It's amazing to me how many companies will put up a beautiful website without thinking about the very people who will be visiting it - the marketing team loves the design, the president thinks it's a huge improvement, but the visitors have NO IDEA what they're supposed to do after they find the website.
There's no big, round, inviting "Contact us now!" button or "Start your free demo" call-to-action, there's no phone number jumping off the page, and the visitors take the information they need and....leave. They don't start the relationship with the company because they have no idea how to do so.
Sigh. Talk about lost opportunity!
If you want someone to be able to start a relationship with you, you must make it obvious how they can do it. Even better, you have to give them several different ways that correspond to where they are in the buying cycle. This goes for both your website and corporate blogs.
For example, on our business blogs we're currently featuring:
1. A free whitepaper all about Blogging and SEO. This is perfect people who are early in the buying cyle and looking for general education - but notice that we require their information (so that we can start that relationship!) in order for them to get access to the document.
2. A customized demo offer and $50 Starbucks card.
3. An ROI Toolkit that's ideal for marketers who have some blogging and search engine optimization education but want to hone in on return on investment.
And that's just for starters...we're giving each visitor the opportunity to read, learn a bit more, and then take action.
So take a look at your online marketing tools -- your website and your blogs -- and ask yourself if you're giving visitors a way to reach out to you or encouraging them to do nothing. The great thing about online marketing is that you can change this starting today.
There's no big, round, inviting "Contact us now!" button or "Start your free demo" call-to-action, there's no phone number jumping off the page, and the visitors take the information they need and....leave. They don't start the relationship with the company because they have no idea how to do so.
Sigh. Talk about lost opportunity!
If you want someone to be able to start a relationship with you, you must make it obvious how they can do it. Even better, you have to give them several different ways that correspond to where they are in the buying cycle. This goes for both your website and corporate blogs.
For example, on our business blogs we're currently featuring:
1. A free whitepaper all about Blogging and SEO. This is perfect people who are early in the buying cyle and looking for general education - but notice that we require their information (so that we can start that relationship!) in order for them to get access to the document.
2. A customized demo offer and $50 Starbucks card.
3. An ROI Toolkit that's ideal for marketers who have some blogging and search engine optimization education but want to hone in on return on investment.
And that's just for starters...we're giving each visitor the opportunity to read, learn a bit more, and then take action.
So take a look at your online marketing tools -- your website and your blogs -- and ask yourself if you're giving visitors a way to reach out to you or encouraging them to do nothing. The great thing about online marketing is that you can change this starting today.
Comments for Blog visitors: Do you really want them to do...nothing?
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