“Customer” or “user” experience (or “CX” and “UX” as we web geeks like to call it) is just as important for your digital storefront as your physical one. As a small business owner, you’re accustomed to a traditional physical storefront. You therefore know how important it is to have a clean, organized appearance and friendly staff.
With your “digital storefront,” the same ideas apply but just work a bit differently. Here are some common mistakes SMBs make that scare away website visitors and what you can do to earn their business instead:
Feature your “Contact” page in your main navigation on the upper right side of your website: which is something every user expects. You should also note your phone number there as well, since this is where most visitor eyeballs land during a visit.
Also include your phone number and/or e-mail address at the end of copy written on every page: always including both so your visitors can use their preferred contact method.
Yes, your keywords do need to appear on your website pages. Yet, it’s in fact even more important to ensure they make sense.
With this in mind, steer clear of nearly incomprehensible language like “Southlake, Texas HVAC Services from Southlake’s Leading AC Repair Company.” Get that keyword in the title with a mention (or two!) in the body copy, which Google actually prefers.
Users typically can’t stand all the bells and whistles associated with super-fancy websites. For some specialty niche businesses, cool effects are appropriate (for example, if you run a website design company). But for commodity SMB services, this is just flat-out annoying.
Avoid using a repeating video background or sliders, as users simply want to get to know your company and learn if you offer the best solution to solve their problem. An image, some text, a nice menu, and maybe a video or two for relationship-building purposes will do the trick.
Your web pages should load in fewer than 3 seconds (and ideally less than 1) with a typical internet connection.
Most websites are laid out similar to this:
You might have a few unique content offerings, such as information detailing your donations to a charity. Or perhaps you offer different pages for diverse market segments you serve (homeowners and businesses, for example). Yet, for the most part, this is precisely what users see on most sites. Hence, if you go way “outside the box” and do something different, you risk confusing your visitors and losing their business to someone else.
Keep it simple and predictable, following the popular “3 click” rule for every single page on your website (meaning visitors can find each page in three clicks or fewer).
Wrapping Up
While these rules might seem simple and straightforward, so many SMBs break them. Follow them yourself to attract happier (and more!) customers.