My trip the the Outback (and back)! (Guest Post)

Guest Post by Neil Richmund

This week my wife and I made a trip to Outback Steakhouse to celebrate Australia Day (the Aussie equivalent to the 4th of Julyin the USA and probably somewhat significantly – I am an Aussie). We joined a group of about 35 other Australians who live in Indiana to dine at this, the one restaurant that everybody thinks of when they think of Australia. The running joke of the night was how UN-AUSSIE the menu actually was! Bloomin’ onions are absolutely delicious, but not Aussie. The only Australian beer was Foster’s, which real Australians actually don’t drink. Lots of delicious American food with fun Aussie phrases placed in front of them don’t really make it Australian food. Aussie Cheese Fries? Come on, mate! For people who really knew about Australian food, the details mattered!

Now, that’s not to say we didn’t absolutely love the experience and the restaurant, because we definitely did. Why? Because of their attention to detail in other areas of importance, like customer service! Details matter! Even though they are not exactly accurate with their Aussie details, their attention to customer need was excellent! The servers called us by first name, all 35+ orders were correct, delicious, and served to the right person every time. …And they didn’t even throw us out when we broke into a group shout of, “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!” The attention to detail in their customer service made the difference for us. Looks like this bloke will be heading back for another delicious burger sometime soon..

For many of us our customer service is not only how we treat people in person, but the experience they have when they visit your most important marketing asset – your website. It’s important to keep that in mind that your website is essentially there for prospect or customer service. And because of that, the details really do matter. If you want your customers to be as happy as a bunch of Aussies chanting, “Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi, Oi, Oi!” then your details need to be spot on. As you think about your site, keep a few of these tips in mind, and perhaps some things you might be able to change in order to make your prospect and customer experience on your website better:

• Type size (and color) matter. Seven point blue type on a blue background is hard to read and frustrates your customers.
• Highlight your success stories. Post before and after results (or testimonials) from satisfied customers on your website.
• Typos do matter. There’s a big difference between Fish to Die For and Fish to Die From!
• Don’t always send visitors to your home page. Instead, use a landing page (a specially constructed page that showcases your offer and repeats your call to action).
• Register your domain in your name, not your web developer or designer’s name. In the event of a dispute, the ownership will be clear.
• Own your own code. Keep a copy of your Web site on a disk or backed up on your own computer so you’re not out of luck if your designer leaves town, sells their business, or isn’t responsive.
• Make sure your site says exactly what is is you do in the first paragraph, not the third or fourth.
• Update your site regularly (both your content and your code). You’ll rank higher in search engines as a result.
• Check for broken links. When you find one, fix it. Frustrated customers will move on quickly.

With just a few little tweaks, your website can be much more customer friendly because of your attention to detail. Happy Australia Day, everyone! Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! …Oi! Oi! Oi!

Check out the video I made that gives you a few more suggestions of things to avoid: https://getstrategix.com/are-you-making-these-website-mistakes

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Neil Richmund built his first WordPress site in late 2010, and since then he has launched over 300 more sites. He is passionate about all things marketing, but especially those pesky website projects – which he believes are at the heart of all good marketing plans. He founded Strategix Marketing in 2014 with the intent of building a marketing solution that educates people on how to market, rather than just doing it for them. Neil is originally from Australia and currently resides in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was recently married, and he and his wife Amy share 3 teenagers between them. He has a passion for teaching people how to help themselves, and helping people build successful businesses has been a great way to do that.