Do you realize how close you may have come to winning some business – from a company you didn’t even know was looking at your business?
Every day, businesses unknowingly miss out on opportunities to engage potential prospects, primarily because of some simple things they may have overlooked on their website.
Could you be winning more customers who are looking for your products or services?
Here are 5 ways businesses lose sales and how to fix them.
1. You don’t show up well in online searches.
Studies indicate that more than 85% of people start their search online for products and services. So more than 5 out of 6 prospects use online searches to identify and qualify (or disqualify) providers they potentially want to do business with.
The fix: Improve your online visibility by optimizing your website for search engines. Understand the key words prospects will be using to look for your products. This is relatively simple when addressed by an SEO expert, and extremely valuable. There are at least three vital SEO components you should address: domain name selection, use of keywords on site tags and content.
2. Visitors to your website can’t tell what you do.
In doing business development exploring for my own company, I have come across any number of websites that say the company delivers high quality products and customer service and will exceed your expectations. But you have to dig to find out what they actually do, or what products or services they offer.
The fix: The way Google and other search engines index a website is by looking at the content and what that content says or how it is defined. At a minimum, you should have one sentence on your home page that clearly defines what your company does or offers, and make sure all page, headlines, photos, etc. all have proper tags that show up in your website code. For example, as a company description “ABC Industries makes hubcaps and bumpers for ’57 Chevys” is very specific and searchable. “DEF Industries makes high quality products for consumers and delivers outstanding customer service” is not very specific or searchable. Get this right and you’ll get more visits – and you’ll be better understood by those who do visit.
3. You don’t engage your visitors with online offers.
When prospects visit your website they are sizing you up. You may be one of 10 to 20 companies they are taking a preliminary look at to get an impression. They want to find a company they can trust, but your website makes it hard for them to determine that trust level.
The fix: Providing additional content lets visitors get to know you. For instance, offer free downloads of reports or white papers that provide useful information that don’t include sales offers. By exploring this type of information, prospects get a feel for how you might relate to them and how you might be to work with. Today, website content is king – and can be remarkably helpful to your prospects.
4. Website metrics are not being tracked.
I’m amazed at the number of companies that don’t know the metrics or statistics related to their website. They may not even have the free Google Analytics installed. Taking this one step alone can provide massive information on how to improve your website and make it look highly attractive to your prospects.
The fix: Install Google Analytics or another analytics package so you can see where your traffic is coming from, especially if you are advertising online, and what keywords visitors are using to find you – and what keywords you should add to your site. This is so important that we have added Google Analytics to some websites for free, even when we ended up not working with that prospect. Adding analytics can help put you ahead of your competitors online by providing you with vital information.
5. Not collecting visitor information.
Many websites provide a lot of information, but don’t collect information from visitors that can be used for future follow-up contact, such as email marketing or enewsletter marketing. In other words, building a database of visitors who are already interested in your company.
The fix: Email marketing remains one of the most used and best methods of reaching customers and prospects with product offers, sales information or simple and useful information. Put a prominent contact form on the right side of your website, above the fold, in order to let visitors sign up for your newsletter or email offers/notifications. Tie that form to an email software program such as Constant Contact or MailChimp that automatically captures the names and email addresses entered into the form. It also can send out an autoresponse thank you and notify you of new sign-ups via email.
By implementing these 5 tips, you can vastly improve your company visibility and the chance to snag that new business that you didn’t even know was out there.