My friend Rob Walling is an entrepreneur, author, blogger, and startup advisor. I was lucky enough to hear him speak at a conference this month, and the lessons from his talk apply to to every business that has an online presence, including countertop fabricators.
The #1 Goal of Your Website
Maybe it’s not surprising, but the goal of your site is not to sell products, it’s to get visitors to return so they can answer fundamental questions that might lead to a sale. You should think of your website as a way to start an ongoing conversation with your customers and prospects, and the best possible way to have an ongoing conversation is via email.
How do you get email and permission to market?
- Create a killer landing page. It should be centered around getting email addresses. Invest by hiring a designer, and test to see if small changes to the site can improve the rate that people are signing up. We’ve found that using 99designs is a great way to get high-quality design for cheap.
- Give something away. In order to build people’s trust, you need to offer something unique and valuable. An example might be a report or analysis of countertop materials, or maybe a discount on a service that you’re already offering – like repairs or measuring.
- Follow up. Rob recommended MailChimp, which allows you to create a sequence of emails, sent out over time. You may want to send out a guide in the first email, followed by testimonials after a few days, and ultimately provide a coupon for a discount after a few weeks or month.
The goal of your follow up is to provide information for customers seeking more, build trust, and keep your company in the mind of prospects who don’t have an immediate need or the finances to buy a new countertop today. If you can get your prospects to keep coming back, the chances that they’ll buy from you will go up drastically.
