Many business websites appear to have been built because the business knows they need one but isn’t really sure why. A lot of words that communicate very little of actual benefit and don’t provide any compelling reason for potential customers to choose to buy from the business.
In reality a proper website should be the central focus of all your marketing activities. Take it seriously and it will reward you time and again and play an important role in driving consistent business growth.
1. Answer the question “Why should I choose you?”
Businesses rightly focus on getting more people onto their website. Investing time and money in social media, advertising and search optimisation. All very important activities that can drive business growth.
But if you’re driving people to a website that doesn’t clearly answer the question “Why should I choose you?”, you may well be wasting a lot of this effort.
Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Buyers who spend hours looking at websites that all look and sound the same tend to end up buying the cheapest, closest or quickest because no one has given them a better alternative. With a proper website you can be that better alternative.
However you have decided to differentiate your business from your competitors this must be clearly executed through the website. A proper website focuses on the right target audience and offers a clear message about how you’re going to solve their problem.
From the moment they land on your website it will be speaking their language and helping them understand exactly what you’re going to do for them and how it’s going to improve their current situation.
A proper website makes it easy for the right people to choose you.
2. Make the right first impression
Wouldn’t you be more confident to invest in more marketing activities?
A proper website sets the right tone – it looks right, it sounds right and it helps people find the answers they need quickly and intuitively.
People are happy to spend time on the site rather than rushing off to one of your competitors because their eyes hurt or they can’t find the answers they want. Visitors landing on a proper website know the business takes serving their customers seriously. They believe customers are important every step of the way. From those who are just gathering information in the early stages of a buying decision to those who are ready to buy and want to know how they take the first step.
By providing relevant information for people at various stages of the buying process your business will be seen as helpful. People remember businesses that have been helpful and will return to them when it’s time to buy.
A proper website won’t lose potential customers to your competitors.
Is your website only really helping your competitors?
3. Showcase your business
A proper website doesn’t just list your products or services and hope people choose to buy from you. A proper website publicly demonstrates that you have helped people just like them, that you have delivered value over and above what may have been expected.
We recently worked with a manufacturing company who changed their delivery process to better serve one particular customer resulting in reduced quality issues that had the potential to cause costly stoppages on their client’s production lines. This was the result of a collaborative relationship with their client in which they continually worked together to identify any issues and resolve them to the benefit of everyone involved. Everyone can say they provide this level of service, it’s much harder to demonstrate it.
Using case studies and testimonials to showcase how your business thinks, the values that drive it and how you take your customers’ needs seriously builds trust and helps people choose you over your competitors.
A proper website showcases what makes your business different.
Getting your website right matters.
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4. Introduce your people
The people in your business are likely to be one of your strongest assets so a proper website profiles the key people that your customers will work with.
In the example above the driving force behind the values and attitude that makes this business work the way they do is 100% down to the founder. They set the standards and the expectations that the whole team works to.
If your business has a similar founder role be sure you give buyers the opportunity to hear the story. They are looking for positive reinforcement that the promises your business makes will be delivered upon.
Highlighting the skills and attitude that your team brings to serving your customers will build trust. It’s a lot easier to buy from people if we feel we already know them. This doesn’t mean telling your life story or oversharing on social media. But something as simple as having photos of your team makes it easier for potential customers to imagine themselves working with these people in real life.
As the old saying goes, “people buy from people”.
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5. Make it easy for customers to make the first step
You’ve done the hard work, they know about your business, they like the way you do business and they trust that you will deliver on your promises. So now it’s time for them to buy or at least take that first step of getting in touch with you.
If you sell online you’ve probably invested in making sure the process of selecting options and checking out is as streamlined as possible. However, a lot of B2B or service businesses think that because they don’t sell directly online that having a contact form is enough.
Put yourself in their shoes again, have you made it easy for them?
- Are there clear Calls To Action throughout the site that motivate them to take that first step?
- Is it clear how they get in touch with you?
- Do they know what happens after they hit submit?
- Do they know how long it will take you to get back to them?
- Do they know who will get back to them?
- Will they be expected to pay for an initial consultation?
A proper website motivates action and makes clear what happens when they make that all important first step. This will go a long way to increasing the likelihood of a website visitor becoming a customer.
Get these 5 things right and a PROPER business website will help drive growth in your business.
PROPER works – See it in action
Investing in a PROPER Website helped Pamela at Cranfield Alpacas to triple sales, win new customers from further afield and be selected as the winner of Tourism NI’s best tourism experience award for 2022