Are you going to create a new website? Read this first
If you are considering creating a new website, it is more important than ever to do a good job of preparation. We live in a new era, where online competition is fierce and where the attention of web surfers is becoming increasingly difficult to capture. Research shows that those who visit your website spend an average of 3 seconds deciding whether they want to stay on your page. They are therefore the ones who are best online, focusing on user experience and making things as accessible and easy as possible for users. And then there is one thing that applies - make the website as simple and effective as possible.
Here are some tips on what we think you should consider when creating a new website:
1. Think about what your customers need
The classic trap is to focus on getting pretty and fancy websites, when customers really just want functional pages that make it easy to do what they want. Appearance is of course a factor, but it's not the most important thing. The most important thing is how likely the website is to convert visitors into paying customers. In other words, how much the website sells.
In our experience, website visitors are looking for one of three things:
Contact the bakery
Opening hours and address of the outlets
Order goods
Then it is important to make it as easy as possible to implement these three things - and this can often be achieved most simply and effectively on as few pages as possible - not spread across many different pages.
What devices do customers use? According to our figures, over 65% of traffic to bakery websites comes from mobile phones. And that's a growing number. So it's incredibly important that your website works well there.
2. Choose the right partner
Choosing the right agency to build your website is very important. It will make a big difference to what you get. There are many good agencies out there, but it is important to be clear about what they will do. You must not forget that they are also running a business and their goal is to get as much work as possible, i.e. bill hours. If you are not clear enough from the start, your wishes and the agency's wishes can go against each other. It is not always the most expensive and biggest that is best. Today, it is rather the opposite.
Be clear about what they should do: If you use a professional agency to create your bakery's website - be clear that the focus should be on the highest possible sales and best functionality. Of course, the website should look nice, but it is what sells best that is most important.
Don’t choose agencies that focus more on design than function. Today, it’s not about looks and wow-factor. It’s about A/B testing, conversion optimization, user analytics, and data science. Look for agencies that have experience and are more concerned with these things than looks.
What have they built before?: Have they built online stores before? Have they built websites for bakeries? Can they show an increase in online sales after they built a new website? What other websites do they look to for inspiration for how they want to build your website?
2. Focus on the simple!
We humans have limited attention spans. And today we are bombarded with things competing for our attention. We constantly seek the simple and avoid the complicated. We have difficulty dealing with apps and websites that do many things at once. Time and attention have become a valuable resource.
First impressions count: Mobile surfers are very focused and impatient. Avoid distracting them from their goal in coming to your website. Make sure your page navigation is simple and easy to find. Have clear call-to-action buttons and show what you offer at the top of the page. A first-time visitor should be able to understand what you offer at a quick glance.
Do less: One of the most important tips we can give is “Do less” or “Keep it small”. We understand that you probably have a lot you want to share about yourself, but try to focus on the most important things. Don’t create so many pages. Don’t write so much text. This means less chance of distracting the customer from finding what they are looking for. If websites have too much content, it can be harder to navigate and find your way around. Then customers will drop off very quickly and sales will suffer.
It’s important to tell people who you are and what you do, but keep it short. It’s rare for someone to want to read the entire history of your bakery, or read news about your bakery that hasn’t been updated in 18 months.
Think about whether it is possible to combine information. What could take up 10 pages can often just as easily be communicated on one page.
Give the customer few choices: Hicks' law states that every choice you give increases the time it takes to make a choice, and thus the chance of visitors disappearing from your website. Don't build something that will solve everything for all customers - then you'll end up with something that doesn't work very well for anyone. Focus on the 2-3 things that 90% of your customers are looking for - and do those things great! Focus on getting them what they want with as few clicks and little navigation as possible.
It's a marathon, not a sprint: Great websites aren't created overnight. If you're going to manage your own website, be prepared for it to be an ongoing process. The best ones start with a simple website, launch it, and then analyze how customers use the pages. They then continually optimize the pages to better meet their customers' needs. The battle for the attention of online users is an ongoing one.
What can Cake it easy offer?
In addition to online store solutions, we also deliver complete websites. Websites that are optimized for bakeries, and built on many years of experience with online sales of baked goods.
All the websites we build look great, of course, but our main focus is on the highest possible sales and best functionality. We believe that what sells best is most important, not how fancy it looks. We constantly analyze how customers use the pages and optimize so that you sell the most baked goods. There is no one in Norway who knows this better than us :)
Why choose us?
Since we benefit from sales being as high as possible on the online store, we have a mutually beneficial interest in you having the best websites possible. We win when you win.
We will not just create a website and be done with it. A website delivered by us will be continuously improved and further developed with more features, at no extra cost . A website from a regular web agency often becomes static and needs to be replaced again in a few years.
A survey we conducted with over 40 bakeries that have online stores shows that there is a difference between websites provided by Cake it easy and other websites. On websites provided by others, an average of 20% of visitors start a purchase process on the online store, while on websites from Cake it easy, 46% of visitors start a purchase process - resulting in more than twice as many sales .
And if you have any special requests regarding design or functionality, please let us know. We love creating new things :)