Everybody is always talking about doing what’s best for the customer.
It’s not the best way to think especially when it comes to your website.
After all, you’re a business. You need to get customers to purchase from you or else you’re not going to be in business very long.
When it comes to your website you’re looking to have customers go through your preferred path. That means guiding the customer through your website to the eventual purchase.
The Preferred Website Path
There are many different ways visitors can travel through websites. And there are a few results that will lead to sales and profit for you.
Your challenge is to figure out the path most visitors will take to get to the eventual conversion while giving some, but not as much attention to supplementary paths.
At my company, Ghost Blog Writers, we work with companies that increase their traffic through content. They create blog posts that bring in the majority of their website traffic.
Fresh websites that are frequently updated with new content tend to get more traffic than static websites. You have to give people a reason to come to your website. Fresh content is something people want so blogging can really make your website something that people want to visit in the first place.
So with companies that blog it’s usually a blog post that becomes the first page a person visits on your site. It’s the entry point or the first step along the path to conversion.
At this point in the sales process the visitor is just discovering the brand. We usually ask new visitors to read more articles or to subscribe to email newsletters.
This allows the business to build a relationship with the visitor to the point where they can lead them to information on the about page or the services page and eventually close the deal on the contact page or purchase page.
Starting At The Homepage
Another common entry point is the homepage.
This is common if you don’t have a blog on your website. New visitors will come to your site through referrals usually from your current customers. A few will come through search engines, but either way they’re entering on your homepage and they probably have a general idea about what you do.
But on your homepage you’re still introducing the new person to your brand – who you are and what you do.
So at this point the homepage becomes the introduction and your call to action is to take visitors to your about page or to your services page where you can further explain, in more detail, the service or product you provide that is appealing to them.
Primary Paths and Supplementary Paths
Focus on a primary path for your ideal customer. Figure out where they are entering your website and take them on the sales path that will lead to the most sales and conversions.
It’s not about what the customer wants. It’s about what you want and figuring out how you typically sell to customers and taking them through that path on your website.
That’s the primary path.
There are secondary paths. Not all your customers will buy from you the first time they visit your website. Some will read your content, but they’ll need time to think about things. This is alright.
And it’s also why you setup supplementary paths.
When this customer comes back to your homepage they’ll have already read through your content. They’re ready to purchase.
This is why you have top navigation on your pages. This allows the person to visit your services page if they want a refresher or they can go right to your contact page.
Conclusion
There are two points to remember from this post.
First, it’s not about what your customers want. It’s about what you want, which is sales and profit. Take your customers on your preferred path or the path that will lead to the most profit.
Second, not every customer will convert on the first visit. This is okay. Simply give them supplementary paths on your site so they can skip ahead when they come back.
To learn more about website design check out The Website Redesign Series.
