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A company’s website serves as a powerful first impression of the brand for potential customers. To stand out in a crowded marketplace and attract more visitors and prospective buyers, businesses must continuously evaluate and refine their online presence and owned media.
Below, 20 Forbes Agency Council members explore impactful ways businesses can adapt their websites to captivate the attention of potential customers. By implementing these changes, a brand can more effectively communicate its identity, appeal to its target audience and drive conversions.
1. Incorporate User-Generated Content
People tend to trust people more than shiny ads—let’s call it human nature. So, brands can make their websites a lot more appealing by incorporating UGC such as customer reviews, photos and testimonials. Keeping a clear brand aesthetic is obviously key, but UGC acts as social proof and builds trust and authenticity, thereby driving consideration and, ultimately, sales. - Christoph Kastenholz, Pulse Advertising
2. Leverage Parallax Effects And Blog Content
Having parallax effects and blog content that are actively updated will generally increase the appeal and relevance of a website. It also helps to have cinematic videos of products to improve the user experience and drive engagement. Finally, remember to include a contact form, as this will facilitate lead generation and be one of the main methods to drive a user to convert eventually. - Humphrey Ho, Hylink Digital
3. Talk About The Benefits Of Products
Ensure that the headline and copy speak about the benefits of the products, rather than about the company itself. Many companies talk more about their features or offers than how they help the customer. For example, “Make more sales with less effort” is more impactful than simply stating, “We offer a great CRM.” If you are Coca-Cola, you’re not selling sugar water. You’re selling happiness. - Ilan Nass, Taktical Digital
4. Start By Solving The Customer’s Problem
Start by solving your customer’s problems, not promoting your solution. People are on your website to resolve a current pain point, need or aspiration, not to find out how amazing you are. Solve their problems in simple words, and try not to use too many words. - Darrell Keezer, Candybox Marketing
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
5. Have Unique First-Impression Content
Have your first-impression content (and beyond) be unique and memorable. So many brands, agencies and organizations utilize common industry vocabulary and all start to sound the same. Whether it’s controversial or just one degree different from what everyone else is saying or calling themselves—go there. Have a point of view and distinctive wording, language and identity. - Corey Morris, Voltage
6. Highlight Solutions In The Hero Area Of The Homepage
Identify the issues the company solves for its customers and clients right in the hero portion of the homepage. Many websites focus on what they offer, not what problems they solve, and prospects quickly click away. This requires the business to focus on its capabilities and not try to be everything to everyone. It addresses the classic marketers’ dilemma: By defining what you are, you are also defining what you are not. - Tim Johnson, UPRAISE Marketing + Public Relations, Inc.
7. Use Images That Showcase Your Brand Personality
Stop using sad, generic stock images! Populate your site with images that tell a story and showcase your brand (or agency) personality. Are you sleek and sophisticated? Use a color palette or design framework that communicates that. Bold? Go there with the visuals and opt for a bit of calculated tongue-in-cheek shock value. Visual communication is everything, but it’s widely underestimated and underutilized. - Sarah Jenkins, The Romans New York
8. Build Credibility With An ‘As Seen In’ Banner
Featuring an “As Seen In” banner with logos of publications you’ve been in is a simple yet powerful way to build automatic trust with customers. When you show consumers as soon as they enter your site that you’ve been featured in reputable outlets, you immediately gain the credibility those publications hold, further appealing to customers who may be unsure about trusting your brand. - Danielle Sabrina, Society22 PR
9. Optimize Website Performance
To make the brand more appealing to potential customers, optimizing website performance is crucial. Faster loading times improve user experience, reduce bounce rates, boost SEO rankings and enhance overall brand credibility. - Brad Williams, WebDevStudios
10. Offer A Seamless Experience Across Devices
It may seem obvious, but many companies fail to ensure their website is fully responsive and offers a seamless experience across all devices, especially smartphones. With the increasing use of mobile devices for internet browsing, a mobile-friendly design is crucial for reaching a broader audience. - PJ Haarsma, Redbear Films
11. Use Analytics To Personalize The Experience
Implementing a personalized experience is a great way to elevate a brand’s appeal to potential customers. Brands can do this using data analytics and cookies to track user behavior and preferences, such as browsing history and interactions with their site’s content. This allows for dynamic adjustment of content, personalized product recommendations and a more engaging and relevant browsing experience. - Don Dodds, M16 Marketing
12. Adopt Customer-Centric Messaging
You could make your website more appealing by adopting customer-centric messaging that clearly articulates the value your company provides and focuses on solving customers’ problems to meet their needs. By presenting your offerings in terms of real-world benefits, you enable prospects to quickly grasp what’s in it for them, fostering a deeper connection and smoothly guiding them through their buying journey. - Natalie Nathanson, Magnetude Consulting
13. Define What Makes You Different
The most important thing you need for a website to be effective in attracting customers is a strategy. Make sure that you clearly tell people what makes your business different and better than your competition. That is the reason people will buy your product or use your service. And if they want what you are selling, user experience, page speed and all that other stuff people worry about does not matter. - David Gaz, The Bureau Of Small Projects
14. Tweak The Value Proposition
Websites are meant for potential prospects to learn more about a business. It’s important to put your best foot forward. Select your best value proposition—the “why” to buy—to showcase your business. To determine your best value proposition, ask clients and analysts why they work with you. - Valerie Chan, Plat4orm PR
15. Create An Engaging ‘Sizzle Video’
One change any business can make to its website to appeal to potential customers is to create an engaging “sizzle video” for the homepage. This video should highlight the most important aspects of your business, with key messaging overlayed. Be sure to keep this video under one minute long and make transitions quick and scenes engaging to leave the customer wanting more. - Marilyn Cowley, PREM - PR & Social
16. Avoid Overengineering The Site
To me, less is more. Visually interesting designs and unique copy points are nice, but steer clear of overengineering what a website is meant to do: connect a customer with you. Designing a website that highlights who you are, what you do and how someone can efficiently contact you is going to be the most appealing effect for a potential customer. - Kimberly Jones, Butler/Till
17. Make It All About The Customers
A simple change a company could make to its website to make the brand more appealing to potential customers is to make its content customer-focused instead of company-focused. Make the brand experience all about them instead of all about you. The easiest way to do this is to make the audience the subject of your sentences by starting your sentences with “you” and “your(s)” and demonstrating empathy. - Jason Mudd, Axia Public Relations
18. Prioritize Mobile-Friendliness
To enhance their appeal to potential clients, businesses should prioritize making their websites mobile-friendly. This addresses the need for easy navigation on smartphones, which ultimately improves user experience and engagement. In addition, mobile-friendly websites help Google rankings, increasing visibility and making the brand more attractive to a larger audience. - Durée Ross, Durée & Company, Inc.
19. Incorporate Case Studies And Testimonials
Help your visitors make informed buying decisions by incorporating case studies and focused testimonials throughout your site. Potential customers are more likely to trust the insight and opinions of past buyers than your self-serving marketing copy. And when you use case studies to prove the real-world effectiveness of your product, you’ll help people visualize their own success with it. - Scott Greggory, MadAveGroup
20. Ensure Accessibility
Simple changes such as including high-contrast settings or increased text sizes and making your website compatible with technology such as screen readers can define whether or not a potential customer is able to interact with your website—and therefore, whether or not they become a loyal client. - Evan Nison, NisonCo
