Kayli Kunkel, blog.hubspot.com
What frustrates you about your website?
Here are some we hear often:
- Outdated designs that go unfixed for years
- Lack of analytics that show a consistently favorable ROI (if there is one)
- No training to make our own improvements
- No real connection to our other lead generating strategies
What if I told you that there's a new website model that solves all these problems? (I’m not usually one for hyperbole, but this solution isn't impossible).
We call it an inbound website, and it’s a great partner to an inbound marketing strategy.
Gone are the days when static "brochure" websites were acceptable. You know the type- with basic contact information and a picture of your storefront?
Your website can now be an online lead-generating platform for your business; an integral part of marketing to prospects. If your website isn't selling around the clock, you're missing out on leads and revenue.
The inbound website is a new way to think about your corner of the internet as an essential marketing tactic.
Here's how it works:
- Your inbound strategies and unique marketing funnel underpin every part of your website.
- A dedicated web team (in-house or hired) monitors performance and makes proactive changes.
- Your site is hosted on a platform that makes growth-driven design easy.
Advantages of an Inbound Website Redesign
How it can grow leads and conversions, trade cost for value, and improve ROI for your business.
You’ll drive conversions by creating a 24/7 marketing funnel.
Marketers are accustomed to seeing the website as one piece of a marketing strategy, or that your marketing strategies and your website are two different things.
Stop thinking that.
Starting now, think about how your website is an intertwined element of all your marketing activities. Your website is the hub for your marketing and sales strategy; a complete lead generation platform in its own right.
Tell me More...
Think about how your marketing funnel works with the inbound methodology. You have incorporated elements and assets to attract, convert, close, and delight customers. Your website can support or do these things!
- When you attract attention online, where do you drive traffic? Your website.
- Where do you primarily host your blog and content offers? Your website.
- Where are people converting on your offers? Your website.
Forms and landing pages are a big part of the connection. Forms gather more information about people, so you can effectively market to them, and landing pages are the bridge. If you know about inbound marketing, this is not new to you.
Your Internet Marketing strategy should be the driving force for your website, and should dictate your website’s floor plan and user pathways. Every decision about the design and function of your site must be justified by an inbound marketing goal.
More simply, you'll set up your website to align with the inbound methodology.
Your inbound website funnel can include the following:
- Attract: search-engine-optimized pages and regular blogs to address the top of the funnel
- Convert: landing pages and calls-to-action, to help turn visitors into leads.
- Close: Forms and other tools to gather lead intel, nurture them and bring them to customer status
- Delight: Personalization and smart content that caters to positive website exeriences
When you start on your inbound website redesign, you don’t just think about aesthetics. Consider functionality, too. That is, each page should serve a specific purpose, and correspond to a specific point in the buyer’s journey.
A visit to your website isn’t random. It’s the first step on a pathway towards conversion. Each click should be logical and clearly defined. One page leads to the next, as you move users further down the journey.
Final Product: A website that works as a 24/7 marketing funnel, driving conversions while you sleep.
You’ll Generate Leads by Showing up Earlier in the Buying Cycle.
Did you know that buyers often complete more than half of the buyer's journey before talking to a person in sales? This means that your buyers are already researching and deciding on solutions long before a sales call.
The most successful companies are present in the first half of this journey. Their websites help educate buyers throughout the entire sales cycle.
Is your website up to the task of being a forceful presence early in the buying process?
On your non-inbound website, you publish basic information about your services. Then you wait for visitors to click on the "Contact Us" page to find your phone number and place a call. That's like offering flights from New York to London in a biplane. Your site can do better!
It can be a big stretch from website visitor to delighted customer, and your website experience must manage the in between. Like building a nice bridge over a deep ravine, an inbound-style website makes it easy, even pleasant, for a journeyer to get from stranger to regular.
Is your website is paved with content for an easier buyer's journey? Consider an Inbound Makeover.
