5 characteristics of high performing websites

admin wrote this on Dec 17 |

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I recently did a ‘study’ that you’ll be interested in.  Last week, I looked at the top 10 performing web sites of retailers using BridalLive’s Internet Marketing Tools.  My analysis showed 5  characteristics that these websites share.  Where does your website rank?

Let’s get to it.

Trait #1: Use Video

Video is one of the best ways to communicate with today’s busy brides.  Including video on your web site can increase the visitor’s engagement with your brand and make you stand out from the rest.  Here are some ideas and examples of stores that are doing a great job with this:

  1. Formals of Litchfield – Meet the Staff
  2. Bel Fiore Bridal – The Experience
  3. Arizona’s Bridal Warehouse – Owner interview

Tech Tip: Don’t forget to include a call to action at the end of each video!

Trait #2: Make your contact information stand out (on every page!)

This is one of the most fundamental elements of a successful site.  Most visitors will find you through a search engine.  Therefore, if it’s not obvious to the visitor whether you serve their area, they’re likely to look else where (i.e. click ‘Back’ button).  This behavior can be measured to some degree with a good web site analytics package.  The figure to look for is ‘Bounce Rate’

Trait #3: Obvious Navigation

Each site that I reviewed had their primary site navigation menu across the top of the page.  The point here, don’t make your visitor have to think about how to get to the next page.

Trait #4: Calls To Action

Without a Call to Action, you have given the visitor no way to engage further (other than picking up the phone).  Calls to Action are a fundamental components of high performing websites.  For a brick and mortar bridal salon, good calls to action are “Request an Appointment” and “Sign up for our newsletter”.  These calls to action should be placed on your home page and stand out to the user.

Trait #5:  Takeaways

All but 1 of the top websites I reviewed had a takeaway in some form or another.  Some have “Special Reports” for the brides to download.  Others had coupons redeemable in-store.  The point here is that you want to give the visitor something to take with them, typically as a result of completing your call to action.

To learn more about these services, contact me today – 888-764-2605

Helping you thrive,

Tom Esposito