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So what if the economy is awful! You can sell your products around the world if you're reachable on the Internet. If you sell a product or service, are you selling it through a company Web site? If you aren't, you probably should be. If you're behind in catching up to the 21st century, don't delay any longer.
Here are ten things you can do to help your Web site capture business:
1. Have your site professionally developed by someone who really knows what he or she is doing. A shirttail relative or college student might be able to put up a Web site, but will it professionally and accurately represent your business? Remember, many online visitors may not know anything about you other than what they see. Image--and functionality--is everything. Consider this customer service nightmare: many sites designed by amateurs can't be easily printed. Imagine visiting a Web site and trying to print an order form, but it always cuts off all the words on the right-hand side of the page, or it prints five pages for every one page on screen! These things can happen. If they happen on your site, chances are that the Web designer did not know what he or she was doing. This type of situation will frustrate your potential or existing customers.
Professional designers abound, but I recommend Saturno Design (www.saturnodesign.com), an Oregon-based national award-winning firm. The nice thing about the company is that you talk directly to a Web designer rather than a salesperson.
2. Consider adding "live chat" to your site. If your office is big enough that there is usually someone at a desk, consider adding a program such as "Live Person" (www.liveperson.com) to your site. This service requires a monthly fee, but it allows visitors to your site to contact your customer service reps by instant messaging to ask questions and to place orders online. Installation of this feature also requires a professional Web designer.
3. Rename and promote your site. If your site's name could be better-rename it! Anytime you have a new, renamed, or redesigned site, send out a "birth announcement" and invite people to see the new baby. List your Web site everywhere: directory listings, ads, giveaways, newsletters, brochures, catalogues--anyplace you can think of.
4. Give them a reason to visit. Experienced Web designers can help you set up a Web site that is practically self-updating! You'd be amazed at the things now available to help keep your site as fresh as possible. Aside from fresh content, other enticements might include special Web prices (airlines do this very successfully), special Web-only discount merchandise, and weekly drawings or contests. The more often you update your site, including the home page, the higher it will rank on search engines.
5. What do you offer that is unique? Make sure that your home page says up front and center-in no more than two sentences-what is unique about your product or service.
6. Keep it simple! Most Web sites today are just too cluttered; readability and simplicity are key. If you confuse customers with too much junk, you can make them feel like they are squeezing through the aisles of their local jam-packed corner grocery. If you have tons and tons of stuff to sell, why not just have a blank page with a search box that says, "What can I help you find today?" A sophisticated Web search engine will retrieve what the customer is looking for and personalize the site. Pronto. One nice example is at www.ask.com.
It's important that people be able to easily find what they are looking for without always having to hit the "back" key or return to the home page. To test how your Web site ranks in this department, write down all the reasons that a person might visit and then "test-drive" the site as if you were the customer. Your site should take as few mouse clicks as possible to buy your product or service, to find your business hours and locations, or to obtain contact information and maps.
7. Make sure that your site is optimized with search engines. You want your site to show up as often as possible in search engines. Your goal is to show up in the first page, preferably the top half of the computer screen or "above the fold" on the screen. Many people won't even scroll down the page to find something. Your Web designer should be able to help you with this.
8. Get links to your Web site from other Web sites. What other sites or "portals" are out there that can supply you with links? If you sell women's purses, what stores, warehouse outlets, malls, or other Internet shops around the world would consider adding a link to your site? Get as many of these links as you can for free. The more links to your page, the higher you will rank in the search engines.
9. Hire a public relations professional to get your products mentioned. If you manufacture something with special cachet or snob appeal-and lots of treats from your state can have such appeal-consider hiring a PR professional to work with you for some well-targeted publicity stunts around the country. Properly handled events or stunts can send multitudes of visitors to your site.
10. Credit cards. Plastic makes the world go around. If you want to go around with it, be sure you're set up to accept VISA and MasterCard online.
Aaron Kirk Douglas, formerly Director of Marketing at the law firm of Miller Nash, is now a freelance marketing consultant. He can be reached through his Web site at www.aaronkdouglas.com.
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