These are the top 10 deadliest website mistakes:
No Clear Call to Action
Most website just have information. What about the call to action? If you don’t tell people what to do, they won’t do anything.
No Effective Sales Funnel
There is one thing the most effective websites in the world have in common: they capture the contact information of their visitors and they use email to follow up with them. This works because you ask for a small commitment upfront (name and email or just email) and then you work on building a relationship and trust with your list.
No Social Proof
All the companies in the world say they’re the best; people want to see EVIDENCE of it. Show them case studies, testimonials, “as seen on” boxes, list of companies you work with, income proof, celebrity endorsements, expert endorsements, etc.
No Headline
A headline has to grab your readers attention. You need to know your market well enough to be able to push the right hot buttons in the headline so they read the rest of your copy.
Too Much Stuff
My favorite web design quote is “a website is ready not when there’s nothing else to add, but when there’s nothing else to take away”. Enough said.
Copy Doesn’t Follow a Logical Sequence
First you need to grab people’s attention. Then you need to let them know how you can help them and finally you need to invite them to take action. Use clear and simple copy. Don’t just mumble around, go straight to the point. Remember it’s not about you and your company; it’s about what’s in it for THEM.
No Testing
99% of the business owners think they know what their websites should look like in order to increase the response from their visitors. 100% of them are leaving sales and leads on the table by assuming too much and not testing enough. Google Website Optimizer allows you to test headlines, calls to action, graphics, copy, offers, prices, layout and whatever else you can think of. Don’t guess; test.
Information Is Hard to Find And Website is Difficult to Use
Your website should be intuitive. Go visit your gramma and ask her to go to your site and order your product. If she can do it without browsing around for minutes, you have a winning site. Figure out what you want people to do and what information they need in order to complete that action. Make sure they can find that information easily and complete the desired action painlessly.
No Risk-Reversal Tactics
Social proof and professional copy is great to persuade people to take action. But it’s not enough. You have to show people that even if your product doesn’t perform as they expect, they’ll come out on top. Some ideas:
- 100% refund and they keep part of the product or a bonus
- 110% refund and you take care of the return shipping
- You ship your product first and you only charge them if they don’t return it within 30 days
Copy Is Hard to Read
Here you have some tips to make your copy easy to read:
- Use simple words instead of complex ones (write as you speak)
- Use short sentences
- Use short paragraphs
- Use bold subheads to break down big chunks of text into shorter sections
- Use bullets
- Use images
- Take a quick glance at this blog post to see what easy-to-read text looks like