Lead Generating Websites: 20 Tips To Improve Your Business Website

Merely having a web presence used to be enough. A business would put up a static brochure-style website just to have “a presences online” in case someone looked them up. The sites were rarely touched, much less updated and were really just a digital brochure.

If your website is still just an online brochure that just sits there doing nothing, you are risking a complete shut out in the new online business competition for customers.

This doesn’t mean you have to go out and add a bunch of flash or moving elements to your website. Believe me, you want to limit your use of flash and be very strategic with it when you do because search engines can’t search and index content in Flash sites very effectively yet and it irritates visitors. It also doesn’t mean your website has to be complicated. In fact, just the opposite is recommended. You want to keep your visitors in mind at all times when working on your website and you want to keep it simple. Your ultimate goal is to get them the information they need as quickly and as easily as possible.

In today’s web 2.0 business climate, the need for a strong online interactive user experience increases by the day. An impersonal website that preaches how great you are is no longer going to cut it. Your website now needs to be utilized as a valuable and important tool to connect with your customers and prospects, to share information, and to build relationships.

What it does mean, is that your website should be regarded as a living, evolving, changing thing. From website design to website functionality, here are some basic recommendations for your website:

1. Your site should be consistently updated with new and valuable content regularly – a blog is a great solution.
2. Your site should share information your customers and prospects want and need, and help position you as an expert in your niche.
3. Your site should be a portal for high-quality information.
4. Your site should provide crystal clear contact information on every page so site visitor’s can easily get in touch with you.
5. Your site should make your marketing easier and make it easier for your visitor to get what they need.
6. Your site should have a call to action get visitors to take action, whether that is to build your list or make a purchase or contact you.
7. Your site should give visitors a reason to come back.
8. Your site should be authentic, representing you and your business, your values, and your benefits.
9. Your site should include an opt-in box to capture visitors’ email addresses in return for some valuable information.
10. Your site should generate new leads and prospects.
11. Your site should hep you make personal connections with visitors.
12. Your site should utilize automation tools and strategies to put your marketing on auto-pilot.
13. Your site should show up in the search engine results, preferably on the first page.
14. Your site should connect to and integrate where appropriate links to your social networking profiles and feeds from your posts.
15. Your site should include a media page and/or press room.
16. Your site should be flexible and expandable so it can grow with you as your business grows.
17. Your site should encourage interaction between you and your target market.
18. Your site should stand out from your competition and set you apart.
19. Your site should have a planned structure and design that plays a supporting role to your content.
20. Your site should help you make more money.