I just launched a new website! Now where are all my customers? Sure, it’s the internet, but building a site and expecting it to drive leads to your company is like building a beautiful castle, neglecting to create a drawbridge, and surrounding the entire structure with a gigantic moat. Truth is, having a pretty website is the 20% solution.
Putting a few nice pictures and some navigation on the web is a long way from making your website the company’s #1 sales rep. That’s where you want to be. To get there you need to have an inbound traffic plan.
Let’s tackle two big problems with most web-designers, and then we’ll give you two solutions to change the status quo.
Two problems with most web-designers and the associated solution:
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Problem: Your web-designer built your site to look good, not to sell or to be found by prospective customers. You’re a business right? If so, this is not the foundation you want to start from. You need an “inbound site,” not a “brochure site.” The Beaumaris Castle is a brochure site. It looks great but nobody reads it and the few weary travelers that manage to scale the walls leave without becoming leads.
Solution: You need an inbound site that drives interaction through high-quality content designed with a purpose in mind: convert visitors into leads and leads into customers. We have to build drawbridges (on-page and off-page SEO) to make your site accessible and then we have to plant a big sign in the castle commons that says: “dinner is served, sit downhere, eat.” That’s an inbound website!
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Problem: Most web-designers don’t wireframe your website’s navigation with a purpose in mind. They just build the standard pages, make them look nice, and incorporate the standard navigation buttons. If their objective was to help you sell then they would research buyer personas, build content focused at the buyer’s journey, and place that content on landing pages that trade meaningful offers for contact information. Sound familiar? If not, that’s the fix.
Solution: Resources your designer should be using for wireframing include pen & paper, the white board, or a cheap monthly subscription to an online software tool like Balsamiq. You know they’re using these resources if they’re engaged with you on the site’s ultimate purpose from day one.
Beyond that, you should consider having your site built and/or managed by a professional marketing firm. You’ll get a great site that actually works - that’s the advantage of working with marketers. You want your customer to land on pages that walk them through the buyer’s journey. This means landing pages, content offers, conversion forms, and SAAS platforms that catalogue customer interactions with your business’s #1 sales rep: your 24/7 website!
Here’s the big picture: most web designers are not professional marketers. Their ability to leverage your website into a sales asset is thereby limited. You have to treat your website like the center of your marketing campaign - it is just as important as your product! A website is not just a pretty place that your salespeople send their leads; it should be generating leads for you on its own. Utilize the solutions above to create pathways for customers to find your castle, and to transform your website into the most efficient sales rep it can be.
