Today, things change fast. The information age created a world where more has been available to us than ever before. Never before have consumers been able to access such a breadth of information and use it to their advantage. Everywhere you look, people are using multiple devices to find out what they want to know and are making increasingly stringent purchasing decisions. What does this mean for your funeral home?
Have you been wondering how to improve your funeral home website and get more visitors? I have some good news for you. It is not going to be difficult. Actually, making a few small changes can go a long way to improving your funeral home’s online presence. Some of them involve nothing more than starting better online habits. Others, simply require you to have the flexibility to edit your site easily. However, all of them are a surefire way to make your site more engaging. In this post, I am going to share five new tips that will bring more people to your web pages and win them over as customers once you do.
Surely you have heard about the importance of online reputation before. After all, your funeral home website is the new front door to your business and your first chance to make an impression with the potential families. These days, if your website looks untrustworthy, then you may be unknowingly losing traffic. And the worst part is, it may be due to things you previously didn’t notice. Even if you feel like your website is perfectly trustworthy, it is never a bad idea to have a look and see. That’s why I wanted to take some time and dissect the anatomy of a trustworthy funeral home website.
Is your funeral home website address turning business away? One simple way to find out the answer to the question stated in the title is to go to your site. Are the letters ‘HTTPS’ in front of your web address? Is there a little green lock in front of the URL? If not, then the answer is absolutely yes, your site address is turning away people who are seeking your services. The reason being is that ‘S” stands for security and it is more than just a symbol. It lets the Internet and its users know your site is holding an SSL Certificate or Security Sockets Layer Certificate. The SSL Certificate encrypts the data on your website ensuring you and the families you serve are not being pilfered for data and other sensitive information. Below are 5 other benefits to having an SSL Certificate.
Times have changed. People no longer rely on phone books to find a local funeral home, but instead search the internet. When they search for a service you offer or particularly for your business, you want to show up. Not just show up, but show up and look good. Looking good is extremely important because your funeral home website is most often your first impression with potential customers. Before an individual even enters your funeral home or speaks to your employees, they will view your website. Think of your website as a digital storefront, people are looking at it and are generating opinions on your funeral home based on the quality of it. You want that first impression to be a good one.
The idea that funeral homes can benefit from having more than one website is undoubtedly a tough sell. Many firms have just come around to understanding the importance of one funeral home site. Who in their right mind would want to create a second, or even a third site after spending time updating the original.
For certain, having multi-website strategy is not for every funeral home. Smaller firms or those that serve smaller communities can surely benefit from having one, informative funeral home website. However, for funeral homes that serve larger areas, with multiple locations or that have numerous competitors – there is a significant value in a diversified approach.
Imagine being able to outrank competitors on search engines, be found by more families and bring more business into your firm by simply spreading out your web presence. Standing out online does not have to be difficult – you just have to think outside of the box. In this post, I will share some of the ways that employing a multi-website approach can help your business grow.
Imagine a young woman preparing to plan a funeral for one of her parents. “Alexa, who offers the most affordable cremation service near me?” she says to her Amazon Echo, as she walks in the kitchen. The answer to be provided by the popular digital assistant, of course, is a matter of search engine optimization. However the query will not go through Google, the world’s most popular search engine. Instead it will be answered by Bing – the long overlooked “other” option. Chances are, the funeral home that gets recommended will also be receiving a call from this young lady. Is this what you picture choosing a funeral home to be like? Probably not.
If this scenario has you a little lost, listen up. Because this is what funeral home technology looks like in the very near future. And it may not be easy to spot the changes that are taking place.
Although last year was touted as our best ever, 2017 was truly special for our company and raised the bar even higher. We added more experienced professionals to our team, welcomed many new clients to our family and developed new technology to help funeral homes not only grow their businesses but better serve families as well. In short, the past 365 days were spent redefining what it means to be a FrontRunner. As the death care industry changes, it has never been more important for firms to keep up with consistently evolving consumer demands and adapt to the needs of younger generations. Enter our goals for 2018: to push the limits of what is possible even further. But before we go there, let’s first take a look back at some of what made the last 12 months simply unforgettable.
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Funeral home website design changed forever in 2017. With the release of our new DIY website platform, our clients now have unprecedented control over the look, feel and function of their websites. This has helped them offer families a more convenient, informative and simple online experience. For us at FrontRunner, it has been a pleasure to work with firms around North America to get them excited about the many new possibilities available with their funeral home website and, as a result, their digital marketing strategy.
The days of families needing or wanting to walk into a funeral home for the entire funeral planning process are coming to a close. Just as the days of brick & mortar shopping begins to meet a similar end. Everything nowadays is about convenience. Who can get it to me the quickest? Who allows me to do everything online, from the comfort of home? Who offers the most flexible payment options? These are the questions that shape the decisions of modern consumers. Sure, older generations still maintain loyalty to businesses who have been reliable in the past. However, young people hold much fewer allegiances, if any – opting to instead buy from companies that offer the most convenient buying experience above any other factor. For funeral homes, the new challenge is catering to these consumer habits and continually finding ways to create convenient experiences.