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There are few experiences as frustrating as hearing an exciting recommendation for a new brand, only to get so frustrated by their website that you ditch them to search for a more digitally-savvy competitor.

Several factors can compound this crestfallen feeling, such as a site that’s not optimized for mobile phone use, slow loading time, colour clashes, garbled copywriting, nonsensical navigation and payment procedures that are unnecessarily complex.

In many cases, a customer who needs a fast fix for their problem won’t even have the patience to persevere past a problematic home page – they’ll bounce faster than a basketball in the hands of Pistol Pete Maravich.

So with that in mind, here are five fantastic ways to improve your website and drive sales.

1. Featured snippets

With Google ads and own-brand content dominating search engine results pages, it’s getting harder than ever to develop organic Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) techniques that help your brand grab great rankings. But optimizing your content for featured snippets that have the prominent appearance of free adverts is a niche technique that can drive an excellent click through rate – browse expert sites like Moz for the latest advice. Consulting experienced practitioners for sound advice relevant to your niche, such as Audiology SEO, will certainly help, too. 

2. Business blog

Regularly publishing a blog on your website serves several purposes simultaneously. It provides fresh, regularly updated content that boosts your SEO value, enhances your reputation through projecting trust and authority and spreads the word on social media on topics directly and indirectly connected to your products and services. Blogging for business can also increase patronage of your products and services since your blog posts will attract the right readers who are likely to become clients. Thanks to blog posts, you can enter customers’ minds and answer any questions they might have. As such, they are more likely to visit your website for relevant information and will eventually convert into customers. In addition, you can use blogging to collect emails of prospects by encouraging website visitors to subscribe to your blog posts. Then, you can add these new subscribers to your content marketing funnel and send them additional business communications and promotions to boost your chances of conversion. For ideas on what to write about, keep abreast of entrepreneurial sites like Forbes and Inc.

3. Video

Video is one of the most effective vehicles for content that’s instantly sharable on social media and has the potential to go viral and convert swathes of customers. So whether they’re explainer videos or case studies, investing in mini movies for your website from video specialists like SNS Group can inspire trust, build your brand and quickly convince customers that they should order your products. Whether you prefer animation or live action style movies, pro videographers will produce a polished finished product.

4. Website UX

SEO can get customers to your website, but it takes UX to keep them there – according to expert Ian Heinig, almost 40 per cent of people will leave a website if the layout or content is unattractive. So making improvements like increasing page speed, incorporating unique Calls To Action (CTAs) and using bullet points and white space to avoid clutter and enhance elegance and design aesthetics can definitely make an appreciable difference. 

5. Copywriting

It’s understandable that writing seems more accessible to a layperson than web development, hence why many business owners choose to write their own website copy. However, the results of DIY copywriting are sometimes disastrous and clanky copy is a complete turnoff for customers, so hiring a professional writer is usually preferable. However, if you insist on crafting your own copy, it’s wise to invest in an editing tool like Grammarly to assist you in your efforts – it highlights pesky grammar issues, improves flow and checks for plagiarism.

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