When I go to meet business owners and senior management about how our digital marketing services can help their business, one of the questions I am always asked is ‘why isn’t my website getting calls?’ A lot of business owners are concerned, and rightly so, that they have spend a lot of money on a website and it is not returning nearly enough value.
This is something I will always try and talk through with the business owners at the time, however, I thought it best to also write a blog post which will outline some of the main reasons people do not call a business, even if they are sat there on the website. We will focus on some of the main aspects of website design, as well as touch on the content that is being placed on these websites.
So, let’s get started.
No Call Tracking In Place
Oftentimes, it is not that the website is not generating calls, it is that there is no call tracking software in place to track which calls are coming directly from the website, and which calls are coming from other means.
One of the easiest ways to implement call tracking into your website is to run a Google campaign. Google allow you to allocate a phone number to each of your campaigns, and if this campaign generates a call, it will tell you before you need to pick up the phone. You will also be able to see how many calls each campaign has generated on your Google Ads homepage.
Running call tracking on your website is one of the easiest things you can do ensure you are accurately monitoring the number of calls you are getting from your website. Rather than guessing how many of the calls you have been getting have come directly from your website, you will be greeted with an accurate figure. From there, you can make small changes to your website to ensure that more people who visit your website, call your business directly.
You Are Not Using Landing Pages
When you visit a website nowadays, there is a good chance that the page you land on will not be the homepage of the website. Depending on the search query you entered into Google, you will normally click on a result and end up on a landing page that is directly relevant to the search term you entered on Google.
Landing pages are a great way for companies to get content that is directly relevant to what the user has searched for on Google, rather than directing them to the Homepage of your website and hoping they find what they need, you can show them what they need straight away when they visit the page. This will not only improve the bounce rate of your website, but it will also ensure you are creating as many leads as possible with your website.
This has become a very popular concept in web design, especially in the last year, as it is a great way to increase the number of leads and enquiries companies generate with their website. If you are not making use of landing pages on your company website, you really are missing out on a great number of calls!
You Are Publishing Too Much Content
I bet you didn’t realise that was possible, did you?
Everyday, it seems I am reading a new article that tells you that you need to be creating as much content as possible for your website. The idea is that if someone heads to your website and sees 300 articles on your blog, then you must be an expert on that subject. Therefore, they are more likely to listen to what you have to say, and enquire about your service over anyone else.
This, really, isn’t the case.
I don’t know about you, but I would much rather read an article from a website that publishes 1-2 great blog post a month than a website that publishes 20 mediocre blog posts a month. Wouldn’t you? Nowadays, people are a lot more concerned about what you are actually saying, than how often you are saying it. Everyone wants to know that they are ringing a company that really is a leader in their field of expertise, and one of the main ways that companies can show this with their online presence is to ensure that the content they publish is detailed, well written and, often, thought provoking.
You’re Writing for a Small, Niche Audience
One of the main reasons you may not be getting calls from your website, is because it is too focussed on your niche. Don’t get me wrong, it is great that you do operate within a niche, as it allows you to become one of the best in that field, but if you are constantly tailoring your content to this niche and only this niche, your content isn’t going to be shared as much as it could.
Of course, you want qualified leads and writing about your niche may well bring in small numbers of qualified leads, but this will only be a small number. Whereas if you tailor your content, or even a small proportion of your content, to an audience just outside your niche, it is going to be a lot more shareable than it could be. This means that even more people will see your content, and will call you as a result.
Finally, You’re Not Sharing Your Content Enough
Let’s say that you have taken the above advice on board. You have written a very detailed, comprehensive post that pushes the boundaries of your niche and it definitely makes you sound like an expert in your niche. You publish it on your website, and that’s it…
That’s not enough.
Nowadays, you need to push your content until it cannot be pushed any further. This means sharing it on social media, multiple times! You also need to be pushing it onto other websites as well, including other blogs that cover the same kinds of subjects. The aim here is to get the article seen by as many people as possible, not just the people who always stop by your website.
We like to follow this rule. Spend as much time sharing your content than you do creating it, at least. This means if you spend 10 hours creating a piece of content, then you need to spend at least 10 hours sharing it as well and conducting outreach for the piece! Otherwise, it could be the best blog post in the world, it doesn’t matter, it will tank.
Summing Up
I hope that this article has given you some useful insight into why websites do not generate as many calls as they really should be generating. Hopefully, you will be able to put some of these steps into action for your own website and start getting more calls from even more qualified leads, obviously leading to more profit for your company!
