How many websites do you come across with the words “About Me” in the navigation? And when you click on it, it takes you to a page that’s written in the third person, without any pictures or videos of the person and looks more like a boring, cheap brochure than a nice interactive website.
Website visitors need to have a personal connection with the website owner before they do any kind of business with them. Visitors can’t be fooled by flashy graphics, cute games or puzzles. People seriously trying to sell a personal service such as a financial planner, dog trainer, consultant, life coach or even a real estate agent, have to put a personal touch as the first thing the visitor sees or that visitor will leave.
Online videos help with building trust and personality in your brand. People get to meet the real you – not some stock photos of people who don’t exist, and they get to judge you for your expertise. Don’t want to be judged? Sorry, that happens to you everyday, especially in business. Online, it happens even more because your prospect doesn’t get a chance to actually shake your hand, your videos and images have to take the place of a face-to-face meeting. With a lack of nice images and personal writing, it’s almost as if there’s no one to actually meet at all.
If you feel like visitors are coming to your site and quickly leaving, take a closer look at how personable your website is. How do you feel at first glance? Test your site out with some friends or colleagues – have them look at it and ask them how they felt about it. Did they see any pictures of you at first glance? Would they even know what the website is about?
When it come to written content, don’t forget to write in your own voice as well. People read boring brochures all of the time, but websites should be more dynamic than that. By their very nature, websites have the ability to do more than any brochure or business card ever could. Think about how much money is spent on print advertisements for businesses, but their websites are just too drab. And there’s no printing costs for a website, once it’s built, it works for you over and over, 24/7. Always fall back to genuine personality when you’re in doubt about what kind of content should be on your website.
Are you really getting all the traffic you think your website deserves? When what few visitors you DO get arrive at your site, are they converting into sign-ups or sales?
A simple and painless website critique is your best friend for pointing out and showing you how to correct the tiny mistakes that keep websites from performing like they should. The wrong keywords, in the wrong amounts and in the wrong places can cost you search engine positioning.
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