Posts Tagged ‘surveys’

The shocking and exciting answer is that more often than ever, the Internet breaks news and then the TV news covers it. Have you noticed that practically everyday the TV news is covering something found on YouTube.com or Twitter.com or FaceBook.com? What’s going on here? Are TV stations getting lazy? No! Internet sources are fast and broad and traditional reporters just can’t compete with the masses.

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Do you have a website? Is it producing the results you want?  Most people say, “No!”  There was a time when it was enough to have a website.  By having a website, you created a great impression for your customers.  These days your website has to be an effective marketing tool.

It does not matter if you sell physical items, intangibles, services, or if you only sell ideas.  Every website is designed to inform people about something and usually with the intention of influencing those people to take action.  In that general sense, all websites sell.  That is the whole point of building the site to begin with.

These ideas are centered on websites with products; however, most of these tips are useful to anyone selling anything to anyone.

Do not build your website just to say what you want to say.  Carefully consider the message your want your customer to receive and design the website around producing results

• Establish Credibility – Let people know why they should do business with you. Mention things that boost their confidence in your company. How long have you been in business? Have you won any business awards? Are you involved in Chambers of Commerce?
• Include Testimonials – Testimonials are clever ways to say things you would not normally say because it makes you look arrogant. Contact you customers and get permission to post a testimonial. You can even write the testimonials for your customers, just get their approval before you post them on your site.
• Focus on Sales – Build your site with sales in mind. Make it easy to identify the products or services and easy to buy online.
• Guarantee Everything - People do not trust companies they do not know. Offer over-the-top guarantees that stick in the mind of the customer. Use big claims like, “WE ARE NOT HAPPY UNTIL YOU ARE HAPPY GUARANTEE”, or “NO GIFT CARDS, NO HASSLES, FULL 100% CASH BACK GUARANTEE”. Make sure the customer knows you are confident they will be happy customers.
• Privacy – Make a big deal how hard you work to protect their privacy. Tell them about your “never sell, never rent” policy. Tell them about your high-tech encryption policies. Tell them about your “no spam” policies. Add a “Our Promise to Our Customers” page.
• Easy Pay - Make the payment process very easy. Do real-time credit card validation. Make sure the forms are easy and intuitive. Pay attention to customer fears or concerns.
• Surveys - Ask customers to complete a survey and tell you how well they like your products, services, marketing, website, or whatever. Make sure the customer knows how much you appreciate their input and how their input will help you serve them better in the future.

The most challenging part of having a website is getting quality traffic to your website.  You build it, and then nothing!   What does it take to get people to visit your website?  This challenge is further compounded by all the empty promises of the so-called experts out there.  There has got to be something you can do, but what?

Whether you are looking for random strangers or whether you are looking for more visits from your warmer local markets, there are things you can do that will help you build up your traffic.  There are no shortcuts.  No magical mystery techniques.

Choose one or two techniques and build it from there.  The more of these techniques you use, the more results you are likely to get.

Search Engine Optimization – Choose good keywords and incorporate them into your website.  This requires some expertise.  This will help the search engines learn how to prioritize your content into their search results.

Advertise – Promote your website in print and online advertisements.  Include magazines, radio, electronic newsletters, and other websites.  Be sure to use techniques that help you track the effectiveness of your various campaigns.

Publish – Write your own newsletters, produce your own podcasts, or write free articles for the various free article websites.  Put your expertise on paper and always include a link to your own website.  Press releases can be helpful for some companies.

Participate in the Community – Contribute comments into various other forums or blogs.  Anywhere you can embed a link to your own website is a potential place for you to contribute.  Many communities welcome your self-promotion as long as you also contribute valuable content.  Support the community and they will support you.  One great method is writing book reviews for books on Amazon.com.

Add Community Features to Your Website – Add a forum, a blog, surveys, or anything that adds enough fresh content that visitors can’t wait to return.  Consider how youtube.com works.  People go there every day to see all the new videos.  Do not host your blog on another website.  Configure their blog tools to publish into your website.

Viral Marketing – Create a system that encourages your customers to share some opportunity with their friends and family.  Offer invitation only benefits substantial enough to encourage current members to invite all their friends and family with urgency.  You could offer a limited time only free whatever to the first 100 people who register.   There are hundreds of variations to consider.   Or create a member feature that people want to share like video sharing or photo sharing.  Use a feature that pertains to your business.

Partnering Strategies – Join forces with other businesses.  You can advertise their products or services and they can advertise yours.  Create joint promotions.  Sponsor each other’s newsletters.   Form a mastermind team for creating promotions.  You can all help each other come up with powerful ideas to try.  Create an affiliate or referral bonus program and pay others to promote and sell your products.

There are so many great ways to promote your website.  Many of them work best when combined with others.   Hire a professional, form a mastermind group, or do it all yourself.  The sooner you get started the sooner you will have hundreds or even thousands of visitors on your website every month.