“ It’s red. And it’s paint. What more do you need to know? ”
Consider your own website for a minute. Before you built it did you ask yourself what makes you stand out from others? Or what your qualities were, and why they were going to make a difference to your prospects and customers? Maybe you did. Let’s say you condensed your qualities down to three things:
● You’re independent - working for the client
● You’re experienced - insurance professionals understanding your clients’ needs
● You’re approachable - no call centres, no cold menu systems
If you believe these are your qualities, they should form the platform for your marketing messages, which in this example is the content of your website. Now you need to look at life from a visitor’s perspective. What do they want from a website? Essentially they want clarity and easy access to information that is relevant and concise. Websites have no room for padding, so get brutal. Do visitors really get any value out of the director’s CV or discovering you made an acquisition in 1997? Also be realistic. Visitors rarely re-visit a site to check on your latest news.
Honestly now, is that page
going to reinforce your values or encourage site visitors to buy from you? If pages on your site don’t support your values of independence, experience and approachability, why are they there?
Finally, have you made it clear what you want the visitor to do next? Do you want to speak to them? Encourage them to call you and make it easy for them - call back buttons or booking a call facilities might help - as will making sure your telephone number is on every page and not just the contact page.
Which brings us to design. Don’t let the design distract visitors from your marketing
message. Animated cars with audio blazing across your motor product page, might be interesting the first time you see it, but it’s the equivalent of sitting in front of a client with a twirling bowtie - amusing for a bit.
Why not apply the ‘Red Paint’ test today because, remember, your website is marketing and as we know - marketing is selling.
Mike Millard and We Do The Words Ltd specialise in providing marketing service to the independent broker sector.
www.wedothewords.com
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