If your company is like most, your website is the cornerstone of your inbound marketing efforts. As the first “salesperson” that prospects encounter, it’s critical that your site is fine-tuned at all times. Nevertheless, it’s not uncommon to have a “set it (up) and forget it” mentality. As one of the top inbound marketing agencies, with teams in Colorado, Washington, and Missouri, we are also one of the most doggedly persistent in encouraging clients to take another look at their site because we know even small tweaks can have a big impact on engagement and conversion rates.
So, as 2018 arrives, we’ll take this opportunity to again prompt you to ask yourself some key questions about your site.
A Fresh Perspective on Your Web Presence
Is your website doing all it can to engage and inform clients and prospect, keeping them coming back for more? To make that determination, consider how you would answer these seven questions:
- Is it “us”? Imagine if your website could walk, talk, and meet with potential customers in place of you. Would it do a good job? Does it sound like your company? Look like your company? Faithfully capture the essence of what makes your company unique?
- Is our About page client-focused? Too often, companies use their About page to do nothing more than toot their horn. Yes, the website visitor has come there to learn about your organization, but they are doing so to understand how you can help them. You should be talking about yourself in a client-focused way.
- Are our product/service pages easy to understand? If a prospect can’t figure out what a product or service is and how it will benefit them pretty much instantaneously, you risk losing them. They’ll need detailed information down the road if they choose to delve deeper into your offerings, but the key initially is being clear and concise.
- Are multiple options for connecting with us always just a click away? Sometimes a prospect’s interest is only a momentary flicker. Make it easy for them to connect (in their preferred mode) and you may be able to nurture that flicker into a steady flame. Fail to do so, and it will surely go cold.
- Is it conversion-focused? For those prospects who do not engage with you, do you know where and why you're losing them? Content conversion funnels can help you identify what the dropoff percentage is at each step in the conversion process and give you hints as to how and where to make improvements. Small, incremental changes can make a huge financial difference.
- Is it optimized for SEO? It goes without saying, but if prospects can’t find your website, they can’t visit your website. And the algorithms that Google and other search engines use to rank and display results are constantly changing. You’ve got to keep up, or your site will drift down into oblivion—which, in today’s fast-moving business world, is anything lower than page one! The constant, though, with any algorithm iteration is that fresh, engaging content always improves a website’s positioning.
- Is it optimized for your ideal customers? Getting prospects to your website is, of course, only half the battle. If your website doesn’t appeal to your inbound marketing target personas, and if your content marketing isn't tailored to them at each stage of their buying cycle, they will almost certainly leave without engaging.
New Year, New Opportunities
From our boutique inbound marketing agencies in Colorado Springs, CO, Olympia, WA, and Springfield, MO, Happy New Year! When it comes to your success in 2018, the sky’s the limit—especially if you are building on the solid foundation of an updated and effective website. Looking for an outside opinion? We’re happy to share ours.
