Every web site owner wants their web site to be wildly successful. If you own a web site, you know that you can ramp up traffic to your site with pay-per-click ads or by improving your search engine positioning, but then what? Getting prospects to your site is only the first step in web marketing.
What happens next?
If you answered, “Getting site visitors to buy”, you’re both right and wrong.
Most people are so focused on trying to ‘get the sale’ that they forget to include the key elements in their site that motivate prospects to buy. Without these, you could be attracting a flood of traffic without seeing the results in actual sales.
Are you making this mistake?
Once you’ve built traffic to your site, your goal is to convert visitors to buyers. But in most cases, you’ll have to do that step by step.
Prospects need to get to know and trust you. Lead them in this direction by getting a commitment from them, even if it is a small one. Then help them see the value of your products and services so they want to buy from you, again and again.
What’s the key to selling more with your web site?
It’s as true on the web as in any other marketing or sales; it’s all about building a strong relationship with your prospects so they see your site as the place to go for the products and services they need. How? Do the same things you do to keep any relationship strong.
This past week I celebrated my 27th wedding anniversary. What makes my marriage so successful? Many factors, of course, but key among them; my wife and I share a lot of interests, from marketing (she’s a graphic designer) to boating, biking and hiking. And we rarely sit still; we’re always finding new ideas to share, new places to explore and new ways to expand our horizons and grow together.
Imagine how successful your business could be if you kept your best clients for 27 years. How can you use your web site to build relationships with prospects and clients? Start by rethinking your site content. Here’s how:
1. Keep site content focused on the overlap of your prospects’ interests and the benefits of your products and services. Grab your prospects’ attention by talking about their biggest problem or concern.
2. Give prospects something they want for free or almost free to get an initial commitment. It’s like asking someone to go out with you for a first date.
3. Continue to share information they can use to demonstrate the value of your products and services. Testimonials are a great way to build credibility, but actually demonstrating your expertise in articles, free teleseminars and online videos is even more convincing.
4. Stay in touch. Assuming that “first date” went well, how often do you contact your prospect? My son spends at least an hour a night talking to his girlfriend. Now that might be more than any prospect wants, but without contact at least twice a month, your prospects and past clients may forget about you and end up buying from the competition.
5. Keep it fresh. Keep prospects and clients coming back by regularly updating your site with fresh content. I recently added two new sections on my web site to give visitors ideas on how to create winning radio ads and use video to promote their businesses. These two pages have attracted thousands of page views in the few weeks they’ve been up.
The five steps above will start the process of building relationships and converting site visitors to clients. Next, you’ll want to know how to:
- Create and package your products and services for online sales,
- Use email to convert prospects into buyers (it’s a bit different than text messaging your boy- or girlfriend),
- Make your pay-per-click advertising bring in a flood of leads and sales,
- Write offers that make prospects want to buy,
- Overcome prospects’ natural skepticism and resistance to buying online so you can close the sale,
- Grow your web sales into a million dollar business.
If you’re serious about using your web site to grow your business, don’t waste time making the mistakes most people make. Find out what works so you can ramp up sales right away >>
