If you’re researching how to improve your MSP website, you probably fall into a few categories:
- You spent a lot of money on your MSP website, and it’s not giving you what you want, leads.
- You’re looking to update your existing MSP website.
- You have no lead generation strategy on your website.
When we first engage a managed service provider (MSP) at Tech Pro Marketing, my MSP marketing agency, one of the first orders of business is to examine the website.
When websites aren’t working as they should be, it usually boils down to one issue: the website is functioning like more of a brochure than a lead generator.
In this post, I want to discuss some easy ways MSP owners can change this status quo and get moving in the right direction. Let’s get right into it.
Understand the purpose of your MSP website
At first mention, this sounds like a no-brainer. But, you’d be surprised how many MSPs – and service providers in general – miss the mark on this.
The main purpose for 99/100 MSP sites is to book meetings.
IT services have all sorts of technical details. But you don’t need to dive into all of them on your website.
There must be a distinct differentiation between what information is necessary to book meetings – and what information is better saved for the meeting itself. When most people visit your website, they’ve come to the conclusion they need to hire an expert to manage their business IT infrastructure.
They need to know a) that you offer the services they need, b) you’re in their area, and c) you’re credible.
Where to start: the hero section
Look at the BarracudaMSP.com homepage. They tell you everything you need to know about what the site provides in the hero section – the first thing you need when you land on the website.
We recently analyzed 112 MSP websites. One of our biggest findings was that the average bounce rate was 40 seconds.
This means you have 40 seconds to win a visitor over to book a meeting.
When we build MSP websites, our goal is to present the vital information needed to book meetings in the hero section before the visitor has to do any scrolling. The hero section is the first impression of every website, and it needs to pack a punch.
On a foundational level, every hero section on an MSP website should:
- Tell people where you are located.
- What you do.
- Who you serve.
- Have a call-to-action to book a meeting.
Here’s an example:
(COMPANY NAME) provides comprehensive, security-first IT support to small and medium-sized businesses in the Chicago area.
Schedule a Consultation (link to contact page)
This gets the point across quickly and allows the visitor to take the next step. In most cases, that’s all you need in a hero section.
Avoid analysis paralysis
Analysis paralysis is arguably the easiest way to lose a potential client on your MSP website.
I like to use the Cheesecake Factory menu as an analogy here. Don’t get me wrong, Cheesecake Factory is fine, but the massive, sprawling menu can be pretty overwhelming. There’s a general consensus that the best restaurants keep their menus concise.
The same logic applies to MSP websites.
To echo a previous point, booking meetings is the main metric of an MSP website. It doesn’t need to be your technical salesperson explaining the nitty-gritty details of your services, processes, expertise, and so on. These details can be explained in the actual meeting.
When we first meet with MSP owners about their new website, many believe they need a separate webpage for every single service they provide. In some industries, this makes sense. It’s different for MSPs. The nature of your work is to build a customized plan to manage every aspect of a client’s IT infrastructure.
An MSP website with a mountain of service pages a) creates analysis paralysis, and b) implies a visitor can pick and choose the services they hire you for. Most MSP websites can get their point across with three distinct service pages: Managed IT Services, IT Security, and IT Projects. These encompass just about everything MSPs do.
Implement a live chat agent on your MSP website
Live chat is one of the most important features to have on an MSP website.
This feature was a game-changer for the Tech Pro Marketing website. These days, around 40 percent of all our leads come from live chat.
IT services are a big investment for a growing business – and your prospects are going to have questions. It needs to be exceptionally easy for them to get answers. More importantly, it needs to be easy for you to provide them. A live chat feature accomplishes both.
The good news is it’s extremely easy to implement this on your MSP website.
If you need help with this, get in touch with me. We can get this added to your website very quickly.
Wrap Up
Your MSP website is the central hub for all your online marketing tactics – and it needs to be a lead-generating machine.
A website build is a giant investment. It’s the digital storefront of your MSP. You want to make sure no stone is left unturned. But it’s remarkably easy to overthink it and stray from the primary objective: getting people to book consultations.
Generally speaking, prospective clients don’t want to spend hours sifting through a giant MSP website full of technical information. They need to know who you are, what you do, who you serve, and why they should turn to you. If you get this across in an impactful way, it’s all you need to book meetings.
Are you struggling to generate solid leads on your website? If so, I can help you. Send me a message on LinkedIn or get in touch through my website to talk about your MSP website and join my upcoming webinar by registering here.
Photo: shutter_o/ Shutterstock
