So you’ve decided now is the time to launch that long-overdue web-site for your small business. But where do you start, and how do you get noticed? What absolute must-have elements help you attract visitors and charm your way to an incredible first impression while also keeping a scanner’s eyes glued to your site for more than a couple of seconds?

There’s a ton of tips online, including free give-aways, performing hours of keyword research, or investing in social media marketing. Blue Troop can help with all of that and more. But we recommend putting in the extra time in two key areas:

1.) Cater your Web-site’s Design to the Scanner in All of Us
We live in a world where information must be disseminated quickly. So it should come as no surprise that first-time visitors to your website will decide if they are going to stay or leave within 50 milliseconds? Believe it or not, 94 percent of those snappy decisions are not based on site usability but rather its design; specifically, how visually appealing it is and whether or not your content is both engaging and easy to read.

Here’s how you and your web-site designer can cater to the scanner in all of us:

• Use attention-grabbing graphics, images, and compelling content on your website’s above-the-fold region
• Avoid writing content in large chunks. Focus on shorter sentences (3-4 lines per paragraph)
• For your blogs, focus on including one custom image or picture for every 350 words. It’s a great way to break up content. Studies show articles with at least one image get 43 percent more shares than those without photos.

2.) Focus Your Web Copy and Titles on Benefits Rather than Features
It’s difficult to get someone to start reading, and to keep their attention from start to finish. One trick to ensure more people stay engaged is to gear your copy to focus more on what the message means for the user as opposed to the product or service itself. It’s a simple difference between benefits and features.

A feature is something your product or service offers:
Example: The 2018 Dodge Ram features complimentary, built-in WiFi.

A benefit is the intended outcome for the user:
Example: The 2018 Dodge Ram’s complimentary, built-in WiFi means your family will always be connected in case of an emergency no matter where your travels take you.

Here’s how you can focus on benefits over features in your website copy:

• Focus on benefit-rich main titles and sub-headlines throughout your website and blog posts
• Describe the benefits of your product or service throughout the copy, so your visitors continually want to know, “What’s in it for me?”

The more inviting your web-site is, the more credible you look, the easier it will be for your business to be found online, and the least likely it will be that someone will lose interest and move on to a competitor’s web-site.