While I was squeezing some fresh orange juice the other day it struck me that if I could just squeeze a website, the way you can juice an orange, and gets leads to drip out, I could rule the world. Then I realized, world domination aside, that there is no “one ring to rule them all” when it comes to making the most out of your website.
To do that it takes three things, done regularly: attention, action, and response. Doing them right will result in more traffic and more conversions of visitors into customers.
Your website url must be included in all channels of your marketing efforts. The obvious is to include it on all of your printed materials: business cards, letterhead, brochures, invoices and the like. It should be visible on all of your company vehicles and other property. It should be a clickable link on all of your electronic communications, such as email, invoices, pdf documents, etc.
Squeeze it a bit harder by adding a call-to-action to the end of your emails and other electronic documents, such as “Click here now to see the latest additions to our product line.” Link it back to a specific page of your website where information on the topic can be found without needing to search your site. Change the call-to-action regularly and track the results each time you do.
Consider an email campaign of one or more emails to those who have agreed to receive them from you and include links back to your website, also to specific pages the reader will want to see. This is a great way to get add-on sales to existing contacts and customers.
Of course, your website should have an email list sign-up in a prominent place on the page.
All media advertising must include your url: TV or radio spots, newspaper, magazine, trade publications, press releases, etc.
The best way to squeeze your website for all it’s worth is to create a landing page for each advertising initiative you have. For instance, let’s say you’ll be attending a trade show. Create a special page devoted to the trade show and any show specials you might be offering. Include the direct link to the page in all of the above mentioned channels. The number of visitors to the page divided by the number of emails sent will give you the conversion rate of your email campaign.
Put a simple contact form on the landing page to allow visitors to communicate with you and for you to have a metric for measuring success. The number of submitted forms divided by the number of visitors to the page will give you a conversion rate for the page and your efforts.
Above all, respond in a timely manner. Set expectations with your online form about when the submitter should expect a response – and then do all you can to meet those expectations.
Some visitors will not use the online form, but place a phone call instead. Be sure to ask those who call on the phone how they found you. If you don’t know that they found you through your ad campaign you won’t have a true sense of its success. If you do track phone calls, consider each call a form submitted to arrive at real conversion numbers.
No matter what you do, make a plan and follow it.