Before we buy, we want reassurance we are getting the best deal and the internet provides an instantaneous source of information to help us make a positive choice. Every time search engines match your website to a search enquiry, every element of your site will influence the visitor, for better or for worse.
First Impressions Count
Having a tired, outdated website is worse than having no website at all. Potential customers who find you are left with a negative first impression. Many companies invest heavily in their website initially, but fail to allocate resources to effective maintenance. It’s vital to account for changing trends, tastes and internet access technologies, such as mobile apps. Consider that a visitor will have clicked on multiple sites, all of which will be compared to yours.
Is Great Website Design Enough?
If a site lacks visitors, no amount of updating images or layout will improve this. Realise the potential of your site by ensuring your website can achieve the following goals:
- Attract potential customers – Research and identify keywords which will attract the right visitors.
- Build brand awareness – Can your visitor identify who you are and what you offer within a few seconds?
- Cultivate interest – The marketing hook. Match your brand with the specific needs of your buying market.
- Answer questions about your brand – Can your customer find information easily? This is where content marketing takes centre stage.
- The call to action (CTA) – Whether a special offer or a free consultation, the aim is to generate inbound leads for sales conversion.
Your website must also be updated regularly, offer useful information, quality images, social media links and current news feeds to create a positive, professional impression.
Combining Web Content & Content Marketing To Convert Traffic Into Leads
While good quality web content directly promotes your brand, content marketing takes a subtler approach. Offering valuable resources or interesting information for free makes buyers more likely to choose your brand over a competitor, when they’re ready to purchase. Popular forms of valuable content include:
- Blogs - An effective way to add new content to your online network. Promote event attendance and positive news, such as awards, prominent deals and new product launches. Potential customers will see you have an active presence in the marketplace. Offering insightful, useful advice on your blog will make you appear an expert.
- Videos - Short, snappy videos including highly specific, targeted messages can say a multitude about your brand in moments.
- EBooks - Invest in a high-quality eBook. This provides your customer with everything you want them to know about you or your key services in one downloadable resource.
- Case Studies - Case studies personalise your product by incorporating it into a story. Studies suggest that a majority of consumers prefer a message that sounds like a story, as it makes your product or service more directly relevant to their experience.
Once content is available on your website it can be shared across multiple digital channels. Social media platforms are a free means to increase brand awareness, whilst introducing your business to new contacts. Many companies make the mistake of including links which direct traffic to their homepage, when a purpose-built landing page, designed to capture contact information, provides a greater opportunity for conversion. Once you have access to a database of useful contacts, subscribers can receive email content to encourage inbound leads.
Can Marketing Automation Software Help Manage All These Tasks?
There are many software applications available to simplify content management. Hubspot’s Inbound Marketing Platform is a useful package which supports your overall web presence. The software aids the creation of web pages, blog posts, landing pages and email templates and assists with tricky tasks like hosting downloadable content. When used in conjunction with Hubspot’s free CRM, every interaction across your campaigns can be monitored and reported on. This information enables you to identify the strategies which work best for your business.
At JDR, our digital marketing experts create a carefully considered strategy, which works in conjunction with your website. Combining web design, search engine optimisation and our knowledge of the buyer mindset, we support the creation of consistent content campaigns, designed with inbound lead generation as the overall goal. We also provide intuitive software platforms to manage and analyse your online marketing processes at every stage. Get in touch for further details.
