What is the value to a business to have an employee that works for you 24x7 and constantly promotes your business in a way your business wants in a consistent way to every customer? This is what we are going to cover today as your website is actually not a website at all. It is an employee, that works for you. Not only is this an employee it has the potential to being your most diverse employee. A website is typically seen as a sales tool and it is. A website is much more than that. It is a public relations tool. It is a customer service tool. It is a way to connect with current and future customers.
Many treat a website as just sales, customer service, or informational. We are different in that we believe it is an employee. A typical website has a lot of time and effort put in up front to educate and inform. After that they are typically left alone until something either breaks, a customer comments on something, or the person in charge of the website has “free time” available to work on it. This is horrible and one reason we say your website IS an employee.
An employee is someone that from day one you start training and mentoring. You teach it a little every day and mold it to the best that they can be. You don’t stop after this initial training. You are constantly training your website on new techniques to convert browsers into leads, updating the materials to be more informative and matching your current business needs, and working as a cohesive team to deliver a message of togetherness. Your website should be treated the same as an employee.
A website serves many purposes. We will delve into the three typical areas we see; sales, public relations, and customer service.
Your website should have all of the knowledge of your sales team. You may or may not reveal prices on your website but everything else should be available. Your website should clearly outline what products and services that you are offering. The information should be clear, concise, and to the point. Being we are talking about a sales persona right now your website should have a clear “call to action” on each of these pages along with a way of generating leads. We see many times people learn about lead generating programs and ask people once, twice, even three times for their contact information. This can turn off potential customers. You need to balance your request for information around your clients and not about generating leads. When a sales person is too pushy you will lose sales. Your website is the same way.
Our next persona we will talk about is communicating what great and awesome things your business is doing. This could be new products and services that you are offering, improvements to existing products and services, and just as important what involvement the company and its employees are doing within the communities you are in. With all of the businesses we strive to work with they are all small businesses. These businesses are community devoted and routinely have a lot of great involvement to help the community get stronger and grow. This information should be informative and have no sales pitches at all. You are explaining why you are such a great company. Not that you are great so now give us your money.
Any business needs to have a focus on customer service. This focus needs to have some sales pitch in it but more importantly it needs to service and answer your customer’s needs. This could be a sales question but more often than not is a question about one or more of the products and services that you offer. Be clear and concise in answering this information and give a clear path for someone to contact you for those questions that cannot be answered through your website. When these questions happen make certain that your website is “trained” and updated with this so that it can help the next person with the same question.
A website is branded with your company in mind. When you talk social media those networks are branded toward those outlets and not toward your business. You have no control over the look-and-feel, how information is displayed, or where your information even shows up. With a website your online employee can explain and answer everything that your business wants to cover along with looking and feeling the way you want it to. Branding is an important part of growing your business in presenting a clear and concise message to your target audience.
Your website as important as any employee you have on your staff. They never take a sick day (unless there is a computer problem with the server which is rate), they always convey the information you’ve given to them in a consistent way to everyone without showing any favoritism. By treating your website as an employee it will always be up-to-date, answer the questions your business wants, and present your best foot forward each and every time. Your website is often the first impression people see about your business.
Does keeping your website updated seems like a lot of work? What about keeping your social media updated as well? What about search engine optimization (SEO) so that people can find your business on the search engines? With our social media maintenance packages starting at $225 for unlimited updates, SEO, and social media (and a LOT more) give us a call at @BUSINESSPHONETOLLFREE@, email at @BUSINESSEMAILADDRESS@ or fill out our online contact form here.