6 ways to make your website more effective

To have a successful business you should invest time in your online presence. Your website says a lot about your company.

If you want to increase visits and sales there are some top tips to consider.

Rebecca Kimber, CEO of website design company Create, shares six ways you can make the most out of your website.

1. Make your website mobile friendly

If you haven’t already, now is the time to start working on making this change!

From 2015 Google started demoting websites who weren’t catering to mobile and tablet users.

If your website doesn’t meet this requirement you’ll be losing out to a lot of potential customers – over 50% of all online traffic now comes from mobile devices.

2. Make your contact details prominent and accessible

Research has shown that having your phone number clearly displayed on your website improves trust and encourages more sales.

Understandably, some small businesses and start-ups feel uncomfortable providing a home address on a business website, but the distance selling regulations do require a bricks and mortar address to be available and a PO Box isn’t considered acceptable.

3. Take great product photos

Product images can really make or break sales and poor photos will reflect badly on your business, particularly if you have an online store.

If you’re taking the photos yourself consider natural lighting, the backdrop for your products and how these products are presented.

You want them to look the best – after all the pictures will be the closest your customers get to touching what they are buying.

4. Write useful product descriptions

Over the last few years, a number of pieces of legislation have come into effect which specify what information has to be displayed to customers prior to purchase.

If you sell any food, cosmetics or consumables it’s worth checking out what you’re required to display.

Even if you’re not required to display any information, by providing comprehensive information to customers (like sizes, ingredients, dimensions, colour options, washing instructions etc) you can help a customer feel informed before purchasing.

Search engines love this information too which will help you get more visitors!

5. Provide clear and simple postage options

Customers love free postage, but your bottom line may not.

As a business you need to consider your costs, ensure profitability and the ability to provide good service to customers.

It’s worth determining if you can build delivery costs into your product prices to charge a cheaper postage fee.

Whichever way you work it, make the charges clear and upfront for customers before they’ve made any buying choices.

6. Display a clear and concise returns policy

Consumers have a lot of protection online and they’ll want to know how you’ll process their order, if they can easily return items they don’t want and what it will cost them to do so.

Ensuring your policies are easily accessible will increase trust with potential buyers and is also a worthwhile addition to a website for a bricks and mortar store with no online shop.

If you’re unsure as to what Terms & Conditions are and why your business will need them, read our blog on essential legal tips from LawBite.

And finally, don’t forget to keep asking your customers what they like and don’t like about your website.

Their feedback will help you to continue to improve it for the future and turn more new visitors into customers.