If you were to search on Google “How many websites are there?”, you will get a list of websites with varying opinions. Almost all the articles that show up on the first page will mention that the total number of websites is somewhere between 1 and 2 billion. However, only less than 500,000 of these websites are considered “active”. Of these 500,000 I cannot help but wonder how many of them are actually making money for the business they represent. In this article, I discuss 3 ways a website can help a business solve its problems and grow.
Whenever potential customers ask me to build them a website, I always try to get an understanding of what they think a website is or what they think it should do. One of the most common answers that I get is that a website is something that they need to let their customers know about their business and their services on the internet. Although this response is technically correct, I argue it is not quite the best viewpoint of what a website is.
What is the definition of a website?
My definition of a website is a business tool that an organization must have and strategically use to make money or garner the attention that they need to succeed in their endeavors. I understand that not all organizations exist to make money, and some might strive to just raise awareness about a particular issue or topic. If you think that a website is just text, images, videos, and other graphics that you slap on a few web pages and then leave it at that, then this guide is meant to help you see beyond that limited viewpoint. A well designed and strategized website will increase lead generation and convert leads to paying customers. To put it simply, websites are money making tools that require proper planning, strategy, and maintenance. This can be done through objective marketing, good user experience, proper support, and efficient systems.
Let’s imagine that you are starting a new business in apparel, and you find a space to rent at a local mall where you intend to sell. The four key areas that I mentioned above need to be kept in mind if the store is to be successful. The store needs to be marketed well, it needs to be organized so people can browse comfortably, and there should be employees to help answer any questions the customers may have. There should also be efficient systems like a cash machine and change rooms to facilitate smooth operations.
1. Effective Marketing Is Necessary for Lead Generation
Imagine a scenario in which you spend your time setting up your shelves, racks, and cabinets. You organize the interior so that everything is neat and logical in terms of where you want people to go. Men’s clothing is organized on one side, women’s on another side, and kids in their own respective space. You do all this work, and you open the store and just sit there hoping for customers to walk into the store. Do you see the major flaw in this setup? You haven’t made any effort to inform your target audience that you exist! Sure, you may get a few leads who happen to be in the mall for other reasons and they only found your store because they happened to walk by it. Even then, there is no guarantee that they will be converted into paying customers.
Let’s apply this analogy to websites. You build a good-looking website and make no effort to inform people that your website exists, then your website traffic is going to be low and as a direct consequence, so will your sales and revenue. In other words, your website cannot make you money if you are not advertising it. In the website world, there are different strategies that can be used to increase volume of viewers such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), social media, and offline marketing.
2. A Good User Experience and Call to Action Increases Likelihood of Sales
I define user experience as the feeling that a website user has while using a website. Depending on how the website is designed, that feeling can be good, bad, or just indifferent. Most businesses want to convert leads into paying customers and so with a website their objective should also be to get the users to take the right action.
For example, a business with a website for a new product launch will want their leads to pre-order the product. A lawyer or a psychologist would want their leads to book a meeting with them. A web designer like me wants my leads to submit a request for a website by contacting me! The likelihood of a user taking the right action is higher if they are left feeling good or at the very least indifferent about the website’s user experience.
This concept is also applicable in the real world, where our positive experiences in a store or with a customer representative generally lead us to write good reviews or to happily make purchases. The moment we start feeling frustrated with anything, we tend to want to put the product back on the shelf or leave negative reviews.
3. Customer Support & Efficient Systems Improve Customer Experience
Customers want excellent service and support. I cannot think of any scenario where a customer would want bad support. Just like they expect excellent support in-person, they also expect the same level of service online and if you have a website then that is the best place to offer such services. Support can come in many different forms such as live chat, FAQ sections on the home page, or even a phone number that the customer can call to speak with a support agent.
A website should be designed such that it anticipates a customer’s potential question or their behavior and answers that question through the content presented on the site pages. This way a customer can make their decisions without having to contact a representative. The faster the customer can decide to take action, the higher the revenue a business will have.
Automated systems are also very important when it comes to website design. Offering customers with many different payment options such as PayPal, credit, or debit card, and Google Pay or Apple Pay are some examples. Split payments or installations are also excellent examples of automated systems an online store can think of implementing to improve customer experiences.
Conclusion
To conclude, a business with a website that prioritizes these four key areas will find themselves not only increasing lead generation but also converting those leads into paying customers. Using our apparel store example, it is not enough to setup a store and then hope people are going to miraculously walk in, find what they are looking for, and make a purchase. The store needs to have marketing to increase lead generation, good user experience to increase sales, and strong customer support and automated systems to facilitate faster decision making. Likewise, with a website, these four concepts are critical to increase traffic volume to the website and then influence the users to take the right action. The faster, the better.
Zakir Faizal is an Industrial Engineer and a WordPress Solutions Specialist situated in the Greater Toronto Area of Canada. He has a strong passion for website development and digital marketing and spends his spare time finding ways to help small to medium sized businesses find success online.
