While driving to work one morning recently, we heard an ad on the radio for a lawyer. The lawyer’s name was familiar, Michael Gunzburg, Esq., so we listened attentively to find out if the ad would feature the URL of the site we just built for him. Yes, at the very end of the ad, there it was:  “Visit www.gunzburglaw.com” for more information!”
 
Some people say that a Web site is a company’s electronic calling card.  But most companies create awareness of their products, services, and solutions using a variety of techniques – direct mail, public relations, promotions, ad campaigns in broadcast and print, and even the despised telemarketing blast. As often as not, the Web site visit results from an introduction to your company by one of these other methods. 
 
It’s a critical moment. It’s a moment in which you can transform prospective customers – individuals who have sought you out and who want to learn more about what you can offer them – into the next stage of marketing’s diffusion-adoption model – to “try you out” in some way.  Or else, because of what they see on your site, they may decide to look elsewhere to find a solution for their needs.
 
Having a destination that a prospective customer can go and retain their “just visiting” status to is a powerful tool for your marketing staff. Before the Internet, the marketing call to action generally had to be a visit to a store or a call to a 1-800 number – necessitating direct contact with a salesperson. This might make a less-than-committed party hesitate. And, as savvy marketers know, that kind of hesitation gone unsupported can interrupt the marketing cycle. The job of a Web site, then, enables prospects to gather more information about what you have to offer, and become more convinced that it is what they need or want.
 
Obviously, then, the Web site needs to perform adequately to help bridge that gap – the gap between interest and trial or commitment. Sites that don’t offer the appropriate information, that provide old content, or that are unprofessional, will turn off prospects you never even knew you had. Your site has to speak for you, to tell your story, to let the customers know you are putting their needs first.  Your site is not your electronic calling card – that was the job of the flyer or the radio ad or the direct mail piece. Instead, your Web site is the signpost over the store – and the beckoning awning, and possibly even the planter of fresh flowers – all encouraging someone to step in and browse.