So you managed to set up your consultancy website - now what? If you don’t have a plan to drive traffic to your site, and then to have said traffic convert into actual clients, your site is going to have as much use as a pamphlet laid out in the street. You need to find the market your firm caters to, and that market needs to be able to find you.
I’ve spent years creating specialized websites that establish my clients as the experts they actually are. It’s not just a matter of choosing modern web design choices or using popular tools, you need to be making the right decisions for your customers. I’ve already helped law firms and doctors optimize their online presence, it’s time to take your firm to that same level.
Here are just a few simple tips to ensuring your consultancy site attracts web traffic and creates new customers.
Build and Maintain Your Relationships
Having a website isn’t just a poster or business card, it can be a forum where you can actually engage and communicate with your customers. You can survey customers on business decisions or current market trends. You get them involved in the process and you get an invaluable amount of data coming in to your site.
Offering immediate customer support that they can access 24/7 can build the kind of trust that leads to lasting, and profitable, partnerships. That doesn’t mean hiring a team to stand by a phone all day, it means featuring a chat box or contact form where customers can get in touch with you and explain their issues.
Personalization tools, though more complicated when it comes to development, can also turn a client list into a community. If you manage a client’s portfolio, you can add tools or plugins that let them keep track of your work. Cement your partnerships by finally cultivating a two-way relationship that you directly maintain with your website users.
Establish Credibility with Successes and Expertise
If you’re offering advice to multi-million dollar companies and businesses, you need to establish a bit of credibility first. Believe it or not, no one’s going to pay a consulting fee to someone whose only descriptor is “Consultant.” Your future clients will want to see all of those fancy credentials and certifications you or your team spent years acquiring, so make them visible. If you’ve got MBAs, MBEs, CBAP, or SAP certifications on the team you need to show them off!
Having a blog or FAQ page can also demonstrate your knowledge, because you’re literally demonstrating your subjects. Curious users or even clients will always have questions, so have the answers at-the-ready.
Show why you’re an expert in your field and it’ll earn you the trust and credibility you want from your customers.
Become The Top Search Result
With a combination of Google Analytics data and a decent SEO tool, you can find yourself as the top search result when a user inevitably searches for the kind of consultancy you offer. As much as we want to believe the top results are based entirely on merit - the truth is, they’re not. I’ve spent years helping my clients become the top results in their field. It’s a science, but one that’s fairly easy to start learning.
Google Analytics gives you a staggering amount of data you can use to create a more positive experience for users on your website. Then an SEO(Search Engine Optimization) tool, like Semrush or Surfer or even a more basic tool like Google Trends, can tell you the exact keywords you need to use to get to the top of the search results.
Reliable Web Hosting
I’ve spent a long time explaining why you need to test web hosts so you can avoid the bad ones. Performance, speed, and security are all at the mercy of your web host. A web host with consistent downtimes is going to affect your online traffic - and eventually, your reputation. Choose a web host with a minimum 99% uptime and your traffic won’t take hits with frequent connectivity issues.
Then use robust security measures that not only protect you against attacks on your site, but protect your users too. Avoid getting your named lumped in with another massive data leak and keep your web traffic safe and happy.
Simple Navigation and Eye-Catching Layouts
Hotjar, Lucky Orange, Crazy Egg - chances are, you haven’t heard of any of these session tracking tools. You need to change that. The data those tools provide can inform how you design your site and how to integrate different changes in the future. You need to make choices that lead to an improved user experience - and that takes the hard data those tools provide.
Even for simple website designs, you want to ensure navigation is simple and functionality is top priority. Include a vertical sidebar that makes all of your pages easy to find; integrate a dropdown menu that shows related subsections and different pages. Not everyone is as tech savvy as you might be, so you want a user to easily navigate your site to find the content, or contact, that they’re looking for.
Social Media Accounts and Integration
The conversation with your customers no longer ends when you hang up the phone or conclude the meeting. Social media platforms are effectively communication channels that never close. It’s not only a channel you can use for community outreach and conversation, it’s also the best marketing opportunity of the 21st century. According to this study, over 90% of all marketers now do so on social media. Everyone’s there, so you should be too.
You can easily integrate plugins into your site, making all of your channels and accounts visible for customers to find and follow. Savvy marketers know the differences between Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook ads - don’t limit yourself to just one.
Social Proof - Testimonials, Reviews, & Shoutouts
Speaking of social media, let’s talk about social proof. It’s another form of validation and one you absolutely cannot ignore, especially as a consultancy firm. Your results are your business, so when you succeed for a client you want to post and brag wherever you can - but it’s much more effective when the client does it themselves. Synergy has benefitted countless businesses and it can help yours too.
When a client with their own social media following boasts about your results, that’s arguably more valuable than any ad you can buy, especially if they let you post that on your site. Plugins allow for you to post a wide selection of customer testimonials. The only people who are as passionate about your business are those that use it, put them at the front and center of your website and let your current clients speak directly to your potential ones.
Making a content-rich website that’s easy to navigate seems like a herculean task, but it’s a necessity for essentially every industry. An inviting website that’s easy to use should show your web traffic that you’ll also put that much thought and care into your client list.
