Tweet

5 Keys to Creating Websites that Sell

Guest post by: Denise Griffitts

Article Overview: Your business website is essentially your storefront, business card and most significant marketing piece all rolled into one. How it affects your visitors and customers is then essential to your success. Provide a memorable experience and customers are sure to return time and time again. Let’s take a look at five keys to creating a website that sells.

5 Keys to Creating Websites that Sell

Your business website is essentially your storefront, business card and most significant marketing piece all rolled into one. How it affects your visitors and customers is then essential to your success. Provide a memorable experience and customers are sure to return time and time again. Let's take a look at five keys to creating a website that sells.

Key #1 Make your website interactive.

As the internet continues to grow and evolve it's becoming more important to create a community around your business. To accomplish this you want to engage your visitors and customers. This can be accomplished a number of ways. You can:

• Provide a forum. If your site is built on the WordPress platform there are several really great forum plugins available.
• Post surveys or polls.
• Enable visitors and customers to review or rank items. For example a "How valuable was this article?" question and a scale of 1 to 5 stars or a ranking from 1-10.
• Offer a blog and inspire comments and feedback
• Host contests and sweepstakes
• Publish video and audio content as well as written content. This gives users another way to access you and your personality.

Key #2 Make sure your website provides value.

People go online for a number of reasons. They go online to research a potential purchase, to seek solutions for a problem they're having and to be entertained. If your website provides all three; products, information, and entertainment then you're in tip top shape. The good news is your content can provide both the information and the entertainment and when written well, can also inspire purchases. Here are a few ideas to provide value for your customers and prospects:

• "How to" articles, videos, and audio
• Tips articles, videos, and audio
• Case studies
• Workbooks and reports
• Interviews with experts
• Product reviews

Key #3 Make sure your website is easy to navigate.

It takes a visitor about 20 seconds to make a decision about whether they're going to stay on your website or click away. If your site is laid out nicely, with products and services, information, prices, FAQs, and content easy to find then people are more likely to hang out - the longer they stay on your site the more likely they are to make a purchase or to return again.

To make your site easy to navigate consider:

• Keeping your site simple.
• Keep your pages uniform with the same options and appearance.
• If you have a lot of content, great! Use drop down menus and organize your content by topic for easier access.
• Offer a search function where users can search for products, services, or content topics quickly and easily.
• Provide a way for users to easily go back to previous pages. A back key is an option however if every page has the same options and drop down menus, including the ability to quickly return to the home page, a visitor will always be able to find what they need.
• Test your website's appearance on different browsers to make sure every visitor has a good experience.

Key #4 Make your website easy on the eyes.

Ever visit a website and the text was so small or the colors so incompatible that you couldn't read a word? Readability is critical to a selling website. Make sure:

• Your colors are easy on the eyes
• Your graphics aren't distracting
• Keep formatting like underlining, bold and italics to a minimum
• Spacing between sentences and paragraphs is adequate
• Font size is large enough for people to read and font is easy to read

Key #5 Give them a soft sell.

People expect to be sold to and they're looking for it - they're wary. Instead of hitting website visitors with a hard sell, provide information, solve their problems and show them the benefits of your products or services. They'll be much more receptive and appreciative.

Creating a website that sells requires a structured approach and a desire to create the best experience possible for your visitors. Once you've created your website, consider testing it and asking associates, friends and family for their opinion.

Related Articles
  Carefully Choose to Whom You Link To
  7 Keys to B2B Social Media Success
  Reminders Put Your Keys in Your Fridge
  3 Keys to Increased Sales
  Find New Customers releases “7 Keys to B2B Marketing Success” - a new free "cheat sheet"
  These Keys Will Allow Anyone To Create Income At Home Online
  Sales Prospecting Techniques
  8 Keys To Right Thoughts And Right Results
  Why Choosing The Right Membership Model Is Critical To Business Success
  Home Business Keys to Success
  4 Great “Cheat Sheets” on B2B demand generation from Find New Customers – no registration needed
  Making Your Website Work for You
  Should I Create a Website Do I Need One
  Creating Products the Easy Way: Interview an Expert
  Is Your Website Destroying Your Online Business’ Potential?
  Website Trends
  Popular Internet Money Makers
  What are Web Extensions?
  WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT DIRECT MARKETING?
  Money Making Websites: How To Earn 24/7

Article Tags: business website, creating a website, creating websites, denise griffitts, marketing, storefront, virtual assistance industry expert, web developer, web development, website creation
Referred by: http://www.onlinebizu.com



Related Forum Posts
Re: How do you back up your computer? - I am a backup-olic. I use several Disk-On-Keys and I also back up on a DVD.
Re: Has anyone a good idea to sort this problem? - HI Michelle....... Keys and cellphones always end up at the bottom of the purse! That happens to me and other woman most of the time, for sure. So I would say put it in the side zipper area inside of the purse. Most Purses have that compartment. That usually helps it separate from all the other bulky things we carry in our purses, like make-up- bag, day minders, hand santiizers (whatever!)
Re: Can you outsource your product launch? - Yes that what I am talking about. Creating a buzz for your online product launch basically. Is this part of what you do?
Your advantage over others - Sell using your USP - unique selling proposition. Why should people buy from you, instead of your competitors? Think about it, why are you so great? It may be a hard question, but finding the answer can multiply the effectiveness of any advertising or marketing activities you undertake.
Re: Social Media & Digg, Google, MySpace, and YouTube - Hi Kathy, What I meant about it being worth it was in the sense that I described. Creating multiple accounts for various sites and posting and ranking your own stuff. It's very time consuming to say the least. I'm just wondering if there's anyone out there that has done this and thinks it's beneficial.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Self Employed Business Ideas

Common Sense Stress Management

How To Become A Member of the Paparazzi

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.