Open your business website and read the first sentence out loud. Does it explain what you do, or could it belong to almost any business?
It’s an easy trap to fall into. Once you’ve spent enough time working on your own website, the language starts to feel obvious. You know what the services mean. You know which button to click. You know that the enquiry form is halfway down a different page.
Someone visiting for the first time doesn’t have that context. They may be comparing a few businesses on their phone during a lunch break. Give them enough information to work out whether you’re relevant and a clear way to take the next step.
Start with a useful explanation
Your main heading doesn’t need to describe every service you offer. The opening section should still give people a reasonable understanding of the business.
If you produce podcasts, build websites and support media systems, say so in language your customers would use. A broad statement about innovation might sound polished, but it leaves the visitor doing the work of figuring out what they can actually book.
Follow that introduction with a little context. Who do you work with? What sort of projects can you help with? What happens when someone contacts you? These details help people decide whether to keep reading.
Make services easy to recognise
Businesses often organise their websites around the way their own teams are structured. Customers may think about the same services quite differently.
Someone looking for help editing an interview may search for podcast editing. They may never think to look under a heading called integrated content solutions. Use clear service names, then explain the scope underneath them.
Where services overlap, show the connection. A business planning a podcast may also need cover artwork or short video clips. Mention those options where they’re useful without making the reader navigate a maze of pages.
Check the path to an enquiry
Pick a service and follow the page through as if you were interested in buying it. Is there an obvious next step? Does the button lead somewhere relevant? Is the contact information current?
A general enquiry form should ask for enough information to begin a conversation. Detailed briefing questions can come later if they aren’t needed at this stage. Keep visible labels on fields, explain which ones are required and give people a clear message after submission. Those basics make the form easier to understand and use.
Then submit a test enquiry. Check that it arrives in the right inbox and that someone is responsible for responding. A form that looks right on the page still needs to work behind the scenes.
Try it on the phone you actually use
Read the site on a mobile screen. Tap the menu, open the service pages and complete the form. Look for text that’s difficult to read, buttons that are awkward to press and pop-ups that cover what you came to see.
Ask someone unfamiliar with the business to do the same. Give them a task, such as finding podcast editing or asking about a website project, and watch where they hesitate. Resist the urge to explain the navigation while they’re using it. That hesitation is useful feedback.
You may only need to rewrite an introduction, simplify a menu or fix a broken form to make the site more useful. At Audex Media, we help businesses work through their website content and functionality, including the small details that can otherwise get missed.
