4 Key Website Pages for Growing Your Small Business
4 Key Website Pages for Growing Your Small Business
But four pages in particular are key…
The Home Page
Your home page needs to immediately convince the visitor she’ll quickly find what she’s looking for before she turns around and walks back out the door.
This means sharing a little about what you do–-using the same words and phrases she would use-–and why she should care. It also means offering guidance as to where she may want to go next on the site. And overall, it’s good to keep the layout and navigation simple.
But before she leaves the home page, encourage her to sign up for your newsletter. That way you can keep in touch even if she decides not to buy or contact you today.
The About Us Page
That’s right–-the page we often think about last actually plays an important role in building credibility and enhancing your likability. In fact, one Marketing Sherpa study found that a personable About Us page can boost website conversions 30%!
Remember…people buy from people, not companies. They’re also generally skeptical about buying from unknown businesses on the internet. So your About Us page is critical to establishing yourself as an expert and developing the all-important know, like and trust factor.
Here are a few key dos and don’ts:
* DON’T post a formal bio (save that for your media page)
* DON’T start with a dense but essentially meaningless mission statement
* DON’T post long lists of journal articles, previous speaking engagements or other similar items. Put a link to them on the page instead so visitors aren’t overwhelmed
* DO tell them about you–-your experience, your story (if relevant) and a little about who you are personally
* DO use a more casual, conversational style
* DO include a photo or two
Sales Pages
The workhorse of your website–-each product or service should have its own sales page. The style and format is designed to minimize distractions, and the copy makes a compelling logical and emotional case for your offering. The goal is to motivate her to act now–-whether that’s buying through an online shopping cart or contacting you for a free consultation.
Unfortunately, sales pages are usually the weakest link in a website–-offering a paragraph or two of information and a price or “contact us” for more information.
The problem is…no one wants to email or call you for more information. It takes too much time and she dreads being trapped by a hard-core sales pitch. So a visitor won’t bother until she’s fairly sure you can meet her needs. That means giving her the full scoop upfront in an entertaining and persuasive way.
Contact Us
Yes, even the Contact Us page is critical to your credibility. Even if you’ve given them a way to respond on your sales page, people will often check Contact Us to see if you’re a “real” business. I often look to see where a business is located so I know when a good time to call or email may be.
One huge mistake is NOT having the company name, street address, phone, and email listed. If you’re concerned about privacy, get a UPS box or rent a virtual office. Not having those items just makes your business look sketchy.
A second common mistake is offering a contact form as the ONLY way to contact you. Some people just won’t do it. Plus, the slightest breeze seems to break internet forms and then no one can reach you at all. That’s why the best route is to offer as much contact information and as many ways for them to contact you as possible.
In short, all four of these pages are essential to creating an effective, business-building website.
4 Key Website Pages for Growing Your Small Business - To learn more about this author, visit Tracy Needham's Website.
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Your website can and should be the hub of your business-–a place where prospects can go any time of day or night to find out exactly how you can help them. And every page on your website should somehow smooth the path toward the sale.
But four pages in particular are key…
The Home Page
Your home page needs to immediately convince the visitor she’ll quickly find what she’s looking for before she turns around and walks back out the door.
This means sharing a little about what you do–-using the same words and phrases she would use-–and why she should care. It also means offering guidance as to where she may want to go next on the site. And overall, it’s good to keep the layout and navigation simple.
But before she leaves the home page, encourage her to sign up for your newsletter. That way you can keep in touch even if she decides not to buy or contact you today.
The About Us Page
That’s right–-the page we often think about last actually plays an important role in building credibility and enhancing your likability. In fact, one Marketing Sherpa study found that a personable About Us page can boost website conversions 30%!
Remember…people buy from people, not companies. They’re also generally skeptical about buying from unknown businesses on the internet. So your About Us page is critical to establishing yourself as an expert and developing the all-important know, like and trust factor.
Here are a few key dos and don’ts:
* DON’T post a formal bio (save that for your media page)
* DON’T start with a dense but essentially meaningless mission statement
* DON’T post long lists of journal articles, previous speaking engagements or other similar items. Put a link to them on the page instead so visitors aren’t overwhelmed
* DO tell them about you–-your experience, your story (if relevant) and a little about who you are personally
* DO use a more casual, conversational style
* DO include a photo or two
Sales Pages
The workhorse of your website–-each product or service should have its own sales page. The style and format is designed to minimize distractions, and the copy makes a compelling logical and emotional case for your offering. The goal is to motivate her to act now–-whether that’s buying through an online shopping cart or contacting you for a free consultation.
Unfortunately, sales pages are usually the weakest link in a website–-offering a paragraph or two of information and a price or “contact us” for more information.
The problem is…no one wants to email or call you for more information. It takes too much time and she dreads being trapped by a hard-core sales pitch. So a visitor won’t bother until she’s fairly sure you can meet her needs. That means giving her the full scoop upfront in an entertaining and persuasive way.
Contact Us
Yes, even the Contact Us page is critical to your credibility. Even if you’ve given them a way to respond on your sales page, people will often check Contact Us to see if you’re a “real” business. I often look to see where a business is located so I know when a good time to call or email may be.
One huge mistake is NOT having the company name, street address, phone, and email listed. If you’re concerned about privacy, get a UPS box or rent a virtual office. Not having those items just makes your business look sketchy.
A second common mistake is offering a contact form as the ONLY way to contact you. Some people just won’t do it. Plus, the slightest breeze seems to break internet forms and then no one can reach you at all. That’s why the best route is to offer as much contact information and as many ways for them to contact you as possible.
In short, all four of these pages are essential to creating an effective, business-building website.
4 Key Website Pages for Growing Your Small Business - To learn more about this author, visit Tracy Needham's Website.
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Casey GollanCasey Gollan, Business Coaching & Mentoring Programs. Add $1 Million to $10 Million in the next 1 to 3 years. Since 1996 Casey has to added hundreds of millions of dollars to businesses. Watch a free video see client results Business Coaching website. - Visit Casey Gollan's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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David BarrDavid Barr is the President of Venture Opportunities, Inc. David has been a professional business broker/intermediary since 1980 focusing on General Business Brokerage and Mergers and Acquisitions representing client transaction value from $400,000 to $20,000,000. Mr. Barr has handled the sale of over four hundred and fifty companies. David earned a university degree from the State University of New York majoring in economics and business. David holds the Mergers and Acquisition Master Intermediary and the Certified Business Intermediary designations from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a Senior Business Analyst and a Texas licensed Real Estate Agent. For more information about David and Venture Opportunities, visit www.bizdealmaker.com. - Visit David Barr's Website |
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