4 Ways to Make Your Website Work Better

"Make your website work better than what?" you might ask. Better than it has. Better than it will if you decide to make changes or build a new site based on some vague notion that the site isn't working now.

1. Define Success

Moving past vague notions means finding out what really is and is not working on your website. Which in turn means defining what the website is supposed to accomplish. Without the end goal in mind, you may as well stick with vague notions, because solid data can only lead the way if you know where you want to go.

2. Dive Into the Data

Once you have defined your goals its time to dive into the data that will provide you the ability to do a real quantitative examination of your site.

For most sites, Google Analytics data is all the data you'll ever need. I have written elsewhere about the most basic analytics data points to track, so don't let the overwhelming amount of information stop you in your tracks. (And I'm happy to chat with you if you have questions about diving deeper.)

The data should provide insights into the strengths and weaknesses of your website — what areas to double down on and what you need to shore up.

3. Prospect Perspective

Once you've established that quantitative framework you have to decide what to do with the data you've found. In other words, the quantitative information leads to some qualitative questions. For example, data on how long a visitor spends on your site and how many pages the average visitor views naturally lead to questions about how to get visitors to stay longer and view more pages.

One of the surest ways to increase engagement is to double- and triple-check that your website is written and presented from a prospect's perspective. Your firm's internal org chart or product lines aren't typically going to matter to a prospect. Instead, arrange the information on your site to answer all of a prospect's questions in one place.

For example, rather than separating services completely from case studies, the services pages should include sidebar links to the case studies most relevant to that service. The goal is to bring they information to the visitor, not to make them figure out your website's organizational logic.

Be sure that you're taking into account not just their interests, but also their timing. You'll need different types of content for prospects who are just beginning their journey and prospects who are much closer to making a decision.

4. Focus on Benefits and Outcomes

Laundry detergent bottles don't tout "20% more alcohol ethoxylate!" They tout 20 percent more whitening power. You need to follow the same pattern because no-one really cares about the process; they care about the outcome. Focusing on benefits and outcomes is another part of marketing with the prospect's perspective in mind.

However, the laundry detergent packaging also offers a cautionary tale: nobody believes "better" anymore. We're so inundated with advertising claims, that even with "proof" in the form of hard data, we're dubious of all claims we can't see with our own eyes.

Focus instead on differentiators and you remove the good/better/best evaluation from the equation. You still have to back up your differentiation claims with evidence in order to best your competitors, but building credibility for that comparison should be easier.

E T Andrew Schulkind Author's page

Since 1996, Andrew Schulkind has asked clients one simple question: what does digital marketing success look like, and how can marketing progress be measured?

A veteran content marketer, web developer, and digital strategist, Andrew founded Andigo New Media to help firms encourage audience engagement through solid information architecture, a great user experience, and compelling content. A dash of common sense doesn't hurt, either.

His work touches social media, search-engine optimization, and email marketing, among other components, and he has presented at Social Media Week NY and WordCampNYC, among other events. His writing appears in various online and print publications. 

Andrew graduated with a B.A. in Philosophy from Bucknell University. He engages in a range of community volunteer work and is an avid fly fisherman and cyclist. He also loves collecting meaningless trivia. (Did you know the Lone Ranger made his mask from the cloth of his brother's vest after his brother was killed by "the bad guys?")

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