If you own a business that’s online, your website is not just a pretty point of reference. It’s arguably your most effective sales tool, essentially functioning as a 24/7 salesman. Would you send your salesman to a potential client in a dirty car, wearing a tracksuit, horrendously under prepared and socially incompetent?

Making sales requires connecting with prospective customers. From ensuring you look reputable to forming a professional relationship. Though there are a number of elements to every website, your organisation’s website primary goal should be to convert these visitors into prospects.

If you’re well aware of this, perhaps you’ve put time and effort into devising engaging content and strategising your social media. When you look at your analytics your traffic is growing. So why isn’t this converting into sales?

Your website doesn’t look good. It takes someone a matter of seconds to decide if you like someone based on your first impression. Whilst it’s important to look as good as your contemporaries, it’s equally important to differentiate yourself. Take for instance, in previous years corporate websites were built with three columns of content. But nowadays such a generic layout is quite off-putting to those with fundamental knowledge of design.
Your website lacks permission marketing. During any sale, it’s important to demonstrate value. Often, an online visitor will not make contact with your organisation on the first visit. Instead, they may simply be gathering information. If your site fails to make a connection and provide valuable content then this ultimately means the end of a sales relationship.
Visitors can’t reach you. A good site will have a ‘live chat’ option, but I constantly see sites (even in Gibraltar) that make it very difficult to contact. Leaving out basic contact details and only providing an impersonal contact form. Many people prefer to pick up the phone and discuss matters. It’s vital to make yourself approachable. Provide both a location on a map and a phone number.
Your website offers too much and is far to convoluted. It’s important to guide visitors with subtle calls to action. Potential customers are often presented with too many navigation items and busy layouts. This is the equivalent of overwhelming a prospect with information and demanding an immediate answer. Visitors are easily frustrated and with an alternative only a click-away – can and mostly likely will, move on in a matter of seconds.
Your website lacks social engagement. Long before the internet most business came from word of mouth and referrals. Nowadays, social platforms heavily influence the flow of traffic to sites. Now, when visitors come to your website they seek reassurance and to do this, reference social media. They want to see that others deem you worthy of following – particularly in Gibraltar.

Ultimately, it’s vital to keep up-to-date with your website’s functionality. As the online marketplace evolves quickly, websites can quickly become irrelevant. For instance, the increase in mobile traffic has means sites that aren’t smartphone and tablet responsive are falling behind in search rankings and conversions.

It’s crucial for any business owner to invest in professional website design to ensure its effectiveness. Much like you’d invest in training your best salesman. It’s important when managing a business to get the most out of your overheads so make sure your website looks presentable as and gives your business the conversion it deserves.

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