Simple Solutions to Three Common Website Problems

If you’re like most small business owners, your website is not the sharpest tool in your marketing shed. It probably doesn’t get much traffic or generate qualified leads for you.  Worse, it’s now outdated and your website problems are expensive to update.  

The good news is:  it’s not too late or too difficult to improve.

Here are the three most common website issues and some potential solutions.

1. “My web site doesn’t get any traffic.”

Turns out, the Field of Dreams marketing strategy doesn’t work.  Just building the site doesn’t get you traffic.  Given that there are millions of websites, many of which are competing for the same prospects, keywords and search traffic as you, it’s also a needle in the haystack.  You have to attract the traffic, not just wait for it.

Solution: You have to give visitors reasons to go to your site.  Post new content, photos and articles regularly. And don’t overlook the obvious.  Make sure your website address is distributed as widely as your name and phone number.  Get your url in your email signature (especially in your email address, duh), and include it in your voice mail messages.   

2. “I don’t get any leads from my web site.”

Again, this isn’t magic; you have to make it happen.  It’s not always obvious when someone is on your web site that they can or should contact you through it.  But what do you MOST want them to do when they’re there? Fill in your contact form?  Pick up the phone and punch in your number?

Whatever is most prominently shown on the home page is most likely to get the action you’re hoping for.  But, one of the most common website problems is: nothing is prominent!  No specific, clear action is indicated.

How are you enticing visitors to contact you?  Is there a call to action inviting them to learn more about your services?   A form with good, qualifying questions for them to fill out?

Solution: Convert website visitors into leads by giving away valuable information in exchange for an email address, so you can follow up with the lead afterwards.  Here on my site for example, I offer a small business brand marketing assessment with personalized feedback as well as a JumpStart Toolkit (check them out in the sidebar above and to the right).

The best way to deliver this is with an automated email capture and follow-up system, also known as an autoresponder.  Using code they provide, you can create forms for visitors to fill in.  Later you can follow up with them personally or send out an email newsletter to them, like this ezine.

You’ll find having an automated system like this one of your most valuable marketing tools.

The service I use and recommend is Aweber [affiliate link].  They are known for having the best deliverability as well as incredible customer service, video tutorials and a very helpful blog.  I’ve recently researched other options and there’s nothing I like anything better.

3. “I can’t update my site without spending a lot more money.”

I have a number of ambitious clients who sunk a few thousand dollars into their websites.  Their focus back then was on making a visually appealing site that would reflect an image or essence of who they were.

Unfortunately, the focus wasn’t on functionality. These sites lack the information a prospective client would like to know.  As mentioned earlier, they don’t invite interaction or capture leads.

And worst of all, adding pages or changing the smallest piece of text or photo requires additional payments or a retainer fee with the designer! As a result some sites haven’t been updated since 2007 – and you can tell by looking at them.

Search engines love sites that are frequently updated and will actually penalize sites with static content.  Even if that weren’t the case, human visitors also need to see that something is new or changing at your website to give them good reasons to return.

After all, didn’t you want a website so that it could deliver information when you weren’t around?  Ideally, this should be the most complete and up-to-date source of news about your business.

You can’t be held hostage by a designer any longer!

You have to have an affordable way to update your site, or else you might as well consider it a dead investment.

Solution: Your first step is to set aside some funds and find someone who can update your site on an ongoing basis within your budget. You can find very reasonable fees for this service on sites like elance.com or by Googling “freelance web help.”

Another option which we use at Enlightened Marketing is a WordPress blog-based website.  WordPress is open source software, available at no charge, which can be installed on your site and updated by you or anyone with a minimum amount of skills.

Although there IS a small learning curve (there ALWAYS is with anything new, but this is worth it!), you can easily master this tool, solve your website problems and save yourself thousands in ongoing costs.

If it’s time to get serious about getting clients from your website, contact us for an action plan today.

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