7 Tweaks to a greater customer experience on your website

Relevant, clear, and sales-focused content is becoming THE MUST HAVE foundation for online marketers to reach intended audiences - Pam Forster

A whopping 88% of visitors will never return to your website because of just one bad experience. A big number of potential sales to lose over one small issue. How do you make sure your visitors stay and buy on your website? How do you stay ahead of the competition?

With everybody vying for visitor’s attention and time, it is important to set yourself apart from the competition. Here are 7x things you can change on your website right now... And it all comes down to the user's experience.

1. Fanfare or Substance:

How well does your content measure up? Are you engaging in white hat SEO? How sure are you that your content is actually converting? I’ve seen many sites that looks stunning at first glance, but it doesn’t tell me much. There is nothing there to hold my attention for more than three seconds. So I move on. Just as your other visitors do. Some sites are just utterly distracting. Almost like an incoherent orchestra, each instrument making its own sounds, clamoring to be heard, instead of seamlessly playing a beautiful synchronized symphony. It is essential to have your content flow seamlessly from one blog post to the next, article and offering. It should form one single coherent unit.

2. Functionality:

Web users are time-chasers. It is one thing to have a beautiful website that looks professional ... but lacks in the other important aspects of a successful website that converts your prospects into customers. Here are a few questions you can ask when testing your website for functionality:

• What is the logic behind your site?
• Does it leave your visitors frustrated or does it provide them with a great experience?
• Do you have clear calls-to-action embedded in your content?
• Does your visitor know what is the next step? Or are they left confused?

3. The Sales Process:

Are you making it smooth, seamless and effortless for customers to buy your product? Or are you subjecting them to overrated sales pitches? This could possibly be one of the quickest ways to turn a potential buyer off. Does your content draw them in, enough to let them trust you with their personal details such as sign-up information?

4. Appearance:

Here's a few tips to consider to improve the overall appearance of your website:

• Fonts: Use a limited amount of fonts that is easy on the eye. Replace fancy scrawling to simple text fonts such as Times New Roman or Arial. Avoid using too many bold, italics and small caps text.
• Subheads: Use subheads to break up text and make your article easier to read. Use bold on these and your title, but nowhere else.
• Background: Using a white background with black text is a lot softer on the eyes than the other way around. You want to make it easier for your visitor to read what you have to offer.
• Links: Is all your links working correctly? When was the last time you tested them? Are they clear (underlined and blue). Good practice is to use part of the text you are referring to as the link, instead of just something generic such as 'see here.'
• Left Alignment: Use left alignment with all text. I know sometimes it looks cool if we center align text, but it makes it harder on the eyes to read.

5. Credibility:

What guarantee are you giving visitors that your website content is legit? The internet can be a great source—but let’s face facts: there are many unscrupulous people out there that are peddling their wares to fleece people too. How does a surfer know the difference? Do you reference your claims with the sources? Do you link to other websites so readers can read more? Are you sharing content with your audience that they didn't know--I'm talking about interesting tidbits that not only makes your copy flow, but also make you stand out as knowledgeable on your subject. Is your content just fluff, or peppered with statistics, little-known facts, etc.?

6. Copyright Issues:

One of the laws set up by the 1989 Bern convention stated that everything created privately and originally after April 1, 1989 is copyrighted—even if it doesn’t say so or contain the ?. And that also applies to the internet. By copying someone else’s work is illegal and if found out, can severely hamper your credibility. Rather use images from creative commons and include the source of the image right underneath. If you want to include text from someone else, be courteous and request their permission. Then link back to their article, and send them an accompanying note. They are sure to reciprocate and share your content to boot! Now that's a win!

7. Professionalism:

You’ve got the look, the hook and credibility. To me personally, and I am sure there are many other people that feels the same way, there is nothing more off putting than a site that contains ill grammar, words spelled incorrectly (and I have seen quite a few of those too). What impression does your content create? Do you connect effectively with prospects?

By applying these simple principles, you’re bound to keep the attention of your visitors, and have a much better chance of nurturing them to the point of buying your wares.