One of the things that bothers me nowadays is when I hear an announcement, or read one, that says “Visit our website for more information.” That’s great, but where on the website? In fact, have you ever asked the person who says it or wrote it where to go on the website? In almost all of the cases, they don’t know.
When you do this, you are doing the same thing that most of us walking into a store and asked where something was would complain about . . . the clerk saying “It’s over there.” and points in some direction. When I read an ad for a great product that is highlighted by a store, I expect to be able to go there and find it easily. But often times when we highlight items in our parish and tell people to go to our website “for more information” the content is buried somewhere and not prominently displayed up front or easy to get to.
And on top of that, is it really “more information” we are providing on the website?
Our websites contain lots of “aisles” or things that any visitor could get lost in with even the best design in the world. Here’s how to provide better direction:
- Instead of saying just “our website”, tell people to visit the particular page or section on your website.
- If you can, highlight the item on the front page (i.e. in a banner rotation) or sidebar.
- Instead of “for more information”, give them a real reason. ”Don’t have your check book today? Go to our website and click the ‘Give Online’ button right on the home page to show your support.” or “Remember to go to the Confirmation page under ‘Sacraments’ on our website to download the sponsor form.”
These simple steps take your website from just existing to being. From something to something with real purpose and function.
