Links are invitations to leave website
Would you send an invitation for potential customers to go to one of your competitors? Probably not, yet that’s what you may be doing when you put links on your website as links are invitations to leave a website. Many business owners want to link to their suppliers or other vendors they work with and while their intention is good, the idea is a bad one.
Why you should avoid links
I understand why you might think adding a link to a supplier or vendor is a good idea BUT often your competitors also use the same companies and their websites usually have search capabilities so people can look for other companies in the area that offer the same services or products. Do you really want a prospect to search for other businesses in your area? Why give them the opportunity when they were on your website first.
Include content on your site
If the information is so important, then put it on your site. Make any vital material easily accessible for website visitors by putting it right on your website. It’s good practice to make content easy to find and visitors will appreciate not having to hunt for the material.
In addition, you can condense the content to the most important points so that customers don’t have to sort through the less useful content to get to the “good stuff” (the most pertinent information-not the fluff that often makes up a good chunk of the content).
Branded educational material
Vital information can be put directly on a page and/or be made into a pdf so people can easily view it or print it out. If you make a printed piece, this is a great opportunity to put your logo and contact information on it for branding purposes.
That way, if they happen to forget your company name-it’s right there on the paper along with your website and phone number. Remember, you have to make it easy for people to contact you and that includes always having your phone number available to them.
Keep prospects on your website
Once someone leaves a website, they get sidetracked and don’t come back. Sorry, but that’s the truth. They start clicking and pretty soon your website is a faint memory as each click puts your website farther and farther from their mind. You work so hard to get prospects to your website so why would you ever want to give them a reason to leave?
Sounds ridiculous when I put it like that, doesn’t it? Of course you don’t want them to leave and so you should do everything in your power to get them to stay and contact you. The ultimate goal of your website is to get potential customers to contact your business, whether that’s a phone call or email-doesn’t matter as long as they do.
With this in mind, I encourage business owners to take a fresh look at their website and make sure you aren’t inviting visitors to leave.
