Is your website working for you as it is supposed to?
Some might consider their website as just another formality or even unnecessary these days but, as we explained in our article about the necessity of a website for any ambitious business, this feeling arises either from misunderstanding the core mechanisms of online marketing or they don’t really know what to expect from their web pages.
Now, we are not going to dig into the basic, obvious characteristics that any presentation site should have, like good looking design, accurate information about the business, contact details and loading speed, but rather focus on the things that make the difference between an ordinary online brochure and a high performing web presence that will actually take your business to the next level. So, let’s have a look at how to turn your website from a liability to an asset.
What makes a website work for you?
Just as any business asset, the website should help in reaching your business goals. Most of the time, the main goal is to generate more leads and sales but it could also be raising brand awareness, loyalty programs, gathering marketing data, newsletter lists etc. You can, therefore, measure the performance of your web pages based on them and yes, we always strongly advise to aim for measurable results for any online project. Here are the 5 very important characteristics that will help you reach the desired performance out of your website.
Conversion
What happens to the visitors that get to see your website? Are they just looking around or are they taking the next step in becoming your customers? That is ‘conversion’ and every aspect of your website should contribute to it. It is very important to measure it and it is quite easy to do that with any web analytics tool available. Google Analytics are now referring to conversions as “key events” and for good reason. They are the key to your success on the web. It’s what actually gets you customers and valuable leads.
That is why you must maximize the conversions everywhere on your website. Not just with a “click now” button somewhere at the end of the page or with your contact form. Every little section should be designed in such a way that the visitor is naturally guided along the sales process towards becoming a qualified lead. I’m not saying that you should put aggressive calls to action everywhere, but every piece of content should lead to something that brings even more value to your potential customers and persuades them to either dig a bit deeper or engage with you in some way. For example, a photo could lead to an explanatory text, the text can contain a link to a service list and every item in that list will lead to a subscription form or registration procedure. An even better example would be to contact us and request a free conversion analysis of your website. Yes, just as the famous quote “always be closing” from Glengarry Glen Ross, we should always be converting.
Interconnectivity
Even if you have a very powerful tool, if you keep it in the shed just to gather dust, that will only generate costs. Just as well, if your website is not interconnected with the rest of your business processes, it will just require some periodic updates without doing much for you. We encountered many cases of businesses ‘forgetting’ about their new website that they have launched just a few months ago and, later on, complain that, apart from a few sporadic inquiries from visitors, not much is happening on their page. But the outcome would be completely different if they have actually used their site. If it is a proper conversion tool as described in the previous point, then you should point all stakeholders to it as much as possible, as often as possible. Don’t be shy to mention it in any conversation or speech that you have and make sure to include a link to it in your digital signature, business card or social media interaction. Also, any physical promo (like banners, flags, flyers etc.) should contain at least a QR code if not more advanced means like the NFC labels used by one of our clients – Rathgeber & Co. Their ID Connect project allows users to directly access a product’s presentation site just by scanning the NFC label with their mobile phones.
Remember: your website is a lead generation machine, so make sure you direct as many people to it as possible.
Search Engine Optimization
SEO is not a new term anymore and pretty much everyone with a minimum interest in anything web-related knows now what search engines are and why it matters to be present in their search results. There are tones of articles and other resources on how to properly implement SEO strategies and we’re not going to go too much in detail here. But we need to point out the importance of having your website properly indexed by Google, Bing and other search platforms. Just like in the case of interconnectivity, the main idea is to get as many people visiting your page so that you can get a chance of turning them into clients. Search engines are your gateway to people that you can’t reach directly and it’s paramount that you are as present as you can be in their searches.
Achieving really good rankings, especially on very common key words or phrases is no easy task and we might publish some more articles with tips on how to do it. But for starters, here are some basic concepts to get you started in being at least reachable through search.
SEO activities fall into 3 categories: on-page SEO, off-page SEO and technical SEO.
On-page (or on-site) SEO refers to optimizations you can do directly on to your website. It mainly concerns the site’s content, structure and metadata. Most website users can do most of the on-page optimization tasks by themselves as it doesn’t require too much technical acumen. Basically, you need to make sure that keywords and key phrases are present in all the texts, titles, internal links. The meta description is also very important and it should be aligned with your keyword strategy. When uploading images, make sure you include an alt-text that will help search engines identify your page as a good source for information regarding your keywords and, of course, the URLs for all your pages should match their titles and content in general. HubSpot has done a really good job offering an overview of everything concerning on-page SEO and you can find their article here.
Off-page SEO is a bit more difficult to control, as it refers to optimization activities conducted outside of your website, mainly on Social Media platforms and other third-party sites that can help you increase the number of backlinks that lead to you. The basic principle is to have your website referenced in regard to key phrases and subjects as much as possible. Again, HubSpot did a very good job explaining this as well in their article here.
Technical SEO, as its name suggests, requires a bit of technical know-how, especially regarding tasks like data structuring, sitemaps, speed optimization and responsive/mobile readiness. Of course, if you need assistance with any of these 3 areas, contact us now and we will gladly help!
Automation
Now this sounds complex, but it’s actually quite simple. The main question you should ask yourself is “How many business processes are now automated by my website?”. If you just have an online brochure, that will not count for much, but your website can do so much more for you nowadays, especially with the help of AI tools and even basic, free plugins and modules. Here are some quick examples of easily automated operations: support services (with AI assistance), automatic payment processes, subscriptions management, automatic customer loyalty programs, booking systems, calendars & team cooperation, repetitive workflows, data collection, business intelligence and reporting systems, shipping and delivery etc.
By automating key processes, your website can become one of your highest performing investments.
Reliability
What use is a powerful, high performing tool if you can’t rely on it? Just as well, apart from bringing you all the benefits we explored so far, your website should be reliable and able to evolve in the same rhythm as your business. For this, we need to focus on 3 key aspects (or 3 ‘S’s, if you want): stability, security, scalability.
When you have a high performing website that brings in so much value, you surely don’t want it to crash and stop. That is why it is important to have a reliable hosting environment that is powerful enough to assure optimal performance under any circumstances, especially under high pressure, and a stable platform on which it is built.
Keeping the security systems up to date is no longer an option as attacks are being conducted non-stop by harmful bots all over the world and they can cause serious trouble by bringing your site down or even cause data leaks. Overlooking the security aspect can turn your site into a serious liability for your business. Somewhat related to security is the compliance with legal regulations like GDPR in Europe or Data Privacy Laws in the US. Any breach could end up in very costly fines.
Scalability is somewhat overlooked especially by people who are just starting to bring their business online, but soon enough, when the business grows, it will be very frustrating to start over and rebuild the website just because it cannot accommodate a new section or feature. That is why it’s important to have a long term plan and develop your web presence using scalable, reliable platforms and technologies that are easy to maintain and upgrade. Some might intentionally skip this at the beginning, fearing that it will require a costly investment right from the start. But that doesn’t have to be the case. With proper long term planning, even platforms like WordPress, OpenCart or Magento can provide a good foundation for successful, scalable projects.
If you are considering building a new website or optimizing your current one, let us know and we will help you with a free one hour consulting session where we can discuss all factors that can influence your project’s performance.
Latest comments