How will your website support your company’s 2017 business plan or sales goals?
Whether your 2017 plan includes increased sales, new product or service launches, new markets or territories, hiring, or making a new “statement” about your business, your website should help make it happen.
Websites serve different purposes. Some site are developed as “validators” that primarily are intended to position a company. Others are information sources for clients and business partners, with that information either available publicly or via dealer portals. Some are mainly focused on generating leads. Others are meant for e-commerce.
What’s your site’s purpose? How does it currently serve that purpose? If you were to catalogue what the site has done for your company in 2016, what would be in that report?
If the website is not doing a great job, site updates or a new site might be what’s needed.
If your site accurately reflects your company and is responsive to smartphones and tablets, that’s great. Now determine what the site will need in 2017 to effectively support business goals.
A few areas to look at when creating a plan to put your site to work in the new year:
Positioning: What does someone think when he or she first sees your website? Is it a message that your company has what it takes to deliver the solutions the user needs? Or is it a message of “ho-hum, we’re not much different from our competitors?”
Sales: Are the products and services easy to find on the website and described in language that buyers use? Are the descriptions and images up to date? Are calls to action tied to the products or services? Are those calls to action easy to use? If you’re selling online, is the buying process easy?
New Products or Services: Are you ready with product/service descriptions written the way people read on the web? If products are involved, do you have high-quality images that show the products in an alluring manner, without distracting backgrounds or poor lighting? And sized right for fast loading on the web page?
Out With the Old: Does your current site include products or services you no longer offer or that no one buys? Get rid of those pages.
Hiring: If hiring is a challenge for your company, or if you anticipate the need to hire a lot of people in 2017, review how your website positions your company – thinking how a potential employee would view and judge your company. Does your website – and other online presence – tell hiring prospects that your company is a place where they want to work and build or expand their careers?
SEO: If it’s important that your website and its various pages rank high in search results, you also should make sure the site’s structure and content are in order. There are many factors that affect page ranking – and some of them are surprisingly easy to have in order, such as how you position content on a page.
Beyond the Website: How well are you using other online platforms to support your brand and drive people to your website? Those include a LinkedIn company page, Google and Bing business listings, a Facebook company page, listings at directories such as Manta, and other online platforms that your target audience uses.
The new year is coming fast, but it’s not too late to make sure your website will work hard for your business in 2017. Contact us to discuss how your website can work harder for your business throughout 2017.
