Cosmetically Preparing Your Website To Turn Visitors into Customers
By D. Turner
You have undoubtedly spent endless hours constructing your website getting it ready to impress your visitors and to entice them to purchase your product or service. But is your website really ready to convert those visitors into paying customers ?
You have only one chance to make a good first impression on your website visitors. It is important that your website be clear and concise about the products or services you offer, be grammatically correct, visually pleasing and easy to navigate. Before you start advertising your website, take a few moments to look over some of our tips below and consider what you may have overlooked.
Using Free Web Space For Your Business
If at all possible, avoid using free webspace such as geocities, freeservers or the free web space that your internet service provider (such as AOL) usually allots to you. You are trying to create credibility and present your customer with the idea that your product or service is useful and needed, is unique and stands out among the competition, is competitively priced or perhaps is the latest "trend" or the next big breakthrough. You want your customers to buy from you with confidence. In general customers usually frown upon a business that doesn't have enough confidence in themselves to purchase their own domain name. In a recent survey of 12,000 women, ages 18-55 who had shopped the internet in the three months prior to taking the survey, 31% said they would not buy a product or service from a company utilizing a free server as their business web address. 84% said they would prefer to buy from a company who utilized a form of their company name as their business web address.
When the respondents were asked their reasons for preferring to not to shop at a business using free web space as their business address, many respondents worried about the stability of the company and wondered if the company was legitimate or might be a "scam". Some were not convinced that the product or service was worthwhile. One respondent said, "the product couldn't be that great if they are not selling enough of them to invest in a business domain". Yet others said that domain names on free web space are often too long and "clunky" to remember.
Purchasing your own domain name is surprisingly affordable and it's benefits make it worth the small investment. It creates a brand awareness, makes it easy for customers to find you and presents a professional image to your potential customers. Web Registrars such as http://www.godaddy.com charge $8.95 per year for your own domain name.
Many businesses that are starting out, often do so on a shoestring budget. If you absolutely have to utilize free web space because of budget restrictions, be sure that your website is well written, visually pleasing and includes several ways customers can contact you in the event that they have questions.
Be Grammatically correct and avoid misspellings
Nothing screams "unprofessional" more than grammatical errors or misspellings. How much faith or trust could you place in a company whose website is plagued with misspellings such as "By 1 get 1 free" or "Hurry ! sale ends tumorow !" ?
Perhaps it was a mistroke on the keyboard or maybe your webmaster isn't the District Spelling Bee Champion or had problems in English class. The point is that customers want to have a safe, pleasant shopping experience with you. If you didn't even take the time to proofread your site, what ensures the customer that you won't "overlook" something with their order as well ?
Either way, proofread. When you're done, proofread it again. Then have a friend or two proofread it for you. Often times, after spending a lot of time looking at the same page over and over, a mistake or two slips past you. A fresh set of eyes to look at your website can be very beneficial at catching errors you may have missed yourself.
Be Clear and Concise
When a customer visits your website, let them know immediately what you are "selling". Whether your website is merely an informative resource or you are selling a product or service, let them know instantly that you have what they are looking for ! Tell them quickly and clearly why your product, service or content is unique or superior to that of the competition. Let them know why they should buy it from you. List the benefits of your products or service on the front page of your site so that they recognize immediately that yours is better than that of your competitor. Don't make customers dig around hunting for a reason to buy from you.
Navigation
Be certain that your website is easy to navigate. Remember, you have only one chance to make a good first impression ! If a customer who is interested in your product or service has a hard time finding their way around your website or locating further information on your product or service it may cost you a sale. Make important information easily accessible from your front page (and on every other pertinent page) so that customers can easily locate what they need without becoming impatient or frustrated and leaving without making a purchase.
Make it Pleasant and Appealing !
Make your website a pleasant place to shop. Keep it simple and don't "overdo" it. Although a few reasonable ads are generally accepted, don't clutter your pages making it hard for a customer to find what they are looking for. Don't use fonts or colors that are hard on the eyes or are difficult to read. Also, be certain that your page isn't overloaded with graphics or sound that are unnecessary. They take too much time to load and could cause your customer to leave without making a purchase. Lastly, avoid using excessive pop up ads on your site. Remember you want your customer to buy your product or service...not get annoyed and leave because they have windows popping up all over the place.
The investment of your time
Invest the time it takes to create an effective website for marketing your product or service. You already know and believe in your product. You now have to convince the customer. Don't jeopardize future sales because you are rushing to "get your product out there" or because you didn't invest a little bit of time in creating a professional image for your company.Take the time to shop your competition. Visit websites selling similar products and see how they are presenting it. Would you buy from them ? Why or why not ? Consider that your customers often ask the same questions. Make your customers feel safe, confident and well informed and you will turn visitors into customers that will shop with you again and again !
D. Turner, a work at home mom (WAHM) from Dalton, Wisconsin is a professional web marketer with over 10 years of web marketing and promotional experience. You can visit her website at: http://www.wildvoltage.com
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