What Message Does Your Web Site Send?

I recently read a blog post that told the story of a new web site that was beautifully designed, well-written, and full of very appealing and well-crafted marketing content, but promoted a product that actually turned out to be of very poor-quality. I must say that in working with small businesses for the past 10 years, that’s not the situation that we see. What we typically see are small businesses that have a really great product or service, but a web site that is amateurish, outdated, or built in such a way that it conveys the exact opposite message about the company!

Regardless of the size of your business, you simply cannot afford to have a sub-standard web site that doesn’t meet the needs of your customers and potential customers. Today, your customers are on the web performing searches in Google, sharing with their friends on Facebook or Twitter, and visiting web sites that provide them with something of real value. Your customers care about the experience you provide them on your web site, and their standards are getting higher all the time. So ask yourself – does your web site accurately reflect the quality, expertise, and professionalism of your business? What is the message that your web site really sends to visitors?

Today’s web users are sophisticated, with some basic expectations that must be met before they will stick around on your site (not to mention give you a call or make a purchase). You’ve probably heard this before, but it takes a new web visitor approximately 4 seconds to decide whether your web site is legitimate or interesting enough for them to click on something other than the “back” button. Here are a few examples of what an outdated or unprofessional web site can say about your business:

Outdated Information: Says that you don’t care about your web site, or that you don’t have the time, money, or staff available to adequately maintain your company’s site.

Unprofessional Design: Says that your company may not be a professional-caliber business or may not offer the required level of quality customers are looking for.

Lack of Web 2.0 Interactivity: Says that your business doesn’t keep up with the times, or that your business is not current or progressive in its thinking.

Poorly Written Text and/or Spelling Errors: Reflects poorly on your knowledge, degree of expertise, level of experience, and attention to detail.

Unfinished Pages (e.g., “Under Construction”): Says that you ran out of time, money, interest in the project, or page content before you could complete the site.

Template-Based Design: Says that you don’t have any established branding of your own, or that you needed to take a “short cut” and opted for a do-it-yourself web site.

While these examples clearly send negative messages, some of them may actually be true about your business (like not having enough staff available to regularly update your site).

But even if it is true, it’s probably not something that you want to advertise about your business! And if any of the examples above accurately describe the current condition of your web site, chances are that the message being sent does not accurately match the quality and professionalism your company provides to customers every day.

A professional, up-to-date web site can send a very powerful message to visitors, and can be the difference between a potential customer giving you a chance, or taking their business to a competitor. So what can you do to make sure the message your web site sends is an accurate reflection of your business?

1. Update your site EVERY month. Don’t let your site just sit there; add a new page, change out some content, highlight a different product or service, write an article, do something! If you simply don’t have the time (or skill) to do this, hire a company to do it for you.
   
   
2. Consider a Re-Design. Re-designing your site can solve several issues all at once; from correcting an unprofessional design or template-based site to fixing the lack of interactive features on the site.
   
   
3. Re-Write the Text. It’s never too late to review the text on your site and do what’s necessary to make it powerful, convincing, and accurate. Commit to re-writing at least one page each month, and have someone else review it for you to check for errors. Bonus – not only will you be improving your web site, but you’ll also be providing visitors (and search engines) with updated content at the same time!

Don’t let your web site send unintentional, negative messages about your business. It’s tempting to think that once your web site is finished and live on the web you can cross it off your “to-do” list. But remember that your web site is one of the most powerful marketing tools that you have. It can persuade, advertise, educate, sell, influence, and win over customers and potential customers – so make sure it says all the right things about your business.

Social Networking and Email: Make Them Play Nice!

Although many companies are warming up to social networking as an effective marketing tool, it’s important to remember that social networking is most powerful as a marketing tool when it is integrated with other marketing initiatives, such as email campaigns. People use social networking sites to pass along information and share with others, so it can be useful to set up your social networking profiles to “play nice” with your email campaigns to improve your results and overall marketing effectiveness.

Integration is Key
Integrating your social profiles with your email marketing initiatives can be as simple as including links to your Facebook business page or Twitter account in your email signature, or as sophisticated as using a “Share With Your Network” (SWYN) button in your email campaigns, allowing recipients to share your emails with others in their networks right from the message itself. Another option is to include special “share” links available from social networking sites (e.g., http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=http://www.yoursite.com/email.htm for Facebook) that lets users share your email message with their own contacts with just one mouse click.

One of the key benefits of integrating your social networking profiles with your email campaigns is that you give your email campaigns a chance to reach countless additional people that you may not have otherwise reached. The viral nature of social media means that when users find information that they like, they share it with the people in their own networks, who in turn share it with their contact lists, and so on. By integrating social media with email campaigns, you can make it easy for your recipients to propel your message out to their social network contacts, with the chance your message will travel even further from there.

Make It Two-Way
In addition to using email campaigns to promote your social media profiles, you can also give social network users the chance to opt-in to your email list as well. For instance, you can add your email signup box to your Facebook business page using FBML (Facebook Mark Up Language). Or, you could add a link to an email signup page on your web site to your profiles on LinkedIn or Twitter. The idea is to make it easy (and obvious) for people to join your mailing list and opt-in to receiving communication from your business on a regular basis.

