Your website is all about more sales! That’s the reason you’ve hung out your shingle, but are you hurting leads and sales by having a website that’s not polished enough?
Polish is not about having fashion models in your content photos, although attractive people in your pics will not hurt, it is about the details.
These details communicate visually your professionalism and instill confidence in prospects when they visit. It’s the look and feel and you’ve got 10 seconds to make a favorable impression!
Here are my top polish points to check out on your own site.
Content blocks on the home page
These just must be the same word count and line up horizontally. When you have three different sized boxes it just looks bad.
Blog post excerpts in your footer
Control the word count! There are plugins you can use to assure your excerpt stays the same word count. Make sure to use them so you do not have giant blocks of blog content making the bottom of your website page look like jagged teeth.
Photos with no smiles
Staff photos where everyone looks grim or the business owner is frowning should be updated. Look approachable, you don’t have to be a model, but a pleasant look on your face is important.
Photos where the clothing is too casual
Owner and staff photos are important. If you work in a professional arena like a dentist or doctor – wear a white coat, lawyers – wear a suit, business owners – the higher dollar figure your sale, the more dressed up you should be. Polo shirts and super casual wear is great for your photo if your customers and competitors will be wearing those types of clothes. Careful – what you wear impacts your site’s polish and communicates professionalism.
Blog posts that are off topic that don’t match what you sell
If you blog yourself for your own website, make sure that you create and stick to a content strategy that works to build keyword density and authority for your website. Keep the your website’s polish going by being on topic. Blogging is not your online journal, but rather a way to build authority with search engines and provide new fodder for search engine robots.
If you need help polishing your site, we provide consulting services to help your site improve in appearance and polish. Find out more today.