Technology has revolutionized the way we approach many aspects of business, and the internet has had a particularly meaningful impact on how we approach marketing and advertising. Now more than ever, we are connected to our customers, and we can reach them faster, more effectively and at a lower cost than we could before.
The foundation of online marketing is the business website. It establishes your presence on the internet, places you on search engines, provides your customers with all the information they need about your business, and it allows you to launch campaigns to new markets. But that’s not all. Business websites come with a plethora of benefits, and in this article, we’re going to cover some of the most important ones on the list.
1. Customer communication
Communicating with your market through traditional means is slow and expensive. It is very hard to change a message or a campaign on the fly. It is also hard to keep your customers updated, test new products and services quickly, and create a back and forth with your customers. With an online presence however, this all changes.
Your website is completely under your control. You can change your copy on the fly, and test different value propositions or offers. You can even test different ways of convincing your customers to convert and make a purchase. Plus, your customers can get in touch with you easily, either through email or through the contact information that is up on your website. This gives you plenty of flexibility in your approach to the market and you can test various angles quickly and for a very low cost.
2. Efficient promotion
As mentioned previously, the online medium allows you to promote your company quicker, at a lower cost, and to a much wider audience. You have several approaches that you can take. First, you have Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, which is a long-time marketing strategy that gets your website to the top of the search engine pages. Whenever a client is looking for a product or service that you have to offer, you will show up in the first search results on Google or Bing. You then have online advertising, where you promote your website through direct ads. With this approach, you will see much quicker results, but it does not provide benefits over time after you stop the campaign. Other options include social media marketing, where you build an audience and promote your website on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin or Instagram, and content marketing, where you promote your website by posting interesting content on your blog.
3. Sales generation
While drawing in traffic will generate sales automatically, you can take a more active approach. A significant portion of the traffic that will reach your website will not convert if your website is not optimized for it. You may draw in users through your blog or through your social media marketing initiatives who will not be ready to purchase right away. Most visitors will need an extra nudge in order to convert and make a purchase. This is where landing pages and marketing material that is hosted on your website come into play. You can also break the sales process into several steps depending on the product or service that you have to offer. For example, it is much easier for a customer to give you an email address than to purchase right away, if he is interested enough in your offer. From there, you can use email marketing to make the sale at a point in the future.
4. Gather feedback
Websites can help you automate your feedback generation process, and depending on your industry, this can help you out a lot in the long term. For this, you can use post-purchase forms, or implement a review feature that not only tells you how your product is faring, it also gives you social proof and let’s other customers know if it is worth it to make a purchase. You can automate the process even further with analytics, and gather large amounts of data that can provide valuable insight into how you can optimize your sales process or offer.
Are you interested in building a website for your company?
A website opens up a world of marketing opportunities for businesses in all sectors. From SEO to more complex marketing initiatives, the website is the foundation of your online presence. If you would like to build a website for your company, or find out more information about what that entails, contact us today.
