Inbound Websites: Making Your Blog the Front Door to Your Site

In inbound website design, your website should be designed to increase your website traffic and convert those visitors into leads.

Start with how visitors are most likely to find you: Google

Inbound visitors find your website using descriptive “long-tailed” keywords because those long-tailed keywords are crawled by Google in the most content-rich area of your website: your blog.

An inbound website uses the blog as its #1 entry point—it’s the front door for prospects. Your home page, on the other hand, is like the side door—used by people who already know you.

Your website structure should be built for learning, not selling—at least at this point.

Inbound marketing disrupts traditional navigation toolbars by guiding people toward landing pages built to capture leads. Here's a typical user's journey on an inbound website:

1. Visitors arrive from a search query or a link to the blog article. From there, they usually expect to scroll down the page.

2. As they scroll down, some visitors will navigate using calls-to-action or other links positioned on the blog sidebar.

3. Readers will peruse the article, skimming, scanning, and looking for answers to their questions.

4. The goal of every blog article is to guide visitors to a call-to-action—an attractive link that points to a landing page.

5. The CTA takes the visitor directly to a landing page, which houses a content offer and a form to fill out.

6. Inbound navigation guides visitors from a landing page, where they submit the conversion form, to a thank you page, where they access the content you’ve provided.

Inbound Changes How You Should Think about Your Website

The fundamental purpose of a website changes when you engage in inbound marketing. An inbound website is built to convert visitors into leads, not just showcase what you do and how you do it.

Learn more about inbound marketing below with this step-by-step guide.