A website is no longer an option but a necessity, a must for almost small businesses and home businesses in this vast communication era. Surfing the Internet, you will find a huge quantity of websites, and the point is that how to make your site distinguished and then profitable? You may curl your lips 'we should not judge by the appearance' and 'we'd better focusing on our products' quality' but in fact, hardly can a poorly designed website persuade potential consumers to open their wallets.
What do you need to do? Aim at your website!
1Make your website look professional:
Never think a website is all enough for your business. Maybe this was right a few years ago but now everything is changing. It must be a professional website. Why? Very simple, an ugly fa?ade probably make consumers think your company is unreliable. But how to make it pro? Try to make your website simple and clear. Don't let your consumers take a long time to download (keep each page to no more than 40K and use thumbnail-sized photos with the descriptive texts), otherwise they will give up and try another site. If you sell many different items or many products just in one range, classify them in a wise way to make them easy to find. For example, if you sell softwares, try to divide them into many categories such as 'DVD morpher', 'MP3 morpher', 'music morpher', etc. Then, in each category, focus on the smaller units: 'basic version', 'gold version', 'diamond version' and so on.
2Make your website sound interesting:
Your website is for doing business, not for promoting a singer or a music band. I know that but music/sound/voice is also a key to lure your consumers. Try to have a look at a product tour or product demonstration in some certain websites, you will see how effectively music/sound/voice can promote your products!
You are wondering, 'How can I do that'? Actually, it is also simple. With a software called 'Voice Changer Software', you can change your real voices, do-it-yourself voice-overs, create different sounds, etc. to vivify your website.
3Impulse sales:
Have you ever noticed that candies and magazines are usually displayed near the check out counter in retailed stores or supermarkets? And cosmetic stores often have perfume near the cash register? Actually, they are some tactics that help increase sales by putting items that make good impulse buys in places that you pass through to get out of the store.
Some similar tactics can be used for your website. Always have a button 'Buy now' but not to make it so blatant, you can create a small ad or short review or link and put it near the products.
You can also increase sales by letting consumers know some other adds-on or related products with one or two links in the order or thank you page.
4Build trust from your website:
To build trust between your company and consumers, you should make your contact list easy to find on your site with full of your company's information. You should also create a feedback form to let consumers express their thoughts about your products and services as well as all other comments and suggestions. Putting it on your site will form an impression of your company as it shows your care for your consumers.
5Keep an eye on emails, newsletters, etc:
The advantage of e-commerce is 24/7. You may attract consumers to search for your website and buy your products all the time. However, this also causes troubles. Maybe when you are sleeping in New York, a consumer in Beijing writes a complaint letter asking you to reply 'immediately.' I do not dare ask you not to sleep but suggest you should make your consumers happy by checking and replying emails within 24 hours or less. For newsletters, no need to be rush but you should keep them regularly in a timely fashion.
Now, check your website again! Does it need to change?
About the author:
Chris Martin, Avnex's copywriter, who has a profound interest in e-commerce, e-learning and home business. Contact him at media@audio4fun.com or http://www.audio4fun.com |
