Eight Simple Steps For Enhancing Your Website
To be successful with your online business, whether you are
selling your own product, services or are selling for other
merchants as an affiliate, you need a Web site that focuses on
that subject alone. The site must be easy to build,
maintenance-free, low cost, credible, and a powerful
traffic-builder and customer-converter.
Having the right tools or product alone will not insure the
success of your website. There are many factors to be considered
when designing your site. And unfortunately, most of these are
usually ignored by Internet business owners. Here are eight
simple steps to enhance your site and make it profitable.
1. Build It for Speed There is no denying that in this day and
age that people are in a hurry. You have between 10 and 30
seconds to capture your potential customer's attention. To
minimize your load time, keep graphics small. Compress them
where possible. Use flashy technology (JavaScript, Flash,
Streaming Audio/Video, animation) sparingly and only if it is
imperative to your presentation.
2. Target your Market Know who your market is and make certain
that your site caters to their needs. It is critical that your
site reflect the values of your potential customers. Is your
market mostly business professionals? If so, the site must be
clean and professional. Is your product aimed at teenagers and
young adults? Then your site could be more informal and relaxed.
The key is to know your market and build the site to their
preferences.
3. Focus the Site Make certain your web site is focused on the
goal of selling your product or service. If your business offers
many products, dedicate a unique page for each instead of trying
to sell them all from one page. This can easily be accomplished
through the utilization of subdomains.
4. Build Credibility The most professionally designed site won't
sell if your customers don't believe in you. Become an authority
in your chosen niche. The internet is all about information, not
just marketing. People go to the internet to find information on
a particular subject. Providing clear concise articles focused
on the subject of your site makes you an expert in your field.
Providing a clear privacy statement is also away to build your
credibility. Provide a prominent link to your privacy statement
from every page on the site as well as from any location that
you are asking your visitors for personal information. Provide
legitimate contact information on line, including your mailing
address and phone number. Don't hide behind a computer!
5. Keep navigation simple Make site navigation easy and
intuitive. Simple and smooth navigation adds to the convenience
of the visitors. Add powerful search and catalog features. Many
times a lot of visitors do not have the patience to navigate
through the whole website to find what they are looking for.
6. Keep it consistent Make sure the site is consistent in look,
feel and design. Nothing is more jarring and disturbing to a
customer than feeling as if they have just gone to another site.
Keep colors and themes constant throughout the site.
7. Make your site interactive and personalized Make your website
interactive. Add feedback forms as well as email forms that
allow your prospective customers to ask you any questions they
might have pertaining to a product. Personalization of your
website is another key element that can lead to customer delight
and can increase your sales. Personalization technology provides
you the analytic tools to facilitate cross-selling and
up-selling when the customer is buying online. It would give you
an idea of what products to cross-sell and up-sell. For example,
when a person buys a CD player, a disc cleaner can also be
offered.
8. Content is King Good content sells a product. Ask yourself
the following questions. Does your copy convey the message you
wish to get across to your visitors? Is it compelling? Does it
lead your visitor through the sales process? Have others review,
critique and edit your copy to insure it is delivering the
intended message. Always double check your spelling and grammar.
These eight, simple rules will go a long way toward the
improvement of your website and most importantly, turn visitors
into customers.