Your unique 404 error page should look like a
regular page of your site. It should include your site's
header, footer and navigation bar so that the site visitor
can easily click on another area of your site. The content
of this unique 404 error page should contain text explaining
that the page selected is no longer available along with
contact information so the site visitor has the option of
emailing or calling your company.
An example of our 404 error page can be found at:
http://www.eplusm.com/404.html.
2) We value your privacy.
This simple four word sentence can have a
tremendous effect on your email or form conversion ratios.
Be sure to have the sentence, or at least the word "privacy"
linked to your privacy statement.
Use this sentence next to any email form on your
site or on your contact page. Clearly and simply stating
your privacy policy assures the site visitor that you will
not sell, give or trade their email or personal information
to a third party.
While a privacy page is standard practice for most
professional site builders, lawyers usually have their hand
in writing a company's privacy policy. That results in
having the privacy policy looking like a long legal
document.
Using the simple sentence with a link to the privacy
policy gives the site visitor assurance that you care about
their privacy without having a long explanation.
3) We vs You.
Re-read your home page copy and make sure it is
customer focused text. Customer focused text is text that
focuses on the customer and not YOU. When you re-read your
home page content see how often you use the term "we, us, or
our" rather than "You". If your text reads something like:
"We offer bla, bla, bla," or "Our services includes, bla,
bla, bla," then it is focusing on you rather than the
customer.
4) Email Signatures.
Create standard email signatures for ALL your
employees. Anyone that uses the Internet in your company
should have a company standard email signature.
What's an email signature? Did you ever notice
that at the end of some emails you will see not only the
email creator's name, but their phone number, fax, number,
company name, logo, Web site address, etc. It's amazing how
easy this is to do and how many companies simply over look
it. Or they let everyone do their own thing.
Having the company's contact and Web site information
makes it easy for the recipient to contact you or visit your
site. Making it standard email signature improves your
overall branding strategy.
5) Call to Action.
A call to action is a statement that asks the site
visitor to do something. Two of the biggest mistakes made on
a Website is not using call to actions or using the wrong
call to actions.
You have probably been on sites that do not give you a
clue as to what to do next. They have text and links but
nothing that tells you to learn more, buy, compare, read, or
call now. Look over your site and see what call to actions
are on your site. Try to view it as a first time visitor and
create a scenario or action you want your site visitor to
take.
The most common and most boring call to action is
"Click Here". Sometimes it's unavoidable or it's the only
phrase that makes sense, but consider using other
statements. Instead of "Click here" use words like learn,
save, read, compare, etc.
Call to actions are usually linked to another page on
your site. This is a great opportunity to use a keyword in a
link on your site, which helps with search engine
optimization. Use the keyword in the link for your call to
action.
These five suggestion are basically simple things
to do that can help improve your site overall. They are
often over looked but can prove to have a tremendous effect
on your site.
For one of our client's Web sites we suggested
item number 2, adding "We value your privacy" just above
their email form. The sentence was linked to their privacy
policy. The link was hardly used, but having that simple
statement was all that was needed. The added statement
increased their form's conversion ratio by over 250%.
