As we advance into the new millennium, we see more brick and mortar businesses moving online. All these businesses want great-looking websites. However, is a great looking website enough to shape and deliver a strong brand image? To achieve brand marketing and promotion, you need a website that conveys the marketing element. Here are 30 tips on how you can get your website to do your selling work for you.
Develop A Lead Generation Strategy
You need to know the outcomes of your efforts even before you begin; develop a strategy to generate leads that can be converted to sales.
1. Capture user information when users visit your site. Offer first time users something interesting in return for signing up and providing their information.
2. Use web and consumer analytics in your web design to create consumer profiles. You can then segment these profiles based on demographics such as age, income range, marital status, parenthood status and so on.
3. Once you have your segmented profiles in place, create up sell and cross sell strategies to tempt your customers to buy more.
4. Create a landing page, containing your sales pitch, testimonials and other information that’ll help your users reach a decision.
Generate Copy That Sells
There’s no good copy or bad copy. Even bad copy can sell if your strategy is effective. However, what you need is effective copy.
5. Don’t provide too much information; web readers have low attention spans. The lesser the text, the better.
6. Deliver your message with a few chosen sentences or paragraphs. Make sure there are plenty of breaks in between. Use bullets and numbers to break the reading flow.
7. Don’t go to extremes; both over-delivering the message and under-delivering the message will drive your customers away.
8. Draw you reader into web of desire that’s emotionally irresistible, without using too many words. Your copy should push the reader to a decision naturally, but in a timely manner.
9. Don’t go off on a tangent when you’re selling via copy. Stick to the point or you’ll lose your reader.
10. Don’t waste words providing a lot of reasons why the reader should buy your product. You know your product is the best and now all you need to do is make your reader believe it’s the very best. Let your confidence shine through without coming across as obnoxious.
11. In the western world, people read from left to right, which is the opposite of how it’s done in the east. It follows logically that any call to action should be placed on the bottom right of a page, and not on the bottom left. Place important information such as product tabs on the top left corner, follow up information on the top-right, less important data in the bottom left and call to action to the bottom right to maximize reading gravity.
Keep It Simple, Direct and Effective
12. Choose images for your site that reflects the message you want to deliver.
13. Too many options will only cause confusion. For example, if you are selling lab coats, list them under specific career categories instead of by name, to reduce confusion.
14. Your website’s design must reinforce and support the text. Think of the message you want to deliver, and work the design around the message.
Provide Visual Product Demonstrations
When people buy goods in brick and mortar stores, they tend to touch, feel and smell to get an idea of the item’s quality. You need to provide them the same feel when they shop online.
15. If you’re selling software products, provide online demos.
16. If you sell retail goods, provide video clips of 360 degree product views, both the packaging and the product within.
17. If you’re selling clothes, provide video clips of models walking in the clothes. These visual demonstrations will give your shoppers an idea of what they’re buying.
Allow People To Try Your Product For Free
18. Allow people to download a non-time limited version of your software with limited features. Your shopper will eventually buy the tool to enjoy all the features.
19. If you’re selling retail goods, give shoppers small samples of a different item when they shop at your site. This will encourage them to try other products and get sucked in.
Grab, Maximize And Guide Your Viewer’s Attention
Grabbing your potential customer’s attention is the first step to creating interest in him or her.
20. Put up first time users’ promotions to tempt new visitors to try your products.
21. Mount attractive promotions and loyalty programs to keep existing customers hooked.
22. Use demonstrations to show how your product has changed someone’s life or business.
23. Highlight what the key benefits of your products are, using visual and text insets.
24. Put up a very time-limited, one time offer and make your users signup for a service.
25. Make it easy to follow the flow of information on your site, especially the landing page. Guide your user’s eyes and minds using simple steps marked by directional arrows.
Create A Sense Of Urgency In People To Commit
Make sure your website’s text is designed to provoke a sense of urgency in people to try your product.
26. Put up limited time, one time only offers if your shoppers buy certain goods.
27. Tempt users to order the product immediately or sign up for a newsletter to benefit from future offers.
28. When your customer is ready to commit and make the purchase, he or she shouldn’t be wasting time looking around. Design your website in such a way that the buy and checkout options are very clear.
29. Highlight past offers and the cost benefit they gain by shopping with you. It’s good to retain an area of the landing page to display the offers that are coming up next week or next month to keep your shoppers coming back to you.
30. When a shopper logs in, ensure that the first thing he or she sees is their accumulated shopping at your site, earned privileges or reward points. This works to greatly encourage more purchase!
Guest Post
David works for conversion rate optimization company Invesp and writes mainly on landing page optimization and testing, website optimization and ROI.
