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Video Summary
You paid for a nice new website at some point. The design firm, or maybe your genius nephew who knows about computers, built a website for you and you went back and forth to get it perfect. Right?
So you published a website for your business. Woo-hoo, congratulations. What’s it doing for you now?
After watching this video, please comment… What kind of changes are you going to test on your website?
Video Transcript
Hello, I’m Jeffrey Kirk.
I’ve got an important question for you today. How long has it been since you finished your website?
You paid for a nice new website at some point. The design firm, or maybe your genius nephew who knows about computers, built a website for you and you went back and forth to get it perfect. Right?
So you published a website for your business. Woo-hoo, congratulations. What’s it doing for you now?
How long has it been since your site was finished? You can tell me if you want, but you don’t have to because, you see, there’s only one good answer to that question. The answer is, it’s not finished yet.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t think it’s a good idea to publish your website before it has the potential to help your business. That would just be stupid.
How many times have you seen websites that are clearly still under construction? The homepage might look good, but you click a link and you end up on a partial page. That’s not good. This is not what I’m talking about.
A website is not a printed brochure. Rather, what I’m getting at here is that websites are dynamic, living, changing things.
Some people understand that parts of a website should change over time. For example, things like news should be updated regularly. Now, how many sites have you seen where the latest news is two or more years old?
Of course, if you have a blog on your site, you should also put something there more often than once a year. Maybe try setting aside one day a year and plan out 12 posts so you can publish one each month.
That’s a whole lot better than nothing. But I’m going beyond that. I’m talking about other parts of your site, parts that most people would consider static.
Don’t Fall for the New Car Mentality
The common perception of websites is what I call the New Car Mentality. That is, the moment you buy a car, it’s the best it will ever be. As soon as you drive it off the lot, it begins to depreciate until it becomes necessary to replace it.
In the web world, many people believe that the moment a website is published is the best that it will ever be. The design is beautiful, all the links work, it’s filled with great information about your business, right, and it’s time to start cashing in. And of course, you know that your site will get old and eventually you’ll have to get a new one.
Here’s the problem… The reason why the new car analogy doesn’t apply. When your website is first published, it’s only a best guess at what will work. Either you or your developer put a stake in the ground, but it’s not the best it can be. It’s only the best you thought of, and paid for, up to this point.
Sure. It might be better than your previous website because it’s newer, takes advantage of recent design trends and usability, and it feels like a freshly painted room or maybe a completed home remodel.
The thing is, if you let it depreciate from there, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. And that’s because you may start to think of your website as a necessary evil instead of the business asset that it should be.
So let me reframe this for you… The day your website is published is the day its life begins. From there, you should test it, measure the results, and make improvements.
You should measure how many visitors it gets and how many take the action you want them to take. Then you should change something and test the results again.
Continue to change your site until it delivers new leads or new customers at the best possible rate.
There’s no end of testing. There is always something that can be improved to get better results. Plus, you can still update the news and incorporate new design elements going forward. And that’s why I say, your site is never finished.
Do I Have to Test It?
And yeah, I can hear you saying that testing and updates might be a pain. Who wants to do all that?
But consider this. If your website keeps getting better at converting visitors into leads in sales, is it depreciating? No, it’s getting more valuable…
This week, it performs better than last week. And next week, it performs better than this week. And next month, it’s better than this month.
And how about next year? Well, next year, your business is blowing away your competition because they just got a new website and thought it was perfect the day they launched it. So they did nothing.
But now you know better. You update your website, you test your website, you improve your website and then you win.
Sure. The winning doesn’t come easy. But when does that ever happen?
If you want, you can shell out thousands of dollars every few years to get a new site that does very little for you, or you can invest in your current site so that it becomes a predictable selling machine. The choice is yours.
Turn Your Site Into Create a Predictable Selling Machine
Not sure what to change on your site? Well, I’ll give you a few things to kickstart your creativity.
How about trying different headlines and sub-headlines on your pages, or test them in different colors.
How about the words within your product or service to descriptions, or the words on your call to action buttons?
What about telling a story instead of going directly for a sale?
How about using more bullet points and mixing that in with the text in your paragraphs?
For photos or images, you could test where you place them or the size.
What about photos of people or images of your products, or photos of people using your product? Change it up and see what happens.
Or what if you incorporated some video instead of static images?
Have you tried changing the number of fields or questions on your contact form. or other forms on your site for that matter. to see if more people will fill it out if it presents a little differently?
For pricing options, have you tested higher price and free shipping versus lower price and paid shipping?
What about free trials versus money back guarantees? Or annual versus monthly billing?
Be Sure To Track Results
Well, these should be enough ideas to get you started. There’s really no limit to the number of things you could test if you’re willing to do so. Just be sure you track the results of any changes.
The goal is not to create a site that you like better. The goal is to create a site that your prospects like better, a site that helps them do what you want them to do.
When these things start to happen, that’s when it’s all worthwhile. And how often do you really need to start over with a new website when your current one keeps getting better?
Please comment below… What kind of changes are you going to test on your website?
See you again soon and have a great day.
