Make The Most Of Your Website

September 20, 2015 by Andy Crow

Nearly every business now has a website that cost time and money to design. When yours was built, you probably had a list of objectives that you wanted it to achieve. The question is, is it doing what you set it out to do?

A standalone website with no support isn’t an asset. It won’t help your business grow; it simply becomes another ‘thing’ you need to worry about.

However, a good website coupled with the right digital marketing strategy can become one of your business’ most important assets.

1. What objectives do you have for your website?

Do you need your website to drive enquiries, leads or new customers? Are your customers going to buy from you online? Maybe your website is purely about portraying your brand.
Once you’ve established the objective for your website, you can build the appropriate marketing strategy to complement it.

2. Are you getting enough inbound leads from your website?

How many enquiries have you had that have come directly from your website?

Do you even measure where your leads come from? If not, start doing that immediately.

Your website and any digital marketing spend you invest in needs to be costed in, just like any other source of new business. Once you’ve established how many leads you’re getting, compare that to how many you need.

You then you have the basis of an objective for your digital marketing.

3. Is your site visible in search engine rankings?

Your first source of online leads is going to be via engine traffic. These are the results that show up in the main section of results when you search on Google and roughly 60% of users click on these links.

However, Google will only rank you at the top of the results if your website is deemed ‘relevant’. Great content, (such as tweets and blogs) and links to your website from other reputable sites are all factors when it comes to how high you appear in Google’s results.

Check where you appear. Put yourself in the shoes of a potential customer. You’re looking for a business that does what you do, but you don’t know any by name. What search terms would you use? Type them in.

Does your business appear on the first page? 75% of users never scrolling past the first page of results!

4. Do you need even more leads you have currently?

Another way you can drive traffic and leads is via paid advertising online, or pay per click. Google calls this AdWords.

By simply selecting a few keywords that best describe what your business does, the geographic locations you are interested in driving traffic from and the maximum amount you are willing to spend, Google will ensure your website appears at the very top or the right hand side of its results page.

5. Are these hard-won leads turning into customers?

Finally make sure that some of that hard won traffic on your website converts into paying customers.

You need to ensure the information on your website is easy to find and navigate. Are your products and services easy to find? Is your phone number, email address or online product catalogue easy to interact with?

If you have any questions from the points discussed above, please contact Chorus Business Advisers Ltd on 0845 867 1263 or visit our website www.chorusadvisers.co.uk