Turn Your Browsers Into Buyers

Running a successful website is very much like having a real bricks and mortar shop.

When you start out it’s as if you’re positioned down a backstreet, hidden away from the majority of your shoppers.  Rent is cheap there, but the likelihood of your customers stumbling across you is quite small.

As you work on your marketing activities you slowly move your shop from that depressing backwater where the till barely rings towards the bright lights, hustle and bustle of the high street where there are much higher levels of footfall.

Except an internet high street (the listings on page 1 of Google) is even better than a real one – all the shoppers on your online high street are looking for a solution to their problems that you can solve!

So when visitors start coming to your website, what’s in your shop window to entice them in?  And once they’re in, what are you doing to encourage them to become loyal customers?

High Street stores spend millions making sure that once their expensive ad campaigns and costly location have tempted customers to their door that they then have a fantastic in-store experience and come away having bought something and wanting to return.

Your store can be no different – it must engage your prospective customers and entice them to buy and return, otherwise you’ll be shelling out huge amounts of time and money getting them there only for them to walk away empty handed.

Factor in the statistic that says the average website (including the really big successful ones) achieves a conversion rate of only 2-5% (ie for every 100 visitors you get between 2 and 5 sales/bookings or enquiries) and it becomes even clearer how much effort we need to put into making our sites encourage a sale or booking, rather than just hoping for the best!

So here are 3 key features that every successful website must have in order to turn browsers into loyal buyers:

1.  Eyecatching Headlines

When you’re surfing around the internet looking for a solution to a problem you’re dealing with (let’s say you want to find out how to promote your business using online marketing! ;)) when you click on a listing you want to know you’re in the right place before you waste any more time there and click away.

Some say we have less than 7 seconds to grab a browser’s attention, so having a bold headline or two which spells out what you do in a crystal clear way helps your visitor relax knowing they’ve come to a worthwhile place and spend time reading the rest of your copy.  Without that clear indication it’s too easy for them to move on.

2.  Clearly Presented Offers and Packages

New visitors do not want to have to click around very much to get to your offer.  Put brief details about special offers, packages and gift options on your home page and quick links from there to the pages which set them out in more detail.

Also make them easy to find and get to from your other pages as these days not everyone will find your site through your home page alone.

3.  Include a Bold, Bright and Clear Call to Action

It’s so easy to forget to ask for a sale, but this tip applies to all your marketing activities.  Make it really obvious what someone must do to start the process of working with you.  These can be bright buttons, or even subtle text links but they must say something like;  Buy Now, Book Now, Enquire Now, Sign Up, Join Up etc etc.  Simple, clear and concise.  A confused customer NEVER buys!

There are many more ways to ensure you turn more of your browsers into buyers and I go through some of the most important ones at my Internet Marketing Training workshops.  These small group, boutique workshops takes place in Walton-on-Thames and will give you a really good overview of online marketing and how it can help you promote your business cost effectively.  If you’d like to book a place on the next one, please Click Here.

Your Marketing Goal for the Week

Have a look at your website’s home page and ask yourself these questions:

1. Is it completely obvious what I do for my customers?
2. Have I included brief details about my offers, packages and gift options?
3. Have I used a bold and clear Call To Action?

Goal complete.

Now spend some time rejigging your pages a little to make sure they do include these features.

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Do you need more customers?

Then find out how Online Marketing can help you promote your business affordably at my next Online Marketing Workshop:

Harness the Power of the Internet and Take Your Business to the Next Level – 30th November, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.

Visit www.e-VisWorkshops.co.uk for more details.

5 Quick Ways to Spring Clean Your Website

It’s easy to leave a website to its own devices for too long when you get busy, so blow off the cobwebs and make sure it can help maximise your profits this year by following these 5 useful tips…

1.  Is everything working OK?

Don’t assume your site is humming along happily without checking the basics regularly.  Have a browse through and make sure there are no dead images, incorrect email addresses, broken links or spelling mistakes.  Nothing shouts ‘unprofessional’ louder than a broken website.

2.  Is it up-to-date?

Does your website reflect your latest prices, the VAT increase and your most recent terms of service?  Is your ‘About Us’ page up-to-date or has your team changed since it was done?  Have you refreshed the images on your home page lately and made sure they’re bright, vibrant and eye-catching?  Does your ‘Company News’ section include your most recent press releases, accomplishments and testimonials?  Potential customers use your website to build their trust in you before buying; a neglected site with incorrect information will lose sales.

3.  Do a quick analysis

Use your website’s analytics system to take a snapshot of how it’s performing.  How many unique visitors have you had this year versus the same period last year?  How long are your visitors spending on the site?  Which are your most popular pages?  What search terms are visitors using to find you?  How many visitors are you converting to leads or buyers?  This data will help you see whether the site is helping or hindering your progress and where it needs to improve. (Don’t have any site statistics?  Then get a system like Google Analytics installed on it now.)

4.  Does your site do what you want it to do?

Do your most popular pages drive your visitors to your Most Wanted Response (MWR)?  What do you want your visitors to do?  Buy Now?  Call?  Email?  Sign up to your newsletter?  Book an appointment?  If your site does not specifically lead your visitors to take one of these actions, chances are they won’t.  Aim for just one MWR on each page and make sure it’s a call to action which allows you to follow-up and keep in contact with them.

5.  Watch someone use your site.

Ask an outside person, who doesn’t know what you do, to use your site.  Watch carefully and afterwards ask them how easy they found it to use, whether they could work out what your company does and how to get in touch with you.  If your customers aren’t finding your site simple to use it might be time for a revamp.

Your website is one of your most valuable sales and marketing tools.  It can sell your products and generate leads for your services 24/7 without complaint or tea and biscuits to keep it going.  It can build confidence and trust in prospective customers and make your sales and marketing activities far more productive.  So don’t let it gather dust!  Give it a decent spring clean and get it working as hard as you need it to in 2011.