Your Website Is A Cash Cow. Milk It.

Making money from a website might be hard, but it’s not impossible. With the right approach, any business can increase traffic and convert more visitors. The problem, of course, is that everybody else in your industry is trying to do the same thing, making it more difficult for yours to stand out.

Some companies, however, know what they’re doing. Take Skedaddle, for instance. Skedaddle is a company that organises biking tours and holidays all over Europe. Patrons pay upwards of a thousand British pounds, and in return they get a fully supported week where they trek hundreds of miles across open country, exploring the wilderness. But while the company’s product is cool, what’s really great about the business is their website. It’s a cut above the rest in many respects, but the most important difference is the navigation and video. Whereas other companies in the industry don’t bother segmenting their products according to rider experience, Skedaddle does. Furthermore, it has videos from tour guides themselves explaining in detail how tough the trek will be and what to expect. Overall it’s a superior experience for the customer.

Given that websites are the main way in which people find out about your products and services, what can you do to improve your offering?

Make Timely Product Suggestions

Many businesses see converting buyers as the main goal. Once they’ve got a customer in the bag, they think that the job is done. But converted customers are usually far more open to buying additional products than you might expect. Thus, if you sell products directly from your website, it might be a good idea to offer customers additional products at the checkout related to their purchase. Companies like Amazon have been doing this since time immemorial. At the checkout, you get to see what other customers bought when they bought a similar product. The idea is to show customers all the complementary products which could go well with what they are buying.

Developing these tools can be quite difficult. But with the right WordPress web design team behind you, it shouldn’t be much of a challenge. As a business, you’ll need to invest in the right types of analytics, tracking customers as they traverse your site. Suppose, for instance, a client of yours just bought a book by Stephen Hawking, then they might also be interested in other science books to do with the origins of the cosmos.

Make Special Offers Bold And Bright

When people visit your website, they want to feel as if they’re getting a good deal. However, the way in which you inform them is important.

When pop-ups are for advertising purposes, they’re really annoying. People just want to get right to the content without having to click “close” on an advert. However, when pop-ups are there to inform them of an offer your company is running, then they’re much more likely to click through.

Suppose for instance your pop-up is telling customers that they can get a great deal on shipping if they spend more than £100 in your store in a single transaction. This will incentivise them to spend more. You can also use pop-ups to tell people about savings on particular lines you want to shift or to provide them with discount codes they can use at the checkout.

It’s important to note that the design of pop-ups can vary considerably. Forbes magazine, for instance, has a pop-up you have to go through before you’re able to read any of the magazine’s articles. The pop-up itself isn’t primarily for advertising services. But what it shows is that pop-ups can cover the entire page and still not be overly annoying.

Spend At Least 40 Percent Of Your Time Thinking About Navigation

One of the best ways to put people off your website is to make navigation difficult. While some sites can afford to be experimental – especially those championing good causes – the majority can’t. Unless your business has an overwhelmingly simple product stack, you’re going to have to think carefully about navigation. If your website isn’t intuitive, it’s going to put people off, and they’re not going to trust your brand.

First thing’s first: start off by choosing a bold colour scheme. The bolder the colours, the more easily users will be able to see your navigation incomes.

Next, make sure that your labels are clear. Navigation labels should be instantly recognisable, even if they do seem a little samey.

Third, if you do want to incorporate unusual elements, make sure that they all revolve around the scrolling mechanic. Dynamic vector graphics are okay, so long as users are able to scroll through and access vital contact information.

Finally, make the language as simple as possible. For instance, if you’re a clothing store, just use the word “trousers” in the menu to redirect users to all your trousers.

Focus On Simple Design

Many businesses think that the way to stand out online is to have a complicated and feature-heavy website. But as companies like Google have demonstrated over and over again, complexity isn’t everything, In fact, the vast majority of customers would choose simplicity every time.

The reason for this is that simplicity works. Customers would much rather be faced with a simple website than one that requires them to go to the effort of learning new navigation icons and methods.

Another way to keep your website effortlessly simple is to make sure that you have plenty of white space. Although the effect of white space is purely psychological, it automatically helps customers feel that your website is a lot simpler.

Theme Your Website

Finally, it’s worth thinking about theming your site. Themed websites help to create an atmosphere that complements your product. For instance, if you sell movie tickets, you might want to have a movie-themed internet site, complete with camera reels, film tape and popcorn. Themes are particularly useful to businesses in the entertainment industry that want to evoke a party atmosphere and draw in customers that way. A well-crafted aesthetic is often a must.