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This is a guest post by Michael Flint, the president of Metropolis Creative, a Boston-based web design and brand strategy agency.
Congratulations! They've come to your party -- now what do you serve them?
You have a flock of prospects coming to your site to learn more about you through keyword searches, RSS feeds, opt-in emails, videos, podcasts, social networks and blog posts.
But what's their visual experience when they do get to your site? Does your site deliver the message of your brand? Are you capturing leads?
To answer these questions, you need to start simple: Spell out your business goals.
Once those are clear, there are few basic rules for any stylish and smart inbound marketer's website:
1. Make your site distinctive. Be sure you have a recognizable logo, a simple descriptive tagline, and an appropriate color scheme with matching graphics. Are your visitors expecting a high tech theme, a friendly place to hang out, or a lot of technical content and conversation/information?
2. Convey your brand's position. The theme, the brand experience, the message. Wow your visitors with a memorable experience using engaging text and imagery.
3. Identify yourself! Include photos and bios. Heck, even include testimonials. Your site can act like a social community where visitors can share knowledge and get to know each other.
4. Call your visitors to action. You've worked hard to get visitors to your site! Now, make the most of it. The more prominent and the more frequent you can place your call-to-action(s), the more likely they will do it.
Fitting all this content onto your home page can be a challenge. A good graphic designer can help you prioritize and organize your information visually. As you know, the key to inbound marketing is content. Well designed content will attract and retain an audience and become contagious -- viral per say.
PS. We really did have a party: Extreme Website Makeover party.
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