Refine your message

How do you create a site that sells your products and services?
You want to have all of the information that a potential visitor needs to make the buying decision and you want to give them a reason to go with your product or services versus a competitor. Why should they choose your products or services over one of your competitors?

• List the benefits of your product/services
• Highlight what you have to offer that others do not
• Provide incentives to purchase your products/services or to contact you.

Build Credibility

Make sure your site is professional in appearance and has credibility
Visitors to your site will judge your site by its appearance. You want to let them know that you are qualified and will provide them with top quality product, services and support. You want to remove any barriers that would prevent a potential customer from doing business with you.

• Prominently list your phone number so you can be contacted if they have questions. Consider setting up a toll free 800 phone number.
• Have your email address listed for email questions.
• Include customer quotes or testimonials.
• Create a Frequently Asked Questions section. Include common questions and questions that visitors may not think to ask. This gives you credibility as an expert in the subject matter.

Your site as a communications tool

Use communication tools
It is important that your customers feel free to communicate with you and that they are encouraged to ask questions. The last thing that you want is for an interested customer to leave because they have a question and do not know how to ask you. Having email accounts on your own domain is also a great way to enhance the professional feel of your site. Ex. info@yourcompany.com

1. Setup email accounts at your domain
Once your domain is setup, add email accounts.

2. Add email signatures to every email you send
At the bottom of every email that you send, include an email signature. The signature should include your name, your company name/slogan, your email address, web site and phone number. This information is critical so that customers KNOW how to contact you. It also promotes your services. If that email is forwarded to another person, they now have your information and may contact you for services.

Here is an example of an email signature

John Parker
Your Company Name
Quality Services for over 20 years.
jparker@yourcompany.com
www.yourcompany.com
1.800.555.5555

3. Make your contact information easy to find (phone & email)
You want to ensure that you do not lose a potential customer because they don't know how to contact you. Your phone number and email address should be listed at the bottom of every page and on the contact page for your site.

What to do with your web address

There are many ways that customers will find your site. Not all of these need to be through the Internet itself. Use your web address and your email address just like you would a phone number. Any place where you would put your phone number should also include your web site address and email address.

• Business Cards
• Brochures
• Flyers
• Advertisements
• Company Letterhead
• Company Vehicles

Your site sales strategy

What is the purpose of your site? Understand what your visitors need and setup your pages and message to direct users to that goal.

Do you sell products?
If you sell products you need to direct visitors to view your products and purchase them online. You can do this by placing prominent links on your home page to your product information.

Accept Credit Cards: The majority of purchases made over the Internet are done using credit cards. If you don't accept credit cards you are missing out on these potential customers. Click here to learn more about accepting credit cards on your site.

Do you offer services?
If you have a web site about your services, the goal should be to get the visitor interested in your services and to contact you, generating a sales lead. Structure your pages so that they encourage visitors to contact you and give them an incentive to make this contact. Ex. click here to receive a free quote or evaluation...

Sales, leads and follow-ups

You should not expect that every visitor is interested in your products or services and that they are ready to purchase them. Some of them may just be investigating or researching. These are very important leads and you need to collect their contact information so you can follow up with them to make the sale at a later date.

• Give visitors a reason to contact you. Create a survey, or an "ask the experts section".
• Maintain a list of every lead that you have received from your site (name, phone number and email address).
• Follow up with your leads periodically and give them updates on your products and services.
• Turn on your site email list feature to collect email addresses.