for a More Profitable Website

Transcription

10 Essential Tips
for a more
PROFITABLE
WEBSITE
Paul Lamb
Walk-on Website Video
10 Essential Tips
for a more
PROFITABLE
WEBSITE
Paul Lamb
Copyright © 2011 Paul Lamb.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise
without the prior permission of the author(s).
Edited by Tom Stevenson.
Cover design and page layout by
ALS Designs, Waterlooville, Hampshire.
www.als-designs.co.uk
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Print Smarter
Bristol and West House
Post Office Road
Bournemouth
BH1 1BL
MEMBER OF NABO
To join visit: www.nabo.biz
10 Essential Tips for a More Profitable Website
Introduction
In our modern, technology-driven age, every
business needs a website.
However, it has to be a good one. After all, it’s no
good investing time, effort and money in your site
if it doesn’t generate any business. Your website
should be one of your most profitable leadgeneration mechanisms, but unfortunately too many
business owners are making do with sites that are
little more than electronic storefronts.
That is why I wrote this book.
The truth is, it frequently only takes a few simple
changes to transform your site and turn it into a
vibrant source of new business… and I do mean
simple. The elements that separate a profitable
website from an unprofitable one are more
straightforward than you may think and completely
universal – whatever product or service you sell, they
will help you grow your business online.
Once you understand these principles, you will be all
set to get more visitors, more conversions and more
profits from your website.
Paul Lamb
3
Paul Lamb
Essential Tip 1
Build Trust
With Your Visitors
In today’s economy, so many businesses are going
into Receivership and this is on everyone’s mind
when purchasing online. If you don’t instil trust,
it could put visitors off buying from you. I’m sure
you’ve recently come across a website with old or
out-of-date images. It doesn’t inspire confidence,
does it? What reassurance do you have that they’ll
provide the service they claim?
The best performing websites are constantly
updating images, videos and text to show they are
working hard to give their visitors the latest and upto-date information and in return they get rewarded
with higher conversions.
Make visitors love you
Constantly updating your website will encourage
visitors to return to see the latest updates you have,
and it’s these repeat visitors that see value in your
site. In return they will refer your site to friends/
colleagues, so look after them by giving them more
of what they want. The top companies build on that
loving relationship by running monthly competitions,
4
or sending out newsletters containing information
you’d normally be charged for.
Be memorable
So you are updating your website and more visitors
are visiting you because of freebies, competitions
and great newsletters. Taking this one step further
is to ‘go viral’. Do something to your website that
will make it memorable. For example if I mentioned
Confused, you would automatically know the web
address for this car insurance website. Almost all of
us don’t have that kind of budget for marketing and
branding to achieve something of that level, but a
simple Youtube video showing something amazing or
funny can go viral very quickly and if this had your
website address on it, your visitors could increase
over night.
Offer something free
Many websites offer free trial periods because it
shows exactly what the visitor will get when they
purchase, which in turn limits the risk for the buyer.
The reason for limiting this risk is so the buyer will
know exactly what they will receive instead of having
to gamble on whether it does what it says on the tin.
Not only is giving something away for free an
incentive for potential buyers, it will allow you
to get the enquirer’s details in order to follow up
5
Paul Lamb
towards the end of the trial period. This will give
your company the opportunity to convert more of
those prospects into customers once they’ve become
completely convinced of the benefits of your product
or service.
Another is giving away free information like a
booklet, PDF download or video on the desired
subject. This has the double advantage of giving you
an extra opportunity to showcase your expertise in a
product that is relatively cheap and straightforward
to produce, yet is of great value in the eyes of your
prospects.
6
Essential Tip 2
Automate Your
Customer Service
As with any business, customer service is an
essential part of making your website successful.
Remember though, customer service is an ongoing
process; it doesn’t stop immediately after the sale. In
order to cultivate a list of loyal customers who offer
you new business year after year, they have to be
completely convinced of how valuable their custom
is to you.
Deliver an amazing service
To offer an amazing service, you don’t have to be an
amazing company. Just say exactly what you do and
fulfil it to the letter. Domino’s Pizza offers a delivery
within 30 minutes or you get it free. When it comes
