Why Most Printing Company Websites Don't Get Results – and What to do About it

Written by Matthew Parker
Print Industry Consultant

How many calls do you receive from people who have just visited your website?
If you are like the majority of printing companies, your answer will be “not many”. The number of people who ring up and are actually ready to buy just after having visited your website will be even fewer.
When I look at the average printing company website this is hardly surprising. There’s often very little to interest the customer. The average website is full of uninteresting facts about the company. In a previous segment, I wrote about this. There is often little incentive for the prospect to do anything. Most websites simply encourage the prospect to contact the company for a quote. I have already written about why this can be a dangerous strategy. 
The fact is, many printing company websites could achieve so much more
Good websites engage the prospect. They can be the start of a profitable client relationship. They give you the opportunity to control a powerful sales pipeline.
Most websites don’t give printing companies the opportunity to create such a pipeline. The prospect will look at the average website and discover no reason to really engage with the printing company.
So how can you engage your prospects? There’s a simple way to achieve this.
Ask your customers what would interest them
Most companies are trying to attract customers that are similar to their current clients. So interviewing current customers is a great way to find out how to attract new ones.
An interview gives you an excellent opportunity to find out the sort of content you should have on your website. You will find out what information would make your prospects sit up and take notice.
Here are three ideas for the sort of information you could be featuring on your website:

1. Feature business-related articles
   These days, few prospects are interested in print. What they are interested in is their own business sector. If you can provide them with information that is relevant to their business, they are likely to stay engaged. They are most likely to read information that focuses on business challenges. Naturally, it helps if you can also show prospects how you can help them in these areas. That’s where the second type of information comes in.
2. Highlight case studies
   Prospects are generally not too interested in what you do. They are more interested in how you can help them. Few companies actually give concrete information on how they do this. You should provide some relevant case studies of how your services helped clients in a range of sectors. If you can do this, you will be way ahead of the competition.There is one other type of information you might consider.
3. Use local information
   If you are targeting local businesses, it may help that you are seen as a local supplier. A keen interest in the local business community can certainly help your standing with prospects. Whatever information you provide, you should be aware of one potential issue:

This information may all be useless
Providing relevant information will not help your business unless you can get the prospects to take action. You need to make sure that there is a clear call to action that is attractive to prospects. We’ll be looking at this in my next article.
Nevertheless, there is still plenty that you can be doing right now.
Here are three action points for you:

1. Profile the type of customer that you want to engage from your website
2. Talk to your current customers to find out what information will engage your prospects
3. Create a content strategy

Make sure that visitors to your website become engaged. You don’t want them acting as they do on the average printing company website!
Editor’s Note: This post is part of a larger series on getting the most out of your website:

• Why Printing Companies Need to Think Like the Travel Industry When it Comes to Websites
• Why a Call to Buy on a Website Can Lose you Profits
• Why Most Printing Company Websites Don’t Get Results – and What to do About it
• The Importance of Calls to Action – the TIM Principle
• Why Micro-Sites are an Important Sales Tool for Printing Companies

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Matthew Parker has been buying print for over 20 years. He’s had over 1,400 sales pitches from printers. Now he’s using that experience to help printing companies engage with their customers and sell print more profitably.  Find out more about Matthew on his site. Download his e-book “Ten Common Print Selling Errors And What To Do About Them” for free here.