So, you’re looking at your Analytics account and life is pretty sweet
The orange line of last year is a fading memory, and this year’s blue line is slowly creeping up as the weeks tick by. Hooray!
And that’s as it should be. After all, you are a good SEO citizen, right?
Seriously. There ought to be a statue in a park!
And yes, because of that upward trend in traffic, you are seeing a few more leads and enquiries come in.
If you aren’t, this article is for you. In it we’ll look at one of the most common problems we see when working on Inbound Marketing: a lack of focus on conversion optimisation. Simply put:
Your website is focussed on people who are at the Decision stage of the Buyer’s Journey.
And therefore…
You are missing out on all those people who are at the Awareness and Consideration stages.
Missing out?
Absolutely!
Remember when you last bought something that cost quite a few dollars?
I don’t mean a quick transactional/impulse buy. I’m talking about a considered purchase.
Perhaps a TV… or a fish tank… or a holiday… or a holiday where you get to watch TV while sitting in a fish tank.
Whatever it was, I’ll be willing to bet you did it on YOUR terms.
You didn’t just lurch into a shop or go online to the first place you found and stump up your money.
No indeed. You didn’t reach for your wallet until:
And finally…
Wait for it…
Neeeearly there…
Boom! You reached for your wallet When… You… Were… Good… And… Ready.
Only THEN did you make a serious enquiry on a website. Or pick up the phone. Or go to talk to the dude in the shop.
So, what happened?
You went through the stages of the Buyer’s Journey is what happened.
Awareness — You were just thinking about a TV, a fish tank or a holiday.
Consideration — You were looking at your options and what you wanted to do.
Decision — You were ready to talk to a consultant about packages, pricing and timing.
And do you think that you were going to talk to a sales person in those early stages, before you had your ducks in a row?
Not likely Bucko!
Why would you use SEO to generate traffic, go to all the trouble/expense of bringing a warm prospect to your site — and then blow them off because their time-frame for buying doesn't suit yours?
It is amazing how many sites do this.
They only have a hard 'buy now' offer.
Their message goes like this:
Seriously. This is madness.
You don’t tolerate it when you buy stuff.
And neither will your potential buyers when they are looking at your products and services.
Do not do this. Be smarter.
To make your Inbound Marketing campaign really sing, find a way for ALL people in ALL stages of the buying cycle to feel welcome on your website.
This is where you offer something helpful, useful and relevant that will assist your potential buyer to navigate through their Buyer’s Journey — and keep YOU involved in the process.
It means putting together an information resource of some kind, such as a:
You then make it available on your site with a ‘gated’ Landing Page, which means that your potential buyer needs to give you some information to be able to get their hands on it.
You can learn more about how Inbound Marketing works by reading our free guide. Just click this banner right here…
This may be just an email address.
Or, if you are using HubSpot’s marketing automation platform, you can use Progressive Profiling to learn more about the needs of your potential buyers. That way, you can provide them with additional information that will showcase your expertise and help to win their confidence.
The main thing to remember is that your ‘low bar’ offer is called ‘low bar’ because it is:
There is little to stop your potential buyers from getting it. They don’t have to have a salesperson crawling all over them before they are ready. There is no fear of being hassled. Or of being sold-to.
They can just fill in the form and get it. Easy. Low bar.
The (very!) cool thing with this, is that you now have the beginnings of a relationship.
Yes, it is only an email address. And yes, it is a tenuous thread.
But it is a start. And you can now gently pull on that thread by offering additional information and support.
If you were the travel agent offering holidays where people can sit in a fish tank and watch TV, you could offer them:
OK, this example is ridiculous.
But the take-away is a good one.
If you want more engagement from your site, give people something they can engage with EARLY in the Buyer’s Journey — and then nurture the relationship from there.
It is all part of Inbound methodology, and if your product or service is a considered purchase, then you need to think about how you can add this thinking into your digital marketing strategy.
If you are selling a product or service that is a considered purchase, then you need a way to connect with potential buyers so you can:
A well-implemented Inbound Marketing campaign may be just what you need. It can keep your sales funnel full, and ensure that your sales team have the Sales Qualified Leads that they need to hit their targets.
To talk it over and share ideas, please call us on (07) 3891 3800.
It doesn’t matter where you are – we work with successful clients all over Australia.
And seriously, we won’t waste your time with an ‘agency sales pitch’. We’ll get right into a good conversation about your website, your sales team, what you need in the way of Sales Qualified leads and how you might change things around to hit your sales targets and grow the business.