In this episode, Jamie asks a seemingly easy question: ‘What is your website actually for?' After a brief discussion about school, Jamie breaks down the three types of website and lays out how each one should be approached.
Episode #6
“What type of website do I need for my business?” I’m glad you asked! Most business owners don’t think too deeply about the type of website they need, they usually just copy a competitor or leave it in the hands of a web designer - which is why most business owners and entrepreneurs end up being disappointed with their website. (Either the way it looks or the way it performs.)
The good news is there are only three main types of business website, and the type of website you need depends on the kind of business you have...
If your business sells high-ticket products with a long sales cycle, all you need is a simple sales support website. A straightforward site that conveys trust and gives comfort to your customers that you’re a credible, reliable company.
The platform your sales support website is built with is largely irrelevant. (Think Squarespace, Wordpress, Wix etc.) Just as long as it has a simple Content Management System (CMS) which makes it easy to add case studies and testimonials (the main components of a trustworthy sales support website) without having to pay a web designer to do it for you. Typically sales support sites are inexpensive to build as they are essentially just a nice looking online brochure.
This is for businesses that sell lower-ticket products or services and are in a competitive market place. A lead generation website is largely ‘form led’ and is solely focused on converting web traffic into sales leads. It’s not uncommon for a lead generation site to convert 30%+ of its traffic into sales leads (compared to the 1% conversion rate of a sales support site).
Experimentation is the name of the game here and you need to be able to test different types of form and sales messaging quickly and easily. This kind of website is the lifeblood of your company and certainly worth investing in a bespoke platform as the ability to experiment easily needs to be built-in at ground level.
Sales creation websites take the customer right through the buying process, shopping cart, credit card details and all. E-commerce can be a brutal business, but on the upside, there is a ready-made ‘best-in-class’ template to copy from. The key with any e-commerce site is to constantly benchmark your website against Amazon.
Amazon has already spent millions of dollars testing and measuring all the ways to make the online shopping experience as easy (and profitable) as possible. Basically, you can use all of their research to make your e-commerce site fly. (Amazon owes you one anyway, for all that money you spend with them - and all the tax they avoid).
Things to consider:
