I asked a Fire and Security director if his website was working for him. His reply:
“It had better be! I paid enough for it!”
Question – You don’t know if it is working… or not?
You pay your money to a web developer and he builds the most beautiful website you have ever seen.
And you sit back and wait for the traffic to rush in and the phone to start ringing. But it doesn’t!
What’s going on? You have built it and they are supposed to come!
Reality Check! This is not Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams!
1. The Field of Dreams – No one knows your website exists
The Number One reason why your website won’t work is that no one can find it when they use Google.
I have lost count of the number of Fire & Security professionals who have come to me with no budget to promote their new website.
You spend all your cash on a concept. With no thought for your target customer or how that person will actually find you.
There are a number of possible causes:
- No SEO – no meta data on any of your pages. Meta data is the words in special places that Google’s bots read to understand what your website is about. If Google knows that you specialise in home alarms, she can show your site to people who are searching for home security. In the case of the Fire and Security professional mentioned above, his SEO said “28 Years In The Industry As An Approved Company”. The web designer has not made it easy for Google…
- Generic SEO – meta data which is the most obvious and puts you into competition with the biggest suppliers who have more authority than you.
- Irrelevant SEO – meta data which is not reflected by the content on that particular page, making Google distrust your website
- Duplicate SEO = designers are often too lazy to conjure up a meta description specific to the page. Instead they add boiler plate copy to all or most pages.
2. No one knows what to do IF they do arrive on your website
The hidden telephone number
So many Fire and Security websites hide their phone number at the very bottom of the Home page or make you click through to the Contact page. People get bored very quickly. They don’t want to search for your phone number. If they have made the decision to call, the phone number needs to be obviously front and centre!
Mr Fire & Security’s website had several phone numbers but they were all hidden half way down his Contact page.
No contact form
How can potential fire and security system customers request a free site survey if they cannot give you their address or email?
Not ready to speak to sales or a human
Many out of the box websites don’t tell visitors what you want them to do if they are not ready to speak to sales.
For the best results, you can offer to exchange their email address for a free ebook giving away useful information. Or have a livechat option.
3. You are not different enough from the competition
Does your website say: “We pride ourselves on our customer service.”?
So do a thousand other fire and security system websites.
You don’t stand out. Your website looks the same as all your competitors. It’s just another out of the box template site with a big stock image and some very generic words.
You and your competitors are all fighting over the same tiny percentage of customers. You are all only selling to the people who know what the solution to their problem is.
Add a blog. Write helpful articles for those people who have the problem but not the solution. It’s a great way to attract people who are interested in security issues to your website!
Want your website to grow your business?
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