In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- The difference between corporate and agency marketing
- What to prioritize when designing a new website
- Why you should organize websites according to audience rather than content
Define Website Goals
Laurel is the Director of Digital Strategy at Orbit Media, and she’s an expert in increasing clients’ website traffic and quality site visits. She says the most fundamental thing a business can do digitally is to define its website goals.
“A website is a gateway to your organization and a way for people who don’t know you already to find you.”
From there, decide what you’re willing to pay for web-based customer conversions.
How to make that decision varies from an agency to a corporate setting. Laurel says especially at larger organizations, the way you package your proposal for website improvements matters. The more you communicate your proposal to decision-makers with a broker mentality, the more likely its enactment will be.
Use Data and Context
Optimizing websites is a balancing act. A website should be founded in data while also meeting client expectations and audience needs.
“Numbers don’t give you context.”
Laurel suggests stepping away from the data driving your website updates to also consider:
- Who is my client?
- Who is my end customer?
- How do I serve the customer in a meaningful way?
- How does my website help people solve problems?
Websites that focus on people as well as solid data are the most successful.
Prioritize Content, Not Aesthetics
When building a website, it’s easy to focus on aesthetics and design — too often copy and imagery get overlooked.
The best approach: think about what kind of content you need to fill your website blocks. Make sure the content is on-brand, meaningful to the audience, and tells a consistent story.
The goal: make content and design work together in a seamless fashion.
A good website should have consistent, well-functioning templates and should be prepared for web campaigns. Laurel says content creators should work closely with designers and developers to ensure that each piece of content is in the best place possible on the website.
You want your website to be technically and structurally sound so that optimization and conversion will not only be possible — they’ll be easy.
Organize for Audience
When a company has multiple websites, it’s best to organize them in terms of audience rather than content. Ask: Who should find out what information about my business on each channel?
Multiple websites allow businesses to organize their unique and specific services, and their tone should reflect their target audiences. Laurel recommends organizing multiple websites with frameworks such as tags. Tags can easily be automated to deliver content across your websites.
Expert Tips:
- On company service pages, make sure the “Contact Us” button is easy to find. Try putting it at the top of the page. Track the change’s success with Google Analytics.
- Try making an additional “Contact Us” page on your website that only lists your services and a fillable form. Leave out your address, email, or other information. Laurel has seen this minimalistic focus drives conversion rates.
