Does Your Website Pass This Test?

Do you hold your website accountable in your business? Have you ever conducted a performance review of your website?

Those may sound like strange questions since your website isn’t an employee, but I believe every website’s performance should be evaluated no differently than a sales person in your business. The roles of your website and your sales team are nearly identical. Both exist to communicate your value proposition to qualified prospects, nurture leads, and eventually close sales.

But in my experience, many business owners don’t hold their website up to the same high standards that they do with their sales team. So in this article, I’m going to walk through a simple 3-question performance review that you can use to evaluate your website. By the end you should have plenty of ideas for how you can improve your website in the coming months.

Question 1: Does Your Website Adhere to Your Dress Code?

It shouldn’t take you too long to answer this question. Take a look at your website and be honest with yourself. Does your website’s design give the same impression you work so hard to create in your business? Now, don’t get me wrong here. I’m not saying every business should have a stodgy website design. I’m saying your website should match the dress code of your business.

If you and your sales team wear suits to meet with prospects, then your website should have that same professional look and feel. If your team wears shorts and flip flops, because maybe you sell surfing equipment, then your website should look the part as well. See what I mean?

Think of your website like a 24/7 sales person visible to everyone, everywhere. Keep in mind, your website will often be your prospects’ first impression, rather than a real sales person. So make sure your website isn’t dropping the ball with a poor design.

Question 2: Does Your Website Communicate Effectively?

In sales, communication is critical. If your prospect doesn’t understand how your product or service will truly help her, then she’s not going to buy. That’s pretty obvious and that’s why sales people work so hard on their phone and in-person communication skills.

The same is true with your website. Again, many prospects will visit your website before talking to anyone first. That means part of your website’s job is to give that initial sales presentation. And for e-commerce businesses, your website has to also close the sale.

Put yourself in your prospect’s shoes and review your website’s homepage as if you were a first time visitor. Then answer these questions:

Is it clear what your business does and how you can help your prospects?
Is it clear where to click to learn more about a particular product or service?
Is it clear what makes your business better than the competition?
Does your website ask for the sale, or at least ask for the next step in the sales process?

Question 3: Does Your Website Follow Up?

I’m not going to beat a dead horse about how important it is to follow up to increase sales. Everyone knows this, and you’re probably already evaluating your sales team on how consistently they follow up with prospects and customers.

But how about your website? Once again, many of your top prospects are going to your website first, and only a small percentage (maybe 2 – 5%) are calling or completing a webform during their visit. That means about 95% of your prospects are leaving and will probably never return unless you have a website follow-up system.

Here are the two questions to answer to evaluate your website follow-up:

Is there a free offer on your website where prospects can give you their contact information in exchange for something valuable (i.e. free report, webinar, coupon, etc.)?
Do you have an email program that sends automatic follow up emails to prospects and customers? Popular programs include Aweber, ConstantContact, and iContact. At Main Street ROI, we use and recommend Infusionsoft.

If you answered no to either or both questions, then the good news is you have a big opportunity to significantly improve your website’s performance.

Need Help Improving Your Website Performance?

Call 1-888-405-0307 or click here to complete our contact form to learn how we can help you with one or more of the 3 areas discussed in this article.