Do you dream of your website becoming the lead gen hero of your company?

The good news is that any website can be improved. At any given time your business can have a better performing website that your larger competitors.

Consider the following recommendations to improve your website:

Demand WordPress

Yes, it is true that there are many website platforms out there. The truth is that WordPress is the best all around website platform. It is open source. That makes the platform free.

WordPress is also the most popular website platform.

Why?

Because it is easy to use, flexible and scalable.

When you hire a web designer ask her to build it on WordPress for you.

Hire a Web Designer

I get it. Many people, wrongly, believe that designing and building a website is easy. It is true that anyone can build a website. It also true that anyone can build a house. But, do you want to live in that house?

If you want a website that outperforms your competition, you must hire a web designer. Get a professional to do the job.

Register a Domain

Not any domain name will do. If you choose the wrong website domain, it will hurt your business. The wrong domain could confuse people. The bottom line is that a low-quality domain name will result in loss of revenue.

First Impression

Create an unforgettable first impression. Avoid cheesy stock photos. Correct all spelling and grammatical errors.

Show your credentials. Share customer testimonials. Explain what makes your business a better choice.

Serve Your Visitors

The best websites serve visitors not the business behind the website. Know what your target market wants to find on your website. Make sure that no question is unanswered.

The content and the design of your website must serve the needs of your customers.

Have Expectations

Why are you building the website? What are your goals? You have to have ways to measure the performance of your website. That only way that is going to happen if you set measurable goals.

List the goals for your website:

  • Generate more leads.
  • Educate customers.
  • Provide support for existing customers.
  • Grow the number of email subscribers.

Simple Navigation

A simple website navigation will increase website conversion rates. Too many menu items will frustrate website visitors. Keep the navigation to a minimum. Try to keep your main menu under seven items.

Include a search feature next to your navigation, to give visitors a chance to find content fast.

Fall in Love with SEO

Most businesses ignore SEO. Many businesses misunderstand SEO. They think that placing a few keywords here and there will get them on the first page of Google.

SEO starts by knowing what keywords are important to your business.

Make a list of target keywords.

For example, our target keywords are web design related such as:

  • San Diego web designer
  • Hire a web designer
  • Web design company
  • Best web designer in San Diego
  • E-commerce websites

The above list is only a short list of relevant keywords for our business. Your business could easily come up with a list of 100 target keywords.

Optimize for Keywords

Now that you have a list of target keywords. It is time to optimize your website for each keyword. Each page should be optimized for a unique keyword. It is a mistake to optimize your website for one of two main keywords.

Website optimization starts with including your keywords within:

  • Page titles
  • Headlines
  • First paragraph of the web page
  • 3-5 times throughout the page
  • The alt tag of images
  • Meta description

Publish Great Content

One of the biggest mistakes companies make is that they have too little website content.

Content is what differentiates your website from the competition.

You can create hundreds of pages of content for any business website.

You could start creating pages of content about the most frequently asked questions.

Use Effective Images

The lazy way to think about images is to use stock photos. It is best to use your own images. Stock photos have an artificial look and feel.

Whenever possible use your own images. It might take a bit more time and it might cost a bit more money, but great images are important.

The right image will tell your story more effectively, resulting in higher sales.

Remove Dead Links

A sign of website neglect is the presence of dead links. A dead link is a link to a webpage that no longer exists.
photo credit: eveos MINDevent 2012 Copenhagen via photopin (license)