5 May 2021

News

Ultimate

Before we start – rest assured that we understand your website might not have been the first thing on your mind lately! Though you might be surprised to hear it from a digital agency, here at Ultimate we completely appreciate that companies today might have had bigger things to think about over the past fourteen months than their website and digital presence! From hotels to hospitality, and manufacturing to marketing, companies across the country have been focussed on Britain’s return to reopening, which marks this and next month of 2021.

So, why does your website matter? Your clients are returning in droves and your operations are back up and running again. Does your digital presence even matter any more, now that you aren’t solely in touch with your clientele through snappy Instagram posts or Twitter updates?  The short answer is – yes. If you’ve managed to bring your company ‘out the other side’ of the pandemic, you’re going to need to keep hold of that agility. The number one mistake lots of people are making? A website that no longer serves their business’ – or their customers’- needs. Read on to find out the mistakes you’re probably making with your website right now (and the fixes for them, because we’re nice like that).

 

Lack of Mobile-Friendliness

In 2021, there’s really no excuse for this one  – and yet it’s where most of your customers are accessing your site from. Over 80% of smartphone users have used their device to make a purchase, so if you’re missing that cohort, you’re effectively missing out on sales for no reason! This isn’t just for e-commerce sites, either: with booking platforms like OpenTable, Dice and SeeTickets, gigs, restaurants and events are primarily booked through smartphone apps.

All this before we’ve even mentioned the new Covid-19 innovation of restaurant apps and contactless ordering, which looks set to stick around! (Let’s face it – none of us miss queueing for an hour while trying to get the attention of a busy bartender).

So, how can you make your site mobile-friendly? Getting your website to work on the go can be as simple as a responsive site design, with no frantic banners, pesky pop-ups or *shudders* cluttered web forms… (more on that later). With the right tools, like setting the mobile viewport, tightening up your code and of course using a responsive CMS and layout, you’re well on your way to on-the-go- success. You can even check if your website is mobile-friendly using this site – and save yourself a lot of time!

Complicated Web Forms

Web forms can be both incredibly useful for companies and a real pain for users – if they’re done incorrectly! We know more than anyone just how helpful web forms and gated content can be – giving you a bank of interested contacts, sometimes with companies and all of whom are keen to convert with you.

However, it’s key that you don’t immediately put your customers off converting with a complicated pop-up form demanding their details right away. A little bit like proposing to someone on the first date, it’s probably not going to go too well if you come on too strong before your customer knows anything about you. Add to this too many fields to fill out, cluttered text boxes and an unclear CTA, and you’ve got one irritated customer.

So, what should you do? Forms should be quick, easy-to-read, and simple to fill out, and crucially not block your user’s journey through your site, especially if you’re catering to mobile users like you should be! Keep them short and sweet, implementing best practices for form conversion. In addition, optimising content and fields as you go will let you see which words and layouts work best for your business – without wasting anybody’s time.

Loading at a Snail’s Pace

Will Ferrell once famously said:

“Before you marry a person you should first make them use a computer with slow Internet to see who they really are.”

In the Digital Marketing world, this is a given – because even the nicest, sweetest person you know might lose it when confronted with that dreaded loading icon. Overloading your front page with videos, high-resolution or unoptimised images or graphics is a huge mistake your website is making that can make your site a nightmare to open – especially for users coming to you from their phones.

As you try to bounce your business back into success, it’s key that you recognise any clients trying to find out your new opening hours / location / operating system will simply click on the next best option if your website can’t even load for them. Don’t risk alienating your clients when you’ve only just got them back – work out why your site is slow. Once you’ve targeted the issue, opt for simple, sleek, and efficient, and rely on your work to speak for itself!

From optimising your site for SEO to writing clever and concise CTA’s, there are plenty of things you can do to get your website working for you – and not the other way around. We won’t give them all away, or we’d be out of a job – so why not get in touch?

A full-service digital marketing agency, Ultimate can help you with rebrands, rewrites, ads and campaigns – whatever your digital presence needs.

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