It’s time to reveal the final reason many businesses aren’t getting clients from their website or blogsite. And what is that reason?

Reason #6- Your site is stale.

Believe it or not, it really does matter how fresh your site is. What do I mean by ‘fresh’?

Of course your content is going to be included. That’s especially important if you’ve got a blog on your site, but also important that you make changes on your other pages too. Adding new images, changing your layout or colors, adding holiday greetings and/or business specials are all ways to ‘freshen up’ your site.

And yes, I’d suggest that you make changes to your copy as well. If you don’t have a blog that is generating new content on a regular basis then it is especially important to have at least one area of your site where you share new information consistently.
Internet marketers will tell you this is vitally important for SEO reasons. I believe it’s important for people reasons.
New packaging is way to bring attention back to a product that purchasers may be losing interest in. Changes to your site serves to not only increase interest but lets visitors know that you’re present and paying attention to your site.

And don’t forget to check for cobwebs.

When I say cobwebs, I’m referring to broken links and outdated information. Nothing screams abandoned website like announcements from 6 months ago.  And for those links, check out a link checker like the WC3 link checker to help keep your visitors from experiencing broken link frustrations.

So there it is. We’ve wrapped up the 6 reasons I most often find is the reason businesses aren’t getting clients from their website or blogsite. If you’ve missed any of them, you can get them delivered directly to your inbox by subscribing to my newsletter.

Of course, this doesn’t mean these are the only reasons, so if you have more to add I’d love to hear your ideas.  Any questions about the 6 reasons I gave?  Go ahead and ask! I look forward to hearing from you.

If you’ve been following this series of posts, you’ll know that we’ve been discussing reasons you may not be getting clients as a direct result of your website or blogsite. The first three reasons had to do with your content/copy and yesterday’s reason was all about how easy you make it to contact you from your site.

Reason #5?  You aren’t promoting your site.

I’m not talking about SEO (search engine optimization) here, I’m talking about good old fashioned telling others about your site.

When you speak to someone about what you do, do you always mention your site? And if so, do you tell them how much great information they can get there?  How helpful they may find your blog posts? Don’t stop with your elevator speech, make sure you let those that you talk with know they can find great things if they take the time to visit your site.

How about when you comment on other blogs or on forums?  Most commenting systems allow you to put your website address in so that clicking on your name takes a reader directly to your site.

The same goes for Twitter, Facebook and other networking sites.  Set your blog up so that whenever you post new content an announcement with a link automatically posts on these sites. If you run some sort of special on your services you can announce it on these sites as well.

Do you have your site listed on your business card?  Most people do, but try adding a line about the great tips/advice there. How about your invoices and letterhead?

And finally, is it in your e-mail signature? Not just your business e-mail, but your personal e-mail as well. You never know who you might be corresponding with who might be interested in the services you offer.

When looking to gain clients via your website, don’t be shy. Promotion makes a difference!

Over the past three days we’ve explored some things that might be keeping you from gaining clients from your website/blogsite.   All of the possible reasons we’ve addressed so far have been related to your content and copy.  Today we’re going to start looking at other possible problems spots.

I would list Reason #4 as making it difficult for people to contact you.

It may sound silly, but make sure you have made getting in contact with you as easy as possible.  As hard as it may be to believe, I still occasionally come across sites with no contact information.  But don’t think you’re off the hook just because you have a contact page.
The thing about people is that everyone is different; and as such they all prefer different ways of contacting someone when inquiring about services.  Where one person might be ok with a contact form, another might prefer direct e-mail and yet another might be most comfortable with a phone call. For this reason it’s wise to include as many methods of contact as possible.

For those of you who don’t like to post an e-mail address due to SPAM concerns there are several ways to do so and lessen the chance of SPAM.  You can write the address out like : thilton at clericaladvantage.com.  Someone reading the information is going to know that the symbol needs to be inserted instead of the word ‘at’.  This keeps address harvesting ‘bots from picking up your address.  The second thing you can do is create a separate address just for website contacts such as ‘ info@yourdomainname.com’.  This will keep any possible SPAM from landing in your own e-mail inbox.
Your contact page (and yes, you should definitely have a contact page) should include a contact form, e-mail address, phone number, and fax number if you have it.  You should also include social media connections like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.  Let your visitors know they can feel free to contact you via any of the methods listed there. If you’re comfortable with it you can even add your mailing address for anyone that might be more comfortable with snail mail.

And don’t stop at your contact page.

Make sure there is some sort of contact information on your landing/main page too. And if you can, putting a contact form in your sidebar so that it appears on every page a visitor is on is a great idea too.
Make it easy for anyone to contact you from anywhere on your site in whatever manner that they might be most comfortable with.

Yesterday, in our quest to find out why your website isn’t bringing you clients, we examined whether we were talking to or at our target market. We learned that showing potential clients how we can help is better than telling them how great we are. So what’s next?

The third reason you may not be getting clients from your website?

Reason #3-You aren’t doing anything to bring your visitors back.

This one often accompanies reason #2.   Just as many businesses believe that visitors to their website want to see an impressive list of accomplishments, awards and experience, they also fail to understand something very important. The majority of people aren’t going to be ready to buy what you’re offering the first time they visit your website.

