Web strategies for the downturn, Volume #1

If you’re feeling the pinch and need more prospects and sales, then it could be that some simple web strategies could help.

HAVE A CLEAR AND PERSUASIVE HOME PAGE

Prospects will often check you out by looking at your website before contacting you. A well designed home page that gives a positive first impression will give more prospects the confidence to contact you. A home page should clearly communicate what you do and the benefits you provide to customers. So a poor or nonexistent home page could be stopping people from getting in touch and narrowing your sales funnel.

FOCUS - DON’T TRY TO BE ALL THINGS TO ALL PEOPLE.

Basic common sense business rules apply here. If you try to be too many things to too many people you’ll end up diluting your core value proposition. If you do have distinct customer segments, then provide separate areas on your website with targeted content, and relevant language. If you have a sales strategy to sell more radios to emergency services then make sure your website is focused on that goal, as getting more of the wrong type of inquiry could send you off track.

MAKE SURE YOU’RE GETTING FOUND ON GOOGLE

Google is often the first place people turn to find products and services. So if you don’t appear in the search listings, then these prospects won’t be contacting you! The basics of getting found on Google are quite easy, but it just needs some thought and effort. Google is looking for content that is relevant to what people are searching for and prefers sites that it finds easier to crawl. Think to yourself, “what will my customers really be searching for?” It doesn’t matter if you’re ranked #1 for ‘natural wool insulation’ if your prospects are actually searching for ‘energy efficient insulation’. Do some keyword research and optimize your web pages and content to match.

COMMUNICATE TO YOUR PROSPECTS

There’s a number of ways to communicate to your prospects, and making yourself noticed on a regular basis will help to raise awareness of your company and your products and services. Use email marketing software to send regular posts direct to your prospects in-boxes. Consider using low-cost social marketing to extend your reach. This can include the creation of a useful company blog that prospects can subscribe to, commenting on other blogs where your prospects hang out, having a Facebook page and even posting to your own company Twitter feed. If all of this sounds alien to you, find someone who understands it and get them to help you set to things up. Once you have these set up, the cost to get significant reach is virtually zero and just takes an small ongoing investment of your time. Plus it’s fun!

USE TARGETED LANDING PAGES (CHASE THE LONG TAIL)

Do you have a product that can be used for a range of needs? Consider a luxury hotel room that’s perfect for weekend retreats, honeymoons or business stays. Each of these prospect types will be searching for different things on Google and will be looking for different things. Think about creating specially targeted landing pages for each. You’ll extend your reach even further and stand a much better chance of converting visitors into buyers.

I hope these ideas are useful: we’ll be posting more ideas shortly. Remember, the chances are that your competition aren’t doing this stuff so here’s your chance to get ahead.