Why You Should Point People to Your Website

With so much focus on social media and email marketing, it’s easy to forget the inherent value in an asset you’ve already invested in financially and energetically - your website.  

Your website isn’t meant to just sit on the internet and be discovered although it is fantastic when that is able to happen.  It is an easily accessible place to direct your  followers and subscribers and allow them to get to know your organization in a deeper way and offer you more insight into their motivations and desires. These are crucial elements in your ability to meet your goals.

While social media is an excellent front porch, offering the opportunity to shake hands and smile at passersby, maybe have a glass of lemonade with a neighbour on the front steps, you don’t want to stop there.  The goal is to create deep meaningful and trusting connections and those things happen when you invite people inside - your website is your online living room, where you get to share stories and get to know your connections in an entirely different way. 

So what are the specific benefits of directing people back to your website?  Let’s dig in. 

You can track customer behaviour

Most website building platforms have analytics built in and Google Analytics is available to anyone with a Google My Business account.  These tools are invaluable in your quest to understand whether your website is serving your people and whether they are using it the way you expect them to.  By directing people to your website, whether through your business cards, social media links, or calls to action in your email marketing, you gain the ability to see how they make their way through the website, what holds their interest, and what causes them to leave. You can then adjust accordingly. This information is likely also transferable to your other communications! 

Conversions can be increased

This one is pretty straightforward.  If you don’t direct people to your website, the place where they can actively book a call with you or make a purchase, how are they supposed to do it? There are plenty of consumer studies that back this idea up as well.  Even with the increased comfort that people have with purchasing directly on social media, the sweet spot is still a website/social media combo.  81% of consumers won’t buy from a brand they don’t trust, and trust is built through consistent authentic interactions and repeated clear messaging.  62% will ignore your business entirely if it doesn’t have a website to visit.  With 92% of first time website visitors not making a purchase, you need to prioritize pointing your audience toward your website as often as possible.  

Making use of your asset

You spent the time, energy, and money to build a well laid out, brand aligned website - you need to direct people to it in order to collect your return on that investment. Building a website and not pointing your target audience to it is the same idea as opening a brick and mortar store and not unlocking the door. 

If you’re looking for a way to get more out of your website, start by directing your audience back to it on an intentional and regular basis, and see what happens!