· Website structure
Keep it simple – one of the smartest terms in this business. Make sure navigation is always possible via a sidebar, header bar or so, do not make the user click “back” in the browser (actually that is the exact sign that says “structure is wrong!”).
· Website goals
While you keep it simple and easy and all so nice to the user, do not forget what your goals are… do all you can regarding ease of use, and a good design – but keep in mind what you want the user to do. At times, it might get ugly. Some products will require an intrusive, aggressive pop up when you enter the site.
But if it sells, it sells….
· Website audience (localization issues)
Localization is said to be a profession too. But you can take some steps in order to improve your condition in that matter.
First of all will be the language. If you sell overseas, have the site translated (always by a local, native speaker by the way).
Find out (read…) what that country is like. For instance, Japanese would love an English site as English is taken there as the language of the west, of progress, of internet.
German audience would rather a more solid look, in German only; and so on… this information is all reachable online, look for it. It will spare you time and money eventually.
· Flow
Right flow is the dream of every advertiser. If you could anticipate the visitors’ moves in the site you could have spared a lot of money… you could have earned a dozen times what you have already.
The best you can do before trying a few versions (“a/b testing”) is try to imagine the normal behavior of the visitor, and try to spin the site to lead him/ her to where you want (sort of “click here!” “Go There!” directions, design manipulations and so on)
· Call to action
So you brought the users to your site, got them to go where you want – but forgot to tell them what you want them to do…
We see many non-professional sites that make it virtually impossible to find the “Buy Now”/”Register” button…
You spend so much energy around the site that you sometimes forget to simply say what you want…
Another issue is saying the right thing. Do not ask users to sign up, if you want to sell them a product for example… misleading the user is a common mistake – so be aware of it.
· a/b testing
Trying a few versions of your site is a progressive step, but a needed one, once you are out of other options of maximizing your profits.
Once you have divided your traffic to the different versions, narrow them down to the better performers, and conclude why and how they have converted better.
Having that done, take the winner versions, create duplicates with minor changes, and do that test again.
At the end you will be left with a top performing version.
· Analysis
There are many sites and tools to check and analyze your site’s performance, traffic, and other statistical data.
The most common one is probably Google Analytics, which gives the average user more than enough information regarding the site, in a way that allows beginners to understand and make some progress too.
See where the traffic comes from, geographically speaking, from which referring sites, keywords and so on. Put an emphasis where possible – and get more traffic…