before the 30 minutes, do you think that’s average
service or do you think it’s fantastic they kept their
promise?
It’s the same with your website. When you have a
telephone number, make sure it’s answered. If you
have a contact form, make sure an auto-responder is
in place to let them know that someone will get back
to them within X hours or days.
7
Paul Lamb
Emails with auto replies
All generic emails, for example info@, Sales@,
Support@, Feedback@, Enquiry@, etc. should have
an automatic email responder in place. This is an
email that will automatically go out upon receiving.
This should contain something along the lines of:
“Thank you for your enquiry/feedback/sale. We
appreciate you contacting us and will respond to
you within X hours/days.”
This will reassure the enquirer that you have
received their email and will be acting on it promptly.
Outsource telephone answering
When starting out in business, your job title variants
are limitless. It’s therefore not professional to answer
a telephone enquiry with “Sorry, I’m in a meeting,
can I call you back” or to simply not answer it at all.
Have a professional company do this for you. Most
are cheaper than hiring full-time staff and will ensure
you can get on with running your company without
being interrupted or disturbed by unwanted callers.
8
Essential Tip 3
Include Videos
With so many websites to choose from, it’s hard
to standout from the crowd and get your message
across. Internet users are constantly bombarded
with information and tend to skim websites without
reading anything in detail. For this reason, your
homepage, the first part of your site they’ll see, has
precious few seconds to grab their attention.
Given that only 5% of homepage text is ever read,
the top performing websites regularly use video to
hook visitors. One they’ve caught their attention in
this way it’s fairly straightforward to get them to
explore the rest of the site.
Bear in mind that the video is NOT meant to be a
sales tool. All it is meant to do is target your visitor’s
interest and encourage them to explore the rest of
the site. Once they’ve done that and realised that
your product or service will solve a problem in their
lives, then you can offer the call to action and invite
them to become a customer.
Explaining your products/services
If you don’t have the time or budget to redesign
your website for a Tube video, then a Walk on
9
Paul Lamb
Website video can be uploaded to your site.
Basically a person will be filmed in a green screen
studio and the file converted to a format that
works on websites. When a visitor arrives at the
page the Presenter is uploaded to, it will be played
automatically (or on clicking) and will start to explain
your products and services.
Video testimonials
Testimonials are great for giving the customers
experience of the products/services you’re offering,
but how many do you believe? Many companies
are worried that if they put the customer’s name
and company, their competitors may try and poach
them away. But if you don’t include these details, are
visitors really going to believe this amazing feedback?
The way around this is to contact a couple of your
best clients and ask if you can record them while
you ask a few questions. These will cover why they
purchased from you and what it was that attracted
them to your business over your competitors. Then
finally how satisfied they were with your services.
You should make the filming of testimonials like
this a habit – get as many as you can and use the
very best. Ask for a testimonial as soon as possible
after your sale, when the customer is at their most
enthusiastic about the excellent service you’ve just
provided.
10
A strong testimonial like this, delivered by a real
person, is more powerful than any marketing
material you can produce yourself.
With this new video embedded on your website,
visitors will now see that your company is the one
they should be contacting. It builds more trust, it
shows you care about your clients and it shows there
is no risk when using you company.
Make sure the videos are placed as prominently as
possible. They should be above the fold (which we
will be covering later), on the left hand side of the
page and only start when selected. The reason for
having it on the left hand side of the page is that
we read from left to right and research has shown
that your eye movement over a website follows a Z
path. We therefore start looking at a website page
from the top left moving right before looking down
and left again (where your video should be) and then
naturally to the right (where your action form should
be). Everything else should be further information.
11
Paul Lamb
Essential Tip 4
Be Unique
If all websites looked the same but sold different
things, how would you remember the site you wanted
to buy from? It’s very important to be unique with the
way you portray your company. Do something that
makes the visitor remember you, so that when they
are ready to purchase, they will contact you first.
The most memorable sites give the visitor so much
valuable information that they have to return several
