Mark Schmukler is a managing parter at Sagefrog Marketing.
Seven Clues That Your Company Needs a New Website
Mark Schmukler, Sagefrog Marketing Group, LLC
Your company probably has a website, but what has your website done for you lately? A modern website is competitive, professional, optimized and easy to use and maintain.
Are you getting the traffic, leads and sales that you expect and deserve? If your website is not performing as well as you believe it should, it’s probably time for a new website. Following are seven questions you need to ask to determine if it is time to revive your web presence:
1. Does my website portray the image of a successful company?
Your website should engage visitors with a professional design, and should entice them to learn more about your company, products and services. Your website should project the image of a company your size or larger with a strong professional brand identity, design, layout, imagery and illustrations.
2. Are my competitors’ sites attracting more attention than mine?
Have you checked out your competitors’ website lately? Do they look more professional, successful and up-to-date? Is their strategy and message clear? Is yours? Ideally, your website should be comparable, if not superior to your competitors.
3. Is my website content engaging and persuasive?
What are your company’s positioning, messages and value propositions? Is this information coming though on your website? You may be confusing people and scaring them away. Try talking a little less and saying a lot more. Edit text to communicate your message in fewer, shorter, and more thoughtful words and sentences. Using subheads and bullets can make complex information easier to understand.
4. Can visitors go to my website find the information they need?
Your home page should allow visitors to easily identify their areas of interest and get to relevant information fast with an intuitive user-interface, sitemap and well-organized content. Your site can be creative and exciting, but it should not be perceived as inappropriate by people in your market. If you have a lot of content and numerous web pages, you may want to consider drop down, pop-up or fly-out menus making your new website easier to navigate.
5. Is my website generating sales leads?
Every webpage of your website should have a call-to-action. Offer information that visitors find useful, and they will most likely provide their contact information in return. Don’t be too selfish. You need to “give-to-get”, providing “news they can use” so visitors will fill out an online lead form for you.
6. Can target customers find my website using search engines?
Your website needs to be found. The practice of getting your website found is known as Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Many people use web search engines and directories such as Google and Yahoo. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can get your website to “naturally” show up on the first few result pages of a search using relevant keywords and phrases. Search Engine Advertising (SEA) is paid advertisements on search engines – typically cost per click.
7. Is it easy to update and maintain my website?Most new websites offer content management and posting tools, enabling non-programmers to quickly and easily update the more dynamic sections such as news, events, and other frequently updated features. This is will help you keep your website fresh.
Conclusion
Your website should support your business strategy and objectives by engaging, persuading and generating leads. If it’s not, it’s time for a new website.
Mark Schmukler is a managing partner at Sagefrog Marketing Group, a full-services marketing, interactive and public relations agency specializing in health, technology, and business-to-business marketing. He can be reached at 215-230-9024 or marks@sagefrog.com.
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