Richard Ingham

Director

Websites 101 – Make Your Website Work Harder

by | Databases forms and newsletter integration

For many companies, their website is their ‘shopfront’. It lays out the products or services on offer and gives the visitor enough information to influence them in their buying decision. But websites can do much more than just act as an online brochure.

Lead Magnets
If you want to get more from your website – start engaging better with your visitors. The most common ways of doing this is to create a lead magnet and get people to provide their contact details in exchange for information of value to them.

Typically a lead magnet would be a pdf document with a catchy title like:

  • 17 tips on (your specialist subject)
  • How to (something you’re always having to explain to clients)
  • 3 mistakes to avoid when (doing something related to your expertise)

A data-capture form is integrated into your website and people who sign up are put into your marketing list.
This is a much more effective way of gathering contact information than merely inviting people to sign up for your newsletter, as it leads with something of value.

Chatbots
Another means of lead generation is to use a chatbot. That’s the little text box that often pops up and asks if it can help. You can program these with predesignated questions to help people find what they want – and, if it can’t answer the question, will direct the user to call or email you. This takes your visitor from a passive role to an active one.

It’s a much more effective solution than an FAQs page too.

Databases
With the right plugins your website can operate its own database behind the scenes. This can be used for all kinds of purposes, from marketing to membership.

A membership site with valuable information only available to those who have paid their monthly subscription and have a log in, can be a valuable additional income stream.

A simpler database is your blog category system. This allows every blog that is posted to be assigned to a category so, if a reader wants more information on a particular subject, they can read more in that category at the click of a button.
These are just a few ways your website can work harder for your business.