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Ten Easy Ways To Improve Your Website and Bring In More Customers

The Internet is a powerful marketing tool that very few businesses harness effectively. Marketing online goes far beyond designing a visually appealing website. The more effort and time you put into your site, making it easy to use, more “visible” via search engines, and more interactive for your visitors, the more targeted traffic you will generate and the more business you will gain. 

Your website is no different from a piece of capital equipment. While you want it to show well for plant tours, its purpose is not being "eye candy," but creating output, business intelligence, and ROI.

Here are a few quick tips you can follow to improve an existing website or ensure a new website becomes a valuable marketing tool for your business.

1) It’s never too late to have goals

Without looking at your website, take out a piece of paper and write the three outputs you want your website to provide to your company. For example, these can be “more leads,” “clearly explain what we do, and what we do not do,” “highlight our leadership position,” “provide quick access to our products, partners, or people,” “sales,” and/or many other goals you want to achieve. Rank them from most to least valuable.

Now, think of the key types of people you want to attract to your site, which pages you want them to visit, and what to do next. (Called “pathways.”) It’s okay to have five or more target types all with different entry pages and pathways. As you did above, rank them.

Finally, look at your website. Does it do any/all of these? If you were one of the target types above, would you feel compelled to follow the pathway that provides your company with the most value?

If not, rework the relevant portions of your website to meet these goals and provide your top targets with the information they want in an order that provides your company with what you want. (See tip #8: Conversations and soft conversions below.)

2) You only get what you measure

This adage is just as true for your website as for any other business operation. A generation ago, the only way you knew your advertising was working was by inbound phone calls and resulting sales. Now, you can see how many people are clicking on which pages, their pathways, where they came from (referring sites and/or keywords, i.e., what they type into Google or other search engines to find your site), and far more. 

In short, you should have a web stats package providing this information and/or have Google Analytics installed and be reviewing these dashboards at least monthly. 

Are your visits increasing or declining? Are your key products and service pages the most compelling to your visitors? Do people get to your contact page, but don't actually contact anyone? These are important things to know and your web stats should reveal this … and more.

Make sure to align the findings and follow-on actions to your goals. (See tip #1: It's never too late to have goals above.) 

3) Think "vegetable drawer," not "closet"

Freshness counts. Look at your news section. If the most recent article is more than three months old, then you need to freshen up your site. (Or, at least, remove the dates.) 

If nothing ever changes, why would anyone ever come back? If your website is stale, what does this say about your company and its products/services?

Think of easy ways to add fresh news or articles to your website in an ongoing way. Whether it’s a blog, case studies, press releases, trade show attendances, industry news, etc., adding new content keeps prospects engaged. And it is also good for search engines. (See tip #7: Three very important letters: SEO below.)

4) Question: Has your website gone mobile?

Answer: Your clients and prospects have.

Your web analytics (see tip #2: You only get what you measure above) should tell you how many people are viewing your website on mobile devices or pads. The next question is: Has your website been optimized for smart phones and iPads? Take out your phone or iPad and see how easy it is for one of your key targets to find the information they need and take the actions you want. If you are unimpressed or frustrated, then your visitors are likely also frustrated. It’s time to improve the user experience for your mobile visitors.

5) Feel the need for speed

Attention spans are short! The best way to lose a site visitor is to have your website load slowly. The rule of thumb is that you have no more than three seconds to make a great impression when someone lands on your site. If those three seconds are being wasted watching … images … slowly … load, then you lost your opportunity and your prospects have likely moved to another site. 

In addition, search engines use the speed at which your site loads in their algorithm, meaning the faster your site loads the higher it might be ranked on search results pages. If your site is slow, then your site will get penalized with lower rankings. Make sure that the images you have on your site are optimized for the web and load quickly. 

6) Know and incorporate keywords

Understanding your target audience and what they are searching for is key to attracting the right visitors to your website. A crucial part of any online marketing strategy is to educate yourself on what your audience wants and which words they use when they search on Google, Yahoo, Bing, or other search engines. 

Google has a handy online tool for determining which keywords are used the most when searching for your products or services. Also, monitor your web analytics (see tip #2: You get what you measure above) to learn what words your current prospects are using to find your site. Also determine which words your successful competitors use. There are plenty of free tutorials online to help get you started. Want someone else to do this for you? Any qualified search engine optimization (SEO) firm can provide this report at a reasonable cost.

