You have a website, right? But is it working hard enough for you? Is it generating business or quality leads?
If the answer is no then you’re not getting the most out of your website and could actually be doing more harm than good by having a site that is ill-equipped to deal with your current customers and win you new business.
Here we bring you five of our top digital marketing tips that will drive traffic to your website and allow you to capture leads or generate business directly from your site.
1. Collect contact information
Having a website is not enough, you need to ensure that you get the right type of visitors to your site and you need ways of converting visitors into customers. The priority is to ensure that you have multiple ways to capture visitor contact details so you can continue to engage with them long after they leave the site – building a relationship and trust.
“But I’ve got a form on the Contact page” I hear you say. Great, how many enquiries do you get from it?
Capturing contact details isn’t easy and you need to encourage visitors to do it by offering something in return, such as a free guide or advice, a newsletter packed with content they actually want to read, entry into a competition, or a similar incentive.
The key is to get their details before they leave the site and this is where good website design comes in. There are hundreds of ways of enticing visitors to leave their details, but not all of them will work with your target market. Developing the relevant parts of your site to maximise the capture of essential contact information is a marketing-led activity, so don’t leave it to your web designer or IT department.
2. Convert visitors to customers
If you’ve had enquiries via your website I am sure you will have dealt with the enquiry in a timely and professional manner, but has the visitor to your site been converted in to a paying customer?
Did you ask permission to add them to a mailing list as a subscriber and how many times have you had contact since?
Even if the enquiry resulted in business, you may be missing opportunities for repeat business by not continuing to engage with visitors via e-newsletters, social media and loyalty discount schemes. If visitors can buy directly from your site then ensure communications contain links to specific landing pages designed to entice them to buy. When visitors to your website leave their contact details they may also leave information about what they are interested in. So why not make it easy for them? This will also help you target them with relevant communications in the future.
When you collect the data send an immediate acknowledgement, which can be easily automated, then follow up with a personalised response. If you have a lot of regular communications then consider allowing subscribers to select the type and frequency of the information they receive from you.
3. Get the right traffic on your site
You probably incorporated a few keywords into your site when it was built and maybe you’ve added a few news and blog articles since then, but when did you last take a proper look at the content?
Your site content needs to be fresh and contain the information your customers are looking for about your products and services. Adding new, relevant content will keep your visitors engaged and will help promote you in the search engine rankings. One way to maximise traffic to your site is to use paid search facilities, such as Google AdWords. This can be an effective way to get you ahead of your competitors and the costs are easily controlled, so consider testing whether this approach will work for your business.
4. Understand your customers’ journey
How easy is it for a customer to find what they are looking for on your site? Can they go straight to it or is it buried in pages of background information and several levels of navigation? Does your website standout from your competitors’ sites? Is yours easier to find when searching for the products and services you offer?
How your customers find you and their journey through your website can make a difference between them buying from you or buying from a competitor. Each page should get their attention, keep them interested and easily allow them to take appropriate action.
If they are viewing on a tablet or phone does your site reformat to ensure the customer experience is not compromised? Similarly, does it look right on all the common web browsers such as Chrome, Internet Explorer and Safari? These issues can be solved by making your website responsive.
Keeping your visitors engaged means ensuring they are not being distracted by irrelevant information or links that will take them away from your site. Testing the customer experience can reveal flaws in the design of your website, which can be the root cause of countless lost opportunities.
5. Review performance
If you don’t measure the performance of your website how will you know what is working and what isn’t? Sure, increasing business is a good indicator, but what’s causing it? If you know the answer to that question you can do more of it and generate more business.
Online analysis tools such as Google Analytics provide vital information about the performance of your website and what your visitors are doing. However, be sure to get the full picture. Measure how your customers are interacting with the business offline too. Track the number of phone calls after a recent digital marketing campaign. Similarly if people visit your business then measure footfall. Talk to your customers and discover how they found you and why they chose you over your competitors.
Your website and digital marketing efforts could be contributing to your business in ways you never even knew or just took for granted.
About Vizulate Digital
Vizulate Digital is a digital marketing and web design agency based in Brighouse on the outskirts of Huddersfield and Calderdale. We provide mobile-friendly and responsive website design, e-commerce development and digital marketing solutions for businesses looking to grow online.