Redesigning your website without integrating an inbound marketing strategy is kind of like hosting a party and just having your mom show up. Your house is clean but no one knows where you live.
Or maybe all your friends ended up somewhere else because when they asked the question “Where’s the party?” they got pointed to a different address.
That’s the way we shop and learn now — search and go. As your prospects or customers seek information, it’s up to you to make sure your company is in the right place with the right message at the right time. Inbound marketing drives website traffic!
So where do you start?
Define who you want to visit your site.
Make sure you have a clear understanding of who you are trying to reach. Depending on your business, your customers may be one tightly defined group or several groups who buy a range of different products and services from you. Whether you develop these into full-blown buyer personas or just a bulleted list of attributes, understanding “who” you are talking to is essential.
Identify the problems you can help them solve.
You should already understand how your products and services benefit customers, but dig deeper. What are the broader issues they’re dealing with? Do keyword research on topics relevant to your company to learn what information people are searching for. Conduct customer surveys or interviews to learn about how your product works for them and what they wish was different. Talk to Sales and Customer Service to understand the challenges they encounter. Establish a social listening program to discover what your customers are saying about you and your competitors and identify opportunities.
Assess your existing content and build new content.
Verify that your site includes the information and resources customers and prospects need, in the format your research shows they want. As you build, it’s key to consider SEO strategies in your page structure, keywords, and links. Your research in step 2 should help inform this. Content on your site can include blog posts, “how-to” guides, videos, product information sheets, case studies, testimonials, product reviews and more. Be strategic as you add this information to ensure visitors can easily navigate the site.
Tell them about it.
This happens both directly and indirectly. Ads, social media posts, and email marketing allow you to speak directly to your customers and prospects. You can link them to content on the site or specific, targeted landing pages. Indirectly, the SEO strategies you’ve built into the site improve your organic search results and push your message closer to the top of your prospects’ search results. You can also create events, loyalty programs, and referral incentives to engage current customers and encourage them to recommend you to others.
If you lay the groundwork so you understand your customers’ and prospects’ needs, develop relevant content that meets them, and use inbound marketing strategies to make your targets aware of what you offer, your website traffic will increase. Your next goal will be converting visitors to buyers.
After all, the host’s job is providing a great experience so that all guests enjoy themselves and want to tell everyone they know about it later. Is your site a “hit or miss” or “don’t miss it” kind of place?