Have your own website? 10 smart ways to make it better and attract more visitors

For all you small business owners out there, you know how essential it is to have a website that operates at peak performance. More than that, your website has to draw in visitor traffic and keep them there long enough to get your point across.

Shoppers and potential consumers are ultra-sensitive these days. Anything from slow loading speeds to misplaced links and even boring images can have them hitting the back button faster than you can say, “Conversion Rate.” Don’t worry, we’ll cover business jargon as well.

Thanks to our sponsor, Dell, here are 10 tips for you to improve your website and its performance.

1. Remove social media icons above the fold

Why would you want to send your audience off your site? You don’t make money on social media, so there’s no reason to re-route users to another page. While Social media traffic is welcomed, it’s only a benefit if it helps bring audiences to you, not the other way around.

In today’s market, you have only a short window of time to impress potential customers with the service or product you’re promoting. Letting visitors leave your site by way of social media certainly doesn’t help your cause, and once they’re gone, it’s doubtful that they will come back.

So, what can you do? For starters, instead of placing social media icons at the top (header) of your website, you may consider putting them at the bottom (footer) of your website.

Try altering the color of the icons so they are not as visually prominent. Finally, be sure that your links are connected to live social networks that are currently active and up to date with your latest content and interactions.

2. Do away with dead-end thank you and 404 pages

No page on your website should be a dead end, it should keep visitors moving. Think of it as an open forum, constantly flowing with ideas and information.

By having blank or bland thank you pages, you’re simply wishing your audience farewell without giving them an incentive to return, sign-up, or perhaps delve even deeper. If you’ve piqued their interest, it’s important that you conclude with something significant.

Try this. First, locate and fix every dead end that may exist on your website. No page is better than a blank page.

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Hiring? How to write job postings to attract better candidates

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3 ways to make money selling your photos online

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