The most successful business websites are those that act as 24/7 digital salespeople. They’re informative, engaging, and help make the case for your products or services.
Putting up a great MSP site means more than getting pages, navigation, and content posted online. You have to have the right mix of elements to make a great first impression because it’s often the thing that’s going to determine whether all your hard work and marketing dollars are going to convert to revenue.
Is your digital salesperson falling down on the job? Learn how to boost your website’s appeal to visitors and increase your conversion rate by adding a few helpful pieces that it may be missing.
How to Help Your Website Convert More Buyers
Content marketing has become the main form of marketing in the internet age. 70% of marketers are actively investing in this type of lead generation that uses multiple methods (SEO, social media, PPC, etc.) to drive interest in a product or service.
Where does content marketing send people? To your business website. And that’s where you can either close the deal or lose people.
93% of B2B businesses say content marketing generates more leads than traditional marketing.
But having a website visitor is one thing, converting that person to a paying customer is another. If your website isn’t set up to convert those leads or take them to the next path in your sales funnel, then your marketing engine could be stalling out.
Your website is one of the biggest parts of the journey from “never heard of you” to “loyal customer.”
A typical sales journey will start at a keyword search, such as “cybersecurity services Cleveland.” From there, the person is presented a list of websites by Google, and if yours is one of them, they click to your site to learn more.
You have just a few minutes to make your case for being the best option for their needs and from there convince them to convert to a customer. You can’t be there in person each time a visitor lands on your website to convince them, so you have to optimize your online salesperson to do it. Here are the elements to use to grab those visitors and turn them into viable clients.
Company Blog
Adding a company blog to your website gives people a reason to come back. Blog articles keep your site from becoming a static environment where none of the pages change.
Blog posts are the most effective form of content marketing, even more so than email marketing. They are often used as a cornerstone to other types of online content, such as social media posts, videos, infographics, and more.
For example, if you create a blog post on disaster recovery, that post content can be cascaded out different ways to boost your reach and drive leads, including:
- Key points can be turned into a video
- Social media post that links to the blog post
- An infographic that emphasizes the main point of the article
- Content to add in an email newsletter
According to a study by HubSpot, businesses that blog see nearly 100% higher lead growth than those that don’t.
But your blog doesn’t only bring in leads, it also can help convert them. The content you post builds authority for your business, which translates to more trust from the reader.
Tying your blog post to a solution you provide, such as backup and recovery services, can help you turn someone interested in learning about disaster recovery into a client purchasing managed backup from your company.
Here are some tips for creating a company blog that converts leads:
- Link each blog post to a product or service page
- Always include a call-to-action at the end of your blog post (sign up, buy, etc.)
- Post content on a wide variety of subjects of interest to your target audience (IT security, Windows features, SaaS, etc.)
- Post regularly, which will keep people coming back to your site
Newsletter Sign-up Form
Once you have someone’s email address you can continue nurturing them, instead of losing an opportunity with a website visitor.
For example, someone may have landed on your site looking for a company Wi-Fi setup but wasn’t really convinced by your service page. If you never reach out to them again because you don’t have their contact details, they most likely will move on.
But, if you have at least their email address, you can send them relevant content related to your Wi-Fi setup services. That additional email content can then be just what they need to make a buying decision.
So, how do you get their email when they’re visiting your site virtually? The easiest way is through a newsletter signup form.
Place a newsletter signup form prominently throughout your website. You may even decide to make it an exit popup to get more leads. Once you have a way to contact people, you can now nurture them and guide them to the next step in your sales funnel.
Some tips for getting more email newsletter signups are:
- Provide a value statement (e.g., Get timely tech tips & news each month!)
- Let people know you won’t bombard them (add “weekly” or “each month”)
- Let people know you won’t sell their email address
- Make the form short and quick to fill out (e.g., Name & email address only)
Lead Magnet (eBook, Template, etc.)
eBooks, templates, and whitepapers can all be considered lead magnets. These are “freebies” you give website visitors in exchange for their email addresses. Once you have a visitor’s email address you can continue to nurture them and guide them through the next step in your sales funnel.
It’s estimated that as many as 96% of visitors to your website aren’t yet ready to make a purchase. They may just be doing initial research and reviewing companies in anticipation of purchasing a managed services plan later.
If you let them go without getting any contact details, especially their email address, then you can’t do much except hope they come back.
Using a lead magnet provides you with a name and email address allowing you to keep that person interested, serving them relevant content via your email newsletter, and nudging them towards a buying decision.
Here’s an excellent example of a lead magnet eBook from Magnify247.com that serves up on exit intent.
Need some tips? Learn how to create great eBooks for your IT business site.
Free Assessments
One great way that an IT provider can turn a website visitor into a paying customer is by offering them a smaller service for free that opens the door to other paid services.
The free assessment is a perfect example of this tactic in action. Offering a “Free Cybersecurity Assessment” can help you get your foot in the door with a customer and gives you a chance to prove how great your services are.
You provide the lead something of value, which in this case is an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of their IT security strategy. You can then include a quote on what it would take to address any found issues, which makes it easier for the lead to decide to buy.
Some of the popular free assessments that IT providers advertise on their websites are:
- Cybersecurity Assessment
- Cloud Optimization Assessment
- Data Privacy Compliance Assessment
- Website Security Assessment
- SEO Optimization Assessment
- Remote Team IT Efficiency Assessment
Customer Reviews
Having customer reviews on your website is an important social proof that is proven to convert leads to buyers. People are looking for verification that other people just like them are happy with your products or services and will give more weight to the words of a customer over your marketing copy.
93% of customers say that online reviews are an influencing factor in their buying decisions.
Put reviews on several pages of your site, especially your service pages where you are trying to convert someone to a customer. You can use an MSP customer review service to help you set up Google My Business and other sites for collecting online reviews and feeding them directly to your website to boost conversions.
Visible Phone Number
People will leave a site in a heartbeat if they can’t easily find a phone number to call. You must remember that at least half of all web searches are done via mobile devices. Using a smartphone, it’s not always easy to navigate to another page that may contain your phone number.
Ensure your phone number is at the top of the site, large and visible. Also, include in your website code the ability to click and call. By simply making your company easier to reach by phone, you can improve your lead conversion rate.
Great Images
Images instantly engage a reader through a form of storytelling. Did you know that using an image with a person in it on your website can increase conversions by 95% over an image of a product only?
It’s important to have at least one image on your landing pages, service pages, and any other sites pages where you intend to convert leads (which should be nearly all of them!).
You don’t have to pay a fortune (or anything) for great images to use on your site. Here are a few places you can get commercial-use free images:
Additionally, if you have a Microsoft 365 account, you can find attractive business stock images on the menu: Insert > Pictures > Stock Photos.
If you have an Adobe Creative Cloud login, you use stock.adobe.com and filter on “Free.”
Clear Call-to-Action on Every Page
Finally, it’s critical to have a Call-to-Action on every website page. You can’t just assume someone is going to click that button to call you or to sign up for your managed services package. Tell them what to do!
A CTA in the form of a button is the best type statistically for lead conversions. Add text like “Contact Us Now” or “Start Your Plan” and instruct your website visitors on what they should do next.
Build a Powerhouse “Online Salesperson” that Converts
Treat your website as your 24/7 online salesperson by giving it the tools it needs to convert more leads to buyers.
What’s your biggest challenge when it comes to lead conversions? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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