Creating an Effective Web Presence: 4 Key Elements for Engaging Visitors
Feb 27, 2007
Providing just the right information in the right web environment goes a long way toward bringing prospects closer to doing business with you.
Now that virtually every company has some sort of web presence, owners, managers, and CEOs are beginning to rethink the way their sites are put together. What are the elements of an effective presence?
An effective presence starts with your home page. This is where all first impressions are made and visitors decide within an instant whether to stay or go.
In short, there are about 4 things to look at: branding, products or services, benefits, education, or information.
Branding
First and foremost your website reflects your physical company. A poorly designed site that does not reflect the company image speaks volumes about the ability of your company to provide what your prospects need. A big part of this image is the company brand, although frequently overlooked in the quest for a “cool” website.
Keeping the company brand consistent builds credibility, pure and simple. The company brand includes logos, colors, and styles. If you own a high-profile law firm your style will be different than the local pub. Keep this in mind when the site is redesigned and you’ll get better visitor retention rates.
Bear in mind that not everyone knows your company and it is likely, the better your site is optimized, that people will stumble upon your website for the first time. They won’t know you so making a good first impression is extremely important.
Company Offerings
What products or services does your company offer? While it’s impossible to list everything on the front page for every company it is possible to provide a brief overview using situational selling.
If your site provides plumbing you might have key icons for contractors and homeowners to guide visitors to the right information.
For e-commerce sites, it is important to feature your top promotional items and most popular items. If you are selling gourmet food you’ll want to have a brief list of top-level categories – coffee, cookies, etc.
In either case use images where possible to further make your company’s business known.
Benefits
Most overlooked on a home page are the benefits of doing business with you. Every website out there does a good job of talking about the company and what the company can provide but very few focus on the customer and benefits.
Ask your sales staff and you’ll quickly find that they aren’t selling a product or service, they are selling what the product or service will do for them. Instead of
“our company . . .” try rephrasing to “You’ll get . . . from our company.”
Educating & Informing
The number one reason people use the internet is to find information. The ability of your website to inform and educate is important because it will further “sell” your company.
The front page of your site should point visitors to more information in the form of frequent questions, how-to information, case studies, etc. Be sure the site navigation provides easy access to key areas and directions. Visitors should be able to get to information within 3 clicks or less.
It may be tempting at this point to fill the first page with a lot of text to cover all the bases. Remember, though, that the first page is just an overview – the details should be linked to different areas within the site. In fact, it takes as little as 300 words in carefully written copy, in addition to optimization in the coding, to satisfy the search engines.
The web is not radio, television, or print but it is all these things rolled into one, especially with the ability to feature video and audio as part of websites. Having too much information, glitz, or movement on the home page will decrease effectiveness because there is too much to look at and visitors quickly become overwhelmed.
Providing just the right information in the right web environment goes a long way toward bringing prospects closer to doing business with you.
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