Your website needs to be sticky.
When I say that your website is sticky, I mean that it engages your visitors and keeps them reading.
When someone visits your website, you only have a few seconds to capture their attention. Usually, this will be around 5 - 10 seconds.
If your website isn’t “sticky”, the visitor won’t stay. Instead, they’ll head back to the search engine results page and click on your competitor’s website instead.
So what can you do to engage your visitors? How can you encourage them to keep reading your content and stay on your website?
Here are five things you can do to capture the attention of your visitors:
- Use engaging content - Make your visitors feel like you’re talking directly to them. Try and refrain from using “I” or “we” too often. Your content should be about your visitors. When you’re creating content, imagine your reader is sitting on the other side of your desk. This will help you to use a conversational tone that draws the reader in and encourages them to read more.
- Use media effectively - This works really well with blog content but is equally applicable to any page on your website. Using images and videos in your content helps to keep a user engaged. Media is great for breaking up large sections of content and adding different options for your visitors to engage with what you have to say.
- Make sure your website is easy to use - This might seem obvious, but it’s something that companies can easily miss with their websites. When was the last time that you viewed your website from the perspective of a potential customer? Make sure you do this regularly. Your website should be easy for them to use and really easy to navigate. Ideally, a user should be able to get to any important information within 3 clicks.
- Use good design - Design can be subjective, but one thing is clear - website visitors will react better to a website that is well designed. It doesn’t have to be “pretty” or full of fancy features. There’s no need to go over the top and create something that isn’t user-friendly. You’re simply looking for a design that is clean and trustworthy.
- Have consistent branding throughout - Branding is about more than just your logo. Your website should have a consistent look and feel. This helps users to feel comfortable as they browse your site and engage with your content. Consistent branding goes hand in hand with good design when it comes to making your website feel trustworthy to your visitors.
You may have some of these elements in place already. If you do, that’s great, but don’t ever rest on your laurels.
It’s important to review your website periodically. This will help you to make sure that you’re continuing to engage and capture the attention of your visitors.
How sticky is your website right now? Is there anything that you can change that will improve your visitors’ experience.
