How to Make Your Website Your Number One Salesperson
Having an impressive website is crucial to generate leads, and it sets the tone for how your business operates. Your website is your best salesperson—it’s the first thing people look at when researching a company. Because it runs at all hours, there are more opportunities for people to stumble upon your business. However, if your website is hard to navigate, outdated, or confusing, you lose out on potential customers and relationships. It’s crucial to maintain a quality website, so you don’t miss the opportunities that await your business.
Here are critical components in a website that will make your site your number one salesperson:
Search Engine Optimized Page Title Tag
The title tag of your page is an essential component of your website. It specifies the title of your web page, is the headline for a given result on search engines, and is an accurate, concise description of a page’s content. Essentially, it’s the big text you see in search results when you’re on Google or Bing. Making your title tag unique for each page of your site will allow you to show up in more search results. Be sure your title tag is short and includes top keywords.
Relevant Keywords
Keywords are words and phrases in your content that allow users to find your website in search results. Think about what people type into Google to search for something. Those are keyword phrases. You want to use those in your content to signal to the search engine that this page or site has information on the phrase. When you optimize your keywords, that pushes your website to the top of search results. However, using too many variations of the same keywords can get you in trouble with search engines. It’s counterproductive and creates a bad user experience.
Straightforward Home Page
Your home page should signal what you sell. You should be able to look at your website from a distance and be able to tell what your site is all about. Your home page should highlight your elevator pitch, a short description of your company, for a quick and easy understanding of your business. Visitors should know what vacations you sell or specialize in without having to comb through your website. Having a narrow focus helps customers from being overwhelmed. For example, if you specialize in selling honeymoons, make your hero image, the main photo on your website, two people in love on vacation. If you sell Caribbean vacations and specialize in wellness travel, make that clear.
Clear and Concise Top Navigation Menu
Your top navigation should have no more than five menu items. Be sure that your menu items are in order of the steps you want people to take when visiting your site, and refrain from having submenus unless they’re necessary. You can link to other pages in your website within each page. For example, if you want someone to look at your “About” page, only give them that option on your menu. Once a user is on your “About” page, then you can link to other pages on your website, like a team page.
Obvious Path for Personas
You should think about who is coming to your website and the path they take through pages on your site. The routes will be different for each persona, a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer. The pathway a new client takes is different than a repeat customer. For example, if a new prospect clicks on your about page, you can link to a page of destinations, then deals, then a page to contact you or receive a quote.
Fresh Content
Google also penalizes sites that aren’t updated regularly. Incorporate new content, be sure links are working, and make sure your blog posts are current. You want to give visitors a reason to visit your site repeatedly. When people see a website that isn’t up to date, people assume that the business closed or is no longer operating. Avoid that by serving a more up-to-date site that has been posting content frequently. For example, if you published your last blog post six months ago, that would show inactivity, and Google could penalize your website.
Emotional Appeal
It’s crucial to establish a connection with your site’s visitors. You offer more than just travel. You provide a way for people to make lifelong memories with their loved ones. Convey that on your website. Include images of people who are making memories, laughing, and enjoying themselves on vacation. Avoid using stock photography—make it your own. However, if you have to use stock photography, look for images that show emotion. It will help establish that connection and show that you offer more than just a travel service.
Compelling Language
People think about one thing: what’s in it for me? You can talk about yourself, your business, and what you provide, but if the client can’t see how this benefits them, you’ve lost them. Make the language on your website compelling and show the value in what you provide. The language on your site should be more about your client and less about you.
Subscription Option
Give customers a way to connect with you. A quick way to do this is to include links to your social media. However, it’s crucial to give visitors an option to subscribe to something like a monthly newsletter or email updates by adding a button on pages. Social media sites fluctuate in popularity or some close down altogether. Having an email list that you own is one of the best assets that can’t be taken away. It’s 100% yours, so treat it with care. Email lists allow you to have a list of contacts and connect with customers easily. In fact, email is 40 times more effective at acquiring customers than Facebook or Twitter, so you want to make email a primary marketing activity.
Direct Answers
People have questions and want immediate answers. Make it easy for users to get those answers by giving your website a frequently asked questions page (FAQ). Look through your emails and interactions with clients to see which questions are the most popular and create an FAQ page based on that information. You can include information about a travel planning fee, a way to contact you, and answers to other commonly asked questions. Also, fine-tune the content on your website to make explanations clear for customers.
Easy Way to Contact Your Team
You should also give customers an easy way to get in contact with you or a member of your team. You should have a phone number at the top and bottom of your pages, and you can even include an option to live chat with someone. It’s a great way to resolve problems quickly, increase sales, and reduce your expenses. A live chat customer service is 17-30% cheaper than a phone call, and customers that use live chat are three times more likely to make a purchase compared to those who don’t. Some popular live chat software programs are LiveChat, Sendinblue, and Olark—some of these are free to get started, so give them a try.
Strong Call-to-Action
Tell people what you want them to do. Visitors need to have an explicit, desired action they should take when visiting your website—a call-to-action (CTA). If you want visitors to book a consultation, have a button that lets them do that on every page. People shouldn’t have to scroll to the top, bottom, or back to your home page to complete your CTA. However, it’s crucial to tailor your CTA to a page’s specific content or the user’s path. For example, if a user is on a page that will lead them to receive a quote, include a CTA to get a quote. If a user is viewing a page about subscribing to your newsletter, include a CTA for them to subscribe.
Your website is a crucial component of your business. Your site can bring you an endless amount of opportunities because it operates all hours of the day. It can help you make money in your sleep when done right. When your website has these components, we’re confident it will become your number one salesperson and bring in leads like never before.