6 Ways Local Businesses Can Get More Leads from Their Website
How much business do you get from your website? 10%? 20%? 50%? No matter how much it is, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind getting more. Generating business online is something many small businesses struggle with.
Earlier this year we asked small business owners what percent of their business was generated online ? The results surprised us. Only 12% said more than 30% of their business came from online channels. This figure comes from lumping a lot of online sites together: social media, email marketing, advertising, and their own websites. Even more disturbing, a whopping 37% of our survey respondents said they only got 1-5% of their business from online channels.
Local businesses will always get most of their business from foot traffic, personal referrals, and other offline sources, but the Internet is still a massive opportunity. It should be one of your major lead generation channels.
As you know, there are a dozen different ways to get more business and leads online. So optimizing your website should be your number one priority.
To help you make the most of your site, here is a short list of the most simple and effective ways to get more business and leads from your website. There’s almost no technical razzmatazz required here.
1. Put your phone number, location, and hours of business at the top of every page.
The most common reason for someone to check your site is to get your phone number and hours of business. Don’t make it hard for people to find that information. Put your contact information at the top of every page. Consider repeating your contact information at the bottom of every page, too.
2. Include a contact form.
A common way to lose business: Someone goes to your site after hours and finds no way to do business with you other than to call you again in the morning. Often, it’s 12 hours before you can get back to them. By then they’ve hired a competitor.
Give them a way to go ahead and get started doing business with you, even when you’re not there. A simple contact form will help. Ask for enough information that you understand their request. Set up the form so your prospect gets an email confirmation that you’ve received the form and don’t leave them guessing about what happens next.
3. Post your testimonials.
Testimonials and positive feedback are powerful persuaders. If you’ve only got one or two testimonials, put them on your homepage. If you’ve got more, put your best one on your homepage as a teaser, then add a new page to your site dedicated to testimonials. These can be from customers or clients, online reviews, or write-ups in local publications. Additionally, you should put testimonials on your lead capture pages (see an example) to help with conversions.
4. Test every function of your site on different mobile devices. Then test it again.
Most of the traffic to your site will be viewed from mobile devices, so make sure you’re adhering to the new Google algorithm update and ensuring your site is mobile and web-friendly. A responsive web design will make it easier for website visitors to fill out forms, search your site, and purchase your service or product.
5. Show your work.
Your website needs to give people a clear idea of what you offer, how you work, and what you charge. What you offer can be as simple as a page listing your services.
Include your set prices or price ranges. If your prices aren’t as clear-cut, offer a real-life example of each type of job and the price, with a rough breakout of how you came to that cost.
To describe how you work, consider adding a page that explains this specifically, or include the description as a section on your “about us” page.
Don’t forget the photographs: Before and after shots are especially convincing, and they will increase interest and click-through rates.
6. Cover your SEO bases.
You don’t have to become an SEO wizard , but get listed on “Google My Business.” Learn the fundamentals of keywords, title tags, and meta-descriptions, and learn how to use these on your pages. Set up your listings on the major local directories since there’s plenty of traffic to be had on these sites, too.
Most of these suggestions can be done without the help of a developer and can be completed in a short amount of time. Just wait—soon more leads will come in.
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