Pretty doesn’t pay the bills
We are not a group of web designers who also offer online marketing services. Most of our team comes from a marketing, business development or finance background. What does that mean for you? We don’t care how pretty your website is. We care about things like ROI, lead acquisition cost and margins.
We believe:
1. Google is not a free search engine with some ad space. Google is a paid search engine with some free space.
Are you looking for SEO because you think it’s a cheap way to market your business? If so, you are going to be in for a rude awakening. This misguided concept is perpetuated by web marketing agencies that are out to make a quick buck. Why do you think so many people have had a bad experience with a digital marketing agency at least once in the history of their business? It’s because some slick sales person told them they could get them a bunch of leads in just a few months for $200/month. If it sounds too good to be true…it probably is. The fact is, Google is a paid search engine with some free space, not a free search engine with some paid space. This is a subtle, but important distinction. If you want to know the real truth about SEO, read: “So you think you need SEO…” Google has to produce a profit to please shareholders. They are not in the business of making you money for free. If they made it easy to rank #1 for all of the top producing keywords, no one would spend the money on paid advertising, which is their top grossing service. Organic optimization is not cheap because you need an expert to go up against Google and turn your website into a money making machine and capture the best potential audience looking for what you have to offer. In most cases, your greatest ROI will eventually come from organic rankings. This process does not happen over night, but when you hire the right team to transform your site to please both your target audience and the major search engines, that’s when you’ll get the most bang for your buck.
2. We do not believe your website is a marketing tool. We believe it is a sales tool.
What do you want visitors to do when they come to your site? Call you? Email you? Download something? Buy something? You bet ya! Your website has one job, and one job only – convince the visitor that you are the best solution to their need…that’s it. The rest is just fluff to satisfy the search engine gods and maybe a little light reading material for the research audience. Your website should be part of a larger system that funnels leads to your front door. Don’t make it your only system. Make it part of your overall business goals and incorporate a similar brand message in all of your collective lead generation efforts. Remember, people buy with emotion and then justify their purchase with logic. It has been like that for years and years. Our article entitled “The One Trick to Make Your Website Roar” has been syndicated on CNN and received rave reviews. You owe it to yourself to take ten minutes to read it.
3. Differentiation and User Experience are key.
Does you website represent why you do what you do? Take a minute and think about that. What makes what you have to offer different or better than another company that offers the same thing. Sure, you need to tell people what you do, and maybe how you do it, but it’s the WHY that will make someone choose you over the next. People on the internet are looking for a solution to satisfy a need because they don’t already know of a company that provides the product or service and they haven’t had any recommendations from their peers. These people are also usually price shopping. They want the best option for the least amount of money. Monitoring the user experience of your site visitors can give you some valuable insight into what is working and what is not. You can see these things using tools like Google Analytics or one of our personal favorites, Mouseflow. Pay attention to the way people navigate your site and make adjustments accordingly. You can also tell from this data if they are not finding what they are looking for when entering the site and leaving immediately. Focus on a clear message that communicates your core brand values and speaks to your potential customers. If you have the intention of producing sales from your website, it is imperative that you take these things into consideration. Having your site built by a designer that is primarily focused on aesthetics is going to hinder your sales and cost you more money in the long run. If you’re thinking about a re-build, creating a new project or just need a little sprucing up, we suggest consulting experts that are experienced in sales and marketing techniques, not just web design.
Stephan Boehringer is the CEO of Get The Clicks, a web marketing company. Stephan has over 20 years of experience in the field of web marketing, and has been a speaker and consultant for many years. Stephan is passionate about web marketing and helping their clients be the best they can be.
Stephan Boehringer graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services.
