Websites are DEAD!
What? Websites are dead.
You’ve put your website together. It looks great. The colors are amazing. Everything is branded correctly. All your social media accounts match the website.
You start running ads to attract your buyers because you know people are going to love what you are selling. The ads go live, traffic floods your website, but the visitors are leaving your site in less than five seconds and never coming back.
You sit there, scratching your head, wondering what went wrong? You tweak the headlines, the pictures, improve your SEO, double-check everything all over again for a repeat of the same ad performance.
What is wrong with your website?
It is DEAD!
Let me explain why.
Have you ever wanted to buy something but didn’t know a lot about the item you wanted to buy?
Let’s walk through what visitors experience when they come to your website.
They show up, and they see all the beautiful graphics, well planned out design, and then leave because…you never told them where to go or what to buy.
Let’s go shopping for a computer. But you have a problem; you do not know anything about computers. You walk into the computer store. The sales clerk comes over to you and says, “ All of our computers are over there.” Pointing. “I’ll be at the cash register when you are ready to check out.” You would leave the store.
This is how your visitors feel.
You are expecting them to find what you are selling/promoting/giving away all on there own. But they don’t want to search for it. Time is money for your customers and you. If you can’t take them to exactly where you want them to go in under ten seconds, you have lost a customer.
What you need to do is take them by the hand and lead them around your site.
Let’s say you have a wedding coming up but have nothing to wear.
You head to the department store in search of the perfect outfit. The sales clerk greets you the moment you walk in the door. Eager to help you, they show you where the dresses are. Once you’ve picked out the perfect one, they suggest matching shoes and take you to the shoe department. What would be next, a matching bag? How about a set of jewelry for this special occasion? Have you bought a gift for the happy couple?
The sales clerk has guided you through the store, helping you buy everything you need for the wedding, including the gift.
As business owners, we need to do the same thing for our customers. Guide them through the buying process WE want them to take.
For an author, it could look something like this.
Visitor comes to your site.
What action do you want them to take? You want them to download your free book.
The first thing they see is your free book offer. They get the book for free to sample your writing style and you capturing their email address allows you to start building your list (which is pure gold here).
From here, you present them with an offer for the audiobook of the same book they just got for free for a price.
Next, you offer them a discount on a set of books you’ve written as a One-Time-Offer. After they’ve made their purchase, you drop them off at your book page, showing them all the other books you’ve written.
You have just taken your customer by the hand and lead them exactly where you want them to go.
But what if you haven’t published your book yet?
What is something that will get a visitor interested? How about a free chapter of your upcoming book?
They give you their email address for the free chapter. You’ve just captured a lead to promote to.
From here, you can offer them a chance to read the book first during the pre-order phase in exchange for a review.
Even without a book for them to purchase, you have led them by the hand to do precisely what you want them to do, no guessing or searching on their part.
Again, you need to design your websites in a way that guides your customers exactly where you want them to go. If you want their email address, then guide them to your free product. If you want them to buy something, take them to the page that sells the product. If you want them to___ fill in the blank__, you need to take them by the hand and lead them there.
The post Websites Are Dead first appeared on Malinda Meeks.
