Long gone are the days when simply having a working website would ensure that your therapy business attracted and retained customers. In 2017, competition is fierce and a poorly laid out website will see your target audience flock to your competitors in no time at all. Today we’re going to take a look at four of the most common mistakes that small businesses make when designing their website.
1. Too much going on
You might be surprised to learn how many small businesses still have way too much information on their home page. The same goes for needless graphics and vivid colours and images. Most of your potential customers will navigate away rather than put up with this type of headache for more than a few seconds. Ensure that you only display relevant information and have a front page that loads quickly – website speed plays a huge role in your SEO ranking (moz.com).
2. Not enough information
The same applies for businesses that have gone too far in the other direction. Having a laid back, overly white-spaced home page isn’t really going to cut it either. Being overly cryptic might be fun for a bespoke, members-only group but it isn’t going to bring you many, if any conversions. Your visitors need to know exactly who you are and what you offer or, again, they’re going to go to your competitors.
3. Brand image isn’t strong enough
Branding is one of the major factors influencing purchasing decisions (marketingtechblog.com) and if your brand image – what your company offers and what it stands for – doesn’t come across on your homepage, you may want to have another go at designing it. Try to avoid utilising too many design templates and colour palettes; a single theme, logo and typeface if you can.
4. Lack of calls to action
Your home page and your landing pages need to have clear calls to action prompting your visitors to do something – whether that’s to give you a call for more information, to click a link to download a brochure or to enter their email address to sign up to your mailing list. Without calls to action, your customers lack clear instructions on the next step to take in the buying process. Again, in this case, they may look elsewhere, even if they are impressed with what you’re offering.
Keen to avoid these four bloopers? Get in touch with HealthHosts today.
