Business gurus all over the world are preaching that every business must have a website. But what kind of a website do businesses really need. In today’s markets, customers brows for vendors, compare products, ask questions, shop and receive delivery, on websites, and all these made possible from the comfort of their own environments (Home or work). This means that you can no longer have any plain website representing your business in this very competitive digital market, you need a marketing website.
“Mine is a marketing website” you might be saying to yourself.
Maybe it is, maybe it’s not. The unfortunate nature of the web design world is that most web designers have no real business or marketing backgrounds and would therefore not know a real marketing website if it hit them on the head.
What is a Marketing Website?
Almost every other web designer and web design firm, will claim that they design websites to get you more clients. In their own marketing inexperience they think they are right. But just because a website is by its definition meant to communicate to your customers and clients doesn’t make it a marketing website.
A marketing website is a website intentionally designed to adhere to all the principles of marketing with the express intention of attracting relevant clients; guiding them through your sales funnel; introducing them to your back end products; answering all customer queries and complaints; and constantly contacting your clients by follow-ups and more offers.
To be able to do this, your website must have offers, guarantees, banner ads, pop-up ads, testimonials, instructions of use and more, to convince any and all customers who are attracted to your site, and the right crafted message to guide all these tools.
The only way to achieve this, is to involve the services of a firm that has both the functions of marketing and business growth coupled with the technical prowess of web design. This way, you get a marketing website that incorporates the technical and beautiful, with the useful marketing and business growth information.
Components of an effective Marketing Website.
For your website to qualify as a marketing website, the following must be present;
1. Offers
Offers are what customers understand to be the take away from you. Offers show the client what they can get for themselves.
You can’t get something for nothing so expecting clients to come to you and respond to your message is unfortunately just reckless. Give the customer a gift that has a condition they have to meet first and voila you have an offer.
2. Guarantees
If you are sure your product is good enough to meet and exceed the expectations of your client, you should be bold enough to present a guarantee to your client.
You can offer a full refund, a partial refund, an extra service or product or even free repair in the event that your product disappoints. This makes buying into your product less risky and more appealing at the same time.
3. Banner ads
Banner advertisements appear at selected positions on your website and keep sending the message to the client as they navigate. The banner ads can carry offers and invitations to events and offer a constant and visual reminder.
4. Pop up ads
Pop up ads on a marketing website are used to force the client to look at an offer and respond by either rejecting it or accepting it. Pop up ads randomly show up on top of the website and must be responded to, to continue with the web experience.
Their advantage is that they force interaction and get a response.
5. Testimonials
This is the most important component to direct marketing. A marketing website must have testimonials. This is to prove that your product or service works by show casing the stories of other customers who have tried it and liked it.
6. Instructions of Use
The major reason why customers and clients are disappointed by the results of your product or service is if you don’t offer enough instructions, directions and advice. You have to ensure the instructions of use for your products have a dedicated FAQ page that has comprehensive coverage of any and all questions the clients might have.
In conclusion, don’t take your designers word for it that your website is a marketing website, compare it to the 6 points above and see how it scores.
If you get a well-designed marketing website it’s not only possible to get your word out to your prospective customers, but you can also make a lot of direct sales from it, but that’s a story for another day.