As businesses shift to inbound marketing, they notice early on that their website will need some major remodeling. An inbound website is completely oriented around the visitor’s experience, and their location in the sales funnel...which means a couple of “About Us” and “Contact” pages aren’t going to cut it anymore.
The importance of a well-built website to your inbound strategy cannot be overstated. Your whole customer lifecycle takes place right on your website! Where do your leads land first? On your website. Where are all your blogs and content offers found? On your website. Where do most conversions take place? You guessed it...your website.
Here’s what you need to do to transform your website into a fully integrated inbound marketing hub:
1. Offer valuable content
The inbound methodology is focused on attracting prospects with useful, helpful content and building relationships by continuing to provide value. On your website, these offerings will be in the form of blog posts, ebooks, videos, infographics, whitepapers, and more.
Compelling, valuable content builds trust with prospects who visit your website and gives you a chance to educate leads about your brand and services systematically. Plus, high-quality, informative content helps you stand out as a leader in your industry.
What kinds of content should you provide? Anything that helps your prospective customers.
A great way to get started on content formulation is to think about a common pain point your prospects face or a frequently asked question. Then, create content that addresses these challenges.
An important note: while SEO is necessary for attracting prospects to your site, your primary focus should be on providing highly valuable content. The days of cramming as many keywords as possible into hastily-written blogs posts are over. Create your content to be as useful as possible to the reader, THEN go back and optimize.
2. Create Pathways with Purpose
Your inbound website should guide prospects through the sales process organically. To do this, you will need to establish clear paths that visitors will follow naturally. Design each page of your website with three things in mind:
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Who is going to view this?
Consider how a visitor would arrive at the page, such as your homepage, a free offer landing page, your testimonial page, etc. Are they likely to have arrived from a web search? Social media? An email? Are they a brand new visitor or someone who is already familiar with your company?
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Where are they in the marketing funnel?
Once you have an idea of what your audience looks like for each page, assess their location in the marketing funnel. Are they toward the top (ToFu), just becoming aware of your products or services? Or are they toward the bottom (BoFu), looking for more information before they convert?
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What do I want them to do next?
The goal of your inbound website is to guide prospects through the funnel. Based on their current location in the funnel, establish a logical next step. For example, you may want to capture an email address for a new prospect at the top of the funnel. Towards the bottom of the funnel, your CTA might be to schedule a consultation or try a demo.
The next step should always be very clear to the website visitor.
Your headers and footers are also important tools for establishing purposeful pathways. Menus should be simple to navigate. Your ultimate CTA (Request Consultation, Start Your Free Trial, etc) should be emphasized. Valuable content links should be easy to find in the footer. Everything in your design should make the visitor experience as smooth and directional as possible.
3. Use Video
A recent report from HubSpot revealed that more than 50% of consumers want to see more videos from brands. This number beat any other form of content. Video is also capable of increasing conversions by a staggering 80% when included on landing pages. Having a video on a page even increases your SEO. The bottom line is that videos are no longer optional...they’re integral to your inbound marketing process.
Demo videos, brand videos, educational videos, case studies, and even customer testimonials make excellent content for your website. Like all other inbound content, just make sure each video provides value for your leads. Keep them short, relevant, and helpful.
Incorporate these fundamentals into your website build or redesign, and watch your inbound strategy soar! If you could use more guidance, reach out to our team at Tobe and add some experts to your squad. Happy marketing!
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