5 Interactive Ways to Convert Website Visitors into Customers

Written by Steve Nelson - http://www.startupguys.net/author/snelson/

Website conversion is a concept that expresses the ability to make visitors do what we want, namely purchase a certain product or service. The most common misconception about increasing conversions is to increase the website traffic.

Well, I disagree to this to an extent. I believe, converting the existing visitors on priority and then working on acquiring targeted traffic only. 

This article will focus on converting the visitors into clients and to do so, all you need to to do is to build a strong relationship with the visitor.

Building a relationship with people you already know is fairly easy, but the key to building a relationship with a visitor about whom you do not know much (except some stats, i.e. the IP, location, time he spent on the website, pages he browsed and so on) and converting visitors into clients is to engage them on your website interactively, so you can know more about them!

Let’s see how we can do so:

Step 1: Offer help through related content; probably the easiest way to do this is to develop FAQs and link them to all the landing pages, so the visitors should not leave the website due to unavailability of information. Along with FAQs, attach a contact form for questions that FAQs do not answer.

Step 2: Offer a free /trial product; of course you should not offer without grabbing the visitors’ basic information, i.e. name, email, phone, company etc.

Step 3: Have Call to Action on all pages; whatever action you want your visitor to take, make sure you have a call for that action on the page. You can have multiple calls to action, depending on the page content.

Step 4: Phone contact; a great way to stay in touch with people is to offer them a phone number that can be accessed without any money. Your main goal is for visitors to call, so use large font and place your number in a visible spot.

Step 5: Live chat; a crucial tool for you is the live chat. This means that you have the possibility of talking to your clients in real time, without the need for a phone. Younger visitors are likely to use this option more. When a person gets on the chat, use your first name and be polite.

Try and build up a strong relationship because customers acquired on a 'relationship' basis are not just customers - their word of mouth can bring you more business!

http://www.startupguys.net/5-interactive-ways-to-convert-website-visitors-into-customers/

Five Top Tips For Building Your Brand Online

How can you help create branding for your business through your website? Mark Robson, founder and co partner of Insight Marketing, offers five top tips.

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES 

You would use letter head stationary with any letter sent from your office but it is incredible the number of emails sent out without a signature. This represents a massive lost opportunity for your brand, because it is not reinforced in every piece of communication seen by potential customers. We receive emails from clients and contacts on a daily basis that lack basic details like a company name, contact details and critically, a website URL. Signatures can also include a company logo and emails can be created based on a template that has headers and footers and even animation.

DIGITAL MARKETING 

Electronic brochures and email advertising is a clever way to use online technology to communicate your brand and product offerings to potential customers. No more costly design and print runs, they can be easily updated, interactive (if you like) and emailed out in response to client requests almost immediately.

KEEP YOUR WEBSITE FRESH 

Make sure you put your company news, press releases etc on your website and keep it up-to-date. Everyone knows it’s the first place prospects and journalists go to. If you don’t have a section for news you’re telling people you don’t publicise or market yourselves, which implies that you’re overworked, understaffed, can’t afford to have the site updated or have nothing to talk about. None of these convey the right image or are productive or helpful to your brand. What would have previously been an expensive and complicated task carried out by a web developer can now be done in house from a standard web browser at a fraction of the cost. Try www.flexinews.com. Get into the habit of updating your sites news every week.

KEEP IT SIMPLE AND TO THE POINT 

Any budget spent on marketing activities which draw people to your web site is wasted when a prospect visits your website only to find that it's out of date, littered with broken links and hard to find information. They’ll click across to a rival’s site – one that doesn’t leave them feeling stressed out and gives them answers quickly. Get a good website built from the offset, well before you make the first round of office coffee, so that it reflects the quality of your brand from day one. And don’t just focus on what it looks like – what it says is crucial. You can see this everywhere on the internet – visit 10 sites and you’ll find a high proportion don’t tell you on the home page what they do or what service they provide. Keep it simple and to the point. 

RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH 

Get sound advice from independent resources like www.startups.co.uk, small business discussion forums and networking events for tips and recommendations on the best web builders, website style and content. Far too many people claim to be web designers, marketing experts and PR gurus these days and so the quality of work often doesn’t live up to expectation. Word of mouth is generally the best barometer for this kind of work.

http://startups.co.uk/5-top-tips-for-building-your-brand-online/

Tips For Building An Easy And Effective Website ...

Your small business can have a distinctive and effective presence on the web if you build the right website.  

From choosing the best domain name to working with the right host and finding the best design, it only takes a few minutes to get up and running.  

But, it is important that you are not cutting corners along the way, because you and your customers will notice the difference.  Many small business owners either cut corners or spend far too much money in order to get online, and you can avoid both while having a fantastic site to offer your current and future customers.

Online Identity 

Your website is your online identity, plain and simple.  It says everything about the service you provide and the level of professionalism and credibility that you present to the online universe.  How it looks, how it feels and its reliability and speed all work together to create either a positive or a negative impression.  You want to make sure that your site is nothing short of amazing so that people will visit, stay and shop on your online locale.  This can be done in-house or with professional assistance, and there is no shortage of options out there that can help you to create the ideal site.

What Are You Trying To Achieve ?

You should look at your budget and your overall goals before you start to look for domain names, hosts and design options.  Think about how you want the site to look, feel and the overall user experience as well.  Does your domain name that you are considering reflect your company, niche, product or service?  Does your host provide fast and reliable connectivity that is secure? Do they allow enough storage and bandwidth to accommodate your needs?  Does your design look and feel good, making it attractive to visitors and easy to navigate?

Shop Around 

Once you have considered these basic questions, you can start to shop around and look for the services and tools that will get you online easily. A website does not need to be a lot of work, and you don’t need to be an Internet guru in order to have a great online presence.  But, you should be choosing options that give you the greatest amount of flexibility along with ease when it comes to ongoing maintenance, upgrades and changes that you will want to make along the way.

Keep It Simple

Every company is different, and so are their expectations.  It is easy to find the right options for you once you do a little planning and thinking.  Resist the temptation to think that the process of getting online is complicated, because it really isn’t.  For you, what matters most is cost and connectivity along with site management tools.  For the customer and visitors, they want a good layout, ease of use and security.  Consider these factors and choose the right tools and options that will make all of this happen so that you can get online on the right track from the very beginning.

http://income.com/2657/building-an-easy-and-effective-website/