Your website isn’t a static thing. In order to maximize the value of your online presence, you must commit to improvement. In 2017, that means taking the time to understand what your visitors want.
Your To-Do List for 2017
Website optimization is never easy. It’s similar to a home renovation in that something simple always ends up requiring more time and energy than you initially thought.
However, at the end of the day, you wind up with something that’s modern and superior. When it comes to your website, here are some things you need to do this year:
1. Make Content More Scannable
Today, the best content is scannable. This means it’s conducive to quick browsing, where readers scroll and glance (as opposed to reading line by line from start to finish).
“Nielsen’s research found that 79% of people scan web pages,” marketer Eddie Shleyner notes. “That begs the question: If the majority of readers already prefer skimming, why wouldn’t you want to make it an easy, enjoyable, and efficient process for them?”
Making content scannable looks like using subheadings, images, and elements like numbers, bullet points, and bolded text to keep a reader’s visual senses stimulated and engaged.
2. Use Bucket Brigades
Most content produced these days is boring. Nobody wants to read technical content and industry jargon – even in B2B industries where that sort of stuff is the norm. People want content that’s enticing to read. That’s why you should learn how to use “bucket brigades” in your writing.
“A “bucket brigade” is a copywriting technique designed to keep capture a reader’s interest and keep them on your page,” explains Puranjay Singh of SingleGrain. “It essentially involves breaking an idea into multiple sentences, using a trigger word or phrase (as simple as Look: or as lengthy as The secret to great copywriting is this:) and then ending the sentence with a colon.”
3. Implement Video
Humanization may seem like a marketing buzzword, but it’s a very real thing. If you want to engage people and make them feel comfortable with your brand, you must be able to cut through traditional marketing and give your brand a face and voice.
“To humanize your brand, use video to connect to your audience with as close to a face-to-face interaction as possible,” Bluehost suggests. “Our emotions are what tend to motivate our decision-making and the actions we take, so the use of both sound and moving images appeals to all our senses.”
4. Simplify Navigation
The final thing on your 2017 website to-do list should be to simplify navigation. Few things are as frustrating to a visitor than not being able to find his way from one page to the next. It’s like driving through a city you’ve never been in without a GPS. You can guess where to turn/click, but chances are, you won’t end up where you want to be.
Good navigation is predictable. Someone should be able to visit your site and arrive at the correct page by merely making an intuitive assumption. They should also be able to easily track back to any page that they’ve previously visited with very little effort.
Sitting Still is Falling Behind
In the world of internet marketing, there are only two speeds. You’re either moving forward or falling behind. A lot of business owners like to assume there’s a third option – staying pat – but ultimately, it’s the same as falling behind. If you want to enhance your website and modernize it in a way that allows you to engage visitors in meaningful ways, pin this to-do list to your bulletin board and get to work.
