Website development has come a long way since the days when businesses could just whip up a cool-looking digital brochure, and leave the rest to their Sales team. In the current online market, an effective business website is a critical tool to help Sales close leads by leading prospects through the sales funnel stages, from awareness of your brand, to interest, toward a buying decision and taking action. In a sense, a well-designed website functions as a member of your sales team, by tag-teaming with your salespeople.
Your Website Should Expand Your Brand & Sales Reach
Your web redesign strategy should aim to expand your brand recognition and sales reach beyond what your sales team can accomplish on its own. This includes designing with site-wide Search Engine Optimization in mind, which involves more aspects of design than most business owners realize. Site design affects the page load time, which, in turn, affects your site's Search Engine Results Page (SERP) rankings, and so does mobile responsiveness. If your site is not fully functional on mobile devices, you're being penalized on Google's SERPs. If your site has a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate and proper implementation, it gets an additional SERP ranking boost. On top of basic design considerations, your site design should feature a steady flow of fresh SEO content, which you need to achieve top SERP rankings. Fresh content which visitors find interesting, pertinent, and helpful will also expand your reach as visitors share that content to contacts who've never encountered your brand before.
Build In Sales Lead Generation
Include sales lead generation into your website design strategy, and watch sales increase as your site "hands off" good leads to your salespeople. Social media can be a significant feeder to your site and lead database, as you build brand trust and loyalty through your interactions there, then direct your engaged audience to your site, where you can give them more sales-oriented messages. If you work this process well, visitors will self-select as qualified leads, and your sales team will have a steady stream of serious prospects to work with. You'll enjoy better profits and better retention of your sales professionals by using your website to its full potential in generating leads.
Make Your Site Support Your Sales Process
The flip-side to designing a website that supports your sales team's efforts to further nurture and close those leads on your site. This type of sales strategy depends heavily on well-developed sales funnels stages. Your site should be ready to take prospects by the hand in the consideration and decision stages with things like product information, case studies, white papers, and other supporting data. The information your site provides should take a prospect who is thinking, "I think this sounds like a good idea," through any questions and doubts until he thinks, "This is a solid decision. I'm confident in this." Include both an upsell offer and a down-size option, and make the buying action on your website as simple and fast as possible.
Website Design With Sales Success In Mind
By incorporating effective SEO, sales lead generation, and a well-designed sales funnel into your business website, you're building a seamless connection between your Sales team and site. Your salespeople will be more productive, and you'll have a more profitable website.