This is a good example of a site with definite measures of success. If you are a landlord, what is the one thing that makes you successful?
Simple: No Vacant Apartments. Ok, but what does the website have to do with ensuring 100% occupancy? To maintain a full complex, you need people to be constantly looking to tour and ultimately lease an apartment. For the complexes I manage, we do this by people inquiring via contact forms and calls. As we get multiple form responses each and every day, the company is able to maintain an incredible occupancy rate. That, my friends, is a success!
This is a bit different to measure. If you are a lawyer, you want to always be bringing in new clients. While some people will fill out a form, many times people will call as issues can be personal. I recently checked in with an attorney to see how the site was doing. He said he is getting new clients every week from the site, and he was thrilled with the performance. You can’t beat that.
This one is a bit easier, to measure if you are selling online, then you want sales, pure and simple. From my standpoint, this means you need a site that is easy to order from. We do this by having a great one-page checkout page. We know it works as we have very few abandoned carts. Now, unfortunately this is dependent on factors we can’t always control. Number one among this is shipping price. In an Amazon world, you require free or low cost shipping. Heavy products are hard to sell online as shipping can cost more than the product themselves. I wrote about this topic in a blog post: In an Amazon world charging high shipping prices is a no-no.
Not every website is meant to sell a product, some are just to let people know all about you and your business. To me, the thing that makes these types of sites successful is simplicity. Now, what do I mean by simplicity? When you go to a site to learn about a company, you want to find the information easily. To do this, a website should have all important information reachable with one or 2 clicks. If people have to delve too deeply layers down, they will never get to essential information. With over 50% of people viewing your site on mobile devices, they don’t want to click 4 or 5 times, they want the info in a hurry.
Non-profits are driven by donations, plain and simple. Make sure your site does a good job of discussing the cause. You want to have your donation button standout. So if you have your main menu links, using CSS, make the donate link look more like a button. It is also critical to have an events page, and a news/blog section. It is also vital to show your non-profit status designation. People want to donate, but knowing they can get a write-off their taxes is an additional incentive.
If are a service business, you want people to be able to use your company. One of the most critical factors is the Call To Action. Logically placed call to action to get someone to make an appointment is the way to go. Now, not everyone feels comfortable filling out forms. So it is a good idea to send them to a page which not only has a form, but your phone number, email and even a link to send a text. This way, whatever a visitor to your website is comfortable with, can find that contact method. Another significant thing for service business is your Google My Business listing. Because most service businesses are local, it is crucial your GMB listing is complete.
As we have shown above, what makes A website successful is different for different types of websites. Before you meet with a web development firm like RooSites, it is a good idea to have your goals worked out, so we can work to make your site successful. Search Engine Optimization is always important, so also know what keywords and phrases you want to be found for.
