What Every Website Needs to Win Leads Locally

In today’s world, business begins online.

Between 70-80% of consumers research a business online before engaging with them. A staggering 97% of consumers turn to online search to find a local business or service.

But in a world of 2 billion websites, it takes more than your typical website design and strategy to win business. Many business owners spend thousands of dollars a year to build websites that find and convert leads, but still miss key components. Developing a winning website can often feel like an expensive, ineffective guessing game. But according to our research, it’s actually quite simple.

If you’ve ever wondered how to make your website do more, you’ve come to the right place. It’s time to win.

Winning the Search—SEO.

These days, it’s pretty straightforward. Nearly 90% of all search engine traffic goes through Google, and the first three listings of a Google search get 60% of the clicks. So if you hope to win leads to your website, you want to appear in the top three results, or Google map pack. While many factors go into Google’s ranking algorithm, you can optimize your chances of topping the search results by focusing on these key elements:

• Reviews. Reviews, in terms of consistency, diversity, and authenticity, account for approximately 10% of the factors Google uses in its ranking algorithm. Businesses need to focus on collecting a high volume of high quality reviews consistently if they want to climb up the rankings. Use a messaging platform to collect reviews on the daily (you can increase response rates through text). Take the time to respond to reviews, both negative and positive, as quickly as possible (best practice is 24 hours for a positive review, and 2 hours for a negative).

• Optimization. In order to rank highly, your website needs to perform just as well on a customer’s phone as it does on their computer screen. This feature is rapidly gaining importance as half of e-commerce sales are now made through mobile devices, and nearly 60% of consumers report that being able to shop mobilly is important when considering which businesses to engage with. Optimize your site in terms of screen fit and make sure that each page loads at lightning speed.

• Accuracy. A critical, often overlooked factor in being deemed “legitimate” by Google’s ranking agents is ensuring that your Google My Business info is up to date. This includes your hours of operation, address, map/direction, phone number, and more. You should also ensure your NAP (name, address, phone number) listings are consistent. Mismatched information bits, such as two different business names or addresses, can confuse search engines (and customers!) and affect how you rank in a search result. Maintain consistent information to get found quickly.

Winning the Experience— Features.

Once you’ve won the search, the battle is only half over. It’s time for lead conversion. What converts web visitors? An outstanding website experience. According to our research, a top-notch website experience centers around active engagement, intuitive design, and addictive content.

Engagement

When leads land on your site, your goal should be to engage them. This can be accomplished through features like interactive quizzes, re-running videos, and blog sections. But if you want to actively engage customers first, having a chat feature is crucial.

Live chat is an up-and-coming communication feature that approximately 41% of customers expect to see when they land on your website; and this kind of convenience pays. A recent survey reported that live chat leads to a 48% increase in revenue per chat hour and a 40% increase in conversion rate.

According to our customers, website chat has proven a make or break tool that turns websites into lead-generating machines. With the right chat tool, you can move conversations from desktop to mobile and back again. You can also give customers the option to pick a specific location to chat in the case of multiple locations.

Design

Did you know that it takes about 0.05 seconds for users to form an opinion about your website that determines whether they’ll stay or leave? And that 38% of people will stop engaging with a website if the content or layout are unappealing? As much as we like to think otherwise, snap decisions rule the world of website experience. Start with the following to deliver website design that captures:

• Include the name of your business, front and center, and design your page flow so that customers can find what they need quickly and intuitively.
• Write a short description of what your business does, including your business name, what you do/offer, who you offer it to, and where you’re located.
• Stick to one CTA that is simple and attractive. (If you can, we recommend placing it near the description of what you do.)
• Lean on white space to increase readability. This is the secret weapon of really great websites that are easy to navigate, don’t overwhelm, and help visitors avoid what’s called ‘analysis paralysis.’
• Include high quality photos and videos and optimize them to load quickly. High quality media will help your customers to have a more engaging and positive experience with your site.
• Make it functional. Approximately 75% of website credibility comes from design. If your website is difficult to navigate, it can cause leads to doubt your professionalism and legitimacy as a business.

Copywriting

Once you have a beautifully designed and engaging site, what keeps leads coming back? Excellent content. The copy on your site should be well- researched, intentional, and keeping with the tone of your site and brand. It should tell your story. But remember—in the case of copywriting, less is often more. All your writing, from your product descriptions to blog posts, should feel concise, personal, and original. It should always point the reader to an action of some kind.

