In the competitive world of the internet today, a website will need to be built to perform if it is going to be a key marketing tool on its own. Rather than just being a brochure that’s “printed” online, it needs to be built to sell. We call this a Marketing Website. We approach this type of website in a more technical way. It took us quite a number of years to fully understand this kind of website and it has significantly changed the way we build them.
In a marketing site, the content of text, images, and video are equally important to the design. We usually begin by first establishing what content you want your website to rank for in search results. In other words, what are the search terms, or keywords, that you want your website to show up for when people search on Google or other search engines?
We begin by examining what are the keywords you need. What are words that are key to describing your business or service? We take those words and go to online tools to see their feasibility to build a search ranking around them. We may change the focus of these keywords to better match what terms or long-tail phrases appear to be best for ranking results.
We also make sure we establish what action constitutes a success for the website. This action might be making a phone call, signing up for an email list, filling out a contact form, or making a purchase on the website. We call this a conversion in marketing speak, and it is the single most important measurement of how valuable or successful the website is to your business.
After establishing these terms we begin the wireframe of laying out the website content, paying special attention to putting these keywords at strategic places on your site. We also make sure that the website creates a flow that moves the customer toward a conversion. On the home page, we have seven specific content sections that we target.
Hero Section
The most important part of your website is the first thing you see when you open your site. Ideally you’ll have a hero image that captures attention and an initial call to action. In the internet world of over stimulation and information overload, your website needs to tell visitors in an instant exactly what you offer on this website. We also present a call to action so it is clear what the next action is. You’ll want to make sure this is engaging and captivating to the user. Customers want to know they are at the right place and what to do next as quickly as possible. The first section is intended to do just that.
Difficulties Section
Secondarily, what is the problem or difficulty your customer is experiencing. By stating what problem you know your customers have, they can readily identify that you understand them. In understanding them and communicating that to them, you’ve taken the first step in building the trust to earn their business.
Value Proposition
Identifying the problem merely identifies a question. In the next section, we want to lay out what your answer to that question is. We call this the value proposition section. A clear list of reasons why they can trust you and what they can expect to gain in having you work with them on their problem. Couple this with a clear presentation of what your product or services are with a call to action to view them.
Guide to Resolution
In the fourth section, we look at the path to resolution. This builds on the previous section by following up with what you do by how you do it. There are three basic ways we can do this. We can list business credentials, such as years of experience, number of clients serviced, etc. Customer testimonials are also powerful, especially if they are from a verifiably unbiased source such as Google Reviews. Or we can show that you have a unique, empathetic connection to your clients, such as a seed supplier who also raises the crops that he sells.
3-Step Plan
Now that we’ve established some trust with the customer, we try to seal the deal. In the next section, we bring in a clear 1-2-3 step plan to help the customer in their current position to get started. What is the first step for them? Is it to give you a call or fill out a form? The second step is usually exploring the problem together and thirdly stating what will be the result of a successful journey. This section is something we will repeat on just about every page of your website.
Why Work With You
In the penultimate section we look to give them reasons why they should work with you. Here clearly state what they can expect in working with your company. We usually will link from here to your about page. If you’re in a service industry, most times customers want to know and see who they will be working with.
SEO Block
Lastly, we build out content blocks around our keyword goals. These content blocks tend to be quite a bit of text that are written primarily with the focus on giving the search algorithms the content of your website. This technique will enable your site to rank.
As we move into the content pages of your website, we follow a slightly modified version of these steps that are geared around the main content of the product or service page. However, we have found that these are the effective steps to building a strong website.
Give us a call 717-340-5539 or contact us and we’d be happy to see if we can build your next website as a marketing site that brings you results and watch your leads grow.