The first time they visit they tend to be researching and comparing. You may think that those impressive credentials are enought to make them add you to their bookmarks to come back when they’re ready to buy, but it won’t. So how do you get them to remember you and bring them back?

Give them a reason to come back. At this point you should have an idea of what your target market needs, so offer it to them through useful and informative content. That may be a FAQ page where their most common questions are answered or giving useful advice through blog content or informational pages.

Your site visitors have come to you looking for answers. If all you do is talk about what you can do or how you can answer their questions it’s much less likely they will return. But if you actively provide the answers right there on your site, it becomes a resource.

People return repeatedly to a resource. They trust a resource. And when they are ready to buy? Through your helpful information you’ve proven that your knowledgeable enough to provide what they need.

Today, look at your site and ask yourself if you’re providing answers to questions and informative content for your visitors. If not, think of the reasons they may be coming to your site and what kind of help they’re looking for. Use that information to make your site a resource for your target market.

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Remember, if you don’t want to miss any of the posts in this series, be sure you sign up for the newsletter.   When you sign up you’ll get each reason delivered to your inbox and no matter when you decide to sign up, it will start with #1.

In the first post in this series I discussed one of the reasons your site may not be bringing you clients, aiming your content at the wrong market. The number two reason also has to do with your content.

Once we’ve reviewed the site and looked at the content to determine who is being targeted, our next step is to see if they are talking to them or at them.

Sadly, the majority of businesses talk at their target market. What do I mean?

They give them a sales pitch, explaining what they do, why they’re good at it and try to impress potential clients with their education, experience, awards and testimonials. Don’t get me wrong, there is a place for those things, and I’ll go into that another time, but it shouldn’t be the main focus of your site.

It’s not really their fault, traditional marketing was all about making an impression, talking big and tooting your own horn. Thankfully, marketing is changing. Widespread use of the Internet and social media is changing how people search for services and products.

Potential clients are no longer searching for the provider with the most impressive list of achievements but one that shows they understand their needs.

So what should you be doing?

You should be talking to your visitors and letting them know you understand what their needs may be. Realize that you might not know everything they need and ask them to let you know what their problems are. Encourage them to interact with you.

Instead of thinking about what your readers need to know about you, think about what they need to know that you know.

Today take a hard look at that content again and make sure you’re not talking at your audience but actually talking to them and with them.

As I mentioned last week, the number one complaint I hear from business people is…

“I’m not getting any clients from my website/blog.”

And just in case you missed Friday’s post, I mentioned that when I take a look at these websites, the reason they are having this problem tends to be caused by one or more of 6 common issues.  Today we’re focusing on #1.

So just what is reason #1?

You’re speaking to the wrong audience.

The first thing I do when I visit someone’s site is to see if I can tell from the content, who their target market is.  Sounds easy doesn’t it? Think again.

It’s not always easy to figure out.
Why? Well, sometimes it’s because they themselves don’t have a clear idea of exactly whom they are trying to attract. If they haven’t determined their target market and/or niche, it’s going to be pretty hard to speak to them through their content.

Take for example,  a real estate attorney whose blog posts are related to the legal technicalities, laws and rulings regarding the real estate business.  It’s great information but they’re not likely to draw in sellers and buyers.

Check your site to see if you’re writing for your industry or your market. Writing for your industry is fine if that’s what your goal is. But if your goal is to draw potential clients to your site and turn them into clients, then you should be writing for them.  If it’s all legal or technical jargon, they’re going to bounce right off your website, and probably never return.

Can you see why it’s important to understand who you want to draw to your site before you decide on your content?

Take the time today to read your content with an objective eye.  Make sure you know who you’re speaking to and that it’s the audience you want it to be.

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Remember, if you don’t want to miss any of the posts in this series, be sure you sign up for the newsletter.   When you sign up you’ll get each reason delivered to your inbox and no matter when you decide to sign up, it will start with #1.

I’m not getting any clients from my website/blog.

It’s the complaint I hear from business people most often.
It’s a frustrating situation, especially if you’ve spent a lot of time and money on a website and/or writing content for your blog.  The fact is, ‘if you build it, they will come’ only applies to the field of dreams.  Simply building your website or adding content to a blog and waiting for your e-mail inbox to fill up with contact form requests is like waiting for Shoeless Joe Jackson to show up at your little league field.  It’s highly unlikely to happen.

So what do I do when a client asks me why their website isn’t generating business?  I take a look at their website.

What I’ve found is that their problem usually lies within 6 common areas.

Rather than just touch on each problem area briefly in one post, I’m going to do a daily series of posts next week.  Monday through Saturday I’ll list each problem area along with tips on how to determine if that’s your problem and if so how to fix it.

And since this is such a common complaint, I’m also going to offer the series in the form of a newsletter, delivered right to your inbox, so if you don’t feel you’ll remember to check each day’s post next week, make sure you sign up for the newsletter so that you don’t miss anything.  Of course, you can also subscribe via RSS so that you don’t miss any posts at all.