This morning, Chris Carr (President) and I presented on a hot topic issue at the Chester County Chamber of Business and Industry. The topic was: Your Website, Your Business – The Fundamentals of Inbound Marketing and SEO Lead Conversion.
It seems there are many organizations and businesses out there that know that websites, SEO conversion, lead conversion and inbound marketing strategies are important; however, many do not know where to start, how to measure results or who to turn for consultation when they have questions.
“Your business website is, quite simply, the most valuable employee/asset you will ever own. So, be careful not to neglect it!”
During the seminar, I spoke about a couple of specific points that I think will be helpful to share with you. First, we must ask the age-old question: If there is a tree that falls in the forest, and there is no one there to hear it fall, does it make a sound? In other words, just
because you have a business website, that doesn’t mean that visitors/potential clients can actually find your business. Second, if I build a website and is the best, most interesting site in the world can AND visitors can actually find my website, I have to still ask: when they get there, do I have something to offer them? Will they stay on my site long enough to convert and enter my sales cycle as a lead? The bottom line here is that simply having a website (even one that gets decent traffic) doesn’t mean that your sales are going to come pouring in the door!
In addition to discussing the importance of business websites and their ability to covert visitors into buying customers, we also went over the fundamental steps of SEO lead conversion:
1) Create a top of the funnel offer (also know as TOFU): This offer can include content like ebooks, valuable blog content, helpful guides, whitepapers or even videos. TIP: Utilize any unique, relevant content that the visitor would find valuable and is not specific to your business. This is the one time you don’t want to overemphasize or sell your products and services! The goal is education.
95% of people are not in a position to buy during their first visit to your website. Source : The Annuitas Group
2) Create a middle of the funnel offer (also know as MOFU): These offers can include case studies, buyers guides, reviews and testimonials, webinars, etc. In this case, you will want to talk about your business about 50% of the time throughout these offers. Studies show the visitor to lead, and lead to customer battles are either won or lost during the middle of the funnel transition. Helpful TIP: Use A/B testing. Move graphics around, test the colors, test the offers, test the response time. If it works – don’t change it!
3) Create a bottom of the funnel offer (also known as BOFU): At this point your visitor/lead is looking to buy, or at least get more information. They may even be asking, “Where do I sign up?” Your bofu should be something like a form they can fill out for a free assessment or consultation. Website usability, forms stability, analytics for conversion codes, A/B test forms and tracking your calls in a CRM (client relationship management tool) are all extremely important during this sales funnel process. TIP: if a visitor/lead is interested in learning about basketball, make the note in your CRM, and stop sending him/her buyer information on soccer! (It’s just bad practice!) Know your leads and know exactly what they are looking for.
At times during the seminar, both Chris and I were worried we were covering too much information. There is simply no simple way to break this process down and get started all at once (especially if you are a small business owner or sole proprietor). TIP: start reading blog articles from well-established marketing agencies (like Farotech and Hubspot) to get your feet wet. My advice to all the businesses leaders at this meeting: you are already a step ahead of the game on this strategy now that you know what needs to be done. Keep educating yourselves and work towards building a stronger business in Chester County! Let us know how we can help!
