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10_Things_Your_Website_Must_Do
| 10 Things Your Website Must Do
Whether your company sells products or offers services, you will
want to make sure that you use this list as a guide for your
website.
Define your 'position' and communicate it
prominently.
Tell website visitors on your homepage what you do and how you
are different from others in your industry. Tell them where you
specialize. This can be accomplished either through a
combination of your company name and 'slogan', through text in
an introductory paragraph or through a bold,
prominently-displayed marketing-type message. Here is an example:
Cowell eMarketing
A small and innovative eMarketing firm for businesses seeking
new ways to attract and retain customers. Unlike larger
eMarketing firms, Cowell eMarketing only accepts a limited
number of active clients at a time, which allows us to provide
responsive and individual service... the way it used to be.
Communicate that others have taken the step to do
business with you.
When people browse your site they wonder if your company is
trustworthy. In order for people to feel confident about doing
business with you, you need to help them in the trust
department. By showing that others have already done business
with you, you show that you are a real company with real
customers. Here are a few ways to do this:
Quotes/Testimonials - ask your clients for a
1 or 2 sentence quote about various ways in which you have
satisfied. Example:
"Donovan Consulting is the only firm we go to when we need
accounting work that must be accurate and on-time."
Success Stories - compile a short, one paragraph story
about how you helped a client overcome an obstacle. Include
names of companies and people wherever possible. Also, include
factual data to add impact.
"Susan Smith, Director of Operations at InstaNet, was losing
millions of dollars each year in employee overtime and project
overruns. With our help, we were able to work with Susan to
install ProjectWare and after six months InstaNet reduced
employee overtime by 75%. Additionally, project overruns were
brought-down to 5% compared to 15% before using ProjectWare."
Case Studies - a case study is typically a one or two page
report (longer in some cases based on topic) that takes the
success story even further. A case study will provide detailed
information about the client's challenges, how those challenges
affected their business, what options they had for solving those
challenges, which option solved their challenge and specific
results of how the solution is saving money or producing revenue.
It is important to use a combination of these tools throughout
your website as related links to relevant information.
Position yourself as a leader.
As visitors browse your site, they start to form an opinion of
your company's offerings, reputation, etc. One thing people will
want to know is your 'position' in the industry. Does your
company lead the industry? Do they lag behind? Are you a 'me
too' company? Here are a few examples of information you can
provide to establish a position of leadership:
Write articles and white papers on important
topics within your industry. Take a stand and give your opinion
on the matter. Don't be afraid of your opinion. If you are
passionate about your thoughts and opinions, share them!
Conduct seminars on an important topic in your industry.
Teach others how to do something that they otherwise might not
know how to do. Depending on your audience, you can offer free
seminars or charge for them.
Speak at conferences and other business events where your
target audience is likely to be. Apply for as many speaking
events as you possibly can!
Promote your articles, white papers, seminars and speaking
engagements on your website. Invite people to hear what you have
to say.
Provide opportunities for visitors to engage with you at
several levels.
On the web it is sometimes difficult for people to make the leap
from 'just browsing' to buying. Whether you literally sell
online or are a services company that doesn't 'do business'
online, you will want to offer your visitors several ways to
start a dialogue with your company. By giving people an
opportunity to engage your business without a major commitment,
you establish your 'foot in the door'. Once you have your foot
in the door, 'getting the sale' is easy. Here are some tools you
will want to consider to get your foot in the door:
Free reports/white papers - not only do these
tools establish your company as thought leaders, they also serve
as a great way to get people to interact with you at no cost!
Online calculators - a great example are the 'mortgage
calculators' that a lot of real estate finance companies offer
on their websites. These simple tools provide value with no
commitment on the customer's part.
Trial products - can your product or service be packaged in
a 'try-it-for-free' scenario? Software companies can offer free
30-day evaluation versions of their software. A products company
can send sample sizes of their products at no charge. An online
service can offer free access for a limited time or completely
free 'basic' accounts. Music business can offer one track of
several for free. The possibilities are endless!
Newsletters - If you regularly write or have access to fresh
articles, you can publish an online newsletter and allow people
to sign-up for free. As long as your newsletter is sent on a
regular basis and always has new and valuable articles, it will
be a hit!
