IS YOUR WEBSITEUndateable?

Much like the world of dating, when it comes to updating your business’ website, there is a lot of pressure

and a lot of “rules.” Some rules you ignore (e.g., wait three days to call back), and some you adhere to

(e.g., basic table manners). For your business’ website, we’ve compiled the basic principles that your website

should follow in order to get a second date, or in this case, more customer traffic and engagements.

A pragmatic eGuide for the lost business websites of the world.

1. Show up (on time!)

2. Look sharp

3. Be friendly

4. Be open

5. Learn from your past

5 Tips for a “Second Date”:

1. Show up (on time)OPTIMIZE YOUR WEBSITE TO RANK IN SEARCH RESULTS

For dating, you must show up on time. For your business’ website, you must show up in search results.

The latest Google search algorithm prioritizes search results, among other factors, by the respectability of its content. Gone are the days of keyword searches, where your website could repeat one keyword over and over again to rank higher for a particular search result. Rather, the search engine is capable of deciphering your site’s authority based on semantic, derived meanings within your website.

In other words, to optimize your site, use the language your audience would use to describe or search for your product. Also, do not think more words gives you more chances of being served up as content—not only is too much content a negative for a user friendly website, but Google is smarter than that.

If your business’ website includes the following, you’re more likely to show up:

• Crawlable, holistic sitemap

• Appropriately titled pages

• Internally and externally linked pages

• Responsive layout

95%of internet usersdon’t look past the first page of search results and 61.5% don’t look past the first three results.

2. Look SharpPOLISH YOUR WEBSITE WITH RESPONSIVE DESIGN

If a user does find your webpage in a search result and clicks

through, your website better be looking fresh. Much like a

date, a website’s first impression relies on visuals, so

look polished!

Your business’ website must not only look professional, clean,

and up-to-date, it must also be responsive. If your website

isn’t responsive, you are missing out on page views as well.

Google deprioritizes websites that aren’t mobile-friendly.

Some people like trendy clothes, some people

just want to look professional and clean. Know

your audience and determine whether you

need to model your website’s design off of

the latest-and-greatest, or if a timeless design

will work. Tenants of timeless design include

the removal of unnecessary copy and a good

amount of white space.

64%of U.S. adults search with their mobile devices, and that number is only rising.

3. Be FriendlyCREATE USER FLOWS FOR AN EASY-TO-NAVIGATE WEBSITE

A copy-heavy, difficult to navigate website is like using hyperbole on

your online dating profile—ineffective and disappointing. A user-friendly

layout, on the other hand, makes it easy for a user to determine if your

business meets his or her needs, and can also be a persuasive selling tool.

When visitors only give 10-20 seconds of attention to each webpage, you

don’t have much time to get to the point. In fact...

Envision the path that your consumers would take through your

website and determine their user flow. If visitors feel that your

website has too many options or doesn’t have a clear purpose,

they’ll leave. So keep your user flows in mind as you design

your website.

Since visitors will only read between

20-28% of your content, make it count. Be

concise and direct. Your content should focus on

the value you provide customers and how you

make life better for them. Focus on them, not on

you.

40%of website visitors will leave if it takes more than three seconds to load your website.

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4. Be OpenINTEGRATE ROBUST ONSITE SEARCH

Being elusive and mysterious is a dating technique, but you’ll probably find

more success with relationships if you’re open to questions. The same goes

for your business website. Users are demanding onsite search to enable

speedier paths to your site’s information.

Your site must have a robust, yet easy to use search function. Many users

don’t want to take time to wade through site navigation to figure out where

something is on your site. They just want to search for it and be taken there.

You can think of a search result page on your site as a personal,

custom landing page for your users. They are only getting

the areas of your site pertinent to them at that moment.

This capability is a powerful differentiator for you and

your site.

That’s not to say that onsite search can replace a site map

and a hierarchical site structure, as Google uses them

to rank your site for search queries. However, search

is the new site navigation for many users and having

the capacity on your site is vital for a user-friendly,

informative site.

If your site does not have search, here are a couple options for integrating a robust tool:

• If your website is fairly basic without a lot of backend

or technical information, Google (of course) has a

Custom Search Engine tool that will work well—and,

with ads, the product is free to use. Or, you can upgrade

the tool to not include ads. Google’s site search cost is

based upon the number of searches on your site.

• If your website has a lot of pages, content, or product/

technical information a custom search, such as solr is

probably your best bet.

5. Learn from your pastUSE ANALYTICS TO TRACK YOUR WEBSITE’S PERFORMANCE

Well-rounded, dateable people learn from their past and grow. In the same

way, your website can grow through the use of analytics.

Analytics can help inform a number of decisions, especially if you have a goal

prior to delving into the data. The information can help you:

• Develop your website: Analytics show what pages users visit. If there

are pages on your site that are getting no attention, either change that

information or get rid of it.

• Write for your audience: Analytics provide the length of time users stay

on each page. Use this information to determine what your audience cares

about and write/provide content to support that topic.

• Enhance your website’s usability: Analytics will show if your

website has a high bounce rate or if users are traveling through

your site as expected. If you have a high bounce rate, you can test

different tactics to stop this including design, functionality,

and content.

Bounce Rate is the rate or

percentage of users that leave

your website after only viewing

one page. It is often used to

measure the effectiveness of

your site’s appeal and resonance.

Pro-tip: Integrate your website

analytics tool with your SEO

ranking tool to improve your

search result rankings.

Don’t just take our word for it:

“60 percent or more of our consumers are accessing us through a cell phone or tablet. If we’re going serve them, we need to have a website that is available on those devices. Our old website was crowded and had a static design, so it didn’t play well on smart phones, tablets, and the things we saw our consumers using more and more. Our new site is easy to use, responsive, and familiar for our consumers, and they are ecstatic about it!”

—Steve Owley, Support Services Manager, Westerville Public Library

“To become more concise and efficient at providing messages to the consumer, we implemented a new website and a contractor pitch book. The pitch book allows a contractor to present our products in the home, either digitally or printed. It also provides contractors with a portal to customize a presentation with the consumers and their information for a personalized presentation.”

—Matt Minerd, Director of Marketing, Simonton Windows

AWH creates web, mobile, and enterprise applications that drive business. We build solutions

like you build products. It’ll cost less than you think and drive business more than you’d dream.

Contact us if you’d like us to help your business.

WWW.AWH.NET1 Acquity Group, LLC. “2014 State of B2B Procurement Study” 2014. http://www.acquitygroup.com/docs/default-source/Whitepapers/acquitygroup_2014-b2bstudy.pdf?sfvrsn=0

2 CEB Marketing Leadership Council in Partnership with Google. “The Digital Evolution in B2B Marketing” 2012. http://www.executiveboard.com/exbd-resources/content/digital-evolution/pdf/CEB-Mktg-B2B-Digital-Evolution.pdf