5 reasons your website isn’t attracting leads
- Lisa Barone is co-founder and chief branding officer at Outspoken Media and a contributor to Small Business Trends. The opinions expressed are her own. -
So, what are your big Internet marketing plans for the New Year? Will you be investing more in social media? Will you start blogging? Will you take a more proactive stance with self-promotion? Whatever your online marketing plans, the end goal is likely to attract more people to your website in the hopes that the influx of new eyes will translate into new customers, new leads and new opportunities for your business. However, you won’t be able to do any of that if your Web site is turning people off, instead of turning them on.
Below are some very common reasons small and medium-sized business (SMB) websites fail to attract customers and how to avoid falling prey to them.
1. There’s no conversion path in place.
One criticism of many SMB sites is that they don’t include a clear conversion path for their customers. If you want customers to take a certain action, you need to create a funnel intended to guide them to do that. Simply stringing together a number of content pages won’t necessarily put someone on the path to buy. Your conversion path may be as simple as a solitary landing page paired with a call to action, or as complex as an entire microsite. Either way, you are in charge of designing the flow of your website. Creating a clear conversion path not only helps customers feel more comfortable on your site, it also gives you clear data to track so that you can see where people are abandoning, where they’re engaging, etc. The more data you have to act on, the better you can design your site to attract new customers.
2. There’s no sign of life.
Customers are discriminating. You can bet that when they land on your website they’re going to kick the tires a little to see if they can trust you. They’re going to check your copyright date to see if it lists 2011 or 2006. They’re going to look for old statistics or other signs you haven’t taken the time to update your content. They’re going to check your company blog to see how often it’s updated, if you reply to commenters, if people are talking back, etc. They’re going to look for signs that you’ve created a dynamic website, instead of one lying around in stagnant water. Before your customers get there, take a look around yourself. Would you hang out with you?
Google service helps small businesses
Web-challenged small business owners, take note. Google unfurled the latest in its long line of freebie services last week, this time offering a so-called “dashboard” aimed squarely at local businesses suffering from a weak online presence and lack of web know-how.
The new service gives business owners a simple, if limited, way to track information about their customers. Drawing on its map and search data, Google produces metrics such as what zip code your customers are coming from and what words they’re searching for to find your business. Owners can use such information to help them make business decisions on, say, where to open up a second store or how to fine-tune the products or services they offer.
Google will likely use the information provided by small business owners to try to sell ads to them, but, still, the service is a novel idea that’s bound to appeal to many small companies, particularly those looking to expand locally.
Signing up for the service at Google’s “Local Business Center” also allows any business with a brick-and-mortar store or office to customize how their company is listed on Google’s search and map services. For example, a mom-and-pop eatery can beef up their listing to include a menu, hours of operation and pictures and video of what’s on offer. A business can also try to attract new customers by hawking printable promotional coupons on their listing.
Of course, for those small businesses looking to grow their online presence in a big way there’s no substitute for having a bona fide website. But for those just coming to grips with the marketing possibilities of the web, Google’s new service could just be the fast, cheap and easy introduction they need.
Google is not the only option. Small businesses willing to shell out a few dollars might try Wordtracker, a service that helps companies identify popular keywords and phrases that can help drive people to their website or listing through internet searches.
For those firms looking for a wider array of data, Webtrends could be the granddaddy of them all (note: Reuters is a client), especially if your company already has a website. The service allows you to track everything from what referrals you are getting from search engines to navigational trends between pages on your site and advertising results.
I own a small business in childcare due to all the job losses there’s no relief that I see coming. My capacity was 42 children and now it’s down to 13 children I can barely keep the doors open. I’m on my computer everyday trying to find assistance, but therefore ther’s none forthe child care providers.
This is a great article, like many others I’ve read. The biggest problem I, as a small business owner, have is the amount of time this all takes. I’ve participated in seminars to learn more, and have implemented a lot, but there is still so much to do! Time is my biggest barrier, other than the high cost of hiring someone to do it for me. Thanks, though. Every little bit helps.