"The very best marketing comes from observing consumer behavior and insert your message into their behavior."
Your website is your digital brand and image. Just like you need to paint your building, replace the carpets and stripe the parking lot, you need a plan to update your website using contemporary tools and techniques.
Consumers expect it. They are going to compare the experience your website delivers against the competition.
And your competition isn't the fitness stores in town or weight loss centers.
It is Disney.
Everybody loves Disney because that is where the magic happens. Disney sells memories and positive experiences.
When a member or prospect visits your site, you want them to come away with a positive experience.
Today's consumer spends more than five hours per day online so they are comparing your website with the dozens of other websites they were on earlier that day. You cannot afford to have a website that looks like it was built in 1998. Or 2008.
More Reasons To Update Your Website
Responsive Design. For many YMCAs, in fact most businesses, more than 50% of web traffic is coming from mobile devices. Responsive design means your website reads the incoming request to view your website, identifies the device (smartphone, tablet, desktop) and then shows the website configuration that looks best on that device. It is similar to Transformers. The website changes to match the device.
Tools. The single biggest change in web design today is that while the architecture and design layout of the website is controlled by the developer, the owner of the site now has tools that allow them to make changes to their own site, without the expense and time delay of being at the mercy of the developer.
Today's website designs offer Content Management Systems that allow the instantaneous manipulation of text, images, videos, forms using your browser. No FTP uploading. No emailing your web designer asking them to change the phone number, update the employee directory or please change out a photograph. With an internet connection, you can update your website while sitting by the pool. (I know, I have done it!)
It doesn't do any good to sit up and take notice if all you do is keep on sitting."
You can also monitor consumer traffic to your site and make changes, not only to the web pages, but also to the navigation menu. Programs like Google analytics allow you to monitor web traffic on the fly and react accordingly.
You also have tools that allow you to enhance your online marketing efforts. Thrive offers the Y-Box, Alert Bars and Countdown Clocks. Grab the visitors attention and guide them to the behavior you want. To see examples, visit our demo site and click on the Settings tool icon in the left margin of the home page.
Today's website tools also allow you to improve your marketing efforts by capturing the email addresses of sales prospects and and initiate and execute email drip campaigns. These programs allow you to automate the response - an immediate "Thank you for joining our VIP club.." Several days later you can automate another email... Followed by another email X days later...
You can recruit new employees on your website, including the ability to have potential employees uploading their resume for your review.
For those of you looking for sales leads, we even offer the ability to "see" who has visited your website based on magic! Actually it looks at the IP address to identify the company, but imagine their surprise when you call them and say "Gary, I was just thinking of you and thought I would give you a call...", when actually you knew that your were on their mind because they had just visited your site.
So Why You Should Have a Thrive Website? Because Thrive specializes in building websites for local YMCAs with all the above features already built in. Want to learn more? Call us at 419-776-7000 or email me at Jeff@thriveim.com.
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