Used with permission from Microsoft

Let’s start with some tips so basic that you’ve probably overlooked them (yes, even you, you brilliant thing!). Here are 13 ways to easily improve your small business website instantly.

1) Review it for “What’s in it for ME?”
Because this is what your typical website visitor is thinking. Me me me me me me me me me me. Understand that. If you go on too long about yourself, they glaze over. Go back and review, make sure they can connect the dots.

2) Add action items. What’s an action item, you say? Start by learning that. Then insert them throughout your site strategically.

3) Step up your images. If I never see another stock photo of businessmen in crisp suits shaking hands, it will be too soon. Use symbolic imagery. Strategy – a chess board. Have fun with it, make your images part of what’s memorable on your website.

4) Get rid of autoplay videos. Seriously, don’t make me say it again: Boo! Down with auto play video!

5) Highlight key services or features up front. Don’t make people dig for them. Consider using directives and calling out a few of your best features right there on the homepage.  See how San Diego design web development firm Tiny Frog used it in their work for a studio called The Yoga Garden (this screenshot is the bottom of the homepage).  These are the top things they think visitors might want information on/to do.

6) Feed news onto the homepage your site. If you are actively publishing news, updates, events, or even social media, and if it is appropriate for your industry (example: funeral home, not so much), decide if it’s appropriate to feed that content onto the homepage of your site.  If the content is strong, this reminds visitors that your company is active and out there, and if the date is recent, it makes the website seem very fresh.

7) Use a readable font.  Seriously: visible, readable, and mature.  If you are a professional firm, don’t use chalkboard or something curly and whimsical.  If your market is seniors, make the font bigger and be sure you don’t have it difficult to read (for that audience) such as white text on a black background.

8) Copyedit your text.  Even if you wrote great text, if you wrote it late at night or stared at it too long, have a fresh pair of eyes read it over.  You never have a second chance to make a first impression, etc. Typos happen, but if you scan for them, they’re less likely.

9) Have crystal clear messaging. Make sure your market messaging is clear about what problem you solve. It’s not about why they could choose you, it’s about why they’d be crazy to choose anyone else.

10) Make your contact information extremely easy to find. And be sure it works! If you haven’t called your own phone number, emailed your own info@ address, etc., do that now.

11) Don’t bury information.  This happens often with complex sites.  You have to go a few pages in and suddenly secondary navigation options show up with key information that could never have been found from the homepage.  If the information is important, make sure you can get there with a click or two from the main navigation bar.  People aren’t going to dig much before they bounce.  Quick fix?  Add a Search feature!  Bonus: if someone tells you they had a hard time finding certain information on your site, make a note of it and, if it’s important, find a way to make it more prominent.

12) Get a good name.  Trust me, as someone with 2 silent h’s in my last name, I know that a company name/web address is a tricky thing. You can be top of your field, but you have to make it easy for someone to get there.  Example: Lucky 13 Strategies is proud to work with Dr. Tanya Kormeili, a leading dermatologist in Los Angeles.  But guess what? Her name was a bit tricky to spell!  So we obtained the additional domain “www.drTKderm.com” and it’s a no-brainer for people to remember.  People call her TK all the time, and now they don’t have to struggle to

13) Revisit it. A website is a living, breathing marketing instrument. Be sure that you are going through it periodically (schedule an annual review!) to be sure it reflects the most current information about your business, and the messages you want to project.

Not sure where to start? Lucky 13 Strategies is a marketing company based in San Diego, but we offer clients nationwide what we call a “website audit”, reviewing your website for functionality, user experience, market messaging, and then strategize with you for how it can easily be improved to increase your business opportunities and be sure you have the best website for your business.  Contact us and let’s chat about your business website, to take one thing off your list!  Email info(at)lucky13strategies.com to schedule a free website strategy consultation. 

For San Diego small business marketing clients, we’ll even offer the consult in person so you can experience the magic in 3D!