| What
makes a website successful? It depends on what the explicit
goal of the website is. If the goal is to make money, then a
successful site is one that makes you more money than it costs
you to maintain, manage, market and update. |
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| So
what should you do to ensure your website generates substantial
sales? |
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| 1.
State Your Goals |
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| In
order for a website to make you money, you have to know what
its specific goals are first. Just like any good small business
consultant will advise you to create a business plan before
you start your business, a good Web consultant will suggest
that you create a website plan, with specific, written goals.
“I want it to make me money” is not enough. "I would like my
site to generate 1000 unique visits a month, produce 100 new
leads a month, and create 25 new sales a month” would be much
more useful, even if you don’t hit your targets. |
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| 2.
Identify your Audience |
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| You
must know who is currently and will be coming to your website.
It is very important to have a clear picture of your typical
visitor. The more specific demographic information you have,
the better. That way you can tailor your website’s look &
feel, writing and calls-to-action properly. |
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| 3.
Write Sales-Driven Copy |
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| Once
you know who your visitors are, you can craft your writing accordingly.
Clear, concise, grammatically correct, verbiage is necessary
to make sales, regardless of your audience. Furthermore, the
less big blocks of text the better. Bullets, headlines and very
short paragraphs are much more likely to be read online than
large amounts of uninterrupted text. |
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| Your
writing should only talk about what you can do for your visitor.
It ought to explain to each reader why buying your product or
service will make their life easier, richer, more comfortable,
or make them more attractive, intelligent, or successful. In
other words, your website copy should very clearly explain how
you will somehow improve each reader’s life. Therefore, the
use of the word “you” is vital in any sales-driven website copy.
And your writing should be descriptive, action-oriented and
use active verbs instead of passive verbs. “You will learn more
by . . .”, “Buy Now” and “Get your Free download” are examples. |
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| So
one secret of a website that generates sales is that the writing
on the site describes specific benefits the site visitor will
enjoy if they buy the product or service. It is action-oriented,
uses the words “you” and “yours”, and stays away from simply
describing features. |
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| 4.
Include Calls to Action |
| Asking
your visitor to do something specific is a call to action. At
the end of every site section or page, you need to include a
call to action. It can be as simple as, “Click here to register”,
“Contact Us Now” or “Go here to download your free Guide”. A
sales-driven Web page will describe specific benefits to the
visitor in its headlines, bullet points and short paragraphs,
and then ask the visitor to take an action at the end. Don’t
leave your potential customers hanging. Instead, compel them
to do something that will bring them closer to buying. |
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| 5.
Learn from Brick & Mortar Retailers – Show Visitors Where
To Go |
| If
you walk into any successful retail store and pay close attention,
you’ll notice that there are actually paths already mapped out
for you to follow. This is done on purpose by the store designers
to maximize sales. They lead you down paths that they know will
increase your chances of buying. They put things in your way
that tempt you to buy. |
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| You
too should create specific paths in your website that will take
full advantage of your sales and marketing efforts. If you have
a particular page in your site that acts as your sales page,
be sure to make the link to it prominent on your homepage, and
every page for that matter. This sales page ought to have a
call to action at the end of it that points to your shopping
cart or sign-up page. Don’t let your site visitors wander your
site. Set up the navigation in a deliberate way to generate
more sales. |
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| A
good example of retail stores coaxing more sales out if its
customers is all the small-ticket items they sell at the checkout
counter. These impulse items are specifically there to attempt
to get a couple of extra dollars out of each customer who is
waiting in line. How can this translate into your website? At
the virtual checkout in your site, add other, less expensive,
complimentary items that they can click to add to their cart
right there. |
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| Tell
your site visitors what you want them to do and where to go.
Stepping them through your site the way you want them to go
will increase and streamline your sales. |
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