photo credit: Magnet Ales sign via photopin (license)
Some people fondly imagine that their website will attract 7 million visitors on the first day that it’s launched. Sadly, that’s unlikely to happen.
Your website is just one step in the whole marketing process, and one element of your whole marketing strategy.
It will have two audiences – People who already know who you are, and people who don’t already know who you are but are searching for what you sell.
Chances are that people who already know you only want your contact details. Therefore, put your phone number in your ‘description’ meta tag. That way, they won’t even need to click through to your site when they find you on Google. Also, put your contact details at the top right of every page, because that’s become standard positioning and that’s where they will look. Even one extra click through to your ‘contact’ tab is an opportunity to lose them.
People who have found your site by searching don’t need to be convinced to buy the product or service they were searching for. They need to be convinced why they should buy it from you. Therefore, add a ‘why us’ page to show the top reasons people choose you. Use case studies and testimonials for peer pressure. And ensure every feature is described as a benefit. To do this, answer ‘so what’ at the end of every statement.
If your website is not generating leads, there are two steps you need to address:
Step 1. Get people there in the first place
Here are some of the ways to attract more people to your website:
- Face-to-face marketing i.e. networking
- Off-line marketing i.e. print
- Online marketing i.e. SEO, Google Adwords, Facebook ads
- Social media marketing
Step 2. Convert visitors into customers, enquirers, subscribers…
Once people have landed on your website, you need to convert them.
- Make sure your content answers ‘what’s in it for me’ at a glance
- Have strong, graphic calls to action telling people what you want them to do
- Make it easy for them to contact you
You might have some landing pages especially for SEO purposes, but your website doesn’t have to give ALL the information about everything you sell, only enough to tease people to contact you.
Many clients ask me to write SEO copy. I can do it, however, as a professional copywriter of over 30 years’ standing, I prefer writing for human beings than writing for machines.
I usually recommend that the website is written primarily in a way that converts visitors, while selected landing pages or blog posts can be written for SEO.
Bear in mind that keywords are increasingly less important to search engines. Your site is more likely to be ranked for having decent content that other sites link to.
The most common service I provide these days has three phases:
- Get the website right for maximum conversions
- Write weekly blog posts for added value and SEO purposes (through inbound links and freshness)
- Send a monthly newsletter to keep in touch and drive more traffic
Do let me know if I can help you.
