In today’s business world of high-speed information, you need every advantage you can get in trying to reach the right prospects at the right time.
A strong corporate website is a valuable tool but it needs some care to maximize its potential.
Once you do get a potential customer’s attention, you need to inspire action. You need to engage visitors and learn what they are interested in or you’ll just have to wait to see if they buy from you or someone else.
Having a “call to action” is not a new concept but, with all of the “compelling offers” out there today, simply saying “call now” or “save today only” just isn’t as effective as it used to be.
Studies show you have seven seconds to get someone’s attention and you need to make sure that your call speaks to their needs quickly.
If you’ve already got a great website that ranks well for all of your favorite keywords, you are way ahead of the game. People will find you and be able to browse your product or service offerings.
But what now? Will they fill out your information request form? You hope so. But hope is not a strategy.
It’s time to take charge of your visitor by calling your website to action.
The first thing you need to do is create some compelling content. This is your chance to really shine as an expert in your field. You’re good at what you do and the reason someone is at your website is because they want to know about it. But don’t tell them about it as you would in a standard web page that talks about your credentials or your client list, show them by sharing some of your expertise that can really help them.
One of the most downloaded types of content is numbered lists. For example, “10 ways to improve your web site” or “5 ways save at tax time” would be great lists to entice your visitor.
Once you’ve written this great content, you need to make it available to your site visitors. But simply making a new page on your web site will not achieve your goal of nurturing the relationship and converting them from a website visitor to a client.
To do this, try making the content available for download after the visitor gives you some basic information such as their name, company and e-mail address. You’ll need to create a new form on your website. After a visitor completes and submits the form, a “Thank You” page can provide the link to the download. Make sure that your form doesn’t ask for more information than you really need. The easier it is for people to fill it out, the more you will convert.
You have now achieved two things: You have their information so you can contact them, and you’ve determined what they are interested in because they told you by downloading your list. You can now approach this person, perhaps in a subtle way such as an e-mail thanking them for visiting your site. That will give you an opening to ask if you can help them further to see if there is a fit between their needs and what you offer.
Even if there is nothing you can do for them at this time, you are now the expert they will remember when the time is right. Don’t overwhelm them with too many e-mails or you may lose them and they may never download from your site again. If they do come back and download another piece of content in the future, you have them hooked.
When the time is right, you’ll do business together.
There is one more important piece to the call to action puzzle and that is promotion.
Once you have your form set up online, you need to shout from the highest mountain top to tell everyone that it’s there. In this case, the mountain top could be your blog, Twitter account, FaceBook fan page, LinkedIn account, newsletter or even traditional print advertising. The key is to say it loud and say it proud. You’re the expert in your field and now you’ve shown exactly that to those who will “listen.”
When creating your download landing page, keep these six things in mind:
• Be positive;
• Be specific;
• Be action oriented;
• Be visible;
• Be colorful
• And be everywhere.
Michael Giuffrida is president of ForeSite Technologies Inc. in East Hartford.
