Your Website’s Sales vs. Branding Bucket List
Last week, I started a new series on how to make sure you capture as many visitors as you can when they come to your website.
For the purpose of this discussion, let's forget about branding and think as if we're just creating a sales-dominated website. In other words, let's think about this without the constraints of image building.
Any time a visitor comes to your website, the one thing you want them to do is raise their hand and identify themselves. Them doing so enables you to continue communicating with them until they're ready to buy (or buy again).
Therefore, you want to have as many buckets on your website as possible for consumers to jump into.
I've talked previously about the value of having your customer support phone number prominently displayed on each page of your website, as well as the benefits that live chat offers. If you're resistant to having live people answer the phones and don’t think it’s a return on investment-driver, check out my series from last year titled "You Lost Me There." You may just change your mind after reading it.
Two More Must-Haves for Your Website
These days everybody has a e-newsletter sign-up page on their website. For the few of you who don’t, get out from under that rock and get an email newsletter created. Then entice visitors to opt in for news and specials with a link to it on all pages of your site.
Too often cross-channel retailers don't include a prominent “Contact us” form on their websites. A "Contact us" form is like an email address link on steroids. A well-designed form draws people into it, almost compeling them to come forward and ask their questions. Don’t just relegate your form to your “Contact us” page; add it to your homepage. Or, better yet, integrate a "Contact us" form on all pages of your site.
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- E-Commerce
Jim Gilbert has had a storied career in direct and digital marketing resulting in a burning desire to tell stories that educate, inform, and inspire marketers to new heights of success.
After years of marketing consulting, Jim decided it was time to “put his money where his mouth was" and build his own e-commerce company, Premo Natural Products, with its flagship product, Premo Guard Bed Bug & Mite Sprays. Premo in its second year is poised to eclipse 100 percent growth.
Jim has been writing for Target Marketing Group since 2006, first on the pages of Catalog Success Magazine, then as the first blogger for its online division. Jim continues to write for Total Retail.
Along the way, Jim has led the Florida Direct Marketing Association as their Marketing Chair and then three-term President, been an Adjunct Professor of Direct and Digital marketing for Miami International University, and created a lecture series, “The 9 Immutable Laws of Social Media Marketing,” which he has presented across the country at conferences and universities.
