As the practice of digital marketing continues to become more complex, it presents an ever-evolving array of options and decisions to make. But for many businesses, their website is still a largely underused asset.
The fact is, there are numerous effective ways to optimize your website that won’t require a herculean effort. Here are some best practices you can employ — which have been used by all sizes of businesses — to grow and elevate their sales pipelines by leaps and bounds.
Give your main value proposition the front row seat
Your company no doubt has several major selling points to communicate. The temptation is to try to say everything at once. But no matter hard you try, you simply can’t.
It’s imperative to ascertain what truly sets you apart from the competition, and have that take the lead right upfront. This becomes the foundation and launching-off point for the additional selling points you’re looking to communicate.
Optimize for conversion throughout your site
The typical site visitor has a shorter attention span than ever — especially when viewing your site in the middle of multitasking, on a smartphone, or on-the-fly when traveling. Your main and subsidiary selling points should each be accompanied by a clear next-step conversion path.
Conversion paths can be as simple as classic “learn more” call-to-action (CTA) links in appropriate places. If you can make your conversion link or button more visually arresting and appealing, all the better. Just avoid over-designing, which can impede the impact and clarity of the CTA message itself.
Enable audience segments to self-select
Chances are, your product or service appeals to multiple audience segments. These segments can include the prospect’s internal sub-audiences — i.e. C-level decision makers vs. engineers, product managers, etc. — along with distinct vertical/specialty categories within your total audience. Think of ways to enable specific audience segments to dive into the most relevant content as quickly and easily as possible.
Devise ways to inject a sense of urgency
There’s a reason many marketers still use devices such as limited-time offers, countdown timers and the like. They still work. See if you can take advantage of these don’t-miss-out types of devices in a credible way — which have been known to produce substantial increases in leads and conversions — to generate immediate interest.
Never underestimate the value of testing
A/B testing is still one of the most cost-effective and results-generating practices you can undertake. It is a time-proven way to determine the true hot-button topics for your audience. Instead of just surmising what they might be.
Elements worth testing and refining, on your website and beyond, include:
- Landing-page headlines (H1 tags) and subheads (H2 tags)
- Social media posts designed to generate inbound traffic
- Email messaging approaches including layouts, subject lines, headlines, subheads, body copy and CTA devices