Before you start marketing, it’s important to ask. Do you have a lead generating website design for your business?
When someone comes to your site with zero knowledge about your business, will they be impressed? Intrigued? Annoyed? Or not even get to see your site because it’s so slow?
In simple terms: is your website a good representation of your business? So many business owners I speak with will tell me how they are embarrassed of their website. This always makes me so sad, because your website is the only thing on the internet that you actually own. It’s YOUR real estate (you rent from Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook), it’s the place where you control the message and what your customers see.
There are two types of bad website in this world.
- The website that looks like crap, works like crap and is crappy to use.
- The website that looks fancy and beautiful, but works like crap.
You don’t want to be in either camp! Your e-commerce website should be dialed in, focused and above all, have a well thought out customer journey.
You might be asking, what does a good website have to do with Pinterest marketing? Well, everything, actually. You can have the best Pinterest strategy in the world, but if people land on your website and immediately leave, then what’s the point? The goal of Pinterest is sending traffic to your website so that they will buy from you. Your website is half the equation! The goal is to take make your cold Pinterest traffic nice and hot by taking them through your greater marketing funnel. This is where your website comes in!
We spend a lot of time fine-tuning our client’s website funnel, so I decided to create a little checklist to help you master some of the common problems we see.
PS- need a web designer? Here’s who we recommend,
The Lead-Generating Website Checklist
1. CTA (call-to-action) On Every Page
I need to understand what you do and sell from EVERY page of your website. This means if I enter from a blog post, I should be able to tell based off your sidebar and main menu what you do and how I can learn more. From your home page to your product pages and everything in between; the goal of your website is to get people to stay and shop! Make it as easy as possible for them.
2. GREAT Product Photos
Your product photos and branding is usually someone’s first impression of your business and we all know how important first impressions are! Think about it, if I get to your website and all I see are badly lit and blurry photos that I can tell were taken from your phone, am I going to trust your business enough to hand over my credit card information? Probably not. But if I see professional quality photos and a well designed site, I am more likely to think that your business is professional and trustworthy.
An example of a great ecommerce website from our client, rooapron.com
3. Incentive to Opt-In
Cold traffic can be difficult to convert the first time, so your goal should be to incentivize the new visitor to take the next step in knowing your brand. Whether that’s through a discount in exchange for their email address or a social media pop-up. Email marketing is also a great way to grow your brand and nurture leads, so it’s worth developing a good strategy.
4. Mobile Friendly
85% of users on Pinterest are on a mobile device, and this stat is true across the board when it comes to internet usage. Make sure your website is easily navigated on a mobile device. Function over form is a good way to think of this. You may need to make choices that simplify the design in the name of making your mobile site easier to navigate, but it will be worth it in the end!
5. “More Like This” here, there and everywhere!
One of my favorite things to do when I am shopping is to see the “More Products Like This” area on the product page. It helps me know what else I might like and do more research on what I am buying. Your website should have this on all product pages. You could also have a “Best Sellers” tab or area on your home page to further encourage clicking around. On your blog, I recommend adding a “More Posts Like This” at the bottom of every post (there are many plugins that will easily do this for you). Again, we are always thinking about how we can encourage a visitor to STAY!
6. Shoppable Blog Posts
A blog is a great way to introduce people to your business and generate traffic, but it also needs to be used as a clear tie to what you sell. Every post should be connected to your overall marketing strategy. If you sell products, then you should make sure I can easily buy the products from the post. And if it’s services, you could offer a freebie or opt-in at the bottom (like at the bottom of this page!) conencted to an email sequence that helps people understand how you can serve them.
An shoppable blog post from our client, Thomas Lee Sheets.
7. “Start Here” page
This is one of my favorite tips, create a page geared especially for the brand new visitor. This is a great thing to add to your blog side bar or in your main menu. This is NOT your “About” page, it’s a place to introduce people to you and your business and tell them in basic ways what you do and what you have to offer. Here’s my “Start Here” page if you want an example.
8. Link all the things.
Be sure to include your social media links in your main menu or on the bottom of the page, people love looking at your Instagram or Pinterest for social proof of your brand. Add “Pin It” buttons to your photos for easy pinning and make sure it’s easy to contact you!
