Lack of Focus – the B2B website marketing malaise

We’ve recently completed quite a few website reviews and I wanted to share with you a serious, common issue which crops up time & time again. As you look at your website every day, you are too close to it to see it – this is why an external, expert pair of eyes is essential.

Let’s talk it through…

Who is it for?

Before looking at your website, grab a pencil and a piece of paper and mull over who you are trying to attract. Write down what these people are looking for when they hit your website – what questions do they have? What would make such people pick up the phone and contact you? How can your website reassure them and encourage them to take action?

Now fire up your web browser and take a long, hard look at where the vast majority of your online traffic begins their journey on your website: your homepage.

Carefully consider every element on your homepage, comparing it to what your target audience needs & expects to find.

Is it written in a language they will understand? Is it clear and to the point?

Is the design aligned to your brand and their needs? A professional company cannot afford to look shabby online.

Is everything your target audience needs clearly laid out on the homepage? If items are missing, take steps to include them.

Are there elements present on your homepage which were not on your list? If so, these can be just as concerning as omissions. Check if these extra elements are actually adding value to your target audience. Are they helping your target audience complete the goals you want? If the answer is no, remove them; as this will bring greater focus to your site and allow the actions you do want people to take, to shine through.

What do you want them to do?

People don’t have a lot of time online, they are impatient and their patience shrinks year by year. This means that your website needs to be crystal clear as to what action you want them to take. If you want them to contact you, to book an event, to download a white paper, to signup up to your newsletter; you have to make these ‘call to actions‘ bold and obvious.  A website is not a place to be shy.

All of your website pages should have one or more call to actions (which will be different depending on the page you are on).

If you’re not seeing call to actions on your website, go back to your target audience, mull over your product/service offering, and see how you need to joint the dots. Then bring this out on your website.

How will you measure it?

If I had a pound for every company we’d come across who have Google Analytics installed, but never look at it, I’d be a millionaire (well, a good couple of hundred quid at least). Google Analytics is not just for Christmas, it needs to be looked at and considered regularly. However, Google Analytics can be very intimidating, so you need to know what questions you want to ask it. Need help? Call an expert.

You need your analytics configured so that it helps measure that your call to actions are effective. And this may well go beyond just Google Analytics, you may well need to consider how the phone number is used on your website, the email address, the contact form; are you uniquely measuring how these are contributing to your sales funnel? Or is it all mixed up with your offline activity? It’s really important that you can correctly capture & measure the effectiveness of your website, if not, you’re in the dark.

Hope that gives you something to mull as you head off on your summer hols. If you want to hit the ground running in September, and need some help with all of this, please get in touch.

 

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