It’s been a few years since the book “Reverse Responsive Design” was written, but the facts contained there are still valid. Not all sites can be viewed on a mobile device without pinching, stretching, scrolling up and down, or sliding that tiny little bar left or right. Is your website a crime scene?
Your website is criminal, at the very least a poor return on investment (in terms of time and especially capital), if this is the case. From the user’s experience, it appears to be dead on arrival if the case of the non-functional non-mobile-friendly, not-responsive design refers to your current website.
What’s more, technology and marketing have already moved past “built for mobile” and are now focusing on driving traffic directly to landing pages. By the way, landing pages had a better functionality on mobile phones, tablets, or other handheld pieces of communication tech.
Every minute of every day people buy and sell directly from landing pages, appreciate thank you pages, and consummate business on order pages. Even leads convert through this process.
However, it’s not all about buying and selling. There’s the all-important blog, pillar pages, and clusters pages to support them. The way to educate prospects, as well as your existing clientele, is through a site that is functional for the inbound curious.
Those seeking knowledge about your products or services should be able to read your blog, gather new insights through the deep-dive pillar pages on specific aspects of your offering. On your site, you still have to provide ways to attract new subscribers to your blog and newsletter (you are producing a monthly newsletter aren’t you?) Psst. It’s sometimes better when it is printed and mailed to them. Yes, it’s old school but consider that it sits on their desk, coffee table, nightstand, bathroom and serves as a reminder of you and your brand. It also gets shared. But that is another topic we’ll need to bring up another time.
What are Pillar and Cluster Pages?
Great question. Pillar pages are a much larger, more in-depth dive into a particular topic about one product or service. It’s longer than a blog post, as much as a long-form article or longer (think one to two thousand words).
A topic cluster is a process that utilizes a single “pillar page” as the main convergence of content for a given topic. All of your content assets related to that topic link back to the pillar page — and the pillar links out to each asset. – Hubspot
Cluster pages are the sub-topics that support the main topic. To visualize what I mean, think hub and spoke.
Image Credit: SlideBazaar.com
And, you don’t have to stick with a fixed number for cluster pages. There can be as many as the sub-topics that comprise the main topic. So, each “satellite” page can have hub and spokes too. You can see some excellent pillar page examples by going here.
As for web copy, it has to be written for the eyes of the prospect, what they are seeking, not what you think you’d like to sell. Just surf the web and notice how many sites are all about me, me, me.
The only reason people are looking at your site is that they are thinking “what’s in it for me?” WII-FM (my favorite radio station).
Here’s something to better explain my point.
When it comes to marketing yourself or your work—or building your career—you have to assume there is no such thing as altruism. You must always identify & convey how the other person will benefit/gain by doing what you ask.
Here’s what separates the classy people from the not-so-classy: Even when you have an excellent relationship with someone, a consummate professional (and a friend, too) will always position requests or proposals so that there’s a gain for everyone.
Successful people have an excellent way of involving—early on—others who can have an impact on their success, and making them feel special, included, and benefited in some way—which results in future favors (or offers) when none have been requested. – Writer’s Digest
Your website is an important of your digital presence, the cornerstone of all your online communications. Everything you offer on landing pages should be a page somewhere on your site, with embedded links to the landing page as well. Post the landing page first, then include it on your website with the following posting at the top.
“This article “name of the article” was initially posted by __________name of the author, at (https://name of the landing page), and is reposted here with permission by (https://name of landing page the company).
This way, you shouldn’t be penalized by Google, Bing, or Yahoo for duplicate content being posted.
So, is your website a crime scene?
I hope you take a serious look at your website on a multitude of handheld devices so that you know exactly how well it performs on each one.
If there is anything we at Zen Marketing can do to bolster your website, introduce pillar pages, create compelling blog articles, or provide your business with a complete redo, don’t hesitate to reach me at https://zenmarketinginc.com/contact-zen-marketing
Have a Glorious Summer!
