Your website is an essential representation of your overall brand. If it’s not performing at an optimal level, it can quickly and negatively impact the long-lasting impression it makes on a potential customer.
When’s the last time you performed an audit on your website and made sure that all of your links and forms worked efficiently? These can include not only your social media icons, but also your “contact us” section and links you may provide to videos, articles, press releases, or even your photo gallery.
No matter how great your site looks, having dead-end links immediately sets up the visitor to consciously or unconsciously deem your website as inferior. If parts of your site don’t work, the assumption may be that you will ultimately treat your customer the same way – with inattention and not focusing on important details.
Does Your Technology Work?
Depending on the size of your website, you may want to have regular “check-ups” listed as a part of your website hosting contract, particularly if your site contains a good number of videos. Quarterly, all links, videos and other tech aspects should be checked for their viability and response/load time.
Reality Check: Viewers usually have a short attention span, so if your video doesn’t load correctly in a matter of moments, they will usually move on.
Is Your Social Media Working for You?
Companies often have the best intentions when offering links to their Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts. Unfortunately, even with the best of intentions, they usually don’t have the time, energy, resources and most importantly, the content to offer value to their customers. Make it a priority to check each link. And don’t just ensure the link works. Instead, take a close look at what your customer sees. Have you posted relevant photos or information on a regular basis? If not, it’s time to make some choices and only feature what can make your products/company stand out, rather than making it look outdated!
Reality Check: Do your social media links work and do your posts fall in line with what’s important/of interest to your customers?
Where Do Your Forms or Orders Go?
Some sites gather information, while others actually sell products. When is the last time that you tried to place an order on your own site? Even if your process is working, have you recently tested it to make sure that all of the steps for your customer are still relevant? If customers get frustrated part way through, odds are they will “X” out and not complete the process.
Are you gathering customer information in a “contact us” form or inviting visitors to sign up for your mailing list? Do you actually capture it somewhere? The quickest way to engage a customer is for them to hear back from you right away. The quickest way to lose them is to add their name to your list, but then never get in touch with them with the latest information or offering from your company!
Reality Check: Does your online form process perform as expeditiously as possible? If not, it’s time for an update!
Your website is the one of the key conveyors of your brand. If it’s not working properly, it can quickly tarnish the visitor experience, and in turn, their perception of how you really conduct business!