evaluation many times over.

The goal of an evaluation is to come up with specific steps to fix the most significant problems affecting your site. Typically, these fall into four categories: copywriting, navigation, layout, and relevance.

Frequently visitors:

• Don't want to read all your copy

• Don't understand what you're saying
• Can't find what they want
• Become confused by too many choices
• Find outdated information

More than design flaws, the biggest problem we see in web evaluations relates to the copy. Web copy frequently fails to convey the most important benefits or connect with your visitors on an emotional level. Often, there's far too much of it, and too few compelling "calls-to-action."

An in-house evaluation is better than nothing, but for best results you should get an objective evaluation. You and your developers know your site too well to see it from your visitors' perspective. Links that may seem perfectly obvious to you may be invisible to most people. Copy that clearly explains your services may not be getting your message across, assuming people read it (which they rarely do).

A good evaluation is customized for your site, your audience, and your business goals. It should lead to specific recommendations to address the most significant problems. At the very least, review your site on an annual basis. Make sure it doesn't have any broken links, and your content is current. And keep in mind that changes in your business must be reflected in your site.