Getting the Word Out
The content of your email campaigns can be re-used in your social media profiles, which is a great way to help your message find its way to new audiences. For instance, if you are sending out monthly coupons to your email list, why not add the coupons to your Facebook business page as well? Or you could use Twitter to announce the coupons at the beginning of the month (including a link to the coupons on your site), then send a Twitter reminder a few days before the coupons expire.

For business events, email and social media are both very effective for promotion, but are even more powerful when used together. For example, after sending out an event invitation via email to your list, you could post the information as an “Event” on both Facebook and LinkedIn, and use Twitter to broadcast a link back to the Events, or even include a link to more information, the event location or maps, or online registration form on your web site.

Social Media is Definitely Here to Stay
Whether you’re new to social media or you’re already using it as a marketing tool for your business, you can make your email campaigns work harder by integrating them with your social media profiles. Integration means that your marketing efforts can be centralized and shared; for example, making your Facebook business page “talk to” your Twitter account and your LinkedIn profile, as well as showing off your latest email coupon offers and e-newsletter articles.

By integrating your social networking profiles with your email marketing campaigns, you can take advantage of the viral nature of social media and potentially reach new, untapped customers and potential customers, and re-use your email messages across new channels. Combine the two, and you can make your online marketing even more effective than by using either channel on its own.

The Case for Landing Pages

Have you ever received an email with a great offer for something you really need, or saw a Google click ad for exactly what you’ve been searching for – then with great anticipation, clicked the link for more information only to land on the home page of the company’s web site?

It’s sure happened to me before. I’ve clicked on a link for a specific offer or ad, only to land on a home page where I instantly became lost. Where’s the offer I just saw? Which link should I try first? Where am I supposed to look, and how many levels will I need to click through before I find the offer, if I ever find it?

This is exactly the experience that you do NOT want your customers to have when they arrive at your web site! If you are lucky enough to get visitors to take action from an email campaign, click ad, or social networking link, be sure to provide them with instant reassurance that they are in the right place by creating a specific landing page that matches the campaign or offer.

Good landing pages contain only one subject, eliminating any distraction and clutter that isn’t relevant to the topic. For example, if you send an email campaign advertising a free trial offer, don’t send visitors to the home page of your site, or even to the product page of your site – your visitor is expecting to land on a page that talks about the free trial offer, and how to sign up! On the landing page, it’s fine to include some bullet points that highlight the benefits of your product, or add some brief sales information about the product. But mostly, you want to use your landing page to give details about the free trial, and provide visitors with a way to sign up and get started.

Here are some other tips to help you create focused, clear, and effective landing pages:

1. Match the landing page to your campaign or ad. Use the same terminology, repeat your keywords, and make the design and images look the same or similar to what was used in your campaign. All of these are visual triggers to reassure visitors that they are in the right place.
   
   
2. One page, one topic. Don’t introduce a second subject on the page, or try to introduce additional products or services. Stick to a single topic, and be sure to clear away any obstacles that could cause visitors to become distracted or lose their focus.
   
   
3. Include a clear call to action. Specifically tell your visitors what you want them to do as a result of landing on the page, then give them an easy way to take action (provide an online form, toll-free phone number, shopping cart links, etc.)
   
   
4. State your privacy policy. Make sure your privacy policy is visible on your landing page (or at least provide a link to your policy) so visitors know what you will or will not do with the information that they may be providing to you.
   
   
5. Add some testimonials. A few well-placed testimonials on the landing page helps build up your credibility and make visitors feel more at ease about taking action.
   
   
6. Be transparent. Make sure your landing page has all of your company information and contact info included; preferably with a similar look that matches the branding on your regular web pages.
   
   
7. Remove your regular navigation. The menu system that you use on your web site shouldn’t be included on a landing page. By including your navigation, you invite your visitors to jump off the landing page and onto your regular site before they have taken action on your offer.
   
   
8. Keep the most important elements above the fold. Don’t make visitors read through a lot of content or scroll down the page to discover how to take action. Include the most important elements near the top of the page where visitors can see them immediately.

By creating specific landing pages, you can help steer your visitors toward taking the action you want them to take, while providing them with the exact information they are expecting. When visitors arrive at your landing page because of an email campaign or ad, they have already “pre-qualified” themselves by showing interest in your offer. Be sure to meet their expectations with a landing page that will answer their questions, make them feel comfortable, and compel them to take action. Simply linking them to your web site’s home page is too overwhelming – don’t make them guess what to do or where to go. Instead, give them a specific landing page that matches your offer and leads them directly to a conversion.

Five Sparrows is a Michigan web site development firm and search engine optimization provider offering a complete line of web site marketing strategies and services designed especially for small businesses.

Because Five Sparrows specializes in working with small businesses, we understand their specific needs and challenges.  We offer a full range of products and services at a fraction of the cost of what traditional marketing and web site firms charge, all designed to help small businesses get a big-company presence on a small company budget.

Our services include web site development and re-design, online shopping, search engine optimization, e-newsletters, email marketing, search engine reporting & monitoring, and more.

Contact us today at editor@fivesparrows.com, or call us at 810.923.1874 to see how we can help your business!

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