As a business owner you fall into two categories when it comes to website design. You either have a website or you don’t. In today’s economy if you have a new or existing business without a website strategy I am sorry to say you are overlooking one of the best ways to generate sales and leads for your company. But a bigger problem is if you have a website that has not been updated within the last year. Yes, it is important to do housekeeping every month or more. But no matter which category you fall into here are some tips to help you plan your website design or website redesign strategy.

Your website design should incorporate your company brand. What’s a brand you say? (If you don’t know what a brand is then you have much bigger problems.) Some studies have shown that a consumer will remember a branded company up to 35% more!! The website design should be thought out before the web design starts. You should first decide what you want your visitors to do when they get to your website. Do you want to capture their emails? Move them to a purchase via a shopping cart? Fill out a form for more information? What about register for a webinar or get a free report? What pages will be on the website? What will the content be? Etc. All of this needs to be figured out BEFORE you start the design or redesign of your company website.

An easy way to see what the competition is doing on the web is to go and look! Do a competitive analysis of the competitions website.

Look for the following.

What are they selling?

How are they selling it?

What are their prices?

How are they capturing leads?

What do they offer for free?

Do they have a blog?

Is their blog updated often?

Are they on Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc?

Is the text on the website compelling?

Is there call to action images?

Is the website professionally designed?

Are the product images clear?

Are the product/services descriptions informative and benefit based?

What method of payment do they take?

What shipping methods do they offer?

What type of guarantees do they offer?

Do they have testimonials by product/service?

Do they have case studies?

Do they offer webinars?

Do they offer free reports?

How do people contact them? Form, real time chat? Just a phone number?

Would you buy from them?

QUICK LEAD GENERATION TIP

It does not matter what your industry if your intention is to make sales from leads generated from your website then a great way to collect leads is to offer a free report that your prospects would be interested in. You could also offer them a free educational webinar or conference call. Whatever you decide make sure it’s not a continuous sales pitch and that it has information a person can use even if they decide not to use your company. This is VERY IMPORTANT. By giving free USEFUL information you position yourself as an authority. Also, be smart and set up a drip marketing campaign with an auto responder for those that have requested the information. You can easily do this with a blog.

QUICK SHOPPING CART TIP

If you want people to purchase items directly from your website via a shopping cart then make sure that your product images are clear and you describe each item in full. Don’t worry about going too long on the descriptions. You can use bullets and other styling to break up the text. Don’t be brief! If a person needs more to make the decision “it’s better to have and not to need then to need and not to have”! Short descriptions and poor images also lead to more returns!

Go see what your competition does and do it better, do more of it and scream it out loud!

As always your comments are appreciated and if you need any help just call us at 732-818-0080 or use our contact form here.