You designed your website to generate leads and sales for your products or services. You spent several thousand dollars to build a great looking website and now there it is — out on the web for all to see. But wait a minute…where are all those leads??
The culprit can be any number of issues and we’ve outlined the most common issues below. But don’t be discouraged because the good news is, they’re all fixable!
Here are the most common problems we find with websites that are not generating the expected volume of leads:
1. Your website isn’t being found.
First things first: can your target market find your website? And we mean easily, without knowing the name of your company, and without having to go through 4 pages of search results on Google (because really, don’t you usually stop on the first page of results?). This is where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes into play.
Not to go into all the details of SEO, you can read more about our SEO services, but the point is that your prospects need to find you so it’s your job (or a company you hire) to make sure your company shows up in search engine result pages (SERPs) for the terms that your target audience is using to find the solutions you provide.
The way you’ll show up on these pages is by having a site that is well structured with relevant content that can be easily indexed by Google (or any other engine) as well as by having high quality inbound links. You need to be mindful of the content on your site because remember, it’s the content on your site that helps improve your rankings. The better and more relevant the content, the better your rankings will be on the SERPs.
2. Your website is too darn difficult to navigate.
Next up, once someone has found you and has landed on your site, can they quickly and easily find what they’re looking for? Part of a great website design is not only that it looks good, but that it’s also easy to navigate. Do your website visitors need a GPS system to navigate through your website? Or can they find what they’re looking for with a simple click of the mouse? Are your subpages easy to find via drop downs? Do you give users crucial information right up front on the homepage?
Part of the whole web 2.0 craze is about making your website user-focused. Having a flash movie that opens up when someone lands on your website is not helping them find the information they want and need in a timely manner.
Figure out what your core offerings are, the reasons people are coming to your site, and put them right there on the homepage so it’s easy for the user to find it, use it, and eventually convert. The fewer clicks it takes someone to get to the right information, the better. If a user is left to click and click, and click some more…chances are they’re going to leave your site out of sheer frustration.
3. Your content is sorely lacking.
Assuming your visitor has been able to locate the information they’re looking for on your website, the question becomes, what do you have to say? Is your website content compelling them to stay and read on, watch on, or look on? Or is it boring, self-centered, and poorly developed?
People need a reason to care. On your website, you need to give them one (or several). Make sure your content is accurate, informative, and try to be exciting. Use lists, bullet points, and images to break up the text, and don’t put too much information on each page – think about 350 words per page – that’s it. Use video and other content appropriately.
You want your visitor to be able to quickly grasp the idea and be convinced that you have what they’re looking for, and then make it easy for them to convert. If writing is not your strong point, then think about hiring someone to help you write better content – it’s not very expensive, but it is very important. Check out our content writing services to get help.
4. You’re not HELPING your visitors become leads.
What do you want a prospect to do when they visit your website? Helping people to convert largely means making it easy and obvious for them to do what you want them to do. Do you want them to sign up for your newsletter? Request a quote or a meeting? Purchase directly from your website? Whatever the goal is, and it can be different based on where they are in your website, it needs to be obvious.
Create large and/or noticeable calls to action that stand out, tell them to “request pricing” or “download our free guide” or “request a proposal”. Also remember that your visitors will be in different stages of their buying cycle when they arrive at your website. Your site should be responsive to this fact by offering a variety of ways for visitors to “raise their hands” and tell you who they are.
Some people want to pick up the phone and call you, some people want to schedule a meeting, some people just want you to email them the information they’re looking for – you need to be mindful of the different personality types and offer calls to action that are appealing to a variety of personas.
And oh by the way, since we’re talking about leads – don’t forget those feedback forms. Make it easy for prospects to become leads by having response forms built into your website.
Get the help you need to generate more leads on your website:
At Spark Inbound Marketing, we spend all day every day enacting lead generation strategies for our clients. Let us do the same for you by requesting a complimentary website assessment for your business.
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Posted by CristiSpahr on June 10, 2010 |
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Tags: Content Writing, online lead generation, SEO, website lead generation
