Love Will Lead Them Back: Why Website Quality Matters

Websites cannot live on ranking alone. True, it’s in your best interest to get your website on Google’s page one, but it’s not the be-all, end-all of your website’s existence. Ultimately, the purpose of a business’ website is to convert—to change casual glances into interested clicks, visitors into customers, and one-time buyers into loyal brand ambassadors.

Not that we don’t espouse ranking efforts. Quite the contrary; in fact, helping your website make it to Google’s upper search echelons via Search Engine Optimisation or SEO, is one of the things we do best at NEO360. What we are saying, however, is that your website isn’t going to win the hearts and minds of your target market if you focus on ranking alone.

RANKING WILL HELP YOU GET TO NUMBER ONE. QUALITY WILL MAKE YOU STAY THERE.

 

After you read all about what and what not to believe when it comes to using SEO to market your business, we invite to you to take a look at our “4P’s” of what goes into a top-quality website.

1. It’s got to be pretty

Short of saying nine out of ten people who visit your website are Shallow Hals, design and the overall appearance of your website go far when it comes to quality. Navigation should be seamless, which is another way of saying you’ve got to make it easy for your customer to find what they are looking for. Now while this sounds pretty obvious, you’d be surprised at how many businesses out there seem to take this website fundamental for granted.

Remember, pretty is as pretty does. Legendary architect, Frank Lloyd Wright may have said “form follows function” early in the last century, but it’s as true today for website architecture as it is for the construction industry. Loading speed comes to mind as we delve into this topic—your customers are as good as gone if your graphics take ten years to load no matter how awesome they are.

2. It’s got to be packed

Notice how breakfast cereals, or shampoo, have to be packed with vitamins and other essentials? They add value to the product, and it’s only natural for people to want to get a little more bang for their buck.

The same principle applies to your website—chances are, your target customer is squeezing his search for your product in between meetings or during a coffee break. This means you don’t have a whole lot of time to explain why he should buy your product instead of your competitors, which in turn means that your website had better do the talking as efficiently as possible.

Give your customer everything he needs to know about your products and services—what kinds you have, how they work, the bundles or packages they come in or any special discounts or deals you offer. But most importantly, let the customer know where and how he can find your products. Better yet, you might even want to add an online store to your website so your customer can buy them right there. You could also use your website to answer any questions your customers might have.

3. It’s got to be perfect

Now, we’re not talking about nit-picking, but we are talking about being picky—with your copy. Another website basic that several websites seem to take way too lightly, copy tends be overlooked in the mad scramble for stunning visuals, design and interface.

Because while a picture is worth a thousand words, it isn’t always able to say everything. Your copy has to be clear and concise, to make sure the customer understands what they have to. Grammar is what now comes to mind as we touch on this particular aspect of website development. If your website has tonnes of grammatical errors, not only do you run the risk of not being understood by your customer, but your customer might also not take you seriously.

Can you imagine engaging the services of say, a law firm, a bank, a clinic or an educational company dat kud not rite or spel gud? We exaggerate, of course, but we know that you know what we mean. Many businesses struggle with copy in this regard, and would do better to seek the services of a good copywriter to make sure their message and their brand identity come across effectively.

4. It’s got to be personal

A business website’s ability to relate to someone beyond the I-am-trying-to-sell-you-something level isn’t something that is readily quantifiable. It could, perhaps be described as the result of the other three P’s—the customer is drawn in by attractive design, shown the different options he can choose from, and convinced by the explanations offered him.

Upon closer inspection, however, well-executed three P’s can be seen to have a personal touch to them. Customers can identify with the colours or the photos used, for example, or they are able to grasp, immediately that the products or services you offer meet their individual needs. If your website comes with a blog, they find information that is educational, or useful to them, presented on their own terms in the very terms they use when speaking to colleagues or friends.

That said, creating a top-quality business website entails a thorough knowledge of your target market. Your website must be created with them in mind. This is yet another piece of elementary website wisdom that can be easy to lose sight of, particularly for business owners who are so caught up in getting their product out online, they inadvertently forget about the people they’d like to sell it to.

We’d like to end by pointing out that making a website of top quality goes hand-in-hand with making it a search engine top-notcher. Emphasising ranking isn’t necessarily separate from quality, as Google itself says it delivers search results according to how much “good and useful content that is relevant to the user’s search” there is on your site.

The more content of that sort there is on your pages, the more your customers will come to love your website. Our SEO experts will tell you that it is the deployment of well-researched content that not only builds links but earns links, as well as the lasting loyalty of your customers. And this is precisely what will keep them visiting—and buying—again and again.

We’ve helped businesses across Southeast Asia and Australia find their way to the top ranks of Google searches for years. Talk to our SEO experts at NEO360 to put that experience and expertise to work for you today.

Let’s talk about your marketing performance!