Does it ever feel like the “business” part of your business website is missing? We’ve noticed over the years that a lot of new clients will come to us with a relatively expensive website that doesn’t actually seem to serve any bottom-line purpose. The business owners and executives involved know they need a good layout and online marketing plan, but seem to have forgotten why.
However, if you haven’t identified at least one major purpose for your website, then it becomes difficult to add content or form a cohesive plan to manage web marketing. How can you know where to devote your effort and dollars when you aren’t sure what the end result should be?
With that important foundation in mind, let’s look at a handful of business outcomes you might want to achieve with your web presence:
Online Sales
The simplest way to boost your business with your website is to generate sales from high-quality product pages and ecommerce features. Even if retailing isn’t your primary path to profits, this can be an efficient and proven way to grow your bottom line. It’s usually worth exploring the possibilities to see if you might be able to make more money by adding a shopping cart to your website.
Lead Generation
In some situations it doesn’t make sense to try to sell products or services directly from your website. However, you can use online marketing to give your sales team a big edge by attracting inbound leads and establishing your business as a marketplace leader. Do well enough, and you can replace outbound sales efforts while improving margins at the same time.
Local Awareness
Perhaps the real goal of your website is to drive walk-in traffic through online reviews and local search engine optimization (SEO). This can be a good strategy because local search improvement tends to happen quickly and buyers who are in your neighborhood are more responsive to ads and social impressions. Plus, local buyers are easier to win over and stay with you longer.
Customer Service
You can greatly reduce the customer service burden on your team by giving buyers tools like FAQs, online product demos, installation guides, and secure account management features. If it feels like you and your team are always engaged in busywork, then these resources can save you dozens of hours each week and lower your wage costs significantly.
Improved Recruiting
As the old saying goes, your people are your business. If you are in an industry that relies heavily on expertise, involves direct contact with the public, or experiences high turnover, then attracting new applicants might be just as important as increasing sales. Luckily, you can expand your recruiting reach by new employee engagement as a focal part of your online marketing plan.
Is it Time to Get More from Your Website?
If you feel like you have a perfectly average business website that isn’t actually helping you to achieve any of your business targets, we can help. The first step is always a simple and complimentary consultation to review your efforts and chart a smarter path forward.
Contact our creative team today so we can schedule a time to talk!
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