Key Elements of a Sticky Business Website

While in other areas of life it is something to avoid, being “sticky” in the online world is a good thing. “Sticky” equals retention. Or, in the case of your business website, it means how long a potential client will “stick” with your site before their attention falters and they leave.

What do your website’s stats show? Do users leave on the same page that they entered on? Is the average time on your website 1 second? Do people visit your site and then leave within a couple seconds?

The following are 4 key elements of what it will take to keep potential customers around long enough for you to make a sale.

1. Your website needs to be fast

If your business website takes too long to load, all bets are off. Users will call it quits right here. According to one survey, 40 percent of potential users will abandon a site that takes longer than 3 seconds to load. There are various strategies you can implement for improving your website’s speed. For example, you can check to see how your hosting company ranks among other hosting companies when it comes to speed. It could be that your hosting company is partly to blame. Also, Content Delivery Networks are another prime way to get lightning-fast load times.

2. Your business presence needs to look sharp

If 40 percent of visitors abandon your website if it loads too slowly, you lose another 40 percent if your site looks like something built in the 90s. Get serious about web design. A great web design company will know how to design a page that will attract the eye, establish trust, and cause users to stay a while. Think of it like this… Which restaurant would you rather eat at? An elegant, tasteful, and well-lit restaurant? Or one that looks like it hasn’t been updated since it opened in 1997?

3. Your content needs to offer value

Potential clients are visiting your website for one reason only. They are there to see if you have something they want. The job of your business website is to prove that you do. One of the best ways to do this is by offering free content in the form of blogposts, case studies, entertaining podcasts, infographics, etc. The bonus to offering all this material is that if you have created valuable material, they will stick around and often come back for more. All of which increases your chances of creating new customers. Keep in mind that it is not enough to create reams of beautiful content. Your website has a purpose, which is growth for your company. Your users won’t sign up to your mailing list or buy your product if you forget to add your calls to action.

4. Your content needs to tease

Always be thinking about the next thing you can offer to your users to get them coming back at a later date. If a user has downloaded a free guide, let them know of another date when your business will be offering a sale on some aspect covered in that material. Hint at upcoming material. Leak sneak peaks of the material itself. A quote from an upcoming case study, or some outstanding fact from next week’s blogpost. Tell users to check back for that promised material. And spread that all across your social media channels.

Your business has competition. But with a few tweaks to your website, you could be outperforming them sooner than you think by turning casual visitors into customers. And you do that by having a website that works hard to show people that you have what they are looking for.

Whatever your industry, the fundamentals of creating a compelling website are the same. Understanding what keeps people around and what repels them will go far in helping you better hone your business’s website.