Persuasive Website Design: Part 6 of 8
Principle #6 – Ensure Website Links Work
A broken or inactive website link is similar to a typographical error. It’s a mistake. One that may cost you a customer. ENSURING WEBSITE LINKS ARE ACTIVE not only saves time and frustration for your user but it also demonstrates that you are a professional who pays attention to detail. Here are a few thoughts to get you started.
- Test Every Link – Yes, every single one. Systematically work through your website page by page and test every hyperlink you have placed. As you complete this task, it’s also a good time to evaluate your hyperlinks. Do they link to relevant content? Do they allow visitors to leave your site and never return? Is there newer information available that would help keep your site fresh?
- Improve SEO with Links – Quality internal and external links support your website’s search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. Updating your website with fresh content including fresh links—is a good start, but an even more effective strategy is increasing the number of external links (called backlinks) that point to your site. Last year, Entrpreneur.com shared “5 Strategies for Better ‘Link Building’ and Improving Your SEO,” which still holds true.
- Post content as a guest expert on other websites.
- Incorporate engaging infographics that people want to share.
- Contact potential referral websites and request “in-content” links.
- Create content that has the potential to go viral.
- Perform a competitor analysis to evaluate what strategies work best for similar organizations.
- Liven Your Links – Is there anything interesting or compelling about the following link? http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//00s500000004000000
Unless you’re a computer, a combination of numbers and letters doesn’t inspire action. But “View ArcGIS’s Comprehensive Hyperlink Resource” might. Using keywords to liven up your links will increase the click-through rate.
- Don’t Underline – This may be a bit of a no-brainer, but it does bear stating. Just like links that don’t work are frustrating, clicking on something that isn’t actually a link is also frustrating. Don’t underline words that aren’t hyperlinks. There are other ways to draw the visitor’s attention to your text that don’t involve underlining. Find another way!
Links are often taken for granted but can have a positive (or negative) effect on your user experience and your SEO. Take some time today to do a quick audit of the links on your website and update any broken ones.
Next up…you talkin’ to me?!? Compelling Content that speaks to your target audience(s) is just as important as design, so I’ll share some tips for content. Until then, I welcome your comments or questions below.
If you’d like to know more or discuss your specific situation, I’m happy to offer a FREE 30-minute consultation. Simply send me an email.