Your company's website should be a lead generation and business development asset. If you want real ROI from your digital presence, it all starts with the foundational component -- the inbound marketing website.
A website that informs, educates, and helps people self-diagnose whether your business provides and appropriate solution will help you develop industry authority and trust with potential customers.
Good inbound marketing websites rely on the following must-have characteristics.
Inbound marketing websites feature lots of good information that your ideal customers will find useful. But just having a list of content to create on your website is not a strategy. Many companies take for granted that developing content and educating their customers is a Point A to Point B type of project. But the most important word here is not “content,” it’s “strategy.”
Know where your website fits into your overall digital strategy. The role of your website is to attract ideal prospects, educate and inform them, and turn visitors into personally identifiable contacts.
Understanding this is critical because where the customer is in the buyers journey will influence what information you have on your website.
Here's an example. A common thing I notice when evaluating websites is that businesses start blogging without knowing where the blog fits into the digital strategy. The purpose of a blog is primarily to attract visitors, and secondarily to turn those people that are researching solutions into personally identifiable contacts. For that reason, your blog isn't the right place for company press releases, job openings and that new workplace award you won.
Another common issue with company websites is that there's an increase in website visitors when a company starts blogging, only to wonder why they're not getting any leads. Mapping out the entire process that your buyer might follow -- from finding your blog to downloading a guide and requesting pricing or a demo -- is necessary if you want website visitors to become leads.
Consider your customer personas when answering these questions.
Because some leads you'll get from your website are not as valuable as others, you need marketing automation.
A marketing automation platform passes lead data and behavioral data to your CRM, scores leads as they interact with your company, and helps you make sure no opportunity goes unnoticed.
Here are some ways businesses find marketing automation helpful:
Learn more about how marketing automation might benefit your company
I mentioned that the marketing automation system sends data to a CRM, and sales people will find this invaluable if they take the time to understand the benefits.
75% of companies don't nurture leads and miss out on opportunities because they are not immediately sales-ready.
CRM systems do many behind-the-scenes functions to help your business sell more. Companies that have good CRM setups get these advantages:
Learn how a CRM might work at your company
You read earlier about how the website's purpose is to attract new visitors and convert them into personally-identifiable contacts.
A blog is the best way to organically attract new potential customers to your website.
Why? Search engines index these specific, short-form articles and tend to rank them higher. When someone searches, your blog posts will appear as long as they are well-optimized and are customer focused.
I just did a competitive assessment for an industrial company that illustrates this point. This company was a $5 million company, and the two competitors that had regularly-updated, customer-focused blogs saw over 5 times the visitors and had 2x to 4x the company revenue.
If you're thinking that your company is "niche" and you think this doesn't apply to you, read this. You also might want to read "14 Reasons Why Your Business Should Start a Blog."
It wouldn’t be marketing if there wasn't an opportunity to make a sale. That’s where conversion opportunities come in -- those explicit opportunities for your customers to take an action and start a relationship with your business.
On most inbound marketing websites, conversion opportunities include the design, placement, and text of your Calls to Action (CTAs), landing pages, and forms. Design every element of these conversion opportunities to speak clearly to your target customer.
Never rely on just a single "contact us" link. Every web page should have a conversion opportunity where someone can learn something new about your industry, product or service.
If you'd like to read more about conversion opportunities, then check out this article.
People that visit your website on a mobile device, such as a tablet or smart phone, likely account for over 25% of your visitors. Inbound marketing websites need to meet the needs of all three visitor types.
Websites that are not optimized for visitors on mobile devices have higher bounce rates, lower conversion rates and lower search engine rankings.
You must design your website so that your customers have a consistent, compelling experience, no matter what device is used to access the site. Responsive design is the answer.
A secure website will tell your prospects and customers that you care about protecting their privacy and security of information. It will improve your form completion rates.
A side benefit of SSL is that Google tends to show secure websites above those without security in search results.
SSL security is so inexpensive and easy to install, your business can't go without it.
Do you need help transforming your company website into an inbound marketing website that attracts qualified prospects and generates more leads? Do you need better lead intelligence to help your sales team sell more effectively? Let's talk.