times to go through it all, or they have something
on their website that the visitors just had to show a
friend or colleague. Get this right and it could go viral,
which means a lot of visitors at no extra expense.
Try different things and test
If you’re the first within your sector to use video to
explain your products/services and it works well,
then you have a head-start before your competitors
jump on the bandwagon. In the meantime, if you
keep testing and constantly improving, you will
always have the upper hand.
Never be afraid to try things no-one else in your field
is doing – it could be the thing that gives you the
edge over your competitors.
12
Examples of being unique
Accountants deal with many legislative updates, but
what if a firm that specialised in just business tax
had a video on their home page that was updated
every month explaining these new legislations and
how it affected their clients? At the end of each
video, they would sell their services by talking a
bit about how their clients get even more in-depth
advice about this subject and direct the viewer to
where they can find out more.
Have you seen this being implemented? And would
you use the services of a company that did this? This
also keeps visitors returning to your website each
month and shows you are the expert within your
field.
Another could be of a Veterinarian, using a monthly
video to offer pet owners free health-care advice
for their pets. This will not only keep the visitor
returning each month but will again establish you as
the expert, helping build trust with your prospects
and warm them up for the sale further down the line.
The above examples use video to be unique, but
there are other methods. You could advertise that
every month all your customers are put into a hat
and one drawn at random will have their purchase
fee refunded, therefore having their product or
13
Paul Lamb
service for free. This may not work for companies
that sell low volume high value products, but it can
nonetheless be very effective.
14
Essential Tip 5
Get Feedback
Website feedback
Why not ask your visitors to tell you what they
would like to see on your website? Don’t look
for the positive feedback and think ‘Great we’re
doing everything right’. The best responses are the
negative ones, as they help you identify exactly
where you need to improve. This method is like
having your own research team working free of
charge. This should be a permanent fixture on your
website and should be an on-going part of your
overall business plan.
Pre customer
Survey potential clients that have enquired but
have not yet purchased. The best question to start
with is “Would you refer us to your friends/family/
colleagues?” If not, then you know they are not
enjoying your sales funnel experience. You can then
make improvements with the communication which
in turn will improve your conversions in the long run.
15
Paul Lamb
Current customers
Too many business owners make the mistake of
assuming their relationship with their customers ends
with the sale.
Never neglect your past and current customers. Keep
them up to date with what you’re offering. At the
same time you should be sending them a newsletter
or e-zine at least once every quarter saying how much
you appreciate them as a customer and keeping them
up-to-date with your products and services.
It is also important to occasionally give them access
to special offers – ones that you emphasise are
just for your most valued customers. It could be
a discount, an exclusive service, an opportunity to
buy something before it’s officially on sale… The
important thing is to communicate how much you
value their business. If you do this regularly, you will
get a lot more repeat customers.
Annual surveys
Once a year, survey your customers and find out
how happy they are. You may think everything is
going well, but this will help you establish if that is
really the case. At the same time, this could be the
ideal opportunity to investigate services you’re not
currently offering but your clients would purchase
from you, if you did.
16
Essential Tip 6
Split testing
What is split testing?
Split testing is a way of testing content on your
website. For example just by changing the title on
your home page could increase conversions by 20%
or more, and it’s only by testing and measuring that
you’ll find that perfect title. Therefore if you test
one title compared to another, you will see from the
results which was more effective to the visitor.
Dr. Gary Berger improved conversions 225%
with Google Optimizer and his testimonial can be
found on Google. With 99% of his patients coming
to him through his website for his unique procedure
that successfully reverses tubal ligation in 98% of
women, he decided to set up Website Optimizer
to test his landing page. Dr. Berger tested three
different elements of his landing page, including
types of testimonials, headlines, and call to action.
The original testimonial on his site featured a
photo of a toddler with a ribbon in her hair. Dr.
Berger decided to test two other testimonials, both
