Susan Gilbert
September 5, 2016

How to Make Your Website Visitors Stay

Your website has just a few seconds to capture your visitors before they decide to move on to the competition.

There are many reasons why a business may not able to capture leads — one of the biggest being a lack of appealing visual content. Adding great graphics to your design can help accomplish several things:

• It improves your SEO if the graphics are helpful and informative

• Decreases your bounce rate and helps visitors stay longer

• Graphics can move your prospects to take action

• Increases blog engagement

• Adding images is no longer an expensive proposition with the right tools and resources

 

Kissmetrics shows in their infographic that a boring design lands at #6 on their list of why people leave:

Kissmetrics-website-infographic

With the proliferation of mobile usage over desktops, it’s more important than ever to capture your visitors the moment they arrive. Catchy graphic icons can be a powerful addition to your website that can help your content stand out.

Using graphic icons on your website, blog and social media can increase the traffic to your business that can converted into leads. Here are the 5 benefits for using these:

1.  Adding graphics to your product feature lists

A text list of what your business has to offer can be unexciting and easy to miss on a mobile device. Incorporating eye-catching icons into your feature lists can make them appealing and more clickable. Here’s a great example from ShopFactory:

Shopfactory

2.  Show off a new feature

Grab your visitors’ visual attention and direct them to the new feature you want to show off. After you’ve peaked their interest they will want to know more about your products or services. Take a look at what tech company, Raygun, has done on their website:

raygun-newfeature

3.  Turn your website into an interactive experience

With the introduction of augmented reality and the growing popularity of mobile games, people are increasingly drawn to websites where they can be involved. This can be especially fun for those who want to explore your business further. Here is a great example from Photoworld with an introduction to Snapchat:

Cewe-photoworld-interactive

4.  Graphics are mobile responsive

Blocks of text don’t go very far on a smart device — lead your visitors through the process with icons instead, and help them find the most important sections of your website. Not only will you make the process painless, but also quick and easy. What can be better than that for generating sales? Take a look at what author and marketing expert Chris Brogan has on his website:

ChrisBrogan-example

5.  Offers a clear and clean design

Your website designs are much like your branded logo — with a simple visual, you can transform your visitors into interested prospects with your products and services front and center. They key is to make it very clear as to what your business is about and immediately show how you can meet the needs of your target market. Here’s one of the winners from the AIGA Design Conference:

simple-design-example

Takeaways

It’s important to keep your target market in mind. Don’t assume that they will know what your website is about — keep your navigation and message clear through your graphics.

Through target market research find out who your visitors are, why they are searching for your products/services, what their needs and desires are and how you can best deliver this to them.

With the help of a website designer your business can add catchy icon graphics and improve on your mobile design through various online freelance websites and stock photo resources.

You can find great graphics (most for free) from these sources:

As your business grows it’s important to not only be appealing, but to also have a message that is helpful and clear. Graphic icons are an easy way to help your visitors navigate and get the to the information they need right away without the need to look to other competitors.

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Online Marketing with Focus - Let Susan Guide you to Online Success. Especially loves to help Authors, Speakers, Coaches & Entrepreneurs. Susan Gilbert uses her laser focus knowledge to coach and provide online marketing and social sharing programs. Author and publisher of several books including “The Land of I Can,” and “KLOUT SCORE: Social Media Influence,” Susan combines online marketing with strategic thinking. Follow her Digital Marketing Tips at her blog: www.SusanGilbert.com