I had to go searching for my little guy this morning. He wasn’t hiding on purpose, he just slept with his entire body under the covers and his head under the pillow last night. At least I knew where to find him! (He only ever sleeps in his bed…or in the car.) That makes it simple.
In the past few weeks I’ve found myself on a few different websites wondering how I was supposed to order something. I saw all the details of the item I wanted, measurements, what they were made of…everything except how to actually place the order! They didn’t make it simple to do what they wanted me to do!
Plan & Organize Your Website
When you’re planning out your website be organized. You need to make it simple for the visitor to take action. Take the time to give some thought to the process your visitors will take as they move through your website. If they have to hunt for the Buy Now button, they won’t buy now!
What do I mean by this? Imagine I wasn’t buying that item from a website, but in a store. Think about what I have to do in order to purchase it.
- I have to get to the store.
- I have to enter the store.
- I have to look at things and decide what I wanted to buy.
- I have to know how to buy it/where to go to purchase it.
Now, I know we don’t consciously think through these steps, and I’m betting if we’re truly going to write down the steps there would be more than just these. But we’re making it simple, right?
How does this relate to your website and the way you plan it out?
Simple, again. If you’re thinking about your website as a store, even if you aren’t selling a physical product, but a service instead, think about the process someone would go through from start to finish.
Create a Journey
First, think about how a person learns about your website and decides to check it out. That’s similar to someone going to a store.
The visitor gets to your site and probably scroll through your home page. That’s like stopping at the front window display and seeing there’s something inside they might want, or knowing the big box brand has the type of thing they’re looking for…They go in! And maybe you click on a button to take you to something in particular, sort of like entering a specific department inside that big store.
They keep clicking and reading, discovering more and maybe find something they want to purchase, or want to take advantage of a service described on the site, sort of like walking around that store until they find the perfect item to buy.
Tell Them What to do Next
What’s next? If they’ve been in the store before they know right where the checkouts are. If not, they look around to figure out where to go to buy it, right? In a store more often than not they make it simple for us to buy by having the registers right near the door so you can’t miss them on your way in AND many stores have a great big sign that says Cashier or Checkout.
On your website would they know where to go next?
Is there something obvious telling them where to go or what to do? A button? A big box saying Click Here to Buy or Schedule a Consult Call?
If you were in the store and you had no idea where to go to make that purchase, what would you do? No signs, no lines indicating the possibility of a checkout. How would you feel?
Would you want to return to the store again? Would you have confidence in the item you were buying, especially if it were the store brand? Probably not, right?
Now think about all of this in terms of your website. If your visitors were drawn in and decide to purchase something from you or take the next step, would it be clear to them what to do and where to go next?
Sort of like my little guy the other morning when I went in to wake him up for the day. I knew where to go and where to look. Let’s make sure people know where to go and where to look when they start journeying through your website. Let’s make it simple for them to take the action we want them to take…and then we can nurture that relationship we have with them!
Take Action:
Watch this video posted in the Simply Launched Facebook group all about planning your website structure.
Then either:
1. Write out the path you’d like your ideal client to take through your website
2. Take a look at each of your website pages and see if your visitors might be left wondering what to do next
