Told the client, “It’s actually not “your website”.
“What?”
“It’s the user’s website. The Project Manager looking for a solution. The estimator trying to nail down some pricing. The client principal trying to decide if you’ll make a good ‘partner’ to help them deliver a job.
“Huh.”
Perspective has a great deal to do with how you approach the architecture and content of your website. The client was not wrong in what he was seeking to do with his website, but it needed a paradigm shift. “You want to be found. You want to have what the Project Manager, Estimator, Equipment Manager, Principal, etc. are looking for at the moment they search.” After that, presenting an opportunity for the website user to engage is what follows.
“You want to be found. You want to have what the Project Manager, Estimator, Equipment Manager, Principal, etc. are looking for at the moment they search.”
Two Words: Google Analytics
Google Analytics: Every principal should know what their website is doing for them. Are the getting 500 visitors/week? 50? Are the visitors staying for 2 minutes or 2 seconds? (This metric alone will answer the question, “Are they finding what their looking for when they land on your site?) What pages get play and what pages don’t. How are people looking? Desktop or Tablet/Phone? Would that be useful information? You bet. From there you can drill down into metrics of all sorts of metrics that will inform you as to the behavior of visitors to “your” website.
Three Letters: SEO
SEO. Search Engine Optimization. Google and the rest (Bing/Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, etc.) crawl the internet and look at what your site has. Think content. Having what your company offers is great, that’s your website. Having what the Project Manager, Estimator, Equipment Manager, Principal, etc. is looking for? That’s being in a position to be found by searchers. How? SEO.
Read up on SEO: Guest Post by Alisa Meggison: SEO 101 – SEO Basics; Guest Post by Alisa Meggison: SEO 101 – SEO is Like Investing
It’s for the user. OK, who’s the user?
You’ve checked Google Analytics and you know 141 people landed on your site last week. Who are they? The data can help you drill down and get a better feel for how the site is being used, but wouldn’t an idea of who is using THE website help craft the site to the user? It sure would. The better a profile a company can develop over the typical customer, the better you can meet their needs. Google Analytics’ won’t tell you this. It takes some metrics, tools, conversation, extrapolation to develop a decent profile of your website user. Its fluid and should be tuned in and honed over time. But a picture of who you’re developing the website for, surely they’ll find a better website when they go to look – and that’s just good for business.
Then creating every opportunity for the user, who you now know, and how they behave, to engage with you.
That’s a much better start to your sales funnel, no?