A website enables the world to get its first glimpse of your business. A website allows curious customers, who’re surrounded by hundreds of choices, to explore your business first-hand and form an opinion on whether or not they should be engaging with you. As with all things in life, the rule of first impressions applies to your website too. What this means is, you have one shot at giving every customer who’s visiting your website, a solid reason to continue clicking forward. At SocioSquares, we’ve helped numerous roofers in understanding this simple truth about the digital world. Here’s a detailed article from our experts on how you can make your roofing website ready for the traffic you’re hoping for, in 2022.
1) Improve your Loading Speed:
People don’t like to be kept waiting. It’s a tough-but-true reflection of a world where almost everyone is hard-pressed for time. This is where businesses that give customers what they want without undue delays, score. Take your website, for instance. Does it load up quickly? Because, there’s a good chance that the customer who’s interested in checking your website may be in the thick of some activity and is actually multi-tasking. A loading speed that stretches beyond a few seconds will almost certainly cost you this customer, who’ll skip waiting and in all probability, not return. Here are a few ways to ensure that your website performs its first important task properly by opening up quickly for a world that wants to know more about you.
–Minify your code
The longer your website code, the heavier it becomes to load. Try minifying your website code by removing unnecessary characters.
-Size down images
Pictures speak louder than words, they also take up way more space. Optimize the size of your image files so that you get both good visual quality as well as faster loading speed.
-Remove extra plugins
Before your website opens, it makes sure to load all the plug-ins that have been incorporated for additional features or functionality. Eliminating unnecessary plugins will reduce the burden and quicken your website’s loading time.
2) Create a great user experience:
A website that’s smooth to navigate is a clear sign that your business is professional and easy to deal with. While designing your business website therefore, make it a priority to deliver a high-quality user experience. Here are a few helpful tips.
-Make it easy for customers to get around your website
-Help customers find information about your business and services in the shortest time with the least inconvenience
-Include blogs for customers who want to explore your expertise in depth
3) Include a clear Call-To-Action:
No matter how good your content is, your website will not see conversions until you guide customers to a clear ‘call-to-action’. Because, it’s only when a customer hits a button on your page that you’ll earn the opportunity to interact further with that customer. Here are a few examples of ‘call-to-action’ buttons that will yield you immediate results:
-Get A Free Estimate
-Click For A Free Quote
-Schedule A Free Roof Inspection
Remember, a call to action in a pop-up box will help turn a customer’s casual interest into serious intent to engage with your business.
4) Have a mobile-friendly design:
There was a time when all a mobile phone did was connect people. Today, mobiles are fast replacing computers and laptops as the preferred medium to browse and live on the internet. In numbers, half of the overall website traffic comes from mobile users. The takeaway – make your website layout mobile-friendly to avoid missing out on this rising community of customers and experiencing high bounce rates. The cherry on the icing, a website that’s responsive to mobiles will also make your business rank high in search engine results.
5) Display expertise through blogs:
Customers look for experts, an authority who’s knowledgeable about the industry, practices, trends and so on. This is where making blogs an ongoing feature on your website can help make a big difference. The content of your blogs will not just help customers in expanding their ambit of knowledge which in turn, will enable them to make better decisions, it will also ensure better rankings for your website on search engines like Google. Sharply focused blogs with relevant content will help increase the average time spent by customers on your website, enhance the chances of revisits and project you as an authority in your industry rather than just another player who’s looking for pure numbers and nothing more.
6) Have space in your design:
Imagine stepping into a room that is cluttered and not knowing where to look. A website that’s overly loaded with design or content elements can have a similar effect on customers who click in. The ideal way to design your website would be to ensure a good balance between content, design and space. A neatly ordered and visually appealing website will not just incentivize exploration but will also lead customers to take action, with minimal inconvenience.
7) Showcase experiences of satisfaction:
You need something more than information about what you offer, to gain the trust of customers visiting your site. You need experiences that tell people what they can expect when they do business with you. Include reviews from existing customers that portray diverse aspects about your business including expertise, service, professionalism, timeliness, materials and more. The more positive reviews you put in, the higher your chances of turning every customer visit into a solid click of opportunity.
8) Invite customers to share:
Everyday experiences are meant to be shared and social media makes it easier than ever to do this. With customers ever willing to share their experiences of products and services with their world, all you need to do is include social share buttons to websites that are relevant to your business and its offerings. Once a customer visiting your website or landing page hits ‘Share’ on any or all of the social buttons which link back to platforms like Facebook or Twitter, your brand gets into the view of hundreds of potential customers who will be looking for your products or services at some point in time.
9) Be welcoming 24/7:
Like it when you can order pizza any time of the day or night? Well, think of the comfort you’d offer customers with the facility to book a roofing appointment with you, 24X7. A landing page that enables customers to book roofing appointments with your experts round the clock will enhance the rate of conversion achieved by your website.
10) Put out your work:
There’s an age-old proverb ‘The proof lies in the pudding’. When it comes to the credibility of your business and the effectiveness of your website, ‘The proof lies in the roofing’. Put on before-after images that leave nothing to anyone’s imagination, that clearly depict your business’ expertise when it comes to roof repairs and installations.
Your ad campaigns and other marketing initiatives no doubt work hard to bring customers to your business. With a website that’s geared to impress customers from the get-go, your business betters its chances of clicking with every customer who takes the time and effort to make it to your digital doorstep. We hope this article will go a long way in helping you optimize your website for higher leads and greater yields. If you’re looking for personalized guidance in terms of website developing expertise, feel free to reach out to us at SocioSquares. We’re a digital marketing agency with over 11 years of experience in helping businesses across the home improvement industry do better with their digital marketing resources, plans and spends. Call us and we’ll help you develop a website that’ll do exactly what it’s supposed to. Land quality customers that convert into quality leads.