Why your website needs to focus on solving problems
* Article originally posted on insightcreative.com
People often visit websites because they’re seeking a solution to a problem they have. They may need a product, service or information as a solution. Your website needs to focus on solving these problems and delivering value to real people, rather than being strictly self-promotional or only talking about yourself and your company.
To learn more about your website visitors, you need to ask the right questions. Sounds easy, but trying to learn why people may have certain problems is often overlooked. Only by asking the right questions can you start to understand the problem, and start creating solutions. By providing valuable content and tools, you can turn these problems into positive experiences, and this is what people increasingly demand. This is what keeps people coming back to your website to learn more and keeps them coming back as a customer.
Insight Creative has worked with numerous clients to solve their customers’ problems through website redesigns. With each redesign, a refreshed and modern design is achieved, but each project also has its own unique challenges and goals to help people interact with the websites better.
Fox Structures
Fox Structures is known throughout Northeast Wisconsin as a premier design/build agricultural and commercial construction company. A primary goal with this website redesign was to create detailed case studies and provide valuable content for their portfolio. These case studies deliver valuable project information to people who are looking to complete similar projects. The content of each unique project focuses on specific features, materials used, detailed specifications and locations all helping people make an educated decision with their next building project.
Detailed and engaging content like this not only helps people but also helps search engines. Case studies like this help Fox Structures’ local SEO by continuously adding valuable and relevant content with specific project details and locations within their footprint. This isn’t generic content that search engines could find on any site but detailed content that is relevant to their work, industry and what people are searching.
Case studies also provide the added benefit of immediate credibility by showcasing real completed projects. They eliminate other common problems of uncertainty and hesitation people often experience when working with a new company, plus help potential customers see Fox Structures as a leader in their industry.
LeMense Quality Homes
LeMense Quality Homes is a custom home builder in Green Bay, WI. One problem we solved with this website redesign was making floor plans easy to browse. Rather than displaying plans only in a list, we built search filters to allow quick filtering by the number of bedrooms, bathrooms and even garage stalls. This lets people view only the custom home floor plans within the requirements they need.
This redesign also includes a portfolio of finished projects. Showcasing these finished projects, and linking them to their appropriate floor plan, allows people to visualize a project from start to finish.
Washington Island Ferry
The Washington Island Ferry Line is a vital, year-round mode of transportation, crossing Death’s Door passage on the way to the island. The primary goal of this website redesign was to reduce the number of phone calls the ferry receives each day. Travelers often called to find out when the next ferry trips were departing, directions or basic travel questions.
When designing the site, we had to ensure the on-page elements helped people alleviate their pain points as quickly as possible and delivered answers to their most important questions. Links to the ferry schedules are now prominently displayed on the page along with a dynamic schedule showing the next six upcoming ferry trips. This feature shows people when the next ferry departs with a quick visit to the website rather than calling to check.
After talking with Washington Island Ferry Line we learned that some of the most commonly asked questions were whether pets were allowed on the ferry, if cars were allowed on the ferry and what travelers can do once on the island. By adding a section for these FAQs directly onto the home page, people can find quick answers without needing to call.
A local favorite feature on the Washington Island Ferry Line website is the ferry port webcams. With this redesign, we implemented an enhanced webcam software that allows more than a single still image. This webcam feed stitches snapshots together to show what feels like a live feed of the ferry ports. It allows travelers to see where the ferry currently is but also adds the ability to go back in time and see what happened at any previous point during the day. People can now catch sunrises over the water even when not on vacation at the island.
As a result of all these changes, travelers are finding the ferry schedules, directions and answers to their common questions more easily. This has greatly reduced the number of calls to the office allowing the Washington Island Ferry staff more time to get people across Death’s Door safely.
These few examples show why the intention of any website should be the same every time: solve problems for real people. Your website exists solely for the people using it. It’s not there for your sales team, it’s not there for your CEO, and it certainly isn’t there for your marketing team. When a person visits your website, they’re there to alleviate a very specific pain point. Is your website’s content and design focused on helping real people solve problems?