Believe it or not, sales are affected by what is on your website. Imagine visiting a drab, unimpressive website with obvious errors for a product you wanted; how would you feel about ordering from this company? You might hesitate to do so unless you were compelled by something else, such as past experience or word-of-mouth recommendations. Your content has a huge impact on whether or not your website visitors choose to buy from you. It’s worth your time to analyze your content and make a few improvements. Here are seven smart strategies to get you started.
- This should go without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway. Your website content should have zero errors. Read every single sentence on your site and ensure that spelling and grammar are perfect. Find a freelance editor to review your copy, if necessary. Also make sure that everything you say on your site is truthful. Once you lose a consumer’s trust, it’s extremely difficult to get it back.
- Talk about your company’s unique strengths. How can you meet your customers’ desires in a way that no other company does? Do you offer weekend service? The lowest prices? Are your widgets the best quality available? Make sure your website visitor sees that tidbit on your home page.
- Take the time to accurately determine what your customers really desire. Use website tools, analytics, surveys, and reviews to research what your customer really wants. Then manipulate their desire with persuasive copy. Don’t underestimate the power of emotion in a customer’s decision to buy. Using positive emotional terms in your content can increase desire for your product. Poor content causes your website visitors to bounce away.
- Use a call-to-action on every page of your website. However, do not use the same call-to-action on every page! Craft a tailored call-to-action that is relevant to the page. This could be as simple as an “Add to Cart” button, or a full set of share on social media buttons. Make it easy and obvious for your customer to contact you and complete the sale.
- Leverage your customer reviews. This is so important! Think about how many times you have checked Amazon.com for reviews of a product you were considering purchasing. Most of us do it often. If you have positive customer reviews, post them prominently on your website. Don’t bury them six pages in, your website visitor may not make it that far. Great customer reviews are worth immensely more than aggressive sales pitches.
- If you have a target market, don’t be afraid to say so. Google dislikes the overuse of keywords, but if your business seeks to serve a population (“retirement-age adults”) in a specific location (“Charlotte, North Carolina”), then have this information in several spots on your website.
- Here’s my “never” list for writing good web content:
Never:
- Be negative
- Criticize your competition
- Use poor grammar or misspellings
- Make up facts or statistics
- Buy cheap content from overseas
Make your website content great and your customers will reward you with more sales. Does your website and its content need more help than you can manage? Call Mike Morris at Morris Marketing in Raleigh at 919-424-8314 . Morris Marketing specializes in making business websites attractive and profitable.
