3 ways to turn your website into a fantastic marketing tool

Guest blog by Jude Wharton of Ready Steady Websites

Many people when they start a business have a checklist of things they need to do which they tick off and then they can forget about it because it’s done. A lot of people include “get a website” on that list. It’s great that getting a website is on many people’s list of things a business needs but the mistake they make is forgetting it when it’s done. Getting a website isn’t a tick box exercise. A website should be an investment that if used well can be a fantastic marketing tool for your business.

Here are three key things you should be doing to ensure your website is doing just this for you.

1. Make sure your website looks good and reflects your brand.

I recently had a conversation with someone who was so over making her website look good. She said she’d had a nice looking website but it hadn’t done anything for her business so she’d got some SEO (search engine optimisation) specialists to look at it. They had changed the copy, added in key words and all the other things they do and in the process the website ended up not looking great but it was bringing her in leads every month and she was happy.

But imagine how many more leads that website could be generating if both the content and the design were on point. There are definitely people who will be put off working with a business if their website doesn’t look good. Especially if your business deals with anything where aesthetics are important, for example if you’re an artist, photographer or work in fashion or beauty. All of these areas of business suggest you have a good eye for what looks good, but if your website doesn’t look good then this reflects badly on your brand.

Your website should also reflect your brand by being consistent with every other touchpoint you have with people. Whether this is on social media, through printed advertising materials, or having conversations at networking or events, the experience needs to be consistent. Your colours, fonts, logo need to be the same everywhere and so does your tone of voice and the types of things you are saying to get your message across about what your business does.

The more consistent your touchpoints, the more people will remember you and the more effective your marketing is because once people see your brand frequently, they start to trust you and then when the time comes that they ned what you do, you’re the one they will buy from.

2. Make sure you are clear on the purpose of your website.

You may be thinking that it’s obvious that the purpose of your website is to get more business. And, yes, that is right - but you need to be more specific than that. What action do you ultimately want people to take on your website?

For my business website, Ready Steady Websites®, the main purpose is to get people to click on the join now button and sign up to use our service to create their website or membership site. So, everything on the website is focused on getting people to do that. All the messaging in the copy is about how it will benefit people if they use our service, how easy the service is to use, the positive experience others have had, the value for money, the level of support etc.

But we also know that the first time someone visits the website they’re unlikely to buy from us straight away and so the secondary purpose of our website is to get people to join our email list. We have free resources, they can subscribe to our blog or they can use our plan picker and join our email list after doing that – those people are the ones we know are very keen and so we can really nurture them.

This primary and secondary purpose are what Donald Miller refers to as “the marry me” or “the second date” options on your website. This is a great way to think about your proposition on your website to make sure you get all your content right to guide people into taking one of these two actions.

If you have never thought about it, it’s worth taking time to think about what the actions are you want people to take on your website. Is it to buy something directly though the website? If you have a service where you need to check the person is the right fit first maybe the primary purpose of your website is to get them to book a call?

When it comes to the secondary purpose of your website I definitely advocate that everyone builds an email list. It’s one of the most effective ways of marketing your business. Emails get much more action taken on them than social media posts and so they’re worth putting some effort into.

3. Keep your website up to date and add new content regularly.

I said at the start of this post that you can’t just get a website and tick it off your to do list. For your website to be most effective in marketing your business, you need to check in with it regularly.

Firstly, you need to check your content every couple of months. Make sure it’s still accurate. Check there aren’t services or products on there that you no longer offer. Make sure it doesn’t say you launched the business three years ago but it’s actually now six years. Not being on top of little things like that look bad to a prospective customer or client. It looks like you’re not organised and on top of your business and then little doubts start to creep in about whether they want to buy from you or work with you.

It's much harder to make a sale when people have doubts.

Secondly, you need to be adding new content to your website regularly and there are many reasons for this:

•  If a potential client or customer is doing their research and they come back to your website a couple of times in the process it looks really good if you’ve added a new testimonial or some new photos in that time. Its shows you are really active in your business and that people are working with you and have positive things to say.

• When you add new content it reminds Google you’re there which is good for SEO and getting you seen.

• New content such as blog posts, case studies or portfolio pieces showcase your knowledge and expertise, which builds trust and authority and they are also great reasons to send people to your website and that’s another thing Google likes to see, regular visitors to the website.

So, get all of these things right on your website you will start to see it working much harder for you as your online marketing machine.

If you would like any more tips and guidance check out our Ready Steady Websites® blog, our free resources or our book, The Website Handbook.

Written by Jude Wharton, Ready Steady Websites