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Building Profitable Relationships With Your Web Site
 By Charlie Cook
© All Rights Reserved
Wouldn't you like to use your web site to convert more prospects to paying clients? Imagine your prospect, Tom is online looking for a particular product or service. He has found your web site either through a search engine or a link from an ad. Tom clicks through your web pages. Your product or service meets his needs perfectly, but he clicks away. What can you do to turn more site visitors like Tom into customers?
Like any sensible person, Tom is cautious about making a purchase or a contact on the Internet. There are thousands of honest and helpful service providers online but unlike local shopkeepers Tom isn't familiar with any of them.
Your challenge is use your web site to engage your prospect so he/she discovers what an expert you are and knows and trusts you. People buy from people they know and trust. If you want to connect with prospects, you need to personalize your online marketing. Here's how:
1. Introduce Yourself
You want people to remember you, your products and services. Add a personal introductory note to your homepage or your site and include a picture of yourself so people have a face to associate with your name.
2. Include Personal Testimonials
Get past clients to make your selling points for you. Use personalized testimonials from clients that refer to you and your firm by name and describe the incredible results you achieved for them.
3. Demonstrate Your Expertise
Use case studies on your web site and in your newsletter to explain how you help people. With permission, refer to the clients involved, their situation and how you helped them.
4. Engage Site Visitors with Questions
Find out what your prospects are looking for. When people leave a page, prompt them with a question so that you can find out what they were looking for and what they want to achieve.
5. Include Pictures of People in Your Firm
People love to look at pictures. Include photos of yourself and your employees at play and at work. If you have a dedicated contact page, include thumbnail photos of your staff next to their contact information.
6. Add Audio or Video Clips to Your Site
When people hear your voice or see you in action you become that much more real and credible to them. This is one reason public speaking works so well to generate new business. Add an audio clip of yourself discussing the problems you solve. If you do public speaking, include a clip from one of your talks.
7. Include Full Contact Information
When you are looking through a web site and contact information is buried, or only an email address is provided, it makes you question the credibility of the firm. While the web itself is intangible, you want your prospects to know they are buying from real people who work at a real company. Include your firm's name, phone number and mailing address on every page of your web site.
8. Answer Email Inquires
People half expect that they won't get a response when they send an email to a business they don't know. Pleasantly surprise them by thanking them for their inquiries and answering their questions promptly. They'll appreciate you and be much more likely to buy from you.
9. Follow Up with a Phone Call
Prospects are amazed and delighted when, minutes after leaving your web site, their phone rings and a live person calls to follow up on the question they just asked by email. Use their inquiry to start a conversation and discover what their needs are and how you can help them.
Whether your goal is a hundred thousand or a hundred million dollars in revenue for the year, your business is built one prospect and one client at a time. Use your web site to help each of your prospects get to know you and your business personally and you'll build both trust and sales.
2004 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.
CHARLIE COOK
helps service professionals and
small business owners attract more clients and be more
successful. Sign up for the Frëe
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