Is Your Web Site Holding Back Sales?

Is Your Web Site Holding Back Sales?
16
Apr

While that may be true to some extent, more often the culprit is an outdated Web site with confusing messaging or lousy content. These days, a lot of attention is paid to social media, mobile apps, big data analytics, retargeting, email automation, etc. However, your humble Web site is the hub of all these efforts and the lynchpin to making it work.
Your site should increase sales to new and existing customers. In the past, closing new business was 80% sales effort and 20% marketing; these ratios are now reversed.

1. Are you employing a mobile-first design that is responsive across all platforms and browsers? In 2014, for the first time ever, the number of people accessing the Internet via mobile channels surpassed those using desktop. If your site experience is not suited for mobile, it is likely visitors will leave and not come back. Google also announced that it would penalize sites that are not mobile optimized. Have an old-school site? You can count on your page rank dropping. Speaking of search engine optimization, you’ll want to make sure your site is buttoned up with updated title tags and descriptions that follow Google’s algorithm rules. These rules change constantly, and if you don’t rank on search, you might as well not exist in the digital advertising, digital world.
2. Is your Web site the hub of a well-constructed digital ecosystem? Put a strategy in place for getting qualified prospects to your site and bringing them through the sales funnel. When a prospect comes to your site, he should be led through a clear path to convert to a lead. Minimize the amount of clicks it takes a user to get the information he’s looking for, and you’ll reap the rewards. Your site’s digital ecosystem should also encompass a combination of social media, email, marketing automation, and paid media to nurture prospects. Keep in mind: The average person gives a Web page seven seconds to decide to engage or leave, so make it worth their time.
3. Do you have a content marketing strategy? Content marketing may be the single most important element of your site. Content adds depth and encourages engagement by being the payoff to the visitor’s search. It gives you a chance to show your expertise and help the prospect make an educated purchase decision. Great content can actually determine the purchase criteria for the buyer. If you can accomplish that you’ll have an advantage over your competitors. If your site is lacking ongoing content marketing, it is nothing more than a digital brochure. Without a solid strategy in place, you will not engage prospects, and they will quickly be on their way to another site that can answer their questions.
4. Are Web analytics set up correctly on your site to track performance? Actively monitoring site performance gives you intelligence on dozens of factors, including how people are finding the site, search performance, on-page engagement, and how visitors are making their way to your calls to action.
Creating and maintaining a Web site has never been more complex or critical to your sales success. A great site can be your best salesperson. Conversely, a poorly performing site can make your sales job infinitely harder.