When we hire employees they are generally provided with a job description and deliverables. Every now and then we do a temperature check to ensure that our employees are doing their job and meeting goals and expectations. How often are you checking the marketing tools you’re using in your business to make sure they’re doing their job?

Your website has a specific function and believe it or not, it’s not to be a brochure. Its main job is to attract traffic and capture leads. You want to attract leads to your website with great content like; Webinars, Reports, Case Studies and Blog Posts. New content should be added regularly. As they say, “content is King”. Your website should be keyword rich.

Your site should always give a compelling reason for your prospect to contact you and should have a call to action on every page. Encourage your leads to sign up to receive some of your content through a opt in web form.

Isn’t it frustrating when you go to a website and want to contact them and there is no telephone number or method of contact? Do you make it easy for them to contact you? You should have multiple contact methods (ie, phone, email, form) and your phone number should be prominent on every page.

How often have you gone to a website for information and just can’t get what you’re looking for. First you must start with a professional looking, non-distracting design. Navigation of the site should be easy to use and understand and your visitor should be able to quickly determine what products and services you provide. If he/she can’t do this quickly, they will go somewhere else.

Personal branding in the form of pictures, stories and videos should be used. Trust elements should be incorporated such as seals of approval, awards, press coverage, published articles and testimonials.

Does your website link to social media properties? This has become ever more important with the social media explosion.

There is a huge percentage of the population (and it is growing) that will access your website from a mobile device particularly if you are in a service industry. It goes without saying that your website should be mobile ready which means easy to read from a mobile device, easy to access the areas of your site that are important to people that are on the go, easy to contact you by phone from a mobile device (tap to call) and easy to find you. If you would like more information on creating a mobile ready website, CLICK HERE.

Finally does your website have the ability to track visitors and sources of traffic, trends, etc.?
These are just some of the key components of an effective, hard working website. To find out more or to receive your complimentary 23 point website analysis, CLICK HERE.

Stay tuned next month for Your Marketing Automation Plan – Part II where we will discuss Nurturing Prospects and Converting Sales.