Following on from Alex Hutson’s excellent masterclass at the beginning of June, here are the key points to take away from the advice he gave at the following Q & A session on how to improve your website.

For Alex’s full presentation go to the resource section here.

…but put the customer at the heart of it. Make them the hero figure – the Batman to your Robin. You are selling your customers a lifestyle, a solution, an opportunity – outline it for them and how if you work together it can be a reality.

Proven data shows ‘About Us’ pages get lots of hits. Make sure you have one and that it is updated, relevant and engages viewers with more than just puff copy i.e. ‘we’re a great team here with lots of experience, trust us’. Tell them WHO you are. Use pictures, give bio’s and examples of experience and make this the real side of your personality. Here’s AIPP’s.

Even the telephone number. More than half of people will be viewing your content on a phone or tablet. Make it as easy for them as possible. And ensure your contact details are immediately obvious – don’t make users search or scroll for them.

Ensure your website journey make sense and your pages have logical hierarchy. Consider your use of headings and make sure you only have one H1 tag per page – and make it the one you want Google to find.

Supply your customers with a template so that it is easy for them to fill out and submit. Prompt them with the info you want to highlight – Was the service, fast friendly, efficient? Check out these examples on Hubspot. If you have the budget consider trying a Trust Pilot service – currently we are researching what is the best service for our industry so will report back! Google’s own indigenous review system may be worth considering too.

Customers like to know your site is secure and are much less likely to upload their details or search on an unsecure site (you can see this in your URL).

Use large images of good quality. Look to the industry leaders for tips – they have paid a lot of money to ‘experts’ to ensure their sites are as appealing and consumer-friendly as possible so learn from this!