America's Benefit Specialist March 2023

WEBSITES GONE WRONG

untouched. Feedback is necessary online too. To build your online business, you need data—where visitors come from, what makes them convert, and which types of visitors be come leads and ultimately become customers. Make sure you’re using analytics to measure your progress. Google Analytics is a good starting point. In summary, you have to make it easy for people to visit your site and you must be a gracious host once they arrive. Provide lively conversation and plenty of interaction opportu nities, and don’t let them leave empty-handed. When you do these things, a lot of things start happening: Visitors return, they tell their friends and they begin to move through your buying funnel. If your website isn’t generating any leads, it’s time to take action. The static brochure sites of the past two decades don’t cut it in today’s digital age. Today’s consumers want to take charge of the buying process, educating themselves before they get a salesperson involved. If your website fails to engage them, you’ll never have a chance.

WHEN ENTERTAINING, THE HOST NEEDS TO KEEP THE CONVERSATION MOVING, AND THE SAME IS TRUE ONLINE.

ber that search engine optimization is not a one-and-do ne activity. It’s an ongoing process of building your online presence and authority. Even when your off-screen and on-screen copy is properly optimized, your site may not rank for targeted phrases right away. Sometimes you rank, only to discover three months later that a competitor passed you by. This is another reason that blogging and continuously updat ing your site content is essential. If your site is optimized, you broaden your net to capture visitors that haven’t otherwise heard of you. 9. YOU’RE A ONE-MODE WONDER. If your website only functions well on a desktop, you’re not going to make it. These days, even business prospects are searching for your business from their phones. Make sure your website is mobile optimized and the page are legible and functional from a phone screen’s view. 10. THERE’S NO FEEDBACK. When you entertain in person, you enjoy continual feed back. You see your guests’ faces, you hear their compliments and you notice when conversation is dying or food is left

Heather Sloan is the president of Inbound Insurance Marketing, a boutique advertising agency specializing in results-oriented marketing communications for insurance organizations across the nation. Prior to founding Inbound, she managed the marketing and IT teams for the grocery division for Royal & SunAlliance. Heather

holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing and communications from Southern Oregon University, and is a member of many marketing organizations. For more ideas on how to improve your company’s marketing efforts, visit www.inboundinsur ancemarketing.com.

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