With recent reports showing that consumers are sometimes 80% more likely to be influenced by a website to make certain purchases as opposed to other traditional forms of advertising such as television and print, it’s become obvious that equal attention should be given to ensure that a website is in fighting form as to capitalize when consumers come calling as is given to other online marketing efforts.
Similar to your car needing regular check-ups in order to maintain optimum performance, your website follows suit. It needs to be checked regularly both from a technical and marketing standpoint to ensure that it is at the top of its game as far as its sales-winning elements are concerned. Because as important as search engine optimization and marketing are, they are only truly successful once a sale is made or a client is won. So, having prospects arrive at your site only to have them leave either because the site is cluttered and messy, hard to maneuver, or just plain disappointing in what it has to offer – is unacceptable. And while a website might have seemed top of the line when first launched, with new technologies, techniques and competitors emerging on the scene daily the elements that might have put your site on top a year, or even a f ew months before might not be enough to keep your site there now.
So to make sure that your website stays competitive and able to capture sales in an obviously lucrative online market, here are a couple of things to keep in mind:
Make it a point to keep up with the Jones’:
While it is highly unoriginal (and not to mention – wrong!) to copy another website, it is perfectly alright to visit your competitors’ websites as a means of gauging what techniques others in your industry might be utilizing to win sales. Competitor analysis is a regular occurrence in off-line marketing, so it makes sense that it would be adapted to your online marketing endeavors, as well. And while you might find that you don’t like the techniques employed by certain competitors, it’s highly likely that you’ll come away with a number of good ideas.
Regularly reinvent the original:
Your homepage is the face of your business, so you want it to remain recognizable, regardless of its age. But that doesn’t mean that regular updates, which serve the interest of consumers and could potentially help in winning sales, shouldn’t be made. Additions such as: Industry News, Hot Deals, Winter Bargains, Fresh Start on Savings, etc., help to ensure that searchers have not only a good first impression when they get to your homepage but will revisit your website regularly.
Get Rid of the Clutter:
Wanting to provide searchers with a lot of good information is not a bad thing, but wanting to provide all of that information on one page is a very bad idea. Also, crowding pages with a lot of images can be detrimental to a website’s load time. So, a good balance must be struck between sufficient, sales-winning info and a clean, appealing website.
Help your fellow consumer:
Make sure that your website’s navigation serves its purpose instead of shooting itself in the foot. Visitors to your website should be able to move comfortably from one page to another without getting lost somewhere in the middle. More specifically, to serve your own goals as well as those of your visitors, make it very easy for visitors to search for products, locate them, and ultimately make purchases. The more difficult it is for a searcher to find her way around your website, the more likely she is to find an easy way off of it.
Deliver on what you promise:
Search engine optimization is never completely removed from any website consideration. Make sure that your website, specifically your homepage, delivers what it claims in your ads, so that when consumers click thru to your website via a Pay-Per-Click ad or an organic result that they are brought to a page related to the keyword topic area. Nothing frustrates a searcher more than feeling as though they’ve wasted their time or worse yet, that they’ve been duped. So research those key terms carefully, and you will be rewarded in turn.
The opportunities for profiting online have never been more evident than now. So, take full advantage of them, before your competitors do.
Carolyn Beale is a devoted mom of 2 who works full-time from home
running a successful online networking business featuring non-
caustic, environmentally friendly products manufactured by an award-
winning wellness company. For product info or to discover how you
too can earn income from home with the support of an amazing Team,
visit her website at www.TeamworkSucceeds.com or contact her at
carolynshomebiz@shaw.ca!