highlighting a picture of a newborn. He also tested
two new headlines: “With tubal reversal you can get
17
Paul Lamb
pregnant again,” and “You can get more information
from the special report,” alongside the original
headline, “Find out if Tubal Reversal is right for you.”
They also tested five buttons, each with a different
call to action-a change Dr. Berger anticipated would
prompt little or no change to visitors’ behaviour.
Dr. Berger found that the photos of the newborns
each performed 10% better than the photo of
the toddler in prompting visitors to ask for more
information. The headline “You can get pregnant
again” performed 15.4% better than the other
headlines. “I had a hunch that site visitors would
connect with younger babies, and it proved true,”
says Dr. Berger. “Now all the banner photos that link
to testimonials feature young babies.”
There was also a radical difference in the way the callto-action buttons performed. “Yes, I want to receive
this report” received optimal visitor response – 13%
better than the original button – while “Please email me
the special report” was 11% worse than the original.
Giving the visitor a call to action containing the words
“I want to receive” garnered more conversions than the
more passive phrase “Please email me.”1
Google Optimiser
Google Optimiser offers a free service by which you
can split test on your website producing the optimal
18
website experience for your visitors. Video tutorials
are available to help you get up and running very
quickly, which means you can get started in less than
5 minutes with no need to download any software.
With this free tool constantly monitoring your
website and making improvements, you will see your
website conversion steadily increase.
1
Sourced from http://www.google.com/intl/en/websiteoptimizer/drberger.html
19
Paul Lamb
Essential Tip 7
Online chat service
This is a programme that allows your visitor to
contact you from your website using a text-like chat
service. It’s great for those visitors who are just
about to purchase but have a quick question and
want an instant answer.
The way it works is that a visitor will see a box
asking to click it to start the chat service. A
window will pop up which will connect you with a
representative of the company, for you then to type
your question. Once you have finished, you may
have the option to have the transcript emailed to you
for your records. This has the double benefit of both
giving clear answers to any questions and concerns
your visitor has that may be preventing them from
buying, and also offers a personal, human touch to
your site.
O2 mobile phone provider uses this service very
well. There is no waiting time to speak to an
advisor and for the visitor, no telephone costs. The
advantage to using this type of contact method is
that the representative can have generic pre-written
replies and all communications are recorded. Most
companies that offer this service also survey the
20
visitor to see if there are any improvements that
could be made or services that could be offered.
There are two ways to implement an online chat
service. First is to create your own, which requires
someone with programming skills in Java script,
HTML and more, which could be a very expensive
method, or you can effectively rent the programme
from a number of companies offering this service.
With renting, no programming skills are required and
normally you have a step-by-step guide to help with
any issues you may come across.
21
Paul Lamb
Essential Tip 8
Headlines are important
The first thing that will grab the visitor’s attention
is your headline. It’s always been this way with
newspapers and it’s the same for website visitors. The
reason is that it’s only a few words that take seconds
to read but give enough information to tell the reader
what the site is all about. Therefore, if you don’t have
a headline, you’re missing out on a lot of potential.
The headline should immediately grab your visitor’s
attention and sufficiently motivate them to explore
the rest of the site. If you successfully highlight a
problem and position yourself as the one offering the
solution, you will have them hooked, and they’ll be
compelled to read the rest of your copy and find out
more about your product or service.
When crafting your headline, be aware of the
following…
•
Keep it focused on the visitor. Avoid the
temptation to talk about yourself – all they care
about is what you can offer them.
•
Don’t give away too much at once – just make a
promise and follow through on it with the rest of
the copy.
22
•
Resist the temptation to try and be clever just
for the sake of it. Your visitor won’t be interested
– all they care about is what you can offer to
make their lives better, so go for clarity above
everything else.
•
Use sub-headings. Believe it or not, some
readers will only read your sub-headings, so
make sure they count!
•
Make sure they stand out from the rest of the
copy. It may seem obvious, but you need to
make sure the headline is the first thing that
draws your visitor’s eye.
•
