If your website isn't making you money, It's costing you money. Think about it. Consider your website an investment. You wouldn't throw money in the bank, or invest in stocks without the promise of a return. Why would you expect less from your website? How many hours is someone spending on your site - making it look pretty, updating your blog, etc? Whether you maintain your site in-house or not, everything you do to it costs you after tax money. So, if you're not getting at least a 200% return - you need to have a serious look at your website strategy.
And while we only touch on each subject briefly, here are a number of things to consider:
Provide a lead generation form
Communication is a two-way concept. Use "lead magnets" to entice visitors to leave their contact information before they go. A lead magnet could be a free offer, white paper, sales promotion, newsletter, etc. Add a simple opt-in contact form. If it's connected to your email marketing software, all the better.
Make your site searchable
Website viewers spend as little time on a site as possible. To wade through endless scrolling pages of content can be frustrating. The use of a simple search box will alleviate their agony by bringing up the information they need in a quick manner.
Mobile-friendly
More people are using their smartphones and mobile devices to view websites which means you website must work seamlessly from desktop to mobile. As we mentioned before, Google now uses mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. Luckily, they also provide a free Mobile-Friendly Test to check your site's url for mobile issues. You can check it here. Most new web development tools now off responsive coding to apply to your site's design, plus there are services that can develop mobile-only sites, however, a responsive site is what we are recommending. Why pay to maintain two sites when you can have one that works on every device.
Speed up your site
No one likes to wait. If your website loads too slow you risk the possibility of losing viewers - your competitor is a only click away. There are tools available to check loading time and offer ways to fix the issues:
Often, there's too many scripts and gadgets blocking the browsers loading efforts. Using a content delivery network (CDN) is a great way to start by using cached networks to load fast.
Engage leads at critical points.
By integrating marketing automation with your website you gain the ability to easily:
- Optimize all of the stages of the customer experience with Behavioural-Based Email Automation
- Identify leads on your website with VisitorID
- Integrate Call Tracking - assign unique toll free numbers to each marketing initiative to fully understand the return from each tactic
- Track each prospect's activity from initial engagement and conversion to closed sales and repeat business with built in Customer Relationship Management (CMR) system
- Report on campaigns from high levels to detailed drill-downs
For more information on how to turn your website into a lead generation tool, contact Mystique Brand Communications today.
Frank Beecham
Mystique Brand Communications
