Make your Website Work

Does your website have an online enquiry form?  I am still astonished by the number of sites who publish just their email address for potential customers' use.

Here is some of the information you lose by failing to track your web visitors effectively:

• How did the visitor find your site? So you know where to spend resources on the best referrers.
• Which keywords did they use if they came via a search engine? So you know which phrases are most important for optimisation and Pay Per Click.
• Which pages of the site did they visit?  So you know what content is most valued.
• Are they first time or repeat visitors?  Is your site building loyalty?

An enquiry form is also useful in ensuring  you have the right information for ease of following up. The more complex the form, the fewer people will complete it. But you can ensure that each form at least has name, phone, email, company name, major area of interest etc.

Then you can see at a glance which enquiries are likely to be most profitable for follow up.

Of course, the enquiry form has to be easy to find.  Good design will ensure that the visitor can immediately see where and how he can get extra information.  Good marketing will ensure that he sees a benefit in asking for such information by offering free downloads, trials or white papers.

Or you can just live in hope that the site visitors will remember you when they are ready to purchase. But can you also hope that your competitors are equally uninterested in their future business?

Talk to you next month,

Stephen Orr