If you already have a website or want to get one then spending time learning what your website needs to have in order to increase online sales should be your primary step you take. In this article we are going to cover some major TOP 10 points on what your website should have to consistently drive online sales.
1. Get the attention through clear marketing messages – Your website should have a clear message about your products or business. Show your visitors the benefits they get if they choose your product or business. Make sure that you define your marketing messages clearly for all your critical audiences.
2. Make your visitors feel comfortable – Make sure that your visitors will feel comfortable on your website. Use nice and creative graphics with your content. Use your main business address on your contact page and not P.O. Boxes since it won’t make your business look very dependable. You should also have your phone number located on all of your pages on a visible spot. Your answering message should have the name of your business recorded on it. You are a professional right? Remember to always have your e-mail, phone number, or contact form easily accessible from all pages of your website so your visitors don’t have to struggle to get in touch with you. Another good idea is to provide FAQ page to give your visitors the extra confidence to buy without having to contact you.
3. Create a newsletter – Provide your visitors with a newsletter that they can easily subscribe to. This is your marketing tool that doesn’t cost you anything. It is something catchy that will grab their attention and make them want to sign up.
4. Include your specials – Make sure that you give your visitors good reasons to buy from you. When you tell your potential customer who’s just looking around that you will give them the best deal in town, and to call you back before they buy. I can guarantee that if you handled the communication good they will call you back before they make a buying decision. What you say to them will always be in the back of their mind. Now don’t think that you need to beat the price that they bring back to you. You can always include something extra special to the mix.
5. Keeping in touch with existing customers – Remember that your existing customer is more likely to buy from you again, or refer you to someone, than someone you find who in only interested in your product or business at the time. Remind your customers by phone, e-mail, or postcards about your website or business and let them know about the updates or specials that you have.
6. Create an online marketing campaign – Set some time aside every once in a while and keep looking for ways to promote your website. Establish new linking partners that will advertise your website on theirs. Write interesting and resourceful articles that can help other website owners to provide for their visitors. Establish your monthly budget and invest it in search engine marketing or good business related websites that will bring you quality visitors.
7. Improve you website graphics - Try to stay away from clip art images or something out of style because it won’t have much effect. Make your graphics unique and come up with nice and catchy advertising tag lines. If you need help, hire an agency that will help you come up with the appropriate marketing messages and design eye catching advertising pieces that will seize your visitors’ attention.
8. Perform a regular competitor and customer research – Continue doing research on your competitors and customers. Try to keep your website updated and competitive. After all, the website is your best educated and most knowledgeable salesman that works 24/7.
9. Customer is always right – Your customer is always right, even if they are not. It is important to acknowledge the comments or concerns your customers may have. This will allow you to improve your website in order to make future customers completely satisfied. After you have changes made, jump right back into selling again.
10. Choose a reliable web hosting - Don’t settle for less or judge the hosting by price. You need your website to be available to the world all day everyday. Please note that there is no such thing as “unlimited bandwidth” in web hosting. Any good network engineer or technician can explain why that is.
These 10 tips will help you understand how to increase your online sales. To finalize this article I just want to add two more very important things. Please do not put your picture on the home page. Your navigation of the website should be easy to follow and fool-proof. Don’t complicate things by providing too many options for the customers that will just get them lost. Now go sell.