With the end of the fiscal year quickly approaching, many businesses across the country are looking for ways to finish strong for 2019. From steep holiday sales to new and exciting holiday launches, vying for the attention of shoppers as the holidays approach can help you reach your goals. As more consumers move to online shopping to avoid long lines and stress, ensuring your website is updated and fully optimized can give you an edge in your market. If you need help with your online marketing in Boca Raton, Local Management is here to help! Here are five must-dos for updating your business website.
Improve Site Navigation
To understand what customers want in a website, you need only consider your own online experiences. As a consumer yourself, you know what makes a site more appealing than others. Clean designs with easy, intuitive navigation improve a visitor’s overall experience, boosting site traffic and translating to higher conversion rates. The five-layer rule is a good one to follow: if your customers have to click through more than five links to find what they are looking for, they are more likely to bounce (leave the site without completing a desired action).
When improving your site navigation for online marketing in Boca Raton, consider:
- Background: avoid heavy textures that can obscure text. Header images should be properly sized to avoid pixelization. Spend the money to have professional photos taken: original images perform better than stock photos.
- Font type, color, and size: having great content doesn’t matter if your customers can’t read it. Color, size, and font type are all factors which can affect navigation. Not sure how well it translates? Do the 10-foot test: step back 10 feet from the monitor and see if the content is still legible or at least distinguishable from the background.
- Menu structure: Keep your navigation bar and drop down menus sleek and easy to maneuver. Overloading the navigation makes it harder for customers to find what they’re looking for, making them more likely to leave your site and go to one they trust. Decide which pages you want to drive the traffic toward and place them prominently in your navigation.
Search Engine Optimization
Having a website that is easy to navigate is only half the battle when it comes to online marketing in Boca Raton. It doesn’t matter how beautiful your website is if the people you want to reach can’t find it. Search engine optimization, the marketing practices which boost your business’ positioning in search results, is key to making sure you are visible. Keyword use, geotargeting, and backlinking are all factors which can help to push your website to the top. On the backend, proper site mapping and internal linking can help your online standing.
Reduce Loading Time
This one goes hand in hand with improving site navigation. The faster your site loads and the smoother it runs, the better for you and your customers. Lagging and long loading times turn consumers away, increasing your bounce rate and negatively affecting your digital marketing. Ideally, no page on your site should take more than five seconds to load. This is including photo galleries, pages with videos, and interactive pages like virtual tours.
Incorporate Call to Actions
When people visit your website, you want them to complete a specific action: make a purchase, schedule a service, call a phone number, etc. Don’t be afraid to tell them so! Call to actions, or CTAs, are helpful for customers looking for specific links or contact information. Be careful not to overload your site with them, though; too much pressure to buy or call is a turn off for consumers.
Make Sure It’s Mobile Friendly
96 percent of Americans own a cell phone. The majority of cell phone owners use them to peruse the internet through social media and web applications. That includes making convenient online purchase from their phones. If you want to make the most of your online marketing in Boca Raton, be sure your site is optimized for mobile web users.
Let Local Management help you make the most of your online marketing efforts. Contact us today for your consultation.
