What’s the purpose of your website? Do you have a purpose? Who is it targeting? Have you asked yourself these questions?
The web didn’t come with a manual so you have to figure it our for yourself, be taught or buy talent to help you. With that said no one can say for certain exactly how the web works for your business. But we know a lot.
The first question I asked is: what’s your website for? If you ask businesses with a successful website (great traffic, great conversions, adds to the bottom line) this question you’re going to get different answers. There are different kinds of sites with different intentions.
For most businesses they are interesting in more business so for this article let’s say the purpose of your website is more business. This means that your website has to be selling for you. It has to be like a little salesman that out there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week selling.
What kind of website to you have? How do you know?
There are several kinds of websites. The two most common are: brochure sites and direct response sites. A brochure site is very common. It’s got page after page of products and descriptions. It’s all about the company and what they offer. It’s the natural extension of paper brochures that the company hands out. The brochure has moved online.
An example: A fair size plumbing outfit decides to create a web presence to generate leads. It hires a web designer who creates a beautiful site that shows all the things the plumbing outfit can do. When you go to the site you see they work with residential plumbing and commercial plumbing. They have inspection services, several vans carrying many supplies reducing supply runs, and have payment terms. This all sound good.
This describes a lot of business websites out there. Page after page of product information and service offerings. Just like their paper counter parts. This isn’t a website that sells.
Now, let’s try something different. The other kind of site is intentionally a selling website.
Direct response websites promote a business through execution of carefully thought through strategies talking to prospects visiting the site about their needs. Doing what can be done to engage the prospect about their problems and suggesting solution paths for them. Often they offer a range of free tools and products to build rapport.
There are many fewer sites like this out there. It’s easy to understand. The plumber knows about running water through pipes. Maybe Heating and HVac systems too. This is his area(s) of expertise. His brochures may help him sell in the real-world but online, the brochure does nothing for the business. If someone telephones him finding his phone number on his brochure website it’s most likely because they were looking for his number anyway, they are ready to buy. Ready to buy customers are about 3% of all web traffic. Just 3%. The other 97% are not and the brochure is just like every other brochure on the web – a chore to get through.
So, is your website selling for you?
If you have thoughts about this article please share them. What do you think?