How to Turn Your Website into a Powerful Marketing Tool
Your website is one of the best marketing tools for your organization. Today, your business practically doesn’t exist if you don’t have an online presence through a website and social media.
For the 5 billion internet users, your company's website is equivalent to a physical business. Think about it: when you want to learn more about a brand, the first thing you usually do is turn to Google and find its website. The same goes for a prospective customer looking for your products and services.
Why Your Website is the Most Important Marketing Tool You Have
First impressions are crucial. According to studies, it takes users under two-tenths of a second to form an opinion of a website based on which they rate a company.
When a user searches for a particular business online, they are more likely to buy from a place that has a well-structured page with good quality images and case studies. Not the one that has dozens of pop-ups and no images.
Furthermore, a website will help customers connect with you and find your business easily. When a prospect is searching for a product or service you provide, they will more often than not end up on your website after consulting the search engine.
So, if you don’t make the investment and time to optimize your website the right way, you will miss out on a lot of web visibility that can lead to sales.
A good website also adds credibility to your business and further legitimizes its existence. In today’s world, if you do not have a website, your business will simply be deemed untrustworthy and sketchy.
Users now want to see testimonials, case studies, team photos, and much more. They want to see actual human faces behind a business. If they search for a company and none of that comes up, they will likely move to your competitors and give them their business.
Therefore, take the time to invest in creating an aesthetically pleasing website. It doesn’t cost a fortune and the long-term return on investment (ROI) is worth it.
How to Turn Your Website into a Powerful Marketing Tool
1. Create Brand Consistency with Your Website
The first thing in turning your website into an efficient marketing tool is to align all elements with your brand. This means that all crucial aspects of your business should be added to the website’s design. This includes things like font styles, color palettes, and the logo.
This is an often-overlooked factor that negatively impacts the impression businesses make on their site visitors. It can be confusing and unprofessional to see one color palette on your website and another on your business pamphlet.
2. Help Users by Creating Quality Content
People require businesses to help them solve a problem. Therefore, to design your website as a functional marketing tool, you should provide information that meets the needs of your users.
Create a blog section and post on it consistently. Always go back and review your old articles. Update and make the necessary changes whenever needed. While writing your blog posts, you should always keep the following core elements in mind:
Identifying the user’s pain point.
Offering a solution.
Offering valuable information.
Adding a call to action.
Creating fresh content also boosts your SEO rankings as search engines, like Google, love it when you create valuable content for their users.
3. Be Mobile-First
In 2021, 54.4% of global website traffic was generated through mobile devices. That means mobile users account for roughly half of the world’s web traffic. Thus, making your website mobile-friendly is crucial for SEO and ranking well on Google.
You need to make sure that your website is working when users access it from their phones by making it responsive. Everything on your desktop and mobile menus should match exactly and remain consistent.
4. Maximize SEO and Analytics
One of the most important aspects of turning your website into a marketing tool is to make proper use of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques.
It is important to structure the content on your website in a way that tells Google that you exist and that you are an authority in your field and optimizing for SEO is the way to do that. SEO allows you to rank high in search engine results and appear more often in website searches.
To boost SEO, use keyword-based research that is related to your industry and topic. Additionally, link to other credible sources on the web as well as to the blog posts that you have written yourself. This will improve the user experience and make visitors remain on your site longer.
It is, however, important to note that quality content is more important than keyword stuffing. Although keyword research is still beneficial, you should always follow it up with valuable content to succeed at SEO marketing.
5. Leverage Conversion Tools
You want a website visitor to turn into a customer. You can do this by using conversion tools, such as including a sign-up option, a contact form, a webchat to provide support, and call tracking.
But in order to do that, you must first have a clear understanding of what you want your prospective client to do. This will allow you to understand how and where your website fits into your business’s marketing strategy and whether it’ll play a critical role in your communications process.
After setting the right conversion goals, you should then use Google Analytics to monitor your site conversions and recognize which tool is successful and which needs improvement.
With the help of this relevant data, you can then fine-tune your website and its marketability.
To Sum It All Up
If your company's marketing efforts are failing, take a good look at your website content and design. They are one of the most important elements of a business's online presence.
As evidenced by the article, turning your website into a marketing tool does not require a ton of effort. A responsive website with a simple yet engaging, fresh, and consistent interface can go a long way in boosting your marketing efforts.