Are you a business owner, a blogger or a freedom business specialist? Does your business have a website? Almost every business has a website. What makes one useful and trustworthy rather than just present? What can make your customers feel that your business is legit? How can they trust you and if you are a blogger, how can you gain more followers?  

Here are 12 ways I would improve a website and check whether visitors can actually use it. Better pages may help sales, but no checklist can promise that outcome. Having a website is important, but the key factor in sustaining online is maintenance. If you are not periodically maintaining your website, this article is a must read. Regular maintenance gives you a better chance of catching broken pages and learning what your customers need.   

You do not need to publish twice a day. You do need a way to make a change, check it, and recover if it breaks. But what exactly should you be updating? How can you make sure that the changes you are making are good changes or bad ones. Here is the list of 12 things you can do right now to keep your website high performing.

1. Improve the copy on your website

Copy is the writing that tells a visitor what you offer and what to do next. A lot of sites bury that answer. The simplest way to improve the copy on your website is to follow a simple formula. 

1. ATTENTION 

2. PROBLEM DEFINITION

3. AMAZING ATTAINABLE SOLUTION

4. PROOF AND CREDIBILITY

5. CALL TO ACTION

Start with the problem your customer is trying to solve, in words they would recognize. Your service or product is most likely solving a pain point. If you can grab their attention in a form of a strong statement or powerful question, you can definitely grab your users attention. For e.g. you can say:

Are you struggling with ....

Do you feel frustrated with ....

Imagine never having a headache ...

Have you ever ....

Starting with a question, is one great way to capture a users attention. The 2nd, is to use pain words like:

Frustrated

Headache

Agony 

Pain

Grief

Torture

Hurt

Shattered

Be specific about the problem without manufacturing anxiety. If you understand it, the reader should recognize that quickly. Having talked about attention, the next thing is to describe the problem vividly. Describe to them what exactly is the problem. If you can describe your customers problem better than they can describe it, you are building trust and engagement. Then explain what you can do, show evidence that you can do it, and offer a clear next step. 

This simple formula  can drastically help improve the copy on your website. You can always try to improve the copy once in few months to make it even stronger, better and engaging. 

2. Improve speed

Improving the copy on your website will always help to build on engagement. BUT many websites even if they have great content, if the load time is too slow, your users are not going to have  a great experience. Every once in a while, check if your website can be improved. Remove slow performing plugins, reduce the size of your images, make sure  your website is not loaded with too many iframe elements or advertisements. Measure the page before and after. Faster loading helps, but check the actual experience rather than assuming every optimization improves it.   

3. Improve user interface

Make sure people can navigate through your site easily. Make finding the right page and action a smooth experience. If they cannot find what they want, they might get frustrated. The last thing you want is your users to feel frustrated in finding information on your website.   

4. Improve user experience

This is where you should always try to maximize your periodic maintenance. Many websites have poor navigation elements. Sometimes, links don't work, or the header is too big, text fonts are too small, text is not legible. Fix broken links, illegible text, confusing forms, and keyboard traps. Then check whether visitors can complete the task they came for.    

5. Keep adding valuable content (blog)

One of the best ways to keep your blog up to date is by posting valuable content. Many websites have a blog section, but most websites don't maximize the potential of their blog. Start by writing answers to questions your customers actually ask. 

Blogging is more like farming rather than hunting. Useful articles can build trust over time, especially when you keep them accurate and easy to find. You would start to build a reputation, a following and authority. It is one of the best ways to become and be perceived as an expert in your domain. 

6. Fix bugs periodically

No website is perfect. At the end of the day every website is a software application. Keep software supported and patch known issues. Back up first, test the update, and verify that key pages and forms still work afterward.

7. Improve on your marketing online and offline 

To promote your business you need to market online as well as offline. A combination of both can be very useful. For e.g you can do referral marketing, content marketing, social medial marketing, direct mail campaign, pay per click advertisements, etc. Choose channels you can maintain, and make sure the page they lead to answers the promise in the campaign. 

8. Update pictures

Do not replace a useful image just because it is old. Replace broken, misleading, low-quality, or inaccessible images; add a diagram when it teaches something the text cannot show quickly. 

9. Update videos

Use video when it helps explain or demonstrate something. Provide a useful title and a text alternative so the point is not locked inside the player. Many users might prefer to watch a video rather than read. Having videos can cater to such audience.  

10. Update content

Make sure you are presenting your content using different methods. You can add images, infographics, video or even have a completely different way of presenting content like an interactive infographic. Flash is no longer a practical web format.  

11. Make it mobile and tablet friendly

Is your website usable on a phone and a tablet? Check the real page at narrow widths, not only a desktop preview. Make your site work well on all devices. This can drastically help improve the experience on your website. 

12. Persuasion

After these changes, can a visitor understand the offer and complete the next step? The updates might work, but there is a deeper underlying reason what makes website's sell. It is how you influence your visitors and persuade them to become your customers. This is the goal of your website and website maintenance helps to improve and fine tune persuasion. 

Cialdini's influence principles can help you think about how a page earns attention and trust. Use them honestly; scarcity or social proof you cannot substantiate will do the opposite. 

1. Reciprocity

2. Authority

3. Liking

4. Scarcity

5. Social Proof

6. Commitment and Consistency

Conclusion:  

Please comment below if you have questions, ideas or how you can apply it. At ANTSAND, we apply everything we preach and teach. What we put out is based on our experience, our failures and success. We love to be transparent, as it really brings out the best in us. 

The $5 monthly marketing package mentioned in the original article was an idea, not a current offer. Tell me which part of this guide helped and what still needs work.

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