5 Fast Fixes To Take Your Web Site Visitors Where YOU Want Them to Go

October 20, 2011 | Posted by Adele Tiblier

You’ve spent a lot of time marketing your site. You have print ads in all the right publications, you’ve spent time to craft press releases to position yourself as the expert in your field locally, you even spend money on paid search campaigns to drive qualified searchers to your site. But once they get there, do they know what they are supposed to do?

The unofficial yet understood rule of web designers and online marketers has been that a site should provide what the visitor is looking for within three clicks of entering the site or likely lose them which is appropriately termed The Three Click Rule.

I personally think that folks are growing less and less tolerant and they want it all and they want it now! But no matter what your experience is, if you don’t make it super simple for the user to do what you want, you will likely not get what you want out of your site.

Here are a few items to consider when mapping out the layout of your site.

Make It Obvious

You know what you want someone to do when they come to your website, but make it stupid simple for folks to actually act on that. Just tell them what you want them to do – in clickable, flashing, underlined, colored, bolded text if you must.

Add Links to More Information

Many people search not for immediate gratification, but also to research a future purchase, to educate themselves on a topic, or to comparison shop. If you provide the basics, answering the usual set of questions that a new potential customer might have, you’ve done your job well. But what if they want to know more? That first point of contact, that first page of info may have peaked them and they are ready to invest a little more time to learn more – do you provide an easy way to get that information? Is there a link that gives product details, specifics, or the call to action to have them contact someone for MORE DETAILS?

Map Out the Way In and Out

Not every visitor to your site arrives on the home page, but no matter where they land, can they easily find what they are looking for? If there is no clear direction of your structure, frustration can build, and they are gone as quickly as they arrived.

Too Many Choices May Lead to No Decision

Limit the choices to make it easier for visitors to make a choice. We are already bombarded with information, making the choice obvious and easy makes for a smoother customer journey.

Give Me One Good Reason

People often forget that their website is an extension of their sales force. People are looking to be wooed to stay, use your site or close the deal. Why not give them something to entice them to make take the next step? Coupons, offers, a little off the top just for making contact – that could be the real difference between a visitor and a customer.

It takes a lot to get folks to choose your site over the millions of others jockeying for position, make sure that once you have made the case to get them there, that you give them what they want and the easiest way to find it – it will likely result in you reaching your overall goals as well.

Adele Tiblier
Adele serves as FSC Interactive's Director of Interactive Strategy guiding all efforts in search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM or Paid Placement) as well as working with the social media team to ensure that campaigns are cohesive and technically sound. She has a professed love of all things Google, shoes and her kids (possibly in that order).