Web Site Leverage

Ever go to a web site and find that after poking around a few pages you just click off and go to another site? Of course. It happens millions of times a day on the web. Why? Good question!

This is number seven in my series of "Dumb Marketing Mistakes" where the mistake I'lll explore is "Not Leveraging Your Web Site." This is an important one because if you can't get people to stick around your site and eventually contact you, your web site is just taking up cyberspace.

What does a results-producing web site need? Let's start with quality design, clear formatting and substantial content on every page. And you need to answer the "What's in it for me?" question every step of the way. But that's just the beginning.

Even sites that have all the bases covered often miss the key to turning visitors into clients. It's the difference between a web site that "just sits there" and one that gets a prospect to give you a call or send an email saying, "Can you help me?"

And that big key is called the "Call-to-Action." And you don't just use it once, but over and over throughout your site. Here are some important calls-to-action that you can easily add to your site:

1. At the bottom of every page tell people where to go next
Then include a link that points there. If you don't, your visitors will scratch their heads thinking, "Where do I go next?" and then scroll up to the navigation bar to figure it out. Don't make them think. Make it obvious where they should go next.

Your directions might say something like: "Now that you have a better idea of the kind of clients we work with, click here to learn about the results you can expect to receive from our services."

2. A "Contact Us" link, also at the bottom of every page
Who knows when the inspiration will strike to contact you? Have you ever been on a web site and wanted to contact the company but couldn't find an email address or a phone number? Bye, bye business. And make that Contact Us page more than a phone number, email and address. Tell them what will happen when they contact you. Make it easy to do business with you.

3. A response form at the bottom of every services page
Take an extra step here. Insert a small form that they can fill out to request even more information about that service. Get their name, email, company name and the answers to a few questions about their needs. Yes, people do fill out these forms. But keep them simple!

4. Have them do something that will get them involved
This is the psychology behind the Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes. It would be easier to just have people mail back the form. But they found that the more involvement, the better the response. You might try a survey of some kind.

5. Have prospects apply to be your client
When I created the Marketing Action Groups, I decided, instead of a "payment link" at the end of the description of the groups, to put in an application form. This way I can screen applicants, as I don't accept everyone. Then I send an acceptance email to those I felt would get the most from the group with a payment link. The conversion rate is still very high. When I accepted individual clients, I used a similar application form.

6. Capture their name and email address
This is really the number one purpose of a web site. Offer a pithy article or report, plus an email newsletter (in that order) in exchange for their contact information. Once you have them on your eZine list, the marketing really starts. I call it "keep-in-touch marketing."

7. Offer ongoing calls-to-action in your eZine
I generate much more business from the eZine than from new visitors to the web site. Think of the web as the place where you introduce yourself to your prospects. And think of the eZine as the place they get to know you. Then invite them to explore your services in more depth (by sending them back to the web site).

Now go back to your site and start inserting all these calls-to-action. I promise you'll start getting better results!

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Every single marketing activity needs to include a call-to-action. But the web site is a "call-to-action machine" that moves people step-by-step through the marketing process. And this is true marketing leverage, because you don't even have to be there to do it.

Learn more how to create a web site that attract more clients at the Web Site ToolKit.

Please share how calls-to-action have worked to leverage your web site.

Comments

[Robert E. Spivack]

How to put contact info on your website:

Don't just put a "contact us" link on every page. Design your masthead or footer to actually include your mailing address, phone number, and email info right on every page.

"contact us" takes effort to click and go to another page. Putting your contact info on every page makes it even easier to find. With so many fly-by-night websites, having your full contact info visible quickly adds a lot of credibility.

It also makes a predictable reference feature. Existing customers or prospects will get into the habit of knowing they can always lookup your phone number or contact info by just viewing your website. They can lose your businesscard or mess up their address book in their computer, but if they know how to find you, they will always be able to do so.

Of course, you should use a mailing address or business address, not your home/personal address. (Tech note: you can "render" your email address as a graphics image so it is not readable by spam harvesters.)

A good graphic designer can add your contact info without it taking up much room - it doesn't have to be 24 point type, just normal 8 or 10 pt is fine.

2. NEVER put a "mailto:" link anywhere on your site. Not even on your "contact us" page. Wherever you want a visitor to contact you, put a form they can fill out (and as you advise, keep it short and easy).

There are two reasons for NEVER using a "mailto:" link anywhere on a site:

First, the way it works is bad. The link tells your browser "open the already-installed email program on your PC and start the 'compose' function with the "TO:" address already filled out".

This is horrible because it assumes the user has a working email program on their computer. If they don't or on a friends' PC, a public PC, a kiosk, etc. then it simply won't work and they will give up trying and never contact you.

You also lose the "focus" of your visitor. All of a sudden, they are thrown into their email software which probably fills the screen of their computer. This changes their state of mind and could easily lead them to do other things like suddenly remember the other mails they wanted to send or need to check for, etc. and never bother to finish actually contacting you.

Secondly, the "mailto:" link creates an easy place for spammers to harvest your email address. It is a sad fact that even today otherwise professional web designers that often charge thousands of dollars for a job will still put "mailto:" links on the site.

So this is one area where the owner/business person must be a little "hands on" and tell their designer what to do - don't just leave it to them to "build your site".

This may seem like "plumbing under the hood" but it affects the way visitors interact with the site and follow-up so it is critical element of making your site work.

Robert E. Spivack
VP Sales & Marketing
www.voicegateway.com Web Services

[Rich Brooks]

Robert,

Another great post. Too often Web sites are just online brochures, with no opportunity to connect with prospects and customers. Whether through word-of-mouth or a search engine or an incoming link we have someone's attention for a brief moment in their busy day; we need to make the most of that moment.

One comment I have is on creating calls-to-action.

Although it's very common to see someone links words like "click here" or "learn more", it's a missed opportunity.

Search engines give more weight to the words in a link, also called "anchor text." Rather than optimize your site for "click here" you could optimize it for "marketing plan" or "retention services" or "hire a birthday clown now!"

In addition, studies have shown that people's eyes are drawn to the hyperlinks in a page, so it makes sense to highlight your best keyphrases, rather than commands like "click here."

After all, the search engines don't buy from us, people do!