Even if you have a website that looks pretty and has pizzazz, if it’s not generating leads and sales, you’re business goals will fall by the wayside. The purpose of business websites is to attract the targeted market, cultivate a relationship, meet the viewer’s needs and convert visitors into actual buying customers. Plain and simple, your website needs to be an effective marketing tool. Here’s a list of some strategies to make your website capture more leads and garner sales.
Optimized for SEO
To be found on the top Google pages for search, a website needs to be optimized for SEO. Be sure to do a keyword analysis for the most common words, phrases and questions that consumers use for your product or service. Using high quality links for your website, such as government and education, will also improve the website’s ranking. To gain favor in Google’s eye, be sure to add quality content, such as news articles relating to the service or product. Content is still king.
Capturing Visitor Email Addresses
Capturing visitor email addresses is an effective way to develop a customer relationship and to use for future promotions. To ramp up the rate of customer sign ups, give away a freebie, such a free e-book. For example, if your website sells pet food, offer a variety of free articles on topics like “How to Train Your Puppy” and “Tips on Nutrition for Cats.” Fulfilling the visitors’ needs and answering common questions related to your niche will increase the number of customer sign ups.
Engaging Websites
Take a good look at the feel of your website. Does it engage the viewer? If it doesn’t, add some good-looking photos that are relevant to the product or service. Adding some videos is another strategy to engage website visitors. If you’re selling women’s fashion clothing, add a clip from the latest NY runway fashion show. Get viewers involved by running contests. For example, have viewers submit their favorite fashion blunders. A little humor always goes a long way.
Using Free Marketing Tools
With millions of consumers using social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, it’s a market not be ignored. These free social media platforms are your community relations tool. Be sure to make regular posts and let the public know what’s going on with your business. It’s easy to add a link back to your business website. With more targeted traffic to your website, cultivating and making sales are a sure thing.
Updating the Website’s Content
Keeping the website fresh with new content on a regular basis will let customers know what you’ve been up to and that you are still active. Plus, it will help search engine rankings. Search engines like Google and Bing rank websites higher with if they are updated more frequently. For new announcements, post a press release to your website. If you’re in the service business or retail industry, be sure to post sales, specials and discounts on the front page of your website. For websites with a video or photo gallery, be sure to update this media. People love to see new things. It’ll keep them coming back.
