Does This Website Make Me Look Fat?

By
Cathy
-
The Optical Journal - Optical News With Independent Views

Vision Expo was an eye-opener for us. We visited several vendors about sponsorship of our blog and a couple of them told us that they didn’t like the design. While in part I can agree with them, it is a time to step back and relook at our design and layout. We (like you) need to evaluate what and where we want to be, what our goals and plan is. Our business is B2B and yours is B2C. I agree websites need to be attractive yet we most likely like you want to be on Page 1 of Google and we (like you) want people to explore and stay on our blog. So while we have been focussing on content and SEO, we have ignored the design part.

We found some updated information that might help you make decisions about updating your site. From a Website Study (Source Business News Daily ) they went to the websites of law schools and tracked where people went and how long they spent on the sites. The website sections that drew the most interest from the students were:

• The institution’s logo. Users spent about 6.48 seconds focused on this area before moving on.

• The main navigation menu. It was almost as popular as the website logo  – subjects spent an average of 6.44 seconds viewing the menu.

• The search box, where users focused for just over 6 seconds.

• Social networking links to sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Users spent about 5.95 seconds viewing these areas.

• The site’s main image, where users’ eyes were fixated for an average of 5.94 seconds.

• The site’s written content, where users spent about 5.59 seconds.

• The bottom of a website, where users spent about 5.25 seconds.

Tips From Pros to ask yourself before you go forward. 

Who Are You? What Makes you unique? What is your story? What is your passion, what do you want people to know about you?

Who are your customers? Young, old, hip.. Your website should reflect the ideal customer you are trying to attract. Men, Women, Age, profession.. No offense YOU WILL NEVER Attract everyone. If you do try to make a standard site.. how does that represent your uniqueness?

Purpose of the site? If to you a website is a necessary evil.. get out of it.  A poor website is a poor eyecare office and is a direct reflecion on you.  What are you going to do with it? Book online appointments, Feed into Facebook, sell products online, Educate patients, get new patients, build personal relationships, answer questions? If you feel that the website will get you more business and after you build it it’s over.. Get Rid of It. NO WEBSITE  will guarantee hits and patients. YOU HAVE TO WORK IT so that you will:

Get Found– I had a friend of mine tell me, that no one can find their site.. of course not, the url is too long and is not search engine friendly. Just because you build it does not mean it will get found. Sorry.. you are one of trillions of website out there and competing with millions of other eyecare professionals both brick and mortar and online. Getting FOUND takes work. and if you do do not want to do it- Hire A Professional.

Content: What content are you going to put up. Is this blog? Who is going to write. Content should be about your products you sell and should go directly back to a BUY now mentality. The #1 thing you sell is eyewear? Listing a bunch of ‘Brands We Carry”, does what? NOTHING. Having pictures of eyewear is good! We just got these in does good. Where is the sunwear?  Inspire the consumer to BUY, to come in, to set an appointment.

Design- When we started, we were picky, picky picky about colors. The reality is this 1.) Colors should be pleasing and attractive. 2.) Colors should represent your style and office decor (brand building) 3.) Design-layout should be representitive of the purpose of the site. 4.) YOU SHOULD BE CHANGING YOUR SITE consistently anyway. What you choose today does not have to be there tomorrow.
Tips:
  • Bookmark 5-10 website or blogs that you like, they can be a competitor or someone close to the type of business you are in. Make notes of what you like and how you can use in your new site.
  • Colors- Play a big role in consumer purchases. Check out color perceptions and your office.
  • Photos- People like Images, the bigger the image, the better. Photos sell products, Photos inspire people, Photos grab attention.
  • Writing- Font’s is is easy to read? Colors are easy to read. I hate black backgrounds with white writing, can’t read it.
  • Forget the POP-ups.. annoying and people hate them.
  • Music- You will never please 100% of people with your music, it also slows down a site. Get rid of it.
  • Get rid of Flash, ipads cannot read and it’s slow loading.
Professionalism: Someone told me that their site was boring because they were ‘afraid’ of being unprofessional. What?  To anyone searching these days – Professionalism first and foremost 1.) the site is current. 2.) The site says WE are serious about.. (eyewear, health. 3.) The site provides value to the reader/searcher.
Usability– This is probably the easiest- You do not need to be a brain surgeon to review the site. It loads fast, It is easy to read, Information is easy to find. Don’t try to be clever with the information: Eye Candy is good.. but ‘Just In Eyeglasses’ is better. Put your contact information in many places. Say BOOK APPOINTMENT instead of come see us.
SEO Friendly– eye docs does not work, eye doctors works better. Make sure you use things like Top Optometrist-Optician in Tulsa, Oklahoma.. That is SEO Friendly. Use eye health in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Eyewear, eyeglasses, sunglasses, sunwear, sun protection.. KEYWORDs are important to get read, which is why blogs are excellent. You can track your keywords through google analytics. As your keywords build, you can rewrite them into your site to maximize your potential.

 

TC Charton Eyewear - Made To Fit

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR