Build better websites

I mentioned a few posts back that i would be going to the Zeald.com website seminar today. I went and it was extremely informative and very on the point. If you are in the web design business or need a website for your business then get along to a free seminar near you and learn about the most important aspects of a website.

Here are my notes from the seminar; hopefully David Kelly from Zeald doesn't mind! They aren't the most eloquent and are to the point rather than a complete narrative. If you want the full story please go to a seminar or you can get David's book The Secrets of Website Persuasion here.

Seminar Parts:

1. Two Key Success Factors
2. Measurement
3. Continued Improvement
4. Persuasion

Part One: Two Key Success Factors

1. Visitors
2. Persuasion (Conversion Rate)

This leads onto the two P's of Success

1. Promotion
2. Persuasion

Part Two: Measurement

• If you want to improve something you have to measure it first

Part Three: Continued Improvement

• TMT: Test, Measure, and Tune
• High Yield areas of your website should get the most focus for TMT
  

Part Four: Persuasion

1. Identify Objective and Develop a Powerful Strategy for Achieving that Objective

There are two main types of website objectives (there are other ones too but these are the main ones)

• Generate Sales
• Generate Enquiries or Leads

* Most people neglect the strategy level
* Brainstorm sessions on how to achieve the objective

2. Map Your Site and Identify the Conversion Pathway

• What pages does the visitor have to visit to do what you want them to do? Map it out in a graphical form.
• Macro and Micro conversion objectives: Macro = Overall Site Objective, Micro = Objective of a particular page.
• Create pages "recipies" for the key pages and then use the TMT philosophy to improve the pages to get the best version of the page that gives you the best results.

3. Establish Your Trust and Credibility

• No Matter what your product is or its price they won't buy it if your trust isn't established first!!
• Ways to increase your Trust and Credibility
• Website must load quickly
• Zeald.com has an online test to do this here
• One main factor in poor loading times is unoptimised images. Zeald has more info on this topic here.
• User friendly
• Adhere to industry layout standards
• If you want results then follow the standards!!
• Splash pages are bad
• Web pages must have a professional design
• Trust Building Elements
• Examples of persuasion
• testimonials
• code of conduct
• background checks
• industry relationships
• past customer list (hall of fame)
• guarantees
• industry and other awards
• privacy policy
• terms of trade
• returns policy
• The two most powerful pages for persuasion are About Us and Pre-Sales Pages
• About Us
• most important page for trust building
• check Zeald.com for their own examples
• visions and passions
• company mission statement
• code of conduct
• company history (Zeald's is 7 pages long, yes that is 7 pages, and what's more people actually read it!)
• every customer facing person at Zeald has a 3 page biography on the website
• Pre-Sales Pages
• free articles
• free tools
• give value to the customer while asking for nothing in return
• in-depth information on products and services
• TMT the trust aspect on EVERY page
• The more they know about you and your company the more they trust you.

4. Spark Interest and Develop Persuasive Momentum

• There is no point in doing this part unless Part 3 is already done!!
• Headlines
• There are two types of effective headlines
• Questions: e.g. Is your website generating amazing results?
• Statements: e.g. Generate amazing results online today!
• People want results, not the product. This is embodied it he famous quote: "People want 1/4 inch holes, not 1/4 inch drill bits."
• Every headline needs to focus on the result. TMT it.
• Words, Pictures, and Video
• Long vs Short text
• It is proven that long, informative text on website outsells short, to the point text every time.
• Different presentation for different people need to come into a one fits all approach for websites.
• Long copy needs to be broken into sections with clear section headings to enable people to read the parts that they are most interested in.
• Be comprehensive!!
• Pictures
• Use only one picture and use that picture to lead to a picture gallery
• Pictures need to be focused on the same end result as the text
• use imagery that reflects the ideal result of using the product or service

5. Complete the Persuasion Process

• Have a clear call to action!!
• A simple statement that leads the customer to perform the activity that your objective states.
• Make it easy for the customer to do what you want

And finally:

• Lots of little improvements = VERY SUCCESSFUL WEBSITE