10 Web Site Essentials To Increase Your Sales
By Shelly Lowery
©2003 All rights reserved
If you are a serious Internet Entrepreneur, your top priority must be your web site. Your
web site is a direct reflection of you and your business. Creating a professional web site designed to
sell will take a great deal of time and effort, as there is much more to take into consideration
than design. You must look at a much broader picture and specifically design your web site to sell.
1. You must have a professional looking web site
Your web site is the most important sales tool you have. Your visitor's first impression will
almost instantly determine whether or not you're going to make a sale. A professional web site
should be pleasing to the eyes, well-organized, easy to navigate and load quickly.
2. You must specifically design your web site to rank high in the search engines
This involves much more than just including META tags. Your KEYWORDS, TITLE, IMAGE ALT tags,
Text and overall design, all play an important roll in determining how your web site will rank.
You can learn more by reading the Optimization tutorial at Web Source.
web-source.net/webpage_optimizing.htm.
3. You must use effective sales copy
Your words are the entire foundation of your business. Most
business failures are the result of ineffective copy. Whether it is your web site, sales letters or
advertisements, your words play a major role in determining your success. When writing your web site
copy, use the following formula:
A - Attention - Use a powerful headline that demands attention
I - Interest - Intrigue interest and create curiosity
D - Detail - Provide details about your product or service
A - Action - Call for action
4. Drive traffic to your site
In order to create a steady stream of traffic to your web site, give your visitors a reason to
visit and continue to visit in the future. You must provide your visitors with fresh content on a
continual basis. Content comes in various forms, such as news, articles, tips, horoscopes, weather,
etc. and is freely available on the Internet. Your content should blend in well with the focus of
your web site and be updated on a regular basis.
The following web sites provide free articles for publication:
web-source.net/free_articles.htm
mega-success.com
marketing-seek.com
ideamarketers.com
infobot.net
Syndication services provide free content from a wide variety of sources. You simply place a small
line of code within the HTML of your web page and each of the following services provide fresh
content for you. The great thing about syndication services is that once you've placed the code, you
don't have to worry about updating the content, as it is automatically updated.
Syndicator - Provides free syndicated articles and columns with photographs -
web-source.net/syndicator.htm
isyndicate - Provides free headlines for news, articles, comics, weather and more.
-
isyndicate.com
Moreover - Provides news headlines from over 1500 sources.
moreover.com
5. Provide free instruction
Your web site is the storefront for your product or service. You must convince your visitors that they need the product or
service you're offering. This can be accomplished by providing your visitors with free helpful advice and instruction in the
form of an article, tutorial, free e-book or free autoresponder course.
6. Display your testimonials
You must gain your visitors trust. By displaying customer testimonials, you are boosting your potential customers confidence
in you and your product or service. You can either create a web page to display all of your testimonials or use a script to
rotate them on your main page. You can find a great random text script here:
willmaster.com/master/merrygoround/.
7. Let your visitors know who you are
Provide complete information in regard to your company including, address, phone number and email addresses to request
information and support.
8. Tell your visitors about their privacy
Create a page on your web site called, "Privacy Statement," and let your visitors know exactly
what you do with the personal information you collect.
9. Provide a sample or trial of your product or service
For example, if you're offering a Search Engine optimization service, provide a free META tag analysis at your web site. Not
only will this increase your sales, but it will drive more traffic to your site as well.
10. Remove the risk
To further increase your sales, you must remove the risk by providing a guarantee. A guarantee will boost your potential
customer's confidence in purchasing your products or services.
A professional web site specifically designed to sell is one the most important factors in
determining your success. Take your time and make sure you're looking at the complete picture before
you begin. If you're not secure in your abilities to create your own web site, rather than risk the
potential success of your business, consider hiring a professional web designer. Your success depends on it.
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