Split-test. It’s vital to constantly refine your
headlines, so split-test them as much as possible
to make sure they always get the results you
want.
23
Paul Lamb
Essential Tip 9
Put your best stuff above
the fold
The part of a webpage that is visible in your web
browser window when the website first loads, is
referred to as the ‘fold’. It originated from the area
of the newspaper that was visible when folded and
contains the important headlines and attention
grabbing details for you to read further.
This important area also relates in the same way
to any website. Website visitors are inherently lazy
and may not scroll down your home page for more
information, so have your important information at
the top. For example, your demo form, newsletter
sign up and anything that you wish for the visitor
to action, all to be above the fold to get maximum
results. Many web developers often refer to this
‘above the scroll’ for this very reason.
A good formula is to have your headline at the
very top, with tabs to navigate the website placed
horizontally, and a sign-up box at the right-hand side.
This way, the most important elements of the page
are easily accessible and presented in an attractive
way that follows the natural path of the viewer’s eye.
24
Essential Tip 10
Use Google Analytics
to review your website
performance
“Google Analytics is a free service that shows you how
visitors found your site and how they interact with it.
With this information, you can improve your return
on investment, increase conversions, and make more
money on the web.” (Source – Google Analytics)
This is a free service offered by Google. Once you have
installed the HTML code to your site, you can view a
large amount of information – not just the number
of visitors but which pages are your best or worst
performing. But you’re probably wondering how Google
Analytics will improve your website conversions. So let’s
look at some of the areas Google Analytics covers.
Bounce Rate
Your bounce rate is the percentage of your website
visitors who only view a single page of your website
before leaving. If people are leaving your website on
a particular page, you would be able to see which
pages they were and change objects such as the
title, images, etc. to improve the visitor’s interest.
25
Paul Lamb
Unique Visitors
Unique Visitors represents the number of unduplicated
(counted only once) visitors to your website over the
course of a specified time period. This number is very
important when making any changes to your website.
For example, if you have 100 visitors and 5 are
purchasing, then once you make any improvements
which increase it to 10 (in basic terms as there is
other considerations) you have just doubled your
sales. Therefore once you understand how many
website visitors are converting, you can start to track
your changes and constantly refine them to improve
your conversion rate.
Referral
A referral occurs when any hyperlink that takes a
user to a new page or file in a website is clicked –
the originating site is the referrer. Therefore if you
have an offer on your home page for a discount or
free information, then finding out if it’s relevant to
your visitors is very important. There is no point
having an offer that isn’t getting viewed or clicked
on, as it will just be taking up valuable space.
If you don’t have a Google account, set one up
before making any further changes to your website,
as you could be making changes that will lose you
potential sales. Test and track everything and only
keep what gets results.
26
Conclusion
You should now have everything you need to
convert your website into a lead-generation machine
and start growing your business online. If you
consistently apply these principles, you will soon
have more leads, more conversions and more loyal
customers.
Remember, every element of your site should be
focused 110% on communicating how your product
or service can solve a particular need for your
prospects. If anything, be it copy, photos, videos or
anything else, isn’t working towards this end, just
delete it.
Once you start thinking like this, your site will soon
be generating the business you want.
Finally, never forget... test everything and strive to
constantly improve your site!
27
Paul Lamb
About
Now that you understand how important it is to grab
your website visitor’s attention as soon as they reach
your homepage, let me tell you a little about how
Walk-on Website Video can help you do just that…
There’s no better way of attracting and keeping a
prospect’s attention than a striking, professionallyproduced video for the front page of your website.
Remember, with people’s steadily-decreasing
attention spans, you have less and less time to catch
a prospect’s attention and keep them reading further.
A video immediately catches the eye and gives you
an opportunity to engage directly with your prospect,
encouraging them to explore your site further and
making them more receptive to a sale later.
At Walk-on Website Video, we will produce a video
tailor-made for your website, with one of our
experienced presenters introducing your prospect to
