Surefire Ways to Confuse Website Visitors

 

 

When a consumer searches for a company via search engines like Google and Bing, one of the most common things they are looking for is contact information. They are trying to determine where the business is located or how to get in contact with them. While most businesses know the importance of having such valuable information on their website, these details are often not prominently displayed on their website or included in popular online directories.

 

 

If a business’s address, email, and phone number are only located on one page of a website, it can be a challenge for potential customers to find it. The best method is to offer the details within the navigation bar or at the bottom of every page, in addition to a “Contact Us” page. If it is presented on a constant element of the website, it will eliminate the risk of being overlooked.

 

Furthermore, search engines, listing directories and mapping services should also know your business and be able to recommend it when someone searches for you. Be sure you are present on these and keep them updated regarding promotions or changes to store hours. It may be beneficial to look for a service that manages all of these listings for you as they can save you time and ensure accurate consistency across each platform.

 

 

A professional website is the digital representation of a business. If it is not properly maintained, consumers will reflect that directly upon the business and assume that you treat your business in the same manner—unprofessionally. This can also lead them to believe that if the website has not been updated in quite some time then perhaps the business is no longer in operation.

 

Broken links are a large factor in delivering a negative online experience as well as poor search engine optimization. However, over time, it is common that some links will become broken within older posts and not lead anywhere. Ensure that you are regularly checking your website for such oversights and be sure to update all links. 

 

 

It may be tempting for you to use industry jargon and complicated terminology within the content of your website. However, remember that search engines are return results based on whether your content meets what consumers are searching. Most likely, consumers are not going to be familiar with such lingo and rather refer to more simple, straight-forward terms. Focus on common words to describe your business and services.

 

To help determine the best language to use, refer to your website analytics. Here you can see all types of data, such as: what words consumers are searching to reach your site, what searches they are doing on your site, and what pages people are visiting the longest. This information will really help to develop the best site content that is most relevant for your target market.

 

 

Inexperienced business owners who create their own websites can go a little overboard when trying to make site pages visually attractive. While font styles and sizes can help organize and structure content, this needs to be done in moderation. Larger texts should only be used for headings while bold, underline, and italics can help grab attention where there needs to be an emphasis on specific points. Be sure to not overuse these, however, because they can become distracting and overwhelming to the eye.  Finally, fonts and styles can dictate the importance of content for search engine optimization purposes.   Align visual cues in your content with what is most important to the overall site.