Do you have an upcoming marketing project and need a few more questions answered? Or maybe you’re just planning on sending out a quick questionnaire to your new online marketing clients to get a feel for their needs and pain points.
No matter what stage you’re at in your marketing journey, you’re going to encounter questions that aren’t easily answered with a simple “yes” or “no.” This article is a collection of 20 questions that you might ask yourself or your new client to help determine whether or not they’re the right fit for your business.
This is one of the most important questions to ask yourself before you even start chatting with a potential customer. Do you email your customers frequently and offer good value in your emails? Or are you treating them like trash and expecting them to come back for more?
You might think that because you’re a new business that you don’t have to worry about email marketing yet, but that’s not true. Even if you only have a few customers, they’ll likely have hundreds or thousands of emails on their inboxes that they’ve bought or been sent from your competition. It’s never easy getting in front of someone’s eyes, and you have to make sure that you offer value and don’t just spam them.
In order to do that, you need to set yourself up for success by getting to know your customer base and figuring out what they want and need. The more you know, the better your service will be, and the more they’ll come back for. Email plays a big role in customer retention, so don’t underestimate its importance.
URL
Having a permanent URL for your website is like having a billboard on the Internet that keeps on attracting visitors. Your URL is the address of your website, and when someone clicks on it, they’re automatically taken to your site. If you want to find out how many people have visited a certain page on your site, you can use a tool like Google Analytics.
Do you have a single, easily identifiable URL for each of your product pages or blog posts? Or do you have a special landing page for your brand that you use for marketing purposes? If you do have a special landing page, do you send people there specifically, or do you send them to your other pages as well?
Each of your pages should have a unique URL that accurately reflects what the page is. If you get a request to remove a product from your site because it’s been claimed to be copyrighted material, you can bet that the person asking for the removal will then blog about it or complain on social media. It’s always best to have a backup plan in case something like this happens. Being able to have one specific URL for each page on your site is the key to having a successful digital marketing strategy.
Backend
The backend of your website is the parts of your site that aren’t visible to the public. It includes things like your payment processor, shipping methods, and databases that are used to store information.
Do you use a third-party logistics company to provide delivery services for your products? If so, how do they handle customer service? Are there any outstanding issues that they need to be aware of so that you don’t have any problems when the time comes?
You might want to consider having a separate login for your backend so that customers don’t get confused when they’re on your site and then logged into a different area of your backend. And, of course, making sure that all your databases have been appropriately backed up is critical. Without it, you’re basically bringing to life a website that you won’t be able to access one day. It’s always best to be safe than sorry when it comes to your backend, so take the time now to ensure that everything is working smoothly when you finally do get the need to fix it.
Design
Your design impacts the viewer’s experience on your site. It can be as simple as the way that your site’s content is displayed or as complex as the type of animation that’s used in your product listings.
There are countless software applications that are designed for website creation, but none of them are perfect. You shouldn’t expect that a tool designed for creating websites will be the right fit for your business, especially since you’re still in the early days and don’t have much experience.
Instead, until you find your perfect fit, you should take the time to develop websites manually using software that you can install on your own server. The flexibility that comes with doing it yourself is unparalleled, and you won’t have to worry about upgrading software whenever a new version comes out.
Content
Your content is everything from the articles that you write to the images that you use in conjunction with those articles. It’s also considered to be the foundation of your digital marketing strategy. Create compelling content that’s designed to engage readers, and you’ll be able to convince them to click on your links and buy your products.
Do you have a blog associated with your website? If so, does it get a lot of traffic? Are you using any techniques to increase the amount of traffic that you get from readers?
You can use a tool like Google Analytics to track the performance of your blog and the effectiveness of your content strategy. You should be able to tell from this information which types of content are performing well and which ones need some work. The more you know, the easier it will be to improve your content strategy and gain more traction with your blog.
Communication
All websites should have some kind of contact information, whether it’s a phone number or an email address, somewhere on the site. If a potential customer wants to get in touch with you, but doesn’t know how, they’ll have to search for your email address or phone number and send you an email.
Or, if you have a live chat feature on your site, they might visit your site looking for help and end up on a live chat with a real person who can answer their questions. The more you can utilize the various forms of communication that you have available, the better. If you’re not sure what sort of communication techniques your target audience uses, you can always ask them. The more you know, the easier it will be to adapt your strategy and find the right fit.
Analytics
Website analysis is the process of studying your traffic and the behavior of your website’s visitors. With analytics, you can figure out how customers are finding your site, what content is performing well, and which products are sparking the most interest.
One of the most popular analytics tools is Google Analytics, which provides in-house marketers, bloggers, webmasters, and business owners with the tools they need to better understand how their own websites are performing.
Google Analytics gathers information about your site’s visitors, including where they came from, what they looked at while on your site, and which parts of your site they visited. You can use this information to determine a variety of things, such as the effectiveness of your marketing strategy and the features that your site’s visitors want most.
It’s important to note here that not all analytics tools are created equal. Some provide a whole lot more value than others, so make sure that you’re getting the right one for your needs. For example, if you’re an SEO (search engine optimization) agency, you might want to consider getting Google Analytics Premium, since it provides you with more features and a more robust dashboard.
Customer Support
Your customers are the foundation of your business. Without them, there’s no point in having a brand new website with no customers. So, it’s vital that you have good customer support from the very beginning. Do you have any previous customers that you can reach out to for help?
Even if you’re new to the game, you can still use your social media accounts to find potential customers who might need your help. Or, if you have an online community of some sort, such as a social media group or forums, you can use those to get the word out about your brand. You can also use your website’s contact form to get in touch with a customer who inquires about your products or services.