More traffic, more leads and more of the right type of customer with Marketing.

Why do you need a website?

You’ve probably heard me say “nobody really wants a website” so do you need a website?

Yes, you need a website – ultimately your website is the container to both deliver content and capture leads so it's extremely important.

Designing, developing and hosting a website takes time, effort and budget. Creating content and campaigns takes even more time, effort and budget. Your website, and your marketing, will never actually be “finished” (there’s always more to do).

You can build out your marketing using social media, online advertising and old school media. However, there are two fundamental flaws with using only these models:

• Most social media platforms own your content, not you. And, at any time, the “terms of service” or an algorithm can change and you can lose all your content, all your traffic, leads and any future customers.
• If you’re paying for traffic then whenever you stop paying your traffic, leads and future customers stop.

Building a website is like owning your own home, and advertising is more like renting. When you stop paying rent (an expense) you’re out on the street. When you own your home then it costs more initially but you own the asset. Over time, as you make improvements, your asset value will increase.

Website Progression from an expense to an asset

Over the last decade we’ve mapped out this progression from your website being an expense to an asset that generates an ROI:

No Website

It’s better to get something online – as soon as possible. Even a Splash Page with your contact details is better than nothing, but far from effective.

Splash page

A Splash Page is good to hold the space and let Google know something’s coming. At a minimum you need to have your name, an introduction and contact details. Remember “progress over perfection”, you need to publish content to compete online.

Online brochure

In the early days of the web people put their brochures online. A good start... but ineffective for attracting visitors and unlikely to generate any leads. If you have some existing content – even if it’s old brochure content – it’s good to publish it on your website while you work on the next steps.

Authority Website

By publishing high quality, high value content regularly you attract visitors and search engines. Become a “thought leader” in your industry, share your expertise. Rather than trying to outsell your competitors you should aim to out-educate your prospects so you become an authority in your market.

Marketing Machine

When your website is delivering high value, useful and engaging content – and collecting visitor’s information – you will start to see a return on your investment. With additional offers visitors can exchange an email address for additional high-value content, webinars or other events. Your visitor has now been converted from a visitor to a lead.

Sales & Marketing System

With the right systems in place your sales team can see what your leads have been looking at, understand their needs, and help educate them. When your sales team are helping people that have expressed interest in your products and services your sales team become trusted advisors.

Now you know why you need a website let’s look at how you can get more traffic, more  leads and more of the right type of customer.

But first it’s important to understand the Buyer’s Journey.

The Buyer’s Journey

The Buyer’s Journey is the process buyers go through to become aware of, evaluate, and purchase a new product or service. More than ever the Buyer’s Journey is in the control of the buyer, not the salesperson nor the marketer.

This journey, as you’ve probably experienced, is never a linear path and often never a predictable timeframe. However, you can help your buyer along the Journey in a helpful friendly way.

The Buyer’s Journey is a three-stage process:

Awareness Stage

The buyer realises they have a “problem”.

Consideration Stage

The buyer defines their “problem” and researches options to solve it.

Decision Stage

The buyer chooses a solution.

I want more traffic

Build it and they will come only works in the movies. You can design and develop a website, create relevant high value content, and still get no traffic. Even though you’ve progressed to an “Authority Website” your website is still an expense.

Here’s what needs to happen to get more traffic:

Create relevant high value content

I’ve said it before and I will say it again: your content needs to be useful, relevant and high value. Without high quality content you will always find it difficult to rank in search engines, inspire people to share your content and even harder to get any engagement from your visitors.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Google, like most search engines prioritises high value, authoritative content using a complex formula of “On Page” and “Off Page” signals. With more optimisation you can climb the ranks of Google. Optimising your content for your local audience also has an impact on your search engine rank.

We talk about Google all the time because they account for 88.47% of searches in April 2019 according to Statistica.

Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is about using marketing to bring potential customers to you, rather than having your marketing efforts fight for their attention. “Sharing is caring” and inbound marketing is about creating and sharing content with the world.

When you create content specifically designed to appeal to your dream customers, Inbound Marketing attracts qualified prospects to your business and keeps them coming back for more.

Along the top are the four actions (Attract, Convert, Close, Delight) inbound companies must take in order to obtain visitors, leads, customers, and promoters. Along the bottom are the tools companies use to accomplish these actions.

The tools are listed under the action where they first come into play, but that’s not the only place they’re applicable! Several tools, like email, can be essential  during several stages of the methodology.

Email Marketing

Email marketing has the highest Return On Investment of all marketing. According to the DMA Marketer Email Tracker Research 2018 Email generates £32 for every £1 spent.

Marketing with email is extremely effective, measurable and it's probably the easiest to get started with – you don't need to have your website finished, you don't need to wait until everything is perfect, just start.

You probably already have an audience (your existing customers and networks) that would find your content useful.

Social Media

Love it – or hate it – you can't ignore Social Media. Your target market is on Social Media and you can reach them there with the right techniques and get new visitors to your content.

Benefits of Social Media for Business

Business was quick to discover the marketing power of being "Social". Most brands have representation on Facebook, Twitter and many of the more recent Social Networks like Instagram, Pinterest and even SnapChat.

The major benefit is that marketers can engage with their target market on the terms of the buyer not the seller. Conversely, old school advertising relied on interrupting the target audience and pushing messages on a schedule that suited the marketer.

Benefits of Social Media for Consumers

A good experience, or a bad experience is quickly amplified to your Social Network. More and more people are taking to Facebook and Twitter to voice their opinions. And, if organisations respond quickly this can work in their favour. Handled badly and the person’s connections will soon chime in, telling everyone about similar experiences and offering alternatives.

However, diplomatically handling a complaint, quickly and efficiently, can strengthen a brands online presence. Handled badly the same complaint badly amplifies the problem and has far reaching effects.

Online Advertising

You can accelerate your traffic flow with online advertising. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or Social Media Advertising can quickly drive traffic to your content.

There are four main types of advertising online:

1.  Search Advertising

The most successful online advertising has been Search Advertising – this is what made Google into a bazillion dollar business. It works well because if someone is searching for something in a Search Engine e.g. Google then the results are going to be an ideal place to advertise. The best type of advertising is educational content because people usually are hitting the search engine looking for an answer. Some search terms are more focused on purchasing decisions e.g. price comparisons and you should adjust your adverts accordingly.

2.  Display Advertising

Maybe you know them as banner ads. This is one of the least effective forms of digital advertising and this is reflected in the price. Usually you pay a low Cost Per Thousand (CPM) views. This is becoming less and less effective because of "Banner Blindness" where people ignore the ads. Also the rise of Ad Blocking software means these ads are being seen by less people.

3.  Retargeting

The most effective form of Display Advertising is Retargeting. When a visitor interacts on your website you can then target Display Advertising on other sites they visit. Retargeting works best when you Retarget visitors that have begun a purchase process e.g. if the abandon a shopping cart without completing the transaction.

Because you're only showing ads to people that have shown interest the cost is low and the conversion rate is higher than less targeted Display Advertising.

4.  Social Media Advertising

The new kid on the block is Social Media Advertising. You can pay to have your content injected into someone's Social Media feed for a fee. This has been an extremely effective method for inflating the value of Social Media companies and to reach your target market. Social Media Advertising works best when you promote the type of content your target market looks for when they are relaxing – in other words, people don't usually go to Social Media to shop.