Website: A digital flyer or something much more
Many businesses saw the need to have a website to keep up with competition. Perhaps 20 years ago, this was enough, just to tick that box and say; “oh yes, we have a website”. However many, if not most serious businesses now have a website. What makes you stand out from your competition. Why should a potential customer visit your website? Business might be good today, but what if something out of the ordinary strikes, such as a pandemic and you now need to rely on your digital presence. In fact, having a bad website might cause more issues than not having one. People get frustrated that they can’t find what they are searching for and they move on to the next site. As most people are aware, smart phones are now the most popular way to view a website. In fact, websites are now ranked by the mobile site first. So if your customers, like me, struggle with reading small sized fonts from a website that is not designed for mobile, this will also cause them to move on.
So you’ve fixed up your website, now what?
Let’s say you upgrade your website. It’s now responsive and works well with mobile. Is that enough? Many nusinesses have decided to upgrade their tired website but haven’t included the most important steps. The design looks good, but does your website work for you? Are leads coming in? It’s not enough just to have a modern looking responsive website. You need to have several other factors working for you so that you actually get business from your website.
Transforming your website into a tool
1. The next step to making your website work for you is integrating it into other platforms to allow you to track the website visitors and market to them. When we build a website, we automatically connect it with several Google Tools that allow for such things as anti-spam filters on incoming messages, displaying maps, measuring the traffic (visitors) to the site, allowing Google to search your site, create a Google My Business profile, link that to the website and also connect to Facebook.
2. The next step is to make sure you are connected with the relevant network sites so that your profile is visible in multiple areas, allowing for people to find you using their tool of choice.
3. SEO. Search Engine Optimisation. This is basically a search engines measure of how well you are able to assist customers in finding the product or service or advice that they need. The better your site is prepared for this then the higher your search engine will display your site amongst the thousands of choices. A big part of this is your digital reputation, with a myriad of options being rated in order to choose the best site for people searching.
4. Digital Marketing. Once all this is done, you need to get the message out there. You can choose from posting content for free on social media to paying for ads to be presented to potential customers within your target demographic. Usually a combination of both free social media and paid ads will give you the best results
5. Content Marketing. Being considered an expert in your field is always a great way to attract new customers. By providing helpful information to people searching for answers, you will be considered as a potenital suitable business for them to choose. There are more indirect reasons for this as well as the content will boost the credibility of the website in general and help you out with point 3 above.
If you find that your business is not considering all 5 points above, then pick up the phone and call The Marketing Coach to discuss how you can improve your business right now.