2013
Autospeak-Straight Talk contains articles covering digital and social media marketing social communities and events marketing
Refresh your marketing - Build a lead generation engine using your website
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(Posted on Aug 6, 2013 at 04:57PM )
Why should you refresh your website for the purpose of inbound marketing?-
Because it's cheaper - a lot cheaper - than other marketingÂ
 (up to 61% cheaperÂ
according to research) -
Because it can be measured - "What, I can measure real ROI on myÂ
marketing? You're kidding!" No we're not. -
Because it's where you can influence most of your buyers.Â
 We are in the "era of the buyer" whereÂ
the buyer is searching for information online, all day every day, if you're notÂ
there they won't find you. It's that simple. Over 85% of B2B buyers start theirÂ
purchasing journey online through outlets like social media according to research fromÂ
Forrester.
Additionally, digital marketing is evolving at lightning speed, making it difficult for most of us to keep pace, let alone stay ahead of the curve. And,the result of all these advancements is that most marketers are overwhelmed.
Regardless of the rate of change, one indelible fact stands head and shoulders above the rest, it's incredibly important to recognize that simply having a website is notÂ
enough.
In today's world, B2B marketers must adapt their website and turn it into an Â
inbound marketing lead generation machine. That may seem a lofty goal.Â
So, your website will need to wear many hats. A website needs to perform andÂ
not just  exist. Your site needs to attract visitors, educate them and convince them to buy.
In most cases, the traffic you drive to your website from blogs, social mediaÂ
sites, as well as organic and paid searches ends up converting into leads orÂ
sales. Without your website acting as an online "home base," it would beÂ
difficult to attract new business. This is why having an effective website isÂ
so crucial – and why it's so important that it contains powerful key elementsÂ
to drive more traffic, leads and sales.
Whether you have some experience in inbound marketing and just want to brushÂ
up your skills or you know you need to evolve your current marketing, take our Â
B2B Marketing Health Check to find out your starting position. "Auditing" where you are nowÂ
is the first crucial step in building a plan for moving forward.
1) Getting found by your buyers
Let's face it, it's not going to be much of a website if no one visits.Â
Therefore, your first mission is to get found online,Â
covering the very top of your inbound marketing strategy funnel. BuildingÂ
inbound links, discovering the secrets to on page SEOÂ
and how to create effective meta tags are all essential ingredients.Â
2) Investing in good design and usability
Let's assume you're really gaining traction – getting found online. Your nextÂ
focus is to get that traffic to stay and not stray.Â
Remember, you only have one chance to make a good first impression.
Make sure your website reflects your brand and positions your company asÂ
trusworthy and credible. Don't underestimate the power of good design,Â
including: navigation, fonts, colours, images and branding consistency.
But don't get caught up on the need to "look pretty", and instead focus onÂ
the functionality of your site. How easy is it for people to find what the areÂ
looking for? Equally important, is your message blisteringly clear?Â
Really? I mean really! Or are you disguising your ability to genuinely helpÂ
your buyers under layer upon layer of corporate double speak and productÂ
gobbledygook about why you are the best game in town?
3) Building content
With the rise of inbound marketing, content has become front andÂ
centre in the minds of marketers. It is what search engines andÂ
potential customers are looking for. It's what drives visitors to your site andÂ
turns prospects into leads. There is no disputing that content is king.
However, while search engines are getting smarter and smarter and buyers areÂ
becoming more and more selective, it is quality content thatÂ
is king. When it comes down to it, your buyers' reaction to your content willÂ
be the ultimate test. Does your content generate leads? Do you have a contentÂ
marketing plan that fuels your lead generation engine?Â
4) Converting at each funnel stage
Now that you've increased traffic to your website, it's time to convert prospects toÂ
leads. Don't let visitors leave your website without providingÂ
them with valuable information or you'll lose the opportunity to nurtureÂ
them until they are ready to buy.
Landing pages are one ofÂ
the most important elements of effective lead generation. Building powerfulÂ
landing pages allows you to direct your website visitors to targetedÂ
information, present them with robust calls-to-action andÂ
capture leads at a much higher rate.
5) Measuring results
By measuring your inboundÂ
marketing you get to see what is and is not working and then youÂ
can change where you invest your precious marketing time and dollars. SmallÂ
incremental tuning of your inbound marketing engine produces significantÂ
overall improvement in the quality of leads on which your sales team canÂ
feed.
If your business is struggling to adapt to new marketing strategies or, youÂ
simply haven't been able to generate a real impact in your chosen market, it mayÂ
be time to conduct a marketing audit.
The truism “You get what you pay for†is as true as true can be when it comes to building a company website. When small firms fail to budget properly, one of these nightmare scenarios is likely to ensue:- The site ends up costing two or three times more than expected, causing all-important post-launch marketing activities to be cut back or eliminated.
- The site ends up having half or a quarter of the desired functionality, rendering it nearly useless.
- The site ends up as a series of compromises in design, content and functionality, making a mediocre impression on customers and prospects.
Step One: Create Site SpecificationsSetting a realistic budget starts with having an idea of what you want the site to do, so let’s start there. Important things to consider include:
- Design. How much customization do you want? Will a standard WordPress theme suit your needs? Do you need a custom design from the ground up? Something in between? Do you have imagery for your new site, or will photos need to be taken? If so, how many photos (or other imagery such as charts and diagrams) will be needed?
- Content. How much unique content will your site need? 10 pages? 100 pages? Will it be easy or hard to write? Do you have the ability and bandwidth to write it, or will you need to outsource copywriting? If outsourced, will the writer need to do extensive research to write the copy properly?
- Functionality. Do you need more than a basic contact form? Do you want to offer downloadable PDFs or other information? Do you want leads from various forms to be tracked? Will you need e-commerce, and if so, what type of payment options? Are there any other functional requirements, such as integration with internal systems or third-party e-commerce sites? Do you want to optimize your site for search engines (SEO)? Will you need W3C or other compliance? Do you want Flash design or a customer portal?
Considering three or four proposals on the initial go-around is best, because you’re apt to see a fairly wide range of prices and approaches.
Step Three: Align Expectations and CostsA likely outcome will be the realization that your desired site costs much more than you expected, but this is OK, because you’re now in a position to have a meaningful review of development options, their real value, and their real cost. The biggest disconnects that are revealed by following this three-step approach include:
- Design disconnects. Creating images is expensive and time-consuming. Often, firms don’t care about images in the early stages of a project, but later on, when they see boring, text-heavy pages on the test site, they desperately want a lot of customized imagery. Settling for tired stock imagery, the usual Plan B, results in a generic-looking, unimpressive site.
- Content disconnects. Content is far more expensive and time-consuming to create that most people realize. Firms often assume they can have an employee whip up content at the last minute, and learn too late that’s an impossible task.
- Functionality disconnects. Firms typically have no idea what pieces of site functionality — some of which were detailed above — actually cost. They become frustrated in mid-project when they ask the developer to “throw in†a little e-commerce and discover it costs $5,000 to do so.
Following this plan takes serious upfront strategic thinking and grunt work, but the payoff is big. Pulling a budget out of thin air, or committing your business to a new site without a budget at all, are risky approaches that can drain your bank account and set back your Internet marketing for several years. It’s an unnecessary risk.
Brad Shoor, Contributor
DealerNet Services