THATBlog

If you want to understand the importance of website presence in today’s market, look no further than your own behaviors. When you want to buy a product or engage with a service, what do you do? You go online to Google. You visit websites. You research.

Eighty-eight percent of consumers research product information before they make an online or in-store purchase. Yes: even if people plan to make a purchase at a physical location, they consult online resources first: 82 percent of smartphone owners use their phones to find information ahead of making a buy. Offering them a user-friendly, informative, high quality website is a must!

Gain an Edge with a High Quality Website

Your website supports all of your digital marketing efforts, but it also extends beyond the virtual world. As noted, people still research before buying in-store. Every piece of content, ad, social post, and communication leads back to your website. (Hence, the importance of website content that's informative!)

When it comes to social media, for example, your posts will contain value for followers, but they will also point right back to “home base.” Here’s an example:

This post leads to the blog - where visitors can consume content and follow other CTAs.

Your website is the nexus of all your online activity. In addition to social media, it is the backbone of your:

• Content Marketing. Your content needs a home. Product descriptions, brand details, articles, blogs, whitepapers, images, videos…. It all lives in your website, and the goal is to engage, inform, educate, and, ultimately, convert leads into customers.

• Email Marketing. Marketers consistently rank email marketing as one of the most powerful tools in their arsenal. You need somewhere to lead people, and your website gives you the opportunity to help them learn more about you and your solutions. For example, if leads sign up for a newsletter, they get an email each week and click through to your website for the valuable content they want.

• PPC. Pay-per-Click advertising targets people who are most likely to be interested in your products and services. When they click through, they need to be led to a relevant website that delivers on the ad’s promises.

• SEO. Search engine optimization is integral to your efforts: it is, after all, how the majority of potential customers find you. Rather than traveling directly to your website, they often Google the products/services/solutions they need or a question or challenge they have. When your site is optimized with targeted keywords and offers relevant content, you’ll rank better in the search engine results pages. A well-optimized site is an invaluable asset.

• Sales. With a high quality website, you can reach more people, thus giving you more opportunity to convert and make sales. It’s not a case of “If you build it, they will come.” It’s not as easy as developing a site: you need to make sure it is optimized and populated with valuable content. You can also sell products or engage customers regardless of time of day or day of the week. You can connect continuously.

• Reputation. You need a website. It’s this simple: if you don’t have one, prospects will consider you a “fly by night,” untrustworthy business. A website allows people to see more than your products/services - they allow people to understand your mission, your vision, your values. Through your structure and content, you build trust and authority.

The Basics of a High Quality Website

Development and design can be complex. Start with the basics and integrate the following into your brand website:

• Easy, user-friendly navigation. Keep it simple. Visitors don’t want to click several times to find the information they need.

• Clean, attractive design. Use your brand’s identified color palette and integrate design features that are eye-catching, streamlined, and easy to interact with.

• Relevant content. This is why people are coming to your website. Everything from product/service descriptions to blog posts should offer value to visitors.

• SEO. Again, SEO helps shine a spotlight on your brand’s site. Keywords, headers, descriptions… they all matter.

• Speed. If it takes longer than a few fractions of a second to load your site, people will navigate away.

• Conversion. Make it as easy as possible for people to take the next steps. For example, a quick check-out process can increase conversions.

Ready to get started? Ask the team at THAT Agency how to create and maintain a high quality website. You’ll see how powerful this asset can be.