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ApplianceCan I ask you a question? Who is your website made for?
We want business owners to be happy with their website. But, isn’t it more important that your customers like your website? We want to ensure you have the right mindset when it comes to your marketing. We highly recommend putting an emphasis on building your website to appeal to your customer base. Homeowners. So, the question I want you to consider when evaluating your website is... do homeowners like my website?
How can I tell if homeowners like my website?
So now that you know what you are looking for. How do you measure it? We would recommend starting with two key monthly metrics: website conversion and time-on-site.
Website Conversion:
Website conversion occurs when a homeowner completes a desired action like calling your business or completing a form. This number would then be divided by the total number of people who visit your website giving you a percentage. So, if 100 people visited your website, and 10 called you, your website would have a 10% conversion rate.
What this number tells you is whether your website motivates your customer to buy from you or not. It can also highlight problems such as unclear navigation or outdated design. We cannot stress enough that this is a VERY important metric and you should be tracking this monthly. If your conversion is low it is a red flag telling you that you need to change something.
It’s important that you’re consistently changing your website and testing better layouts and content. Just because your website “worked” 2 years ago, doesn’t mean it’s the best version of itself today. Think about your website as your best salesperson. You wouldn’t let your sales staff go 2 years without training or improving. Hold your website and marketing accountable.
Time-on-site:
Time on Site. This metric is good to look at only when you compare it to your website conversion rate. If the time-on-site increases and conversion rate decreases, then you're making users look for important info. This is not a good sign as your potential customers are likely getting frustrated, abandoning your website, and booking with your competition.
If the time-on-site increases, but your website conversion rate does too, then it's fine and shouldn't be looked at as a negative. It means that your potential customers are likely finding your content useful or interesting, but still easy to navigate.
On the reverse side: If the time-on-site decreases and website conversion rate increases, you're providing useful information quicker and easier to find, while still compelling customers to do business. This means your website is easy to navigate. It drives your potential customers to take your desired action and call your business.
Heat Map Tracking
Another tool worth mentioning is heat map tracking. Heat map tracking is a visual snapshot of where your customers are clicking and what parts of your website are the most popular. This tool highlights what pages or navigation should be changed in order to get your customer to the desired action (calling you) and increasing your conversion.
If you’re not sure where to start with heat map tracking we like Lucky Orange but there are many programs available to get you this data.
If My Website is Not Performing How Can I Fix it?
We could spend time talking about a clickable phone number and ease of use. But nowadays those things are overly talked about and are the standard. We want to give you website advice that might be something you haven't heard before.
Highlight Your Competitive Advantage
Ensure your competitive advantage lives above the fold. This is the portion of your web page that is visible in a browser when it first loads. What is above the fold is prime website real estate, use it by prompting your top features. You can talk about your guarantees, your longevity in the market, your advanced technology, or that your staff is really knowledgeable. Highlight features your competitors don’t have.
Be Smart With Content
Ensure your website answers questions that people are now typing into Google. This can be done using your blog or FAQ sections on each service page. Example: How often do I need to change my furnace filter? Answer the question with images, text, and video even if it only takes 1 line to answer it. The more information you provide your potential customers in their research phase, the more likely you are to have them become a client.
Imagery is Important
Imagery is what makes your website memorable and helps convey your message. Ensure you use “real photography” wherever it makes sense. Have images of equipment with your actual techs fixing or installing it. Have nice images of your wrapped fleet with your logo and branding. This will feel much more authentic to someone viewing your website. Having real photos will allow the homeowners to build trust before you even get into their home or before they even call you. You can use some stock images of families sparingly but it is worth the investment to get a photographer to take pictures.
What’s the Next Step?
In our opinion, the next best thing you can do is book a website audit with us. Now, we know this sounds self-promotional but stay with us. We’re going to be honest, and we aren’t going to sugar coat anything. If you need to fix something, we will tell you. If things are going well, we’re going to tell you.
A website audit is typically a 1-hour call. We go through everything from your website to social media to SEO and competitors in your market. At the end of the meeting, you’ll have a good understanding of the current state of your business from a digital standpoint. Our goal is to see if working together would be a benefit to your business, however, if we’re asking for an hour of your time, we want it to be of value to you. Our audits are comprehensive and thorough.
Our Audit includes:
- Current Keyword Rankings
- Backlink Portfolio
- Site Speed
- Duplicate Content
- Competitive analysis
- Market analysis and keyword search volume
- And answers to any of your marketing questions that come up during the meeting (try to stump us we like the challenge!)
We hope you now have a better understanding of how to tailor your website to your customer. If you are interested in a website audit they are for a limited time completely FREE.
