How to make a corporate web site lucrative?

I have a few customers to whom I created a web site, and they are unhappy because their web site doesn't bring any new customers, or the SEO that I did doesn't work anymore.

What do you think I should do to bring new customers and make their web sites lucrative? Also, I think regular SEO doesn't work anymore, does it?

Thanks,

 

What's "Regular SEO"?

Its tough to say what you would do to gather new customers without knowing the business. Obviously a soft drink wholesaler would not benefit from article writing, nor would a corporate law firm benefit much from basic directory submissions.

So, shooting blindly, look at their competitors. What do they do? Do it, but do it better.

Make the site more interactive if possible. Something where users can sign up or fill out questionaires. This will help show them that new people are looking at the site. The problem may not be the site at all. It may be their sales pitch. Potential clients may be excited to call them, but when their receptionist answers the phone he may be turning them off and losing the company new business.

If the business is one with real clients (clients take cultivation, customers are more a grab-n-go variety), make the site personable. Have introductions of the main "Face" people.

Use case studies, white papers, and/or business examples. For example, show how the company saved Acme Products $50,000 a year by switching to their superior brand of widgets.

What's their target market? If you company isn't well suited for the web, put things up that their market would enjoy. For example, fast food joints don't have much in common with the internet, and seeing a picture of a big juicy burger isn't really appealing on a 15 monitor. However since their main customers are young, they put games on their website.

Become an authority for that niche. If you have a regional corporation, create a list of companies in the same industry but a different region. Search for fresh content to add to the site. For example, an lasikk eye surgeon may have a list of Drs. in other cities that he recommends...and then charge the other Drs. for a listing. Or, reprint medical papers that pertain to lasik surgery.

Use the site to pre-educate customers and/or upsell existing customers. Maybe the site doesn't bring in a lot of new customers, but maybe the ones it does nab take less time to sign. Is it possible to reduce sales staff thereby realizing a return by eliminating a salary or two? Or if you upsell existing customers by having a sales guy call them and inform them of some great new products they should look at on your site, the customer feels less pressured and may be an easier sell. This would also work for a sales force in the field doing cold calls. Maybe they can drop by a prospective client and ask for 5 minutes of their time. They can explain that you really have great products and leave a card that has the web address.

I'd be more specific and maybe get more ideas if I knew more about your market, but hopefully this will at least give you some ideas of where to go.

 

Thank you. There is one customer who sells company badges for instance.

 

I assume you mean RFID swipe badges or something and not like police badges, right? If this is the case, case studies would be one key then.

Do case studies on inventory control. 'Sure they cost $XXXX up front, but if you cut your shrink by X%, they pay for themselves in a year.' or 'If you have or BF6000 series badges, you can easily upgrade to the new BF9000 series at a fraction of the price while increasing the amount of (insert buzzword here: security/data collection/what ever).'

Having some white papers on the technology.

Pre-sales education. Send/drop off cards that direct the potential client to pages dealing with how security badges will help their business. For example, you could have a page that dealt with restaurants or other POS style systems which use badges. Or a page for a secured call center. Or a page for warehouse/inventory control.

How else can the badges be used.

Heck, even a few testimonials wouldn't hurt because it seems to me that the magnetic stripe and RFID badges are nearly a commodity these days.

You're main customers are businesses, which means your buyers are going to be either middle aged people starting/running a business, or a young pup in a procurement department for a larger corporation. Either way, they will be people who understand numbers, so show them numbers. For example, point out that even having 5 employees who spend 2 minutes a day fumbling through a set of keys to get in various doors in their office adds up to 50 minutes a week. 52 weeks a year means 2600 minutes of lost productivity or 43.333 hours of wages paid out so youu can use antiquated locks. If you're average cost per employee is $20/hr, that's $866.67 per year. If system BF9000 costs $3000 for their location, it has paid for itself in under 4 years, and that doesn't include the security and savings that comes from knowing who all accessed the supply closet on the day 3 boxes of paper turned up missing.

In short, the main drive for your site would be to show them how to do it better/faster/cheaper by using your product.

HTH