We typically build two types of website for our clients depending on their needs. These are categorised as 'Outbound' or 'Inbound'.
What is an Outbound Website?
Many businesses websites on the web are Outbound are simply online brochures. We refer to this type of site as 'Outbound Websites'. These are marketing focused and typically showcase the company and its services.
We have designed many brochure style websites for local business, which suits their needs if they are looking for a basic online presence. As long as your website is technically sound and optimised for search etc. this will give you an online presence, but it probably won't bring in the volume of leads you need to really thrive and harness the power of online marketing.
Why? Customers nowadays are empowered and search savvy, they research companies online are already 70% through their buyer journey process before they make contact with a company.
With Outbound websites, you may only hear from a prospect towards the end of their buying cycle. By then they will have narrowed down their options considerably, so you may not hear from them at all. An opportunity missed?
What if there was a way to connect with potential customers at the early stages of the buying cycle? What if you could build trust and be a relevant resource to them in helping them with their needs at the awareness and consideration stages of their journey?
Buyer journey stages:
What is an Inbound website?
A mindset shift to a more pro-active sales-focused approach can change a lot. Modern Inbound methodologies and strategies can transform your website into a lead generation machine, with your website becoming your online sales rep, the one that works 24 hours a day and never takes a holiday.
An inbound website is a site that is designed around user experience; a functional website acting as the central hub for your entire sales & marketing process. Design, relevant and quality content, calls-to-action, personalisation, SEO and ease of management for you (CMS) all factor into this working efficiently. The site can also be linked seamlessly to a CRM / Email marketing software to manage leads, contact base, marketing phases and sales progress through to conversion and ongoing customer retention.
Depending on your business needs, size and budget, there are many different software tools out there to help you manage Inbound marketing efficiently and save considerable time. Our favourite is Active Campaign which does all of this seamlessly and doesn't cost an arm & leg.
Alternatively, for our clients using Wix built websites, we can unlock Wix Ascend features that allow an all-in-one inbound package with partial CRM, email marketing suite, workflow capability to set up automated emails to take customers through your sales funnel with content relevant to their buying cycle stage, database management and even invoicing. If you want to know more about this, please contact us.
What Makes A Website ready for Inbound?
An inbound-ready website is, effectively, a runway - helping to land inbound traffic and guide it toward to point of turning into an opportunity. Factors that can prime your website to perform this function include:
Site structure and content - a website in which key pages are aligned to the primary SEO keywords and the path to purchase optimises both the internal linking opportunities in your content and the user experience for visitors.
Navigation - navigation is your way of telling website visitors what information is important to their purchase decision. Pared-back navigation that focuses on the critical content for purchase, with other links moved to the footer, will improve engagement with the content that is truly important on your site and increase your conversions.
Conversion - providing relevant and varied ways for your website visitor to take that critical step and convert into a qualified, bottom of the funnel lead is vital to achieving inbound growth. Demos and free trials can be tested as conversion offers, and for service businesses, consultations and assessments may be more appropriate. For all businesses, however, contact us and talk to sales options should be made easily available, as many B2B buyers still prefer to take this approach when engaging a supplier, particularly around complex sales. Live chat and messaging is, of course, also becoming more popular.
Design - Modern buyers demand a certain level of sophistication in design and a proportion of them will go elsewhere if your website looks like it was created in the last century.(Source)
Is an Inbound Website right for your business?
If you would like to discuss whether your website could be working harder for your business, we offer a free 30 minute consultation to answer any questions you may have and establish if we can help your business thrive with smart digital marketing. GET IN CONTACT
Warren Arthur has 25 year+ experience in leveraging digital marketing strategies and implementation to help local businesses survive & thrive online. He works with businesses of all different shapes and sizes across the UK, US & Europe - and is passionate about empowering his clients to find their success in this digital age we all live and work in.
Find out how he and his talented team can help your business thrive online, contact Warren Arthur Consulting