The modern company website is more than an internet brochure – it is an essential marketing tool for the 21st century. Designing a website as a marketing tool may be easier than you think.
Start at the end
Determine how you want your visitors to think and feel when they leave your website then design the rest of the site to reinforce those thoughts and feelings of having a common interest. If you sell dog food, for example, your website should make people feel good about spending a little more to feed man’s best friend. Market to canine lovers by proving your company loves dogs too – post plenty of pictures of happy people playing with healthy dogs or publish blogs about proper pet nutrition. Use your website as a marketing tool by showing the visitor how much you have in common with him.
Invest in solid SEO and web development
Hire a professional to design your company website. Only a professional can design an appealing website that does well in search engine results, generates leads with solid conversions, and provides a robust ROI. She can also help you choose keywords that get your website found on search engines. Choose a company that is willing to work with your sales and marketing teams to create a website “voice” that really speaks for your company. These professionals should also provide statistics about the website’s lead generations, conversions, and other measures of marketing performance.
Establish yourself as the authority
Blogs are also a great way to establish your company as an authority in the industry. Post informative blogs that really give the visitor something valuable, unique and memorable. Videos, infographics, white papers and research results also polish your image as an industry expert. Be sure your company name, logo or motto, and contact information is on every page so visitors draw a strong association between the valuable product they gained on your website and your company name.
Get active in social media
Create a company account on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media platforms. You can schedule automated posts, tweets, and updates on many of these sites but always try to portray a human side. Answer questions and comments in person and as soon as possible.
Create loaded landing pages
Create landing pages loaded with options to join, exceptional content, and ways for visitors to share your content. Point your social media posts and press releases to these landing pages to bring visitors to your website. Give visitors a big reward for visiting your website with an interesting blog, chance to purchase something, informative video, or colorful infographics. Each landing page should provide several options that lead to other interesting landing pages to keep your visitors on your website as long as possible.
Provide a way for visitors to share content
Embed codes that allow visitors to “Like” you on Facebook, tweet your content on Twitter, and post to other social media sites like LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest.