Your website is your digital business card and the first impression many prospects get. Fancy animations are pretty but are not necessary to grow your business. Instead, you need a website that is clear, easy to navigate, and pleasing to the eye with descriptions of your products and services that encourage sales. Fortunately, simple changes can improve your website.
1. A Website Refresh
If your website has been around for a while, a refresh may be in order. Quicker and far less work than a website redesign, a refresh allows you to update some images and do some reorganization to improve user experience.
2. Improve Site Speed
Visitors leave if they have to wait for your website to load – especially if they’re on mobile. Improving website speed will lower your bounce rate and improve user experience.
3. Optimize Image Sizes
Excessively large images are one thing that slows down site speed. Reducing image size to the optimal size and using the right file format so that the page and its images load quickly is one of the ways to improve site speed.
4. Make Your Website ADA Compliant
The Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law in 1990, mandating public buildings to make changes like adding entrance ramps, wheelchair accessible bathrooms, etc. so people with disabilities are not impeded from access. As our lives have moved online (even before the pandemic), courts have ruled that ADA principles also must be applied to websites and increasingly websites that aren’t ADA compliant have been sued to make them compliant, labeling them a hardship for those disabled.
Unfortunately, the Department of Justice has affirmed those rulings without issuing clear guidelines or rules. Until the DOJ issues firm guidance, web developers have been following recommendations from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Courts have designated their Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) as appropriate until the DOJ does issue regulations.
ADA compliance has many aspects such as making sure images have text captions for those who use screen readers, that text on the site can be read by screen readers rather than being text rendered as graphics, making sure videos don’t autoplay with sound that drowns out screen readers, and much more. If you want to know more about ADA website compliance, whether your website qualifies, and making changes; give us a call to find out how Efferent Media can design an ADA-compliant and SEO friendly website for you.
5. Add Calls to Action
The best content in the world and product or service descriptions still require a Call to Action (also known as a CTA) to nudge conversions. Numerous marketing studies prove that adding a clear Call to Action improves conversion rates by 21 percent or more. If you already have text Call to Actions, experiment with making them a colorful button. If you only have a few CTAs, try adding more. If you already use Call to Action buttons or graphics, try changing their color and/or size and see if conversions increase.
Efferent Media Builds Websites That Drive Your Business
Efferent Media has the experience you need to grow your business. Whether you offer products or services, our team at Efferent Media will create ADA-compliant websites, lead generation campaigns, community management and social media strategy and more to build your business. Contact us today and have the website your business deserves.