A Root Canal or Website Redesign? 8 Painless Tips (for your Website)
Posted by Bryan Maggi on Fri, Nov 19, 2010 @ 03:31 PM
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I know, I know, a very strong comparison between an endodontist chair and web designer's keyboard and mouse. However ironic, both make you wait long period's before any action; both use really obscure acronyms and encrypted language; both have cool tools of the trade. At least you get laughing gas or anesthesia with the root doctor.
So, let's talk about the subject that doesn't require a bib or drilling noises - your website. Did you know your website is the single greatest earning marketing asset for your small business.
Want more leads, sales, and customers for your business? Of course you do. Then let's put your website to work.
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Far too often, small businesses use their website as a static "brochureware", just sitting online, gaining virtually no attention and no traffic. That is equivalent to having an outdoor billboard advertisment sitting roadside along the sparse Mojave desert highway. You are wasting marketing dollars at that point. You need to plan an online marketing strategy for your website.
Buyers today are hunting and gathering information on the internet. In fact, Forbes Insight released a study ("The Rise of the Digital C-Suite") about how C-level executives search for new business on the internet now. So to get found, your website has to communicate how your products and services can solve their business "pains" and problems.
Here are 8 quick tips for properly redesigning your website.
1. Priority 1: Get More Leads and Customers
- Your site's mission should center around this goal
- Drive more qualified leads to your business
- Convert leads into long-term customers
2. Don't Change the Frame
- Your existing site has valuable links to search engines
- Search engines have your original site indexed
- Scrapping your site is like starting over at ground zero
3. Content - It's all about the Buyer!
- Goal is to attract new leads, customers, and sales (Rule #1)
- Content should not solely extol the virtues of your brand
- Site content must clearly convey how your company can solve their "pains" and problems
- Speak directly to your audience
4. Blog, Blog, Blog, yeah, yeah, yeah....
- Blogs create fresh content for your site
- Fresh content will bring more visitors to the site
- More visitors to the site will help your business grow faster
5. Make Them an Offer They Can't Refuse
- Make a compelling offer to your website visitors
- Offer demos, whitepapers, e-books, webinars, gifts, contest to visitors
- Most overlooked component in web redesigns
6. Landing Pages
- This is where your business captures leads
- An effective page allows visitors to leave their information for lead cultivating
- Landing page should outline your compelling offer
7. Easy to Contact
- If you want prospects to contact you don't hide your contact information
- Put easy to find contact phone and email numbers on every page
8. Don't Be Flashy
- Cut down on the flash animations; most visitors click on the "Skip" anyway
- Flash animated websites are becoming outmoded
- Key point - flash sites are not picked up by search engines
By adopting these simple steps into your website redesign strategy, you are on your way to making your website the winning sales machine it should be.
Let us know of your website redesign experiences by posting your comments in the section below.
