Let's talk about buying a car
I'm considering changing the car I drive. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the car I drive. But I've been looking at some others. I've even read up on a few, and looked over the ratings and reviews others have given them. In fact, I've gone as far as watching other people drive them, on YouTube.
So let me ask you this.
Do you think I've done enough research to make my pick and buy my car?
I hope you said no. Because who would do that? Who would buy a car without even sitting in it, much less driving it around for a bit.
In fact, this past weekend, while I was traveling in another city, I rented one of the cars I was considering. Just so I could test it out for a few days.
Let's talk websites
It's silly, isn't it, to think that someone might buy a car without testing it at all.
But I know folks who are that silly when it comes to their website. In fact, I know a lot of silly people.
When it comes to sites, functional beats pretty
Now I'm not saying you go build the 1985 Saab 900 (if you're too young, you can google it). Ugly doesn't make it functional. You can still design something that looks good. But you don't start by talking about looks. You start by talking about objectives. And if leads are your objective (and in many cases they are), then design for it.
Don't design your site the wrong way
But if you're designing for it, then you really do need to look at the tools you're using to help you. I mentioned three in the video, so here they are.
- Optin Monster – gives you the pop up, and the different spots on your site to collect leads.
- Lead In – monitors clickstream and collects it for your later analysis.
- Optimizely – allows you to quickly test changes to your site.
Go check them out, and start helping your site perform better!