When considering investment in something, no matter who you are the first thing we all do is validation, either through verifying the product/service’s website or through existing reviews/testimonials. This has become the universal language of validation across organisations. First impression is everything when it comes to landing a hit on your website from a potential investor.
Currently a user’s attention span when visiting a website for the first time is somewhere around 8 seconds and decreasing. You may have heard of the technical terms UI (User Interface) and UX (User Experience), these need to be catered through content and design to give your user the information they require in the least number of clicks possible to give the best user experience. Ultimately achieving this will lower the bounce rate which is vital when creating a successful website to market your location. Every website now needs to be updated every 3-4 years as technology evolves and design quickly goes out of style. New ways of gaining attention and tracking visitors can boost investment through high-performing plugins.
Geo-Targeting is the process of redirecting to a landing page made for a specific group of people based on their location, this can also be used to redirect domain authority from .com to .co.uk etc. Increasing domain authority will in turn increase SEO organic ranking however, Google can sometimes punish SEO ranking for duplicated content so its important to include IP Canonicalization in this process. Many plugin tools such as Geo Targetly will automatically do this for you and are built to be an addon feature to your website with easy to manage setup.
Many EDOs / IPAs are effectively using this already to change their website content depending on the company visiting their website.
Invest in Holland currently uses this, for example as a UK visitor I am greeted with the banner at the top of the website which is specific to my IP Address based in the UK “Brexit: Learn how the Dutch government provides support to companies affected by the UK leaving the EU”
New developments in technology and data sourcing has enabled EDOs and IPAs to embed interactive maps on their website to showcase FDI (Foreign Direct Investment), Domestic Investment and Advisor location and contact information. This feature has proven very effective in delivering convenience to potential investors by providing the support necessary to secure their investment at a glance.
Wavteq's InvestmentMap is currently being used by Invest in Sharjah, Dubai FDI and Calgary Economic Development among others. Wavteq has also built a unique AdvisorsMap for Calgary Economic Development which tracks advisors through plotting their location on an interactive map highlighting address and contact information for companies to use.
In the Economic Development industry the call to action on everyone's website is through the contact form, however as a user will know they won't get the instant response they may require especially if their query is urgent they are more likely to engage with a Live Chat feature. There are numerous live chat plugins that offer high-end tracking analytics along with an easy to use ticketing system to allow for multiple staff members to pick up on specific chats.
Tawk has been Wavteq's live chat for years now and is definitely a recommended tool for any website but here's the kicker its completely free!
Every organization big or small needs a management tool for tracking engagement funnels and sales. However, many of these tools are very confined to a set of parameters and fields already laid out for you to use. Economic Development as an industry comes with its own phases of leads and investment conversions - therefore a fully customizable CRM is a must for economic development and investment promotion. This ensures the back-end system is ready to capture all the content that funnels from your website through query forms, which can then be assigned the correct follow up actions. A CRM tool has numerous purposes however capturing enquiries through web forms, task assignment and follow up protocols lead to best practice techniques for securing investment.
Wavteq has built the ultimate solution to this with Amplify - a unique CRM dedicated to economic development and investment promotion activities. Amplify is fully customizable to your needs with no hidden costs.
