The main difference between a brochure website and the traditional lead-generation website is that one only conveys the basic information and focuses on getting more visitors to the site, while the other tries to turn visitors into clients.
The term “brochure website” comes from the fact that a site described by this term contains only what would be found in a paper brochure. And like a paper brochure, it conveys the most useful information to the viewer, so that an interested person would decide to find out more. This does not mean that a brochure website has to be short like a paper brochure. It can still have as many pages as it wants. The aspect of a site that determines whether or not a site is a brochure website is whether or not it is trying to turn its viewers into leads. If it is not, and it exists only to provide information, it is a brochure website. But if a site is purposely trying to convert its visitors into leads, it is not a brochure site.
Most small businesses are likely to have brochure sites rather than lead generation sites, due in part to the fact that they do not fully embrace the concept of converting their visitors into leads. Designing a good lead generation site takes more work, and not as many web developers know how to create an effective lead generation site. Lead generation websites also cost more to maintain, as they require more ongoing modification. A brochure site, however, can stay the way it is, because the visitors will mostly be new people.
Effectively generating leads through a site involves building a relationship with the visitors. Asking visitors to sign up for the mailing list is an art in itself, because it involves taking into account the point during their visit that they are most likely to want to sign up if asked. And once they sign up, they have to be kept interested enough in the emails they are getting from the site to continue opening them. A lead generation site is, effectively, one that gets the visitors’ permission to send them more information.
There is nothing wrong with lead generation sites or brochure sites, despite one being more difficult to maintain and the other being less effective in generating customers. They are simply two different categories of website that accomplish different tasks based on the needs of the business they represent. A brochure website, while not striving to bring in clients, still generates enough interest that some visitors will want to find out more, just like their traditional paper counterparts. But unlike a paper brochure, it doesn’t get lost or forgotten about, because the site is still there on the internet where the interested parties can visit it again.
