Your website must be great looking in order to attract customers, yes. However, if there is no substance behind the sizzle, those prospects that you attracted will soon click away, never to return. Take a look at some of the strategies that you should employ to make your site a super sticky conversion machine.
Look at Google
One of the most popular websites on the Internet that controls over 90% of all digital traffic in the world is also one of the least ornate. Google.com is beautiful in its simplicity, but the real point to take is this - the functionality of the site is perfect. There is not one extra link on the page - everything is there for a reason. Function over everything - this should be at the core of everything you think about when devising your digital strategy.
The Attention Span of a Goldfish
On its own, a beautiful website aesthetic engages a prospect for a grand total of eight seconds, at most. If there is nothing after that, the prospect will become bored and leave. Microsoft conducted the study that actually showed people now have a worse attention span than a goldfish. This means that your site had better do something important or cool within four seconds of completing its load, or you have probably lost a customer for life.
Dealing With the Analytics
The metrics that you should really look at for your site have very little to do with the look of said site. Depending on the purpose of your website, you will be in marketing meetings discussing bounce rates, exit rates, time on page, outbound clicks, click through rates, site speed and conversion rates. You will be looking at heatmaps trying to determine which parts of your website are the most functional. All of these metrics must actually coincide with the look of the site - they should walk hand in hand for best results.
One of the most important analytics you should understand is the way that your site optimizes with the major search engines. Google alone controls around 90% of the traffic on the Internet. If you are not in good with Google, Yahoo and Bing, then that look you spent so much time cultivating will not even be seen.
To say that the look of a website is completely separate from its strategy is not completely true. Modern search engines model their algorithms around human cognition. Part of that cognition is how a website looks visually. For instance, if a site is so good looking that people stay on the landing page for the full eight seconds of their attention spans, then the time on site metric increases. When this goes up, the search engines prioritize that page in search results.
Your Online Purpose
Does your website actually represent your purpose online? Yes, your look needs to represent your brand. But on a deeper level, your site needs to represent your purpose. This is where the work on your strategy really shines through.
One of the best ways to organize your site is to consider your customer journey. Many sites are able to maintain quite an effective structure by simply following the sales funnel of their target markets. The landing page represents the beginning of the journey. Each page takes the prospect further down the rabbit hole. The path is straight and set with as little distraction as possible.
The advantage of this technique is that is optimizes quite easily with the major search engines. Each page can be connected to a different yet related keyword. Keep in mind that you might connect a landing page in the middle of your sales funnel to a particular keyword. In this way, you can connect with prospects at all points of the customer journey.
Every digital strategist will tell you that a great looking website is only step one. Now that you have that out of the way, make sure that you move to step two. A stunning website needs depth to retain business. Follow the tips above to make sure you get the most out of your aesthetic.