Keyword research should be one of the first things you do before writing new content, optimizing pages, etc. If you take one action after reading this article, this should be it.

Once you collect the best keywords, learn how to use them in your content pages and articles. This will help you attract people who search for these terms using Google or other engines. 

7) Three very important letters: SEO

Search engine optimization or “SEO” is a way of optimizing your website to increase the visibility and ranking of your web pages in major search engines. 

There is a tremendous amount of planning and techniques that could and should go into optimizing a website (far too much for this article), but just know that using the proper keywords, adding quality content on a regular basis, and marketing your site in the proper channels should dramatically increase traffic and leads.

You can also pay for ads on Google or other search engines that appear when people type in these keywords. Called AdWords on Google, this is a great method of paying your way onto the first page of the search engine results.

Organic vs. Paid Search? Free or organic search is when people search for something using a search engine such as Google and your site “naturally” appears in the results. Paid search, such as Google AdWords, is when you spend money to appear on the results pages. The best solution is often a combination. A good rule of thumb: use paid search for your most important keywords until you are in the top 10 (on the first page) organically.

8) Conversations and soft conversions 

Here is an easy one. Find a contact form or feedback field on your website that provides something other than a sales call. That is, find a place where the prospect can request a white paper or monthly e-newsletter, sign up for a webinar, or join an ongoing discussion, etc. without the fear their phone will instantly ring. 

If you cannot find any forms without a sales-call threat attached, then add some. 

The goal is to trade contact (their information) for content (your thought leadership). This is called a soft conversion. They have not yet purchased anything (called a hard conversion), but they have let you know they are interested in your company or your ideas and/or are willing to share their ideas or questions with you. You will have time to earn their business after you engage them. Hint: the less contact information you request, the more form submissions you will receive

This will also reveal what parts of your website and which content your community finds most interesting.

Here’s a handy and free online tool: rate your website with HubSpot’s website grader. This quickly generated report provides ideas for increasing traffic and improving SEO.

9) Be easy to reach, then do some outreach

Be accessible. Your email and phone number should be on each page of your website and easy to find. Some people will want to reach out and speak to a human voice. Make it easy. Respond to all your web-form submissions within 24 hours, or sooner. Ensure that all forms have a "thank you" page, so people know their form has been received and what will happen next. Also set up an auto-responder that sends an e-mail with this information and other contact details. This is reassuring, and now they will also have your company’s contact information on their computer, mobile device, and iPad. 

Once you have their contact information, create outbound messages such as an e-newsletter or webinar, trade show, or event invitation. Respect their "in" boxes by sending them only relevant information and not too many e-mails in any given month. Also make sure the outbound e-mails include links to your website to increase inbound traffic and let you know which e-mails they found most valuable.

10) Finally, join the social media revolution

Start by doing some research on where your customers and competition are in the world of social media. All businesses should be on LinkedIn. Additionally, all your key people should have robust LinkedIn profiles with links to your website. 

Hint: add a LinkedIn “Follow our company” button to your website.

There is also Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and thousands of other social media sites on which you can build relationships, show thought leadership, and add links (called backlinks) to relevant content on your website. 

Start with just one or two and grow as you have time and success. Social media can play a major role in your future marketing efforts, reputation, and brand management, and improve customer service all at the same time. 

As importantly, do not be preachy or salesy, just join in on the discussion. It is fun and easier — and far more rewarding from an ROI perspective — than you might imagine.

In summary: Do not feel pressured to use all ten of these tips immediately. Each tip will help increase your web presence and, over time, your bottom line.

This article was contributed to Blackman Kallick’s Manufacturing Edge by Stuart Baum, Director of Marketing at Blackman Kallick, and Ryan Adams, Certified Internet Marketing Consultant at WSI. For more information on any of these tips — or help turning your company’s website into an ROI machine — contact Stuart at sbaum@BlackmanKallick.com or 312-980-3211, Ryan at info@wsipremieresolutions.com, or your Blackman Kallick representative.

This publication is part of Blackman Kallick’s marketing of professional services, and is not written tax advice directed at the specific facts and circumstances of any person and/or entity. Contents of this publication are of a general nature, and you should not act on this information without obtaining professional advice from your business advisor that is appropriately tailored to your individual needs and circumstances. This written advice is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used by any taxpayer, for the purpose of avoiding penalties that may be imposed under the Internal Revenue Code.