your business. All our videos are filmed in HD and
created with the highest quality software, for a truly
professional result.
You needn’t have any background in either video
or public speaking in order to make the most of our
28
services. You specify everything about your video –
from the script down to the presenter’s outfit – and
we’ll make it happen. We’ll also guide you through
the process of incorporating it into your front page
so it needn’t cause any disruption to your existing
I.T. systems.
We’re so confident in all the benefits this will bring
to your business that if you don’t see a significant
increase in profits from you website, we’ll refund
your money, no questions asked.
Please visit our website and find out more about how
we can give your front page the personal touch!
www.walkonwebsitevideo.com
29
Paul Lamb
Testimonials
“I have seen a Presenter before on other websites,
but it wasn’t until Walk-on Website Video approached
us that we thought we’d try one out. The whole
process was straight forward and very professional.
The feedback we have had has been great and
therefore I would not hesitate to use Walk-on
Website Video again in the near future.”
Andrew Young,
Managing Director,
Abbey Windows Ltd.
“Being an ecommerce company, we track the
conversion rates from our website regularly, and
wanted to improve our enquiry rate. Last year we
added a Presenter on our home page giving our
guarantee and call to action. That same month, without
any extra SEO work, we increased our enquiries by
300% and sales increased 200%. Amazing results
that we never would have expected. I would gladly
recommend having a video on your website.”
Sheila Lovell,
Director,
Balance Learning UK Ltd.
30
“I wasn’t convinced that just adding a video would
increase my enquiries, but a friend suggested I use
Walk-on Website Video, and from then on I have
eaten my words. From just a hand full of enquiries,
we have seen it more than doubled the number over
night. We’re now looking to have more video on
other pages.”
Heather McGrath,
Owner,
Dream Cakes.
31
Reader’s Offer
I hope you have learnt something new for reading this book. It’s
been years of experience to put this information together and
I hope it will bring you great success. Even if you just put one
suggestion into place, I guarantee you will see an improvement
to the number of enquiries you are already getting.
With so many requests for my time, I have launched a new
teleseminar, which will cover all the topics in this book and
more, including:
•
•
•
•
Learn to increase your conversion rate?
What do all the terminologies mean?
How can I measure my results?
As well as interviews and lots more.
Considering all the information I will be giving, I should be
charging over £100 a session, but for every reader of this
book I’m extending a special offer and allowing them to
take part totally free. To secure your FREE place, go to...
www.walkonwebsitevideo.com/teleseminar.htm
Once booking has been confirmed we’ll send you a short
email, followed by a reminder before the day itself.
I look forward to talking with you soon.
Make more money from your website
with these ten essential tips from an
I.T. expert...
Every business needs a website these days,
but only if it brings new customers to your
business. The good news is that the changes
needed to transform your site from an
unprofitable one to an essential source of
leads, conversions and profits are not hard
to implement – they’re just rarely explained
properly.
Until now…
In this booklet from I.T. expert Paul Lamb, of
Walk-on Website Video, you’ll learn…
•How
•How
•How
•How
•H
ow
•How
to
to
to
to
to
to
get more repeat visitors
stand out from the competition
constantly improve your site
write eye-catching headlines
boost your conversion rate
use effectively use videos
And much more.
These tips are amazingly simple to understand
and implement, yet guarantee results. Your
website will be performing to the standard
you expect and you’ll have added an entirely
new stream of profits to your business. Get
ready to transform the way you do business
online!
www.walkonwebsitevideo.com
© Copyright 2011 Paul Lamb. Walk On Website Video.
“Being an ecommerce
company, we track
the conversion rates
from our website
regularly, and wanted
to improve our
enquiry rate. Last year
we added a Presenter
on our home page
giving our guarantee
and call to action.
That same month,
without any extra SEO
work, we increased
our enquiries by
300% and sales
increased 200%.
Amazing results that
we never would have
expected. I would
gladly recommend
having a video on
your website.”
Sheila Lovell,
Director, Balance
Learning UK Ltd.

for a More Profitable Website

Transcription

Similar documents

ChiroMatrix – Published in Chiropractic

Use of Google Analytics tool while optimizing AdWords campaign

1994 - 2000 - . . 1846 . . . Location: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll

Untitled - CTM Media Group

Squigly`s Playhouse

welcome to bloomingdale`s

PDF file - Opticon

i̇stanbul ambalaj 2001

Brockhill Case Study

AutoShow 2014