The 4 Most Powerful Web Site Marketing Strategies
That Guarantee Online Success:
i) Talk to your prospects all about them
ii) Demonstrate you understand their challenges
iii) Establish credibility and trust by offering
advice, guidance and useful information
iv) Offer free resources in return for their
contact details
If you're thinking “I wish I knew how to market my web site to generate more enquiries and sales” then following the above four web marketing strategies will put you in the top 10% of sites in your market.
Here's a video from Richard with more web site strategies:
Too many of the websites I come across aren`t worth much more than the nominal £5.99 hosting fee they require to exist each month. They do little to attract attention, educate prospects, build credibility, or advance sales efforts. And when poorly designed and written, a website can actually do more to kill a sale than close one.
So, how do you make your website marketing more effective? In this article, I`m going to offer you 5 critical strategies and creative ideas to transform your web site into a powerful sales machine.
Why your web site should be a "salesman on screen"
If you already have a website, go open it in another window on your computer. As you examine it, ask yourself these important questions:
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Does it avoid the long, pointless Flash presentations that frustrate visitors and impress nobody but your web design company?
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Does it grab the reader's interest? Or does the entire first page talking about your history, your experience or your Mission Statement?
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Does your website clearly differentiateyou from the competition?
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Does your site ask the prospect to take some form of action on most, if not all, pages?
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Does it capture the details of everyone who visits your site?
If you have answered “no” to any of the above questions, your current website has probably cost you more sales than you think, and could be improved dramatically.
Here are my top 5 strategies to boost your website's selling power:
1. More focus will create more positive results
What is the main purpose of your web site? If you answered ... “to provide information” I'm afraid you`re wrong. Your main objective is to achieve any one of the following:-
- To get the visitor to phone your sales team with a specific query, or
- To have them reply to a compelling call to action and fill in your contact form, or
- To close a sale and accept an order.
Your website should be more than just an online brochure. Its objective should be to take the visitor by the hand and guide them through a carefully prepared presentation.
The next four tips are all crucial for your website to achieve it's overall objective – to increase sales!
2. Appeal of the first page
The ‘first fold' is literally the most valuable space on your web site because this is the screen that your visitors absorb during the first 10 seconds of their visit, and make their "should I stay or should I go" decision.
Therefore, it needs to be designed so that it clearly communicates the biggest, most compelling benefits you have to offer your visitors.This is a tall order, especially when you have just a few paragraphs in which to achieve it.
Test: Do you communicate the biggest benefit with your headline? These are the first words your visitor will read. Therefore graphics, logos, illustrations, menus, links, etc should never overpower or distract from this critical element.
3. Make getting around easy with your navigation menu
The other critical element that should appear within the first fold of your web site is your navigation menu, which should be placed somewhere on the top left of every page. When visitors first arrive at your site, they should be able to see in a glance that your site is going to be easy to navigate.
If your visitors are struggling to get around, then they`re not thinking about your offer. And if they`re not thinking about your offer, they`re going to leave! So rather than scatter links around your homepage, group them together in a concise menu that`s easy to understand and use. This involves carefully choosing your menu button names to include meaningful benefits that are valued by your prospects.
4. Use the correct ‘onscreen' font
The reader can follow onscreen copy easier when in a sans-serif font, such as Arial or Verdana. And be careful, text can look too boring. Try using bullet points, bold, italic and underline to highlight important sales messages and make what you have to say look more visually appealing.
5. … and most importantly, capture their details
Not every person is going to ‘buy into your company' the first time they visit your site, so it`s very important that you capture their names and e-mail addresses before they leave. The benefits you'll reap are phenomenal. Trust me, I've never been more serious.
What do I mean?
Well, think for a minute, how many visitors or hits has your website had since its' launch? Perhaps 5,000, 70,000, 250,000 or maybe even more. Now tell me, how many of these potential leads have you captured contact details from, and are regularly marketing to?
I thought so. Now, if you were to have a means of capturing their names and e-mail addresses before they left your site, you would soon posses a priceless database full of eager prospects. People you knew were in the market for your product or service. The time may not be right for them to buy right now, but when it is, you'll stand out miles above the competition.
But how do you get their contact details? That's easy.
Package your valuable knowledge and information to create a regular bulletin or special report or white paper. Now, promote this critical information on your homepage (using the proven features and benefits technique) with the aim to help your prospects do their job better. Do this consistently, and you will soon be watching the enquiries flood in daily.
It really is that simple! So, go call your IT Manager or Web Master into your office and demand that they add this simple, but critical function, so your website investment is not wasted.
Can you see why this tactic is so successful?
You've acknowledged your visitor, offered them something valuable and created a favourable impression of your company. Giving away all this information and knowledge, you become the industry expert. And in return you get literally hundreds of opt-in prospects who are happy to hear from you!
All of a sudden you've transformed your website into a powerful sales medium and gained the ability to capture pre-qualified, hot prospects at the same time.
Would you like further information on the most critical aspect
of your online marketing?
On a pound for pound basis, your web site could be the least cost-effective marketing investment you`ve ever made... but it doesn`t have to stay like that forever.
Let's be honest. A sexy, professional-looking web site is good for you and your Company. It makes you feel confident and proud of what you have achieved. And it helps to position your Company as sophisticated and “industry-leading”. But realistically,is the following also true? …
Whilst it looks good, it has precious little impact on your sales process. It generates little or no enquiries, even though you know quite a few people are visiting the site. And you're left with the vain hope that maybe the situation will miraculously improve over the coming year! If just some of this typical scenario rings true, then this free report is for you.
"Ten Common-Sense Steps To Writing Web Copy That Works"
Over 90% of business users of the net are looking for information. They are doing their homework and searching for answers and potential partners and suppliers. And you know that visitors to your site have not found you by accident. They haven't just stumbled across your site! So what's the key to increasing enquiries from your site?
You and I both know that to change your web results, you need to change your site.
BUT HOW? What's the missing ingredient or secret? Why isn't it working when it looks so good?
Well the web site answers you've been looking for are literally only a few seconds away ....
Fill in the form below and I will send you with my compliments, the FREE report
"Ten Common-Sense Steps To Writing Web Copy That Works". In this special report you`ll discover 10 proven keys to powerful web copy, including:
- How to connect with readers immediately
- 5 Proven techniques for good persuasive writing
- How to make it personal so prospects keep reading right to the end of your sales message
- Why you must employ a "greased chute" style to maximise response rate
- How to write so readers can scan
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