3 Things Marcus Sheridan Doesn’t Like About Your Website

Last week on Website Throwdown, we welcomed The Sales Lion President and renowned marketing speaker, Marcus Sheridan, into the ring.

Broadcasting live from his beach house, Marcus shared a great deal of lively and quote-worthy advice as we critiqued seven lucky viewer-websites live on the air.

Below are three of the biggest design and content takeaways from our broadcast, but just in case you missed it, here’s the full episode for you to enjoy:

1. You’re Neglecting SEO

"Ya'll, #SEO isn't dead! It's been as alive as it's ever been. Why skip it?" - @TheSalesLion #WebsiteThrowdown

"Ya'll, #SEO isn't dead! It's been as alive as it's ever been. Why skip it?" - @TheSalesLion #WebsiteThrowdown

— IMPACT (@Impactbnd) May 27, 2016

While Google’s ever-changing algorithm can be intimidating, SEO is more important.

For those looking to grow their organic traffic, search engine optimization is non-negotiable, yet there are a number of basics that many teams are still ignoring it.

Long before you even consider setting a page live, you need to know what keywords you want the page to rank for and then design your copy and page around that.

From there, you can start thinking the technical aspects of SEO:

• Page Title
• URL
• H1, H2, Subheaders
• Meta-Description
• Alt-Tags
• Page Content

There are plenty of SEO “hacks” available today, but until you nail these basics for search engine robots to crawl, don’t even think about venturing into this territory.

2. There’s No Video.

"Video is super important and companies cannot dismiss it anymore on their websites." #websitethrowdown @Impactbnd @TheSalesLion

"Video is super important and companies cannot dismiss it anymore on thier websites." #websitethrowdown @Impactbnd @TheSalesLion

— Joshua J Claflin (@joshuajclaflin) May 27, 2016

According to Crayon’s State of Video, video appears in 70% of the top 100 search results, while websites that incorporate it tend to see two more minutes of on-screen time than those that don’t.

Video is a fast, engaging way of communicating information to an audience and with more and more consumers digesting information on their mobile devices, it is also more convenient than text-only alternatives.

Take advantage of this trend and consumer behavior and find ways to use video on your website.

Create an introductory video of your company, show how your product is made, or share a success story. Video is versatile medium and with tools like YouTube, Wistia, and most recently, Facebook Live, the barriers to entry are lower than they’ve ever been.

3. Your Message is Unclear.

"Go with one image and one great message." - @TheSalesLion on homepage hero images and value propositions #WebsiteThrowdown

"Go with one image and one great message." - @TheSalesLion on homepage hero images and value propositions #WebsiteThrowdown

— Ramona Sukhraj (@ramonasukhraj) May 27, 2016

We’ve said it time and time again -- when someone arrives on your website, you want them to know exactly what you do, who you do it for, and how you do it differently. In other words, you need to tell people exactly why they should be paying attention to anything on the page, let alone your entire website.  

Don’t confuse the user by giving them too many (and often conflicting) messages to absorb with a carousel. Lead off with a single, clearly-defined value proposition and imagery that supports it.

When done right, this statement will not only summarize your overall message, but inspire people to keep scrolling down the page.

Want Personalized Advice on Your Website?

Submit your website here for the chance to be critiqued live on the air on the next episode of Website Throwdown.

Joanna Wiebe, keynote speaker, founder, and copywriter at Copyhackers, will be joining us as our featured guest on Tuesday, June 21st and when it comes to increasing conversions through content, no one knows it better!

Save your seat or submit your site today using the banner below and we’ll see you ringside!