Why "Brochure" Sites Don’t Generate Results

Often, smaller firms are hesitant to invest in a website with content management. They are “just looking to get something up” or simply want to convert their current print brochure to the web. The end result is a website that basically says “Look at how wonderful we are” rather than “Here’s how our services can help you.”

Unfortunately, too many firm websites focus solely on the firm’s objectives at the expense of their visitor’s objectives. Firm centric websites are boring to read and rarely answer visitors’ questions or help them in their research. And if visitors can’t find what they are looking for quickly and easily, they leave. And they forget they even visited your website, or worse, they leave with a negative impression of your firm.

Client Centric Websites

The best sites take firm objectives to heart, but also focus on providing critical content that visitors are looking for. This is because the web is an interactive medium. With your website, visitors actually choose to read your website. They choose which pages they interact with and what content they receive. And they choose to keep reading or click away.

This is unique among most of your marketing materials. When you give someone a brochure, you’ve already made the first move. You’ve handed them more information. They can either choose to read it, file it away, or throw it out.

Where Your Website Fits In Your Visitor’s Buying Process

Your website comes into play when people are actively engaged in research. They already realize they have a problem or need more information about something. They’ve typed in search words into Google or Yahoo to find that information. They are hungry for content – anything that might help them solve their problem or achieve their goal. If you can help them solve that problem, you’re well on your way to building credibility with them.

Of course, you want to balance your visitors’ goals with your business goals whether that be to generate leads, get people to register for a seminar, or sell a product. And not everyone that visits your website will fit your ideal client profile.

The best sites balance business goals with client goals. To achieve that balance requires careful planning and goal setting before you even think about what the site should look like. If your goal is simply to put your brochures online or to have a website because “everyone else does,” chances are pretty good that your website won’t be very effective as a marketing tool.

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