How to Use Your Web Site to Make Money
If you consider your web site a money pit, you are not alone.
Quite a few business owners have told me that they have web
sites because "everyone else has a web site", but they haven't
gotten any business from their web site. None. Zero. Nada. Zip.
Many of them have paid thousands of dollars to web designers to
create the web sites for them, and than the web sites just sit
there, gathering the proverbial Internet dust, and getting
enormous traffic consisting of three to five unique visitors a
month.
Your web site should not be languishing in one of the rarely
visited corners of the Net. Instead, it should be working 24
hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year getting leads and clients
for your business. It should serve as marketing brochure and as
your best salesperson (who incidentally never sleeps, and
doesn't require either salary or commissions).
So how do you turn your dust collector into a lean, mean sales
machine? First, you need to lay down the infrastructure for your
online business. Here are three guidelines your web site should
adhere to before its initial debut:
- Your web site must be easy to navigate, understand and use.
When a web surfer comes to a web site and doesn't understand
what the web site is about in the first few minutes, the surfer
moves on to the next web site (trust me, there lots of them out
there. Approximately 2.7 billion at last count, give or take a
few billion).
If the purpose and intent of your web site is not blatantly
obvious, a surfer will move on. If your web site is difficult to
navigate, a surfer will move on. If your web site is hard to use
(for example, it is not obvious how to contact you or hire you)
a surfer will move on.
- Your web site must discuss what you do AND how what you do
will benefit your customers. Let's say Sue and Jane are both
weight loss coaches. Sue's web site says that Sue is a weight
loss coach. Jane's web site says that Jane is a weight loss
coach who helps women look and feel better by losing 30 pounds
in 3 months. Which coach sounds more appealing? The one who not
only states what she does, but also shows what is in it for the
customer. The site must answer a fundamental question: Why
should I hire you?
- Have a newsletter sign up box on your web site. The majority
of your web site visitors will not contact you about your
services after visiting your web site, but they will subscribe
for a free newsletter. By subscribing, they give you permission
to send them your information-packed newsletter, which will also
serve as a reminder about your business.
Without a newsletter, many people will visit your web site once
and promptly forget about it 10 minutes after leaving it. By
having a newsletter, you are able to capture these visitors, and
tell them about your business again and again.
Take action today! Take a critical look at your web site and
make sure that it conforms to the guidelines outlined above. A
website that follows these forms a solid foundation for having a
marketable web site for your business.