Examples:

“Figuring out how to acquire new customers is difficult. I’ve spent the past few years working with all kinds of different businesses across a range of industries to help them figure this out. Now I’m going to share a whole host of tactics that you can try out yourself to add more to your bottom line.”

This copy, from Matthew Howells-Barby, demonstrates simplicity, concision, and the power of personalization by focusing on a shared problem and employing the pronoun “I.” It flows logically, establishing credibility in the second line and value/ organization with the third.

“Brad is single.”

This line (employed by a low-cost Norweign airline to advertise low fares to LA) played perfectly on current events (Brangelina split in 2016) to appeal to flyers, demonstrating the power of relevant and humorous copy.

The day after my girlfriend threw away my favorite shirt I started working on Marine Layer…

The First Soft Shirt—To be fair, she wasn’t crazy or anything…it was definitely on its last legs (the shirt, not Kelly). I wanted to recreate a shirt that would feel like my old favorite from day 1, so I wouldn’t have to worry about anybody taking liberties with my clothes + a trash can.

With this copy in the “about” section, Marine Layer’s owner tells his story in a personable and humorous way, effectively establishing a personal relationship with readers and mastering relatability.

Websites that Win.

Now that we’ve discussed what it takes to create an effective website, let’s take a look at websites that win.

Auto Sales

Nyle Maxwell’s site plays a high-quality, looping video of people gaping while Maxwell trucks ride by as its central feature. It stuns with vibrant imagery, eye-catching color combination, and its powerful CTA, “Step Up Like A Pro.”

Van Horn Automotive’s site also features a captivating video as its central feature. We love the filtering system in the middle that invites visitors to get going, along with the organization of key action-oriented tabs at the top right, “Schedule Service” and “Select Location.”

Auto Services

Creech’s website does an excellent job featuring its hard-earned Google reviews (a critical component as 91% of people read online reviews and 84% trust them as much as a personal recommendation.)

We love the effective simplicity of Griffin Fast Lube’s layout, along with their focus on making important information (such as COVID-19 vehicle service procedures) easy to find.

Healthcare

Utah Valley Dermatology demonstrates effective use of white space and tone with their site, choosing color combinations and spacing that gives a calming effect.

We love CT Braces’s focus on inviting patients to leave Google reviews and how easy they make the process with their assorted locations and buttons row.

Home Services

Merry Maids’ website demonstrates the power of good copy with an effective image pairing, displaying “One less thing to worry about” alongside an expectant mother who is already caring for another small child.

Paschal’s website features a web chat tool and a red “schedule service” button, inviting leads to immediately take action by texting the company or making an appointment.

Hospitality

We love how Kai Kanani sweeps us away to a sunset ocean adventure and offers an intuitive website organization that is easily navigable.

Ritz-Carlton is obviously known for their dedication to quality, and their website reflects this value with its high-quality imagery and looping video. We love that they caption each image, subtly inviting guests to travel to those locations.

Professional Services

Wilner & O’Reilly’s website delivers an impression of competence, focus, and professionalism with its black and white color scheme. We admire the explanative copy towards the bottom that clearly describes the value of the firm and what they deliver.

Progressive’s website is humorous and playful, featuring the all-famous Flo against a simple blue and white layout. This site delivers an impression of affordability without losing credibility or quality, appealing to smart, thrifty leads who want to save.

Retail

Austin’s Couch Potatoes’ website features a “What’s Your Design Style” quiz, along with several video options—making for an extremely interactive, personalized, and engaging website experience.

Shannon’s Fine Jewelry website features a design that shouts ‘high-quality goods!’ With “Now Open,” it references the current situation without being overbearing and then invites web visitors to visit in person with the next line.

Winning search results and converting leads online isn’t easy. Developing and fine-tuning your site can be stressful and challenging. But the time to maximize your online presence and conversion rate is clearly here. If businesses wish to stay relevant in our increasingly competitive digital marketplace, they have to invest in optimizing their websites to achieve maximum potential.

Start with the basics. Gathering consistent reviews, optimizing site features, and ensuring online information is accurate. Then, work on engaging, developing intuitive and attractive design, and writing relevant original copy. If you take these principles to heart, you’ll develop a website that wins. And keeps winning. Every time.