The most valuable real estate you own
- Does your website look like a company brochure on the web?
- Is every page on your website prompting visitors to take clear, specific, action?
- Is your website an online advertisement telling people how great you are, or is it a place where visitors learn about how to solve their problems?
There are only about a million little things to look after when planning, creating and optimizing a website. It’s no wonder so many companies can’t determine the real value of their site. In our haste to create a web presence, many businesses overlook some of these critical steps in planning an effective website.
- Knowing your audience. Is your website geared toward a specific audience? Are you delivering a story in a language your audience understands?
- Your website should teach, not tell. A website either builds or breaks your credibility. What are you doing to position yourself as a subject matter expert.
- Your website should address the most common objections buyers of your products & services have. Often this is addressed in a FAQ section or page.
- Each page should have a specific call to action.
- Your website should explain to visitors what’s different about you and your company (sorry, they will not get it on their own). In the words of marketer and TED presenter, Seth Godin: What makes you remark-able – so unique, people will make remarks about you?
- Your website should be easy, no – simple — to navigate. In the words of author Steve Krug, “Don’t Make Me Think.” In today’s overloaded, multi-tasking world, your website must be simple to navigate. Give people a place to “rest” their eyes.
- It’s not about you – It’s about them! Your website should not be an online advertisement. Make it a resource where visitors come to learn how to solve their problems.
In addition to all this, your website should:
- Be mobile friendly
- Load quickly
- Keep visitors safe from predators
- Be easily found when somebody conducts a search
A website today should be looked at as an ongoing, ever-improving process. Gone are the days of biennial massive upgrade events. The best-performing websites are continuously being improved upon, month after month, with changes based on performance history and continuous testing.
A strategic web marketing plan includes identifying and setting goals for your website. How much traffic do you need to meet your goals? How will you convert visitors to leads? Effective websites are two-way portals providing information to consumers as well as leads for your business.
Wanna know who’s visiting your site?
All too frequently visitors to a website browse, learn, consider and then leave. Wouldn’t it be great to know something about who’s visiting your website? What if you could:
- Identify who’s visiting your site.
- See which pages they’re viewing.
- Build a profile for each visitor.
- Identify the source of your website visitors.
- Find out what your visitors have in common.
- Have more detailed conversations with visitors since you know more about them.
Now there’s a free tool to help you figure out who your visitors are and what they are seeking. If you have a WordPress site, you can start answering these questions today. Download this free plugin. You can download and install it in about 60 seconds.
While some people (me, for one) find pop-up forms annoying, their conversion rates are surprisingly high. Get this WordPress plugin today and start learning more about your website visitors. Having this information puts you in a much better position to begin the refinement of your website.
Have you been generating leads from your website? Share what’s working for you in the Comments section below. A real person reads and responds to all comments.
Thanks,
David
To learn more about Crest, go to www.crestconsultingllc.com or contact me anytime.
- At Crest, we help companies
- Create content that separates them from their competition
- Become subject matter experts in their field
- Measure the effectiveness of their marketing $$
- Generate a consistent pipeline of high-quality leads for less
- Turn clients into evangelists