Customers Judge Your Website in Seconds

Here's something I've seen more times than I can count. A business does great work. Their customers love them. Then I pull up their website on my phone, and it looks like it was built in 2009 and never touched again.

That website is the first thing a lot of new customers see. Before they ever see your sign.

I own The UpScale Tech & Print, so I have a stake in this topic. The advice holds no matter who you hire.

People trust what looks trustworthy

Researchers at Stanford studied how people decide whether to trust a website. In the Stanford Web Credibility Project, nearly half of the comments people made about a site's credibility were about how it looked: the layout, the fonts and the colors. Not the information on it. The look.

That study is from 2002, and if anything people are faster and pickier now. We're all scrolling on our phones and making snap decisions.

So if your website looks broken, outdated or confusing, a lot of people will assume your business is too. They'll hit the back button and call someone else, and you'll never know they were there.

What people look for in the first few seconds

When someone lands on your site, they want to know a few things right away:

• Am I in the right place? Your name, what you do and where you do it, right at the top.
• Is this business real and current? Up-to-date hours, recent photos and no broken links.
• How do I reach them? A phone number you can tap and a clear button to book or call.
• Does it work on my phone? Most local searches happen on a phone. If people have to pinch and zoom, you're losing them.

The banner in the photo above is one we built for our own seminar. It's simple on purpose: what it is, who it's for and one clear button to register.

Your website should match everything else

Your website is part of your brand, not a separate project. It should use the same logo, the same colors and the same message as your sign and your business cards. When someone sees your truck, then looks you up, it should feel like the same business.

If your sign says "premium" and your website says "my nephew made this," people notice the gap.

A five-minute website check

Grab your phone and try this:

1. Search for your business name. Does your site come up, and does it look good on your screen?
2. Can you find your phone number in under five seconds?
3. Are your hours, address and services correct today?
4. Does anything look broken, blurry or out of date?
5. Would you trust this business if you didn't already know the owner?

If you want the research behind this, the Stanford Web Credibility Project is a good place to start. If your website didn't pass the check, book a time with me and we'll go through it together.

— Pierre