Your Website Could Be Costing You Sales
There is a popular myth that suggests just publishing a website will help small businesses achieve their marketing goals. This includes the belief that building a web presence with information about their products and services is all that is needed.
Online marketing has changed out of all recognition since the Internet was born. It is no longer realistic to build a website and then forget about it, if ever that was acceptable. The typical “brochure” website is just not capable of meeting today’s potential customers needs and expectations.
In today’s competitive digital marketing world generating leads from a Landing Page is far more effective in generating a Return on Investment (ROI).
What’s A Brochure Site?
Without the Internet companies had to rely on printed pages to help potential customers decide to buy their products or services. Very often the ‘glossy brochure’ included plenty of information about the company, product or service, and contact information. The only potential interaction was if the customer decided to phone for more information.
Brochure websites are usually visually appealing, often with a slide show or some exotic design feature. This type of website will have lots of information about the company and its products or services, but not a lot else. For example, a wedding photography site will have a fabulous portfolio of wedding photographs for readers to scan through and hopefully a contact us form. The contact us form is usually on another page in the website and takes a bit of effort to locate it.
The Problem With Brochure Sites
A brochure site may have been just the ticket 10 years ago, but not now in the digital age. Measuring the ROI is virtually impossible with brochure sites. SEO suffers because they are not normally built to add and SEO new content. They tend to concentrate on your company and what your company has to offer, rather than what the customer might want or need. Brochure sites rarely give your prospects or customers a reason to keep coming back to your site.
This type of site makes it difficult to capture visitors and turn them into customers. What happens when visitors, or more importantly, prospects, visit your site, learn about your product or services but are not yet ready to buy yet? Unless they email you or use the phone you have lost their potential business! Even if they showed interest you have no way of getting in touch so how can you begin to nurture that lead?
Once these prospects have left your site they will probably continue searching your competitors, compare prices and read about competitive products and there is nothing you can do to get them back again.
Landing Pages
The purpose of a landing page is to build and engaging and interactive page focussed on your visitor and greeting them at whatever stage they are at in the buying process. Whilst most Brochure websites focus on you, in today’s competitive digital marketing environment your website should focus on solving the customer’s problems. Developing an engaging experience is the obvious way to interact with your potential customers.
Remember, when visitors arrive at your page it is not often by accident, so take advantage of the situation and get them to sign up
The easiest and perhaps most effective way is to get them to give their contact information in return for a free download; an eBook, a catalogue, or similar that gives them helpful, relevant information. Instead of concentrating on your company’s products or services focus on your visitors’ issues and the solutions your product or service provides.
Forget the normal menu of products and services, create an interactive experience where visitors come to find answers and solve their problems.
Making an aesthetically pleasing or great visual impression on your visitors is important but the true purpose of your website should be to gain leads.
You should consider a Landing Page style website to generate leads for these reasons:
- Keeping in Contact with Visitors
If, at the time of their visit they are not yet ready to make a purchase, you can continue engaging with them by asking for their contact details so that you can follow up later. - Measure ROI
Ensure your website includes a ‘Call to Action’ lead generation link so that you have a reliable way to measure the revenue it brings in. - Prospects Are More Amenable To Future Offers
If a visitor signs up to receive free contact or subscribes to your blog they are likely to be amenable to receiving more information and offers from you in the future.
Where Do You Go From Here?
How can you turn your brochure site into an active, interactive lead generating machine?
A good place to start is with any one or all the five strategies listed below:
Invite Visitors To Sign Up For A Trial
Make it easy for your visitors to request a free trial, demonstration, or attend a webinar. Spell out what they will receive if they sign up to your offer even if they don’t then make a purchase.
Create a Landing Page that clearly illustrates the features and benefits of your offer and what happens next. If you create a form be careful not to ask too many questions that turn off potential leads.
Offer Free Content
If you are very knowledgeable or have a particular expertise, try writing an eBook about your specialist subject that can be downloaded.
How can you help your website visitors make a decision to buy? What can you do that will make the decision easier? How can add value to these visitors? If you nurture and educate your visitors, you will build trust that makes it easier for them to make the decision to buy.
Position your free content as the solution to the problem your visitors are seeking answers to. Build a Landing Page that explains in simple terms what you are offering, why the visitor needs it, and encourage them to sign up for more information and hey presto! You have a brand-new lead to follow up and nurture.
Invite Visitors To Subscribe To Your Blog
Google loves content that is regularly updated, current and relevant. One of the most effective ways to keep your site relevant and up to date is to add new posts on a blog. This will also give your SEO a well-earned boost.
Make sure you add an easy to see opt-in box on each blog page to make it easy for visitors to subscribe.
Encourage Social Media Interaction
It’s a well published fact that social media is where your customers are spending the most time online. An active social media presence will help you bring in new business. Make it easy for visitors to share your blog posts on their social media networks with social sharing buttons.
Check Your Contact Us System
When a visitor fills in your Contact form do they get a quick response? Do you have an automatic reply system set up to keep the visitor informed? Does the enquiry get lost in the system and disappear down a black hole?
Make sure you have set up a friendly auto-response email which reassures your visitor that you appreciate their decision to contact you.
Finally
Although stunning design is fantastic, don’t forget that the secret to generating real leads is to build landing pages and be customer focussed. When potential buyers find you online, this is your chance to solve their most immediate problems, by having engaging content that is informative and leaves the visitor wanting more.
