Tweet

Seven Ways Your Website Can Grow Your Business for You

Guest post by: Stacy Karacostas

Article Overview: When you’re an overworked, overwhelmed entrepreneur, the best way to grow your business is to turn your Website into a 24/7 salesperson. In fact, these days your Website is likely the single most important place to invest your marketing time and dollars. Here’re solid seven reasons why…

Seven Ways Your Website Can Grow Your Business for You

I hear it all the time from clients and contacts...Most entrepreneurs don't have time to do any more sales, marketing or follow up. They're so busy working in their business they don't have time to work on it. And they probably couldn't handle any extra business even if it did come their way. These days it takes far longer to get a client or make a sale than it used to. You have to build that know, like and trust factor before people are going to invest with you. So this trend really worries me.

Because if you don't devote enough time and energy to tasks that grow your business-like sales, marketing and follow up-it's going to stay just like it is right now.

If you're satisfied with that, congratulations! If not, then you need to take action and make changes. You've got to actively be doing sales and marketing daily.

When you're an overworked, overwhelmed entrepreneur, the best way to do that is to turn your Website into a 24/7 salesperson. Because these days your Website is likely the single most important place to invest your time and marketing dollar-especially if you're doing any social networking or online marketing.

Here are solid seven reasons why...

1) Powerful Introductions

Let's face it, people don't buy from businesses. They buy from people they know, like and trust. Unless you are selling something really inexpensive, most folks are not going to pony up their hard-earned cash without learning a bit more first.

You could let people learn more by scheduling endless phone calls, coffee meetings and free consultations.

Or, you could just send them to your Website and let it do the job for you.

2) Draw in the Crowds

Once you get the word out about your Website via social networking and other marketing-as long as you have something of value to offer and it's designed right-new visitors are going to refer others to it.

Then your site can introduce you, and your products or services, to a wider audience in a way that weeds out the tire kickers. All without you lifting a finger. And it works whether your market is local, national or global.

Of course, you have to have an effective Website or all those new site visitors are going to disappear as fast as they showed up.

3) Make Sales Without Selling

If you hate selling, why not let your Website do it for you?

When it's written and organized right, your Website can:

• Set you apart from your competition

• Explain the benefits of buying your products, services or programs

• Answer your prospects questions

• Address their objections

• Weed out the tire kickers

• And convince them to take action by calling, signing up, or whipping out their credit card and buying right now!

The result? You get an email in your Inbox letting you know you made a sale or got a new subscriber. Or, if you actually end up talking to them personally, they're seriously interested in buying from-or hiring-you. No selling needed. So you waste less time on folks who aren't your ideal client anyway.

4) Give ‘Em a Taste

I love cheese, but I'm not one to spend more than a few bucks a pound to satisfy my dairy tooth-unless I happen to get a sampling of something really yummy. Then suddenly I can justify the higher price.

The same holds true with products and services.

Most people won't buy something that costs more than about $75 on the Web unless they already know and trust you.

But let them sample the wares with a free report or download, then stay in touch via an ezine, and it's a whole ‘nother story. If you give them something of value, and they like it, they'll be way more inclined to actually buy.

And your Website can handle the whole process automatically-if you plan it out properly.

5) Build Your List

The real value in any small business is in the list. First, because a list gives you a group of prospects to communicate with who've already said they're interested in what you do or sell.

Second, having a list allows you to build a relationship with prospects over time. So they have a chance to get to know, like and trust you. And so you're top of mind when they are ready to buy.

And the easiest way to build this oh-so-valuable list is with your Website.

Because you may only personally meet 100 or so prospects a year. But hundreds, or even thousands, can stop by your Website each month.

Over time, if you keep offering value-and capturing their email addresses-people will go from being prospects, to clients, to raving fans. You can't beat that with a stick!

6) Deliver the Goods

How would you like to sell a product that requires minimal development costs, no packaging, no shipping, no distribution and no employees to manage?

