Page 30 - gs260902

Insights and Expertise

Your website is no someone started learning about your business. Today, it
may be one of several places they visit along the way.
longer the center of Before they get there, they may have read an article

mentioning your company, seen news about a new
the buying journey partnership, looked up your executives on LinkedIn, read
reviews, compared providers through Google, or asked an
AI platform about companies offering the type of solution
they need. Each encounter helps shape an opinion before
the prospect ever reaches your website.
When they do arrive, the website must reinforce what
they've already discovered. Does the company clearly do
what they thought it did? Does it serve businesses like
theirs? Does what they see give them more confidence in
considering the company? That leads to an even bigger
question: What happens when a prospect looks beyond
your website and finds very little about your company
anywhere else?

What exists beyond your website?
This is where I think companies need to take a broader
look at their digital presence. Consider two payment
technology companies offering comparable solutions.
The first has an excellent website. Its products are clearly
explained, the leadership team is represented, and there
By Melih Oztalay are customer examples and useful resources.
SmartFinds Marketing
The second company also has a strong website. But look
beyond it and you find:
or years, businesses have treated their websites • A recently announced processor partnership
as the center of their digital presence. Drive
prospects to the website, explain what you do, • Coverage of a new integration
F demonstrate your expertise and create oppor- • An executive sharing expertise on an industry issue
tunities for them to contact sales. That still matters. What • A press release announcing a new product capability
has changed is everything happening before someone gets
to your website. • An industry award
• Articles discussing the problems the company's
A merchant looking for a payment provider, an ISO technology helps merchants solve
evaluating a technology partner or a payments company
searching for a new solution may start with Google, an Both companies may be equally capable, but they don't
industry publication, LinkedIn, a recommendation from a look equally established when someone researches them.
colleague or an AI platform. The first company is largely asking prospects to rely on
what it says about itself. The second gives them more to
In fact, they may learn quite a bit about your company work with. There is evidence that the company is active
without visiting your website at all. By the time they in the market, developing its business, and contributing
get there, the question may no longer be, "Who is this to the industry.
company?" Instead, they may be looking to confirm what
they've already learned about you elsewhere. That's a very This becomes even more important as AI becomes part of
different role for the company website than the one most the research process. A buyer can now ask an AI platform
of us grew up with. to compare providers or recommend companies that solve
Your website has a different job a particular problem. The buyer doesn't necessarily need
to visit five or ten company websites and piece together
None of this means the company website is becoming the information independently. AI can help do some of
less important. In many ways, I think the opposite is true. that work for them.
Prospects can arrive at your website knowing considerably
more about your company than they did in the past. And that raises an important question for every company:
What information is available for AI—and prospective
Twenty years ago, your website might have been where buyers—to find? Your digital presence is no longer limited
30