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Website Best Practices

Marketing Minute: Is Your Website Making Money for You?

You published a beautiful website, linked it to your social accounts, and sat back and waited to make money. But it never happened. Here?s why your website is more than just a pretty face, and exactly what to do to put your small-business website to work for you.

Your website isn’t making you money. Here’s how to change that.
If you’re like a lot of business owners, you put together a website full of beautiful photographs of your product, a quirky story about how you got started, and a list of all the things your product or service does. It is truly a work of art.
 
After you finished it up, you linked it to your google listing or social media pages, sat back and waited for it to make money.
And it didn’t.

Why Your Website Isn’t Making Money

Here’s why: Your competition also has a beautiful website, quirky story, and a list of all the things their product does. In today’s saturated market, the key to selling something on your website doesn’t lie in the beauty of your site.

The key to selling on your website is being quick and clear in your communication to your customer.
 
Whether you’re an online business or a local business, whether you sell widgets or do-hickeys, your website needs to pass what I like to call “The Blink Test.”

How to Communicate Clearly on Your Website

The Blink Test is simple:
Can a visitor to your site tell, in 5 seconds- roughly the time from page load to the first time they blink- what you sell, why they need it, and how to get it?
 
If not, the chances that you’ll make a sale go down drastically!
 
For those of you with online businesses, this is easy. A “buy now” button is a direct way to tell your customer what she needs to do to buy from you.
 
But this works for local-based businesses, too.
If you’re a hair salon or restaurant, try adding a “Call Now” or “Book an Appointment” button so your customer can call and make an appointment or reservation right there on the site.
 
If you’re a store or event venue, add a “Find Us” button that pulls up a maps link so she can get directions to your place without having to leave the site.
 
This one simple change can be the difference from someone landing on your page and leaving, to someone loving what they see, buying your product, and becoming a customer for life!

Weekly Assignment

Your task for this week is to take a look at your site from the perspective of your potential customer.
Does your site answer, in the first 5 seconds, the 3 questions:
  • What does this company sell?
  • Why do I need this product? (We’ll dive deeper into this next week.)
  • How do I get it?
Remember, those three things should be visible on the first part of your page. No scrolling, no searching.
If you want to see a real-life example of what that looks like, click back over to my homepage.
Struggling with the clarity of your small business website?
Email me a link and we’ll brainstorm together how we can make this work for your business.
And if you’re ready to take the plunge and get more for your marketing, sign up today for a free marketing evaluation.
 
We’ll take a look at your website, sales funnel, and social media accounts and come up with an actionable plan that you can implement right away.

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