Your Website can be a completely automated store for selling both print and electronic products and services 24/7-without you lifting a finger once it's set up. Easy for you. Easy for your clients and customers. Good for everyone.

7) Establish You as the Expert

The right Website can make you look like the expert you are, helping convince people to invest their hard-earned dollars with you. Not to mention helping you land speaking engagements and PR opportunities. And allowing you to charge top dollar.

All you need is powerful content organized properly...Including your very own downloadable freebie that highlights your expertise, and maybe a blog. Before you know it opportunities will start knocking.

The best part is...Chances are good you just need to make a few tweaks and changes to turn your current site into a top-notch salesperson working for you 24/7. Once your Website has the right look, organization and content (and a bit of marketing behind it), it can do truly amazing things for your business.

And you don't even have to learn how to set all this up yourself. You just have to understand what needs to be done and make a plan. Then hire someone to do the time-consuming, technical and complicated work for you.

Related Articles
  One Way To Earn Residual Income Without A Website
  Necessity Of Good Website For Online Business
  Link Building – Increasing Online Traffic
  Ways To Make Money On The Internet
  Twelve Strategic "Grow Goals" To Grow Your Business According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
  Link Building Methods Types of Links
  How To Increase Your ROI By 900% With Search Engine Optimization
  The Best Way to Build a Website
  Is Your Website Doing Its Job?
  Seven Key Marketing Strategies for Women Entrepreneurs
  Easy Way to Make a Website
  10 Ways to Market Your Online Business for Expansion
  5 Online Forum Marketing Tips You Must Use
  What's Divine Timining? What's Instant Manifestation?
  5 Promotional Strategies That Will Guarantee Increased Traffic To Your Website
  Generating Leads Through Your Website
  To Get Started With Your Top Business Ideas
  Top 7 Tips - How To Get Backlinks to your website
  Finding and Hiring the Best Web Design Services
  Self Employed Business Ideas - Making It Online

Article Tags: blog, business, entrepreneurs, grow, how to, marketing, online, sales, social networking, stacy karacostas, ways, Website



Related Forum Posts
Re: what position to request? - Hi Michael, Great suggestion from David, or you could try something around a design consultancy, How about Website Design Consultant, Design and Development Manager, Website Support and Development Manager or maybe Internet Business Development Consultant. Ultimately whatever you are comfortable with and good luck for the future, Mal.
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: My 3 best business books - 1. Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill 2. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen R. Covey 3. Permission Marketing - Seth Godin Think and Grow Rich seems more powerful each time I read it or dip into it. The 7 Habits not only offers some very effective ways to organize your life (which I have yet to master!), but also some great quotations and thought provoking statements including this by Nazi concentration camp survivor, Viktor Frankl: [i:2naxzsom]Between stimulus and response, man has the freedom to choose.[/i:2naxzsom] Seth Godin's Permission Marketing is a good read for anybody seeking to understand how to approach doing business on the Internet in the right way with regard to winning people's trust.
Re: My 3 best business books - It seems that Napoleon Hill works help a lot of business men. He had done a really good job. I bought Think and Grow Rich many times.
Exclusive: Interview with Results - Hi Forum Members, I'm helping start up a Business Coaching and Consulting company here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (a Subsidiary of RSC Business in Los Angeles). As a Research and Development Intern I am required to practice my listening and interview skills by surveying Small and Medium Businesses on thier Business. This Survey is designed by RSC Business to also assist the Business being interviewed more insight into their own business. I am looking to interview about 30 businesses across North America over the span of 3 months. At the end of these interviews I will be publishing a report of the results and they will be made available for free to the Interviewees. The Report data will include responses from a minimum of 100 interviews. I would like to extend this opportunity to members of the Forum. If you would like to have this short 20-30 minute interview conducted on your Business and you reside in North America please send me an email or PM. Please contact me at andy[at]jvprosperity[dot]com to arrange our interview and to get free access to the results when they are published.


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

Four Secrets to Earning Income as an Author

10 Golden rules to survive the Global Crisis

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.