5 Deadly Sins of a Funeral Home Website
May 1st, 2012
Your funeral home website has the ability to serve as the #1 tool for attracting families to your firm.
Unfortunately, a few common mistakes on your funeral home website can actually drive potential families away before they ever contact you.
Never underestimate the power of your website.
Here are the 5 deadly sins of a funeral home website:
1. Your website is difficult to find
Today, 97% of consumers use the Internet when researching products and services in their local area. When a death occurs, it’s likely the person planning the funeral service is going to start with Google. If they type the phrase “funeral home” with your city and state, and your funeral home doesn’t appear on the first page of the search results, chances are they will click on a competitor’s website first. Make sure your website is optimized to appear ahead of your competitors in search engine results. To learn more about SEO, check out our Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization!
2. There’s too much talk about YOU
Your website visitors aren’t coming to your website to learn about the history of your funeral firm or how many generations of funeral directors are in your family. This information doesn’t speak to their immediate needs. The primary focus of your funeral home website should be to provide potential client families with the information they’re looking for like service options, cost, and what to do when a death occurs. It’s not that you have to remove information about “you” entirely; just keep it under the “About Us” section of your website.
3. The navigation is confusing
Nothing frustrates a website visitor more than a website that is confusing to navigate. And seeing as your website visitors are already dealing with a lot of emotional stress, it’s best not to complicate the matter. Keep your main navigation at the top or left sidebar of your website pages (that’s where most web-users expect to find it). Don’t try to be cutesy or overly creative—use descriptive text for each tab of the navigation that clearly defines what they can expect to find on that page.
4. It doesn’t address your website visitors’ needs
For any website to be successful, it must address the needs of its website visitors. Today, families are much less traditional than they used to be. Their first contact with you is likely through your website, and even at that point, sometimes they’re not sure a funeral service is necessary—they’re simply researching available options. Use your funeral home website to show potential client families how your firm can help them during their time of need and educate them on the value of a funeral service so they no longer question its necessity.
5. Your content isn’t engaging
Even though death is a sensitive subject, doesn’t mean you have to limit yourself to using bland and boring colors and images. Your funeral home website should convey a sense of hope and encouragement to your families. By including uplifting content and engaging videos and images of unique and touching memorials, your website will serve as inspiration to your website visitors to celebrate the life of their loved one.
What other deadly sins have you seen committed by funeral home websites? Please share your comments below!
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I’ve seen so many funeral home websites where the all-important contact information is hidden. Where’s the phone number to call? The contact page, down in the footer, where?!
Just think how a prospective client family feels – funeral homes have got to make sure their phone number is prominently displayed in the top right hand corner of every page. And equally as important – pricing information (hopefully a PDF of the General Price List) should be just as accessible, and clearly explained. Give them what they need, when they need it!
Some would say these things obvious but only to people who are progressive and have their finger on the pulse. I would imagine there a many funeral homes who are living in the past and need to know a basic web presence is not enough these days. I think the most common mistake is the confusing navigation in most sites
Isn’t it amazing how navigating a website has become a learned behavior? Go to the top of the page or left side bar for main navigation. Find contact information in the top right corner and/or footer. Click on the logo to return to the homepage.