Can your consulting site be more engaging?

One of the most challenging of professions these days is that of the consultant. Some recent research has revealed that a good 80% of those companies, and the decision makers at those companies, are going to check out your website at least once before making that final hiring decision. The challenge is an enormous one for the consultant. How they approach their SEO and social media marketing strategies, as well as their website design, is different in many ways from a retail or a service business. So, how can your website be more engaging? More efficient? Turn more warm leads into long term clients?

• For the consultant, you are selling something that is relatively intangible. That just may be the most difficult thing of all to sell. It’s not like a product or a service where the potential customer has some context. They know what a refrigerator is. They know what landscaping or plumbing services entail. As a consultant, you are trying to solve a particular problem, or problems, or trying to make a company better at what it is trying to do.
• The key to a fully engaged site for consultants is your content. It is through your content that you are able to tell your story and to tell of your methodology and your successes. Your content should be, as usual, focused on the client and the client’s problem. They are less interested in who you are until you can prove to them that you can actually help them. Strong and engaging helpful articles are the key. Use video whenever you can and testimonials sprinkled about will help greatly. Be conversational and direct.
• Interaction is the key for the consultant. For the consultant, the sales cycle tends to be longer than with those companies selling a product or a service. Staying in touch with emails, blog articles and podcasts will allow the building of name recognition so that when they are ready for what you offer, your name, your brand, will be remembered. Other great ways to become that go-to consultant is through testimonials and case histories. These serve as trust mechanisms and to show that you have been successful in the past and have made a difference for many of your current and former clients.
• Your site design must be easy to navigate and easy for a potential client to make contact. There is no reason for fancy designs and images that just detract from your content and your message. Be the expert that they are looking for. Everything you do at your site must move that decision maker that much closer to picking up their phone and calling you.

-Written by Kevin Sawyer