Your website is a 24/7 billboard and it's either an asset or a liability. In other words, it supports your mission and goals or it doesn’t. How you engage and interact with clients and partners on your website says a lot about your potential to support them and makes a difference in their perception of your quality and stature.

Suggested Action: Read these statements and host a meeting with your team to discuss how you assess your company’s current web presence. Then consider how to prioritize enhancements.

1. Your website conveys stature through your

• Web theme, layout, images, graphics, video
• Effort to make the site experience reflect well on alliance partners or business referrers

Thoughts: Web experts say you have less than a few seconds to make a successful first impression on your website. What first impression does your site make?

2. Your website tells others how you value relationships through

• The presentation of customer case studies
• Customer-focused content discussing how you help them solve problems or reach their goals
• Your expressions of how you are connected to your community and causes
• What you say in your “about us” section

Thoughts: It’s important to tell your story and describe your capacities to serve others, but an important differentiator may be in how you articulate the successes you help others achieve.

3. Your website tells others whether you are an industry thought leader via

• Whitepapers
• Educational webinar and podcasts
• Blog posts and other articles
• Industry speaking engagements
• Media interviews and quotes

Thoughts: The vast majority of companies in the retirement space are populated by technical professionals who do a good job every day. Few stand apart by expressing their expert voice. It can be a powerful marketing advantage.

4. Your website tells others how you project your success by

• Whitepapers
• Presenting your site as other leading providers do
• Demonstrating how you help create good outcomes for others

Thoughts: Does your site say (literally or figuratively) that you are a small, local company? The web can make small, startup businesses appear significant. It can also make large, mature businesses look small and less than competitive.

5. Your website tells others how you value user experience by

• Making it easy for customers and prospects to find the information which is most important to them
• Segmenting your audience and the content most relevant to them
• Actively soliciting feedback on your sites’ usability
• Offering easy access to contact you

Thoughts: It’s astonishing to find sites that don’t make contact easy: phone numbers, contact forms, and feedback buttons can all help speed a visitor’s inquiry to you when it counts.

There are strategic and tactical considerations to the assessment of your website’s design and effectiveness. As you uncover areas for enhancement, consider prioritizing around those that have the potential to create greatest impact on your success.

Alan Gross | President
LinkedIn | www.linkedin.com/in/alanmgross
GSM | your marketing team
4600 Touchton Road East, Suite 1150
Jacksonville, Florida 32246
www.gsm.marketing