7 Essential Elements of a Website to Engage Your Visitors

By: Kayla Anderson for Nevada SEO Experts, LLC

Studies have shown that in our technology-fueled era, attention spans are getting shorter. As we are bombarded with hundreds, if not thousands, of advertising messages a day, how can your business stand out from competitors?  It all starts with your website.

According to Webspand, as of January 2018, there are more than 160 billion Google searches on a monthly basis and 40% of purchases start on the internet. With so many people online, it’s important to differentiate yourself in the digital space. The Nielsen Norman Group stated that once people find your website they usually stick around for less than a minute. If you have less than a minute to capture their attention before you lose the sale, you want to be sure to optimize your website in a way that keeps them sticking around. Here are 7 essential elements to any top-performing websites:

1. Have Clear Calls To Action (CTA)

Think about the questions your prospect has and create content that meets their needs. Maybe they are looking for a new pH solution for their hot tub and they found your website. Maybe you can add a teaser on your homepage with a CTA like “click here to download a whitepaper on top hot tub chemicals”. Then when they click to get the whitepaper, you can capture their email address. Be short, sweet, and simple in what you are promoting and use your homepage to guide visitors through the rest of your website and keep them engaged.

 

2. Make Sure Your Website Loads Fast

Since attention spans are getting shorter, you don’t want people waiting around for too long for your website to load its content. The best websites out there load within 3 seconds to keep people from bouncing out. A lot of web pages and large images can bog your website down and make it run slower, so think about how you can optimize your photos and information to deliver the very best to your guest.

 

3. Break Up Your Content With Lots of Whitespaces

Make your content easy to digest with short, simple paragraphs, optimized images, and lots of “whitespace”- the blank area all around your website and within the text. Your paragraphs should be no more than 3 sentences long, (no one wants to read a thesis here) complemented by eye-catching images that help tell the story.

 

4. More About the Images

People relate to images a lot quicker than text, which is why the social media network Instagram has blown up in popularity the last few years. Now that everyone has a camera in their pocket, people are visually sharing the experiences they’re having, what they’re eating, what they’re wearing, et cetera with the world. According to business guru Jeff Bullas, web pages with images get upwards of 94% more views and 60% of prospects are more willing to contact a business if they see an image in search engines associated with it. Your website will appear dull and boring without cool images to support it and portraying what you are all about!

 

5. Pay Attention to Your Website’s Color Scheme

If you have a rainbow of colors on your website, that can be distracting and you’ll confuse the visitor because they won’t know where to look. Keep your website’s color palate to around three complementary color swatches. Start with your logo and try to match your CTA buttons, headlines, and design elements to your color scheme.

 

6. Create Content That Answers Your Prospect’s Questions

After all of that effort in advertising and perfecting your SEO strategy to get people to your website, you want to offer them the information that solves their problem and keeps them engaged. Think about it if a friend were to ask your advice on something that you know a lot about…what would you tell them? Your website is your sounding board and an opportunity to show the world that you are an expert in your field. Once you start to gain your prospects’ trust, they’ll be more likely to buy from you.

 

7. Get a Security SSL Certificate

A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protects websites from harmful malware and attacks, keeping any transmitted data securely between a browser and a web server. Ever notice how some website addresses have an “http://” prefix and some have an “https://” one? When you transmit sensitive information online through a website that has an “s” in it, that means the data sent online is encrypted and secure. That extra “s” ensures that data exchanged between the web server and the browser remains private. Many website hosting companies offer an SSL certificate add-on. Having one will keep Google from flagging you as having a potentially harmful site and show your web visitors that you are a safe and trusted source. To read more from Google about why https, click here.

There are dozens of content management systems that provide customizable templates that can help you match your company’s brand to its needs. If you already have a website, resources like HubSpot’s Website Grader can show you what you can improve on. Need help driving people to your website? That’s where Nevada SEO Experts shines. Give us a call today or fill out our Discovery Form at https://nevadaseoexperts.com/discovery-form/.