As with all advertising and marketing, your website exists for a very important reason: it’s the genesis of your sales efforts. However, many business owners I speak with – in fact, even some of our clients – don’t look at their web presence this way. Thus – I was inspired to write this article.

So…

Why do you want a website?

 

Let’s get serious. The only purpose of using the web is to make sales – whether you are selling yourself as a personal brand, selling products, or selling a service – you’re in this game to drive sales. I cannot emphasize this point enough. Your site is an investment in your sales potential. Therefore – you need to look at your site as one of your sales force.

Obviously, there are some important distinctions.

First, your sales people can only reach one person at a time. Second, people create personal relationships with real handshakes, real meetings, and real phone calls. These relationships are incredibly valuable and cannot be replaced by any website, no matter how perfect it is.

On the other hand, your website – similar to an advertisement – reaches 1000s of potential clients at the same time. But, it’s reach is much greater – we’re not talking about a meager local ad campaign,it’s global. Your site is communicating the quality of you, your products, and your services every single time a user hits your landing page. This can be very good… or very bad.

A sales person’s mistake may cost little to rectify. It can usually be managed. However, a mistake on the web may cost thousands of times that much. Those are missed sales, missed leads – unknown opportunities cost.

Your site greatly magnifies the impact of your sales efforts. Poor placement, poor copy, poor design choices, poor marketing efforts – these are immediately communicated to thousands of potential clients. If your site isn’t found, you are dead in the water (the web marketing component of web presence). If your site doesn’t resonate with your target demographic (if it’s not “sticky”), potential clients bounce out and find a competitor who does (the web design component).

Holy snap judgement, batman!

Research shows you “have as little as 50 milliseconds to capture the interest of potential customers. […] first impressions can influence subsequent judgments of website credibility and buying decisions…”That’s 1/20th of a second folks! (Read More)

Value your money

You value your marketing and sales dollars. Even entry level sales positions can demand $30,000 salary every single year (not including training, expenses, management, office space, etc). Realistically though, you’ll be spending at least $50,000 and up. For that reason, when an account manager doesn’t perform, you let them go as fast as possible. Your marketing budget is a very significant spend – thousands to millions each month. If you aren’t seeing an ROI, you change tactics. Therefore, it is important to look at your web presence the same way. Your site is an extension of your sales and marketing arm — but it never sleeps. If it’s not converting leads or making sales, you need to let it go – in all likelihood it’s hurting you!

This all may seem pretty self-serving. We are a web marketing and design agency after all. But really – I’m not writing this to sell you our services. I am encouraging you to change how you look at the web. Any site is an investment of marketing dollars and you need to spend it wisely. If you’re not looking at the web as a sales tool, why do you want a website?