The Basics of a Lead Generating Website
There are certain components that your website should have in order to keep users attention and turn them into leads. It all starts with creating a solid user experience that not only highlights your community in the best light possible but is also user-friendly and easy to navigate. It doesn’t stop with just the front end either, your site also needs to be properly optimized and maintained on the back end so you can compete online in the ever-changing, highly-competitive senior care industry.
Let’s look at the basics that make can take your website from a static page with information into a lead generating tool. Here are what we consider at Goldn to be the most important components of a healthy website:
Design/User-Friendliness 
The two go hand in hand; a poorly designed website isn’t likely to attract or generate new leads. That’s why the most important thing you need to consider is how your website design affects the end user. This goes beyond color scheme and font choice. Instead, your website’s focus should be on usability and utility — these are the qualities that determine the success or failure of a website.
This is especially true in the senior care industry. Visitors to your website are likely to either be a senior citizen or their middle-aged caretaker. Having a user-centric design — one that is has a visual hierarchy, relevant images, and easy-to-read content with clear calls-to-action — is the new standard in website design for an industry focused on generating new leads to increase occupancy rates.
To accomplish this, your website should be uncluttered and easy to navigate with simple points of contact. Make sure your website gives visitors a chance to raise their hand and show their interest. Accommodate different levels of the sales cycle by having quick downloadable content that only requires an email to full information contact forms to schedule a tour or request more info.
The more areas where a user can either click-to-call or fill out an online form to request more information, the better. This should be the case throughout the website, not just the homepage.
Example: www.camelotcares.com
Community-Drive Content
When someone visits your website, they want information about your community, not the stock photo version of your community. The best way to show off your community is by including real images of residents throughout the website where you would use stock images. One of the main concerns of potential residents is the dining situation, we recommend providing dining information and real images of food on sites to set yourself apart.
Another great way to connect with a potential resident or their caretaker is to include staff headshots with a small bio or contact information — put a face to the name. Successful websites also promote upcoming community events. That’s done to not only entice potential residents but to also keep current residents family members up-to-date with the types of activities that are taking place.
Examples: www.mapleridgeessex.com, www.edwinola.com
Provide Educational Content 
Don’t forget that a lot of potential leads coming to your website are simply looking for information at first. What better way to attract a potential lead than to provide them with expert educational content that answers most (if not all) of their questions. Offer thorough educational content on targeted topics — like the types of services you offer — to attract the right type of lead.
Adding content to your website is not a one-time venture though. Successful SEO campaigns focus heavily on content marketing, which means regularly adding content to your website in order to maintain and improve search engine placement. It can be as simple as adding a blog to your website where you write about community events, just make sure are doing it consistently with relevant keywords included.
Examples: www.legacypewaukee.com, www.camelotcares.com
Search Engine Optimization Matters 
Last but certainly not least, you need to make sure your website is well-optimized for the major search engines. While content-marketing plays a large role in the success of your website in the search engine results pages (SERPs), there are plenty of other factors in play that impact where you rank. This includes the implementation of structured data and metadata maintenance.
Believe it or not, the structure of your website plays a large role in whether or not you rank at the top. Responsive websites with simple URL structure and dedicated header tags are easier for search engines to crawl, therefore they tend to rank higher. Backlinks — linking from one site back to your website — are another very important aspect of SEO. Links are important for SEO because search engines like Google use them as a gauge or measure of a website’s relevance and authority.
Example: www.govenorsglen.com
What Now?
All of the examples that you’ve seen in this post are Goldn customers. Communities that have partnered with Goldn have benefitted from our advanced SEO program that includes content development and review generation. Email [email protected] or call (888) 482-6691 to speak with a member of our team and learn more about how Goldn can help your community improve your online presence.