Putting your Website to Work for You

At its most basic your website acts much like the signage outside of your brick and mortar office or store front. It displays your branding, shows your location, gives some information about what you do and probably lists your hours.

Your site can do so much more. Though adding functionality can mean additional upfront expense your savings or additional income generated should more than make up the difference.

Let’s think of your website in different ways:

Your site as Receptionist: Thinking of your site this way means you are thinking of your site as representing your company in a professional way. This particular receptionist works 24 hours a day greeting your customers, handing out basic information and initiating more complex customer interactions including taking messages which then may be routed to one or several different people or departments.

Your site as Sales Representative: If you have a product or a service it is your site’s job to sell that product or service which generally involves more than listing information about it. Take a look at your copy and ask yourself if it convinces the prospective customer that your product or service fills either a need or a desire and if it addresses why it should be purchased or obtained from you rather than a competitor. In this case it is not about more text it is about convincing text.

If you haven’t been successful selling your product or service through your site make sure you:

•  Are promoting your site
•  Have compared your pricing structure to others selling a similar product or service (Its not about how much you want to make from a product as much as it is about what others are willing to pay)
• Have adequately described and promoted your product or service on your site. A good web copywriter can make all the difference by writing to promote the product as well as considering the keywords so important to SEO.

Your site as Customer Relations Manager: Whether you are offering online support, a subscription service or send out a regular newsletter; capturing the contact information of people interested in your product or service is one of the most valuable things your site can do for you. Though the site “acting as receptionist” probably obtained this information via a contact, information request or shopping cart form be sure you follow up, tailor your follow up to the interest expressed by the customer, that you treat customer privacy seriously and are clear about how you will use their information.