Consultations, Evaluations - Services companies can easily
offer free consultations to qualified prospects. The
consultations can take place via phone, email or in-person.
Either way, you engage your prospects and start a dialogue with
them!
Sell with emotion and justify with logic.
You may be thinking that this one doesn't apply to you because
your company does not sell products online, however, all
companies have a 'sell' to make. Whether you are a consultant,
lawyer, doctor, landscaper or any other type of service-oriented
business, you must sell potential customers on why they should
consider doing business with you. So how does one sell with
'emotion' and justify with 'logic'? Let's first explain why this
is important.
When people decide to spend money, they do so based on how they
think the product or service will make them feel. For example,
someone who buys a Volvo automobile likes the feeling of safety
and security. Safety and security are the emotions. You must
know which emotions your product or service cater to. When you
know which emotions you must cater to, you can then use words
and phrases that will resonate with your customer.
So if the emotions are why people buy, then what is this other
business about 'justifying with logic'? After a person has the
right 'feelings' about a purchase, a conversation starts to take
place in their head. In this conversation, they convince
themselves that they are making a good decision. Your job, after
catering to the right emotions, is to provide enough information
so they will 'win' the argument. Give benefit-related details
about your product or service. Get specific with numbers,
ratings, percentages, etc. The Volvo buyer buys because of
safety and security but convinces themselves with data about the
specific safety rating, how many people have survived head-on
collisions, the number of airbags, etc.
Add a guarantee about your product/service and you will have all
the right ingredients to sell with the pros!
Use imagery of smiling, happy and successful people.
It's cliché and maybe a bit corny, but it's absolutely
true. People want to be associated with happy, successful
people. Images of business people looking very serious at a
meeting table may look professional, but they do not inspire. If
you sell products online, show happy people around your product.
If you are a consultant, show your customers in front of their
businesses or homes, smiling. If you are a landscaper, show your
customers and their children enjoying their beautiful yards and
gardens.
Some may think that this technique is for smaller businesses and
that larger businesses shouldn't use this kind of artwork.
Nonsense! Don't ever feel that by showing happy, smiling people
somehow diminishes the appearance of company size.
Prominently post a phone number and contact
information.
Post your contact information prominently on your site. If you
can't incorporate the contact information into your site's 'look
and feel template', make sure the link to the page that contains
this information is prominently displayed. There are too many
websites on the Internet that seem very anonymous because you
don't know where they are or how to get in touch with them. This
small bit of information will give potential customers a sense
of security, knowing that they can easily get in touch with your
company if they need to.
Incorporate a professional, crisp and clean design.
This is a touchy subject. Some people love animated images,
Flash, 'roll-over' menus and anything else that they think is
'cutting edge'. Web features such as these have their place, but
should be used sparingly. Nobody will ever do business with you
because you use these features and your competition doesn't.
Nobody. Remember that the web is most like the experience of
reading a magazine and not like watching TV. Keep your website
design simple and clean and use these web features sparingly!
Promote and address privacy.
If you collect information from people for the purpose of
selling goods, sending out newsletters, etc., you will want to
ease their minds by letting them know that you value their
personal information. Post a page on your website called,
'Privacy Policy'. On this page inform visitors that their
information will not be shared or sold (if that is the case) and
that their information is safe. Look at other sites on the
Internet that have privacy policies and use those as a guideline
for yours. According to the Customer Respect Group, a large and
well-known organization that monitors and reports-on how online
businesses treat customers' personal information, a privacy
policy is a must-have!
Follow-up with respondents immediately.
Nothing is more disappointing than completing a 'Contact Us' or
'Request More Information' form and not getting a call back in a
timely manner. Worse yet, a large number of business, for
whatever reason, completely ignore the communication altogether!
This negligence can completely undermine your credibility and a
customer's confidence in the web, in general. Make it a policy
to religiously follow-up with visitors who contact you within 48
hours. A reply within 24 hours is recommended and even better.
You should also consider employing technology to give an
immediate automated response to people who complete these online
forms. An automated reply coupled with a 24 hour personal reply
will provide a sense of reliability about your company.
About the author:
Frank Cowell is a Certified eMarketer (as certified by the
International eMarketing Association) and President of Cowell
eMarketing. Cowell eMarketing provides website and eCommerce
solutions, eMail Marketing services and Search Engine Marketing
services.
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