Even if business is booming and your sales are on the rise, you should always be thinking about attracting new clients. Continually sending out the same old marketing email to your existing client base isn’t going to cut it; you need to be thinking about long term growth. So if you haven’t got a plan in place for how to win over new clients, then try following these 5 easy stages.
Improve Your Website’s Functionality
A lot of businesses fall into the trap of thinking that a flashy website will attract more clients. Well, I’m here to tell you that’s rarely the case. Your site may be as smoking hot as a Victoria’s Secret model, but if it doesn’t work; works slowly, or fails to communicate the right message, then you may as well be selling snow to Eskimos.
In an ideal world, your website will be both high quality design and user friendly. But since we don’t live in an ideal world, if you’re working with a limited budget, then functionality should trump design every time. Start with the basics and work up. Make sure that all your contact forms are working and that, if you have a shopping cart, it’s free of any glitches.
The Need for Speed
Don’t you just love lining up at the bank in your lunch hour, or sitting in traffic on your way to work? No? Oh. Well, in that case, you’ve probably noticed that time is a commodity these days. And you’re not the only one who gets impatient waiting for things. Your customers do too. Because we can get instant access to the information that we need in the palms of our hands at any moment, we’ve become a society that seeks instant gratification.
What does that mean? It means that people won’t hang around waiting for a slow site to load. So if your site speed is sluggish, then make sure you speed it up. The quicker the better. Preferably under one second; two at most; around 40% of online browsers will give up on a site if it takes more than three seconds to load. And where do they go? Off to the competition, in one single mouse click.
Work on Your Content
Even if you’re the type of person who enjoys reading novels, you probably only do on vacation. It’s a shame; a lot of people enjoy a good read. But not when they’re fighting against a deadline, need to make a purchasing decision fast, or have to pick their kids up from school. So make your content engaging. Write a dialog that will resonate with your customers and draw them in.
But keep it concise. Keep it simple. Use bullets to get to your point quickly. Think of your website more like a newspaper article and less of an essay. You want to work on putting all the most important facts at the top; instead of unravelling the important information last. And just like a newspaper headline, make sure your title is eye-catching.
Use Calls to Action
Now that your site is functional, fast and the content goes down like a cool drink on a summer’s day, it’s time to make sure that you add effective Calls to Action (CTAs). You know, the things that actually make your customers click. What’s your goal when people visit your site? To request a quote? To ask for further information? To buy your product? Make sure there are lots of places where a customer can click to take action and use commanding words and phrases, such as “Sign Up”, “Download”, and “Get Started”.
Generate Traffic
If your site is fast, your content is good, your keyword density is right and your bounce rate is low, you’ll already start getting Google’s attention. But you’ll need to do more than that to generate traffic to your site. Set up a blog and share content with your customers across social media and relevant associations. Build up quality links that point to your site from carefully selected blogs and sites in industries that complement (but don’t compete with) your own. Make sure your social media profiles are activated and that your online marketing campaigns are targeted.
If you can try to build some of these practices (preferably all five) into your weekly work schedule, then over time you’ll see the benefits pay off. Not only will you be securing your company’s future by attracting more clients, but you’ll be improving your brand image at the same time: two birds with one stone.
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Christina Comben is a freelance copywriter specializing in B2B website content, marketing materials, article writing, and blogging. Multilingual and qualified to MBA level, Christina has produced investor guides and economic reports in developing countries for Spanish newspaper ABC and currently works as Content Manager at Day Translations.