Utilizing The Full Potential Of Your Web Site As A Marketing Tool

By Author: Janet Taylor
Total Articles: 10
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Has your website been overhauled recently or is it still the original site you launched some years ago? Businesses that have been achieving some success over a period of time may be guilty of taking their website for granted. No doubt their marketing strategy includes email marketing, social media, networking, etc. but it is the company website that provides potential customers with their first taste of its business. A website that has not been updated for some time may not be giving the most desirable first impression.

Revisit your existing site with fresh eyes:

Make sure you are utilizing your site’s full potential as a marketing tool. A useful tip is to approach your website as if you were a potential customer coming across it as a result of a Google search. How easy is it to navigate? Does it give you the information you want quickly? Is there a clear call to action on the landing page? Do you get a favorable impression of the company and its key personnel or is the website seemingly anonymous? Most importantly, does it offer solutions to your problems?

Ensure your website is focused on the customer:

A ...
... successful website is customer focused; it suggests to visitors that it has the answers to all their problems. A site that boasts of the company’s many achievements and awards or lists all the amazing services offered in tedious detail does not necessarily appeal to the customer who has come searching for help. Now is the time to utilize all that customer data you have been religiously gathering; establish who your preferred, high-value customers are and target this demographic on your website. Use the feedback you have obtained from your customers to identify their greatest needs and be sure that your home page addresses these.

Imagine you are looking for a reliable plumbing service. You click on a site that explains the many services offered, the state-of-the-art equipment that the plumber has and how many years they have been in business. However, it is does not relate to your particular, possibly urgent, needs. Frustrated, you move to the next site. This page focuses on how the plumbing company can solve your particular problem. Which company do you imagine gets the most customers?

Effective customer data management software can help you with organizing and analyzing your customer data so that focusing on your desired demographic and its specific needs is simple.

Personalize your site and include a clear call to action:

It is often said that we do business with a person, not a company. Your personality needs to shine through on your website. Let’s return to our hypothetical customer’s search for a plumber. At the first site, despite the detailed history of the company’s achievements and its amazing equipment, there is no indication of the ‘face’ behind the business. Also, it is difficult to see how to proceed with contacting the plumber, obtaining advice or getting an estimate. Again our customer moves to the second site. This site has a photograph of a smiling, helpful-looking plumber, perhaps with a short bio or quote. There is a clear ‘click here for an estimate’ or ‘contact us’ button - right on the landing page. Clearly we have a winner!

Include a blog on your site:

If your site does not already have a blog, consider starting one and try to update it frequently; new content on your site will improve your search engine rankings.

A blog also provides businesses with a perfect marketing tool; its focus should not be to sell but to inform and educate. This establishes the writer as an expert in their field and allows readers to feel that they are helpful and trustworthy. Our hypothetical plumber, for example, could review water-saving showerheads or offer ‘first-aid’ solutions for dealing with a blocked sink.

Janet Taylor writes for InSite Systems, a leader in surveys systems and a pioneer of customer feedback software. For more information about our customer feedback solutions visit http://www.insitesystems.com