Website Navigation: How Not To Lose Your Leads

I’ve been writing lately about the key elements your website needs to have to be able to generate leads for your business. Things like social proof, content marketing, social media links, lead magnets, and good old fashioned professional presentation.

In this post, I’m going to talk about website navigation.

“Navigation refers to the menus and buttons that guide visitors around your website.”

You’d be surprised how many websites get this wrong. In order for your consulting website to act as a lead generating tool, you need to make your site easy to get around. You also want to make it blindingly obvious what you want visitors to do when they get there.

Navigational Menu(s)

These days, there are common navigational elements that people expect to find on your website. Home, Contact and About, for example, should all be somewhere in your top menu. That’s the convention, and this is no place to be creative. You will only frustrate your audience.

• Think about the flow of how you want prospects to navigate your site, and lay out your menus accordingly.
• Websites tend to grow unwieldy over time, as we add more content. Every six months, give your website navigation menus a good critical rethink, and ask yourself if the flow still works well.
• If important pages are getting buried in your submenus, it’s time to redesign your navigation.

Call To Action

The primary action you  want your visitors to take should be in the top right hand corner, also known as “the sweet spot”.  Find Out More, Email Me, Book a Free Demo, Request A Quote… that should go there. And it needs to be in a highly contrasting color to the rest of your site.

 Lead Magnet

Research regarding the on-page placement of your Lead Magnet is varied. Many folks say it needs to be one of the first things your visitor sees on your site. Others say it should always be in the sidebar. Some say it should be farther down on the page, so your visitor learns a bit more about you before you ask them for their email address. I’m not going to weigh into this debate, because smart digital marketers know the only way to tell for sure is to test it and see. If you come away from my Learning Centre knowing you need to have a Lead Magnet to build your email list and generate leads, AND you have a good idea for what you yourself might use as a Lead Magnet, that’s a huge win for both of us! Take action on that and good things will follow.

That’s it! This is the last of my six key elements. Now it’s your turn to do the typing. I want to hear from you personally — in my inbox. Email me and tell me what next steps you have planned. I’ll respond to every reply I get… though it might take me a few days.