Pretty Doesn’t Pay. Here’s How to Build a Website That Actually Converts.

I’ve been helping small businesses with their marketing for nearly three decades, and I’ve seen some beautiful websites. But I’ve also encountered a big problem, which is when they don’t convert visitors into prospects and ultimately customers.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting a beautiful website. In fact, a great website should look professional and build confidence. But somewhere along the way, too many businesses mistake looking good for doing its job.

A website isn’t a window dressing. It’s a marketing tool. Every page should help a visitor take the next step in their journey — whether that’s calling your office, requesting a quote, scheduling an appointment, making a purchase or simply learning enough to trust you.

If you want your website to generate more customers, here are three places to start.

1. Build your website to get leads and business — not for design awards

A person forms an impression about your website in just 50 milliseconds! Of course we want the website to be aesthetically pleasing, but what’s even more important is the customer’s journey.

When someone lands on your homepage, they should immediately understand:

• What you sell
• How your product or service benefits them
• What they should do next

Some of the biggest conversion killers prioritize design over usability, clever messaging instead of clear instructions and fluffy content instead of key information. Ideally, every element on your website works towards communicating one of these three purposes.

Trust and affinity builders:

When people land in an unfamiliar place like your website, there’s a slight barrier of distrust that comes up — and it’s your job to overcome that so they feel safe browsing your website and will stick around.

One way to build trust is through familiarity. Here are a few tactics:

• Place website navigation tools in expected places (don’t you hate when you want to go somewhere on a site and you can’t find the button or link?).
• Include trust signals like professional credentials and certifications, Google reviews, success stories and real photos of your staff, products/services and operations (not stock photos).
• Build on the trust by positioning yourself or your company as the expert in the space. You can do this by educating prospects on all aspects of your product or service so they consider you and your brand helpful.
•  Include strong calls to action that tell people exactly what to do next. On your website, this can be filling out a form, calling a phone number, sending an email or downloading a report. Make sure you keep it direct and clear so it’s as easy as possible for people to turn their interest into action. The call to action should give you minimally their email address so that you can follow up!

Your website exists to remove barriers to the sale, not add more. Take every opportunity to avoid a misstep in the customer journey. Provide as much useful information and calls to action as possible to make your purpose and direction clear.

2. Bring web visitors back with digital retargeting

If a person visits your website and leaves immediately without interacting with other pages or taking an action, this is called a “bounce” — and unfortunately it’s very common. The average bounce rate is 44% across all industries.

A bounce doesn’t mean they’re gone forever, though. In fact, returning visitors make up 50% of website traffic, and there are tools at your disposal to bring people back faster.

By placing a small piece of tracking code on your website, you can target anonymous visitors with digital ads after they leave. Depending on the network you choose, your digital ads will appear through Google’s Display Network, Meta or other online advertising channels while those prospects browse the internet.

This is called digital retargeting, and you’ve likely already seen ads like this following you around. Instead of disappearing after one website visit, your business stays visible.

We can never be sure what made someone leave in the first place. What we do know is that retargeting ads will help bring them back — about 76% of consumers are more likely to convert after being retargeted by digital ads.

3. Link up your website to the mailbox

Online ads are great at generating spur-of-the-moment clicks. But what happens when someone visits your website, looks around and leaves without taking action?

That’s where direct mail retargeting comes in. Direct mail retargeting works much like digital retargeting. Instead of serving another online ad to past website visitors, it automatically sends a pre-designed postcard to their mailbox immediately, usually within 24 hours.

The process is surprisingly simple. A small tracking pixel is added to your website, much like the ones used for Google or Facebook advertising. When an anonymous visitor leaves without converting, the system matches available mailing addresses and automatically triggers a postcard to be printed and mailed.

Instead of competing with dozens of browser tabs, social media posts, emails and digital ads, your message arrives somewhere far less crowded: the mailbox. Recent research found that 84% of consumers read direct mail the same day they receive it.

If you run an ecommerce business, you can take the same approach with abandoned shopping carts. When someone adds products to their cart but leaves before checking out, an automated postcard can remind them what they left behind and encourage them to complete the purchase.

Getting started is easier than many business owners realize. Several direct mail providers now offer website retargeting platforms that integrate with your website, allowing postcards to be triggered automatically based on visitor behavior — just like your digital retargeting campaigns.

So do you want compliments or dollar signs? Focus on a website that converts and builds customer loyalty, and your business will grow more than a flashy reputation.