You will never get a second chance to make a first impression! On average, it takes about three seconds for a visitor to analyze your visa agents website and decide whether they like it or not.
Your agency’s website must be able to attract visitors, educate them, and finally convert them into leads and customers. To reach out to these different users, your visa agents website needs to be visible and accessible across a various platform. To make it more impactful and aesthetically pleasing, here are five essential website elements you should seriously consider:
The homepage is the Driving Force!
The homepage is the source of traffic on your website and it is crucial that visitors navigate at ease from here. This is why it is so important to have your agency’s homepage working at its best. Leave ample space for features, without compromising the design of your software.
- Use a headline that describes what you are offering by keeping it clear and simple. Example: “Education Counseling and Visa Processing”.
- Use call-to-action messages that will drive visitors to your various service offers, discounts, deals or bookings on the website.
- Use images that can generate emotions and make visitors feel more connected to your brand.
- Clearly mention the benefits people will receive by using your services.
- Show positive feedback from your clients or you may ask satisfied clients for their testimonials.
- Place your social media links on the website where it is most visible to the users.
Get Your Website Navigation Right
Your student agency website must be user-friendly. Think about the easiest and most effective ways your visitors can navigate the site. If finding the right information on your website is confusing or takes time, many of your potential clients will not revisit the page. To avoid this, get these website elements right:
- Ask your web designer to create a wireframe, prior to beginning actual work on the website. A wireframe is a blueprint of your website. It will give you a visual guide of how the different tabs, buttons, and links will work and where they will lead.
- If you are planning to have feedback or booking forms on the website, make sure you are receiving notifications or emails.
- Do the same for newsletters or other ‘subscribe’ options you may have on the student management system.
- Make sure the main headers (or menu tabs) that are on your homepage are visible and accessible on all other pages of the website too. This way, users don’t have to keep going back to the homepage to access other parts of your visa agents website.
- Make sure any external links you provide on the visa agents website do not open in the same window you are browsing.
Your Agency Website Should Work on Multiple Platforms
Today, people use multiple devices to access the internet. Mobile phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, and so on. This should be a part of your migration or educational agency management system. Your web designer and web developer must consider these factors while designing and building the visa agents website:
- Create the design in such a way that your visa agents website can be seen by all, regardless of the platform they choose to use. The website design must be aesthetically pleasing, yet also adaptive to multiple digital platforms.
- Just being able to see the website is not enough! The users should be able to access all information and services you are offering, including booking appointments or making payments online.
- Prior to launching your website, test if all the links are working smoothly.
- The web developer must ensure that your website is up to speed and functioning optimally at all times, eradicating any bugs or errors that might occur.
Leave Ample Space to Add Features
Your visa agents website may be near perfect, in terms of design and functionality. However, digital innovations can be difficult to predict. You may need to add more functions to the website later on.
Even if you already have a website, you can always ask your web designer to make some changes. As you start attracting more visitors to your visa agents website, you may want to add features such as:
Videos – You can embed videos on the visa agents website, describing your agency’s education and Visa services. Many people find it easier to watch videos for information than reading pages of text.
Live Chat – Adding a live chat feature will give the visitors an option to converse with representatives of your business, in real time. This can be an alternative to phone conversations, especially if they live in another country. It helps build trust in your agency business and gives you instant feedback.
Improved Security – In an agency business, you will be collecting lots of personal information from the clients. Therefore, you must be able to assure them that their data will remain safe and confidential. Talk to your web developer about all possible options.
Use Aesthetically Pleasing Design
Good design speaks volumes about your brand. Having functionality is great, but it needs to synchronize with the aesthetic design too! Good design reinforces the fact that your agency has spent a lot of time and effort to build the website. Additionally, it shows that you are serious about what you do. Talk to your web designer about applying the following principles:
There are three responses to a piece of design – yes, no, and WOW! Wow is the one to aim for. – Milton Glaser
Fonts: Use attractive and visible fonts that will not strain the readers’ eyes.
Images: Use high-resolution images that capture the essence of your brand. Try “hero images”, generally a high-definition picture that features on top of your visa agents website.
Minimalism: Avoid cluttering your website with too much information. Keep the design as clear and simple as possible.
Colors: Make sure your agency’s brand colors emerge in the website design. For instance, if your agency uses blue and white, then the designer can play with its variations. Using colors that do not reflect your brand will lead to ambiguity about your business.
It is a fact that a good visa agents website will promote your business 24/7, so build it wisely!
