Laurel Tielis

If you’re like most small business owners,your website probably took a lot of time, money, and energy to create. It may have been an exhausting process. But the truth is, the real work only begins, after it’s up and running.

If you want your  site to work for you, you have to work on it. You need to update it frequently, and promote it as a matter of course. Unless you do, visitors will feel that you’re not interested in it. And if you’re not interested, why should they be?

Here are five ways you can show visitors  to your website that you value their interest in your business.

Web Site Success Strategies

1.  See your home page as your store window or storefront

It’s your brand online, so make sure it looks like you. You bring passersby into your store with a compelling window; you bring browsers to your site with an alluring home page.

Just as you create a theme and tell a color story in your window, do the same here. Also, think about what interests you when you “window shop,” and then offer that kind of information to your readers.

2. Keep it current

You change your windows regularly to attract new business; do the same with your site.

One way is to put a box on your home page—it can feature new merchandise, list sale items, highlight industry information, note upcoming in-store events or those that you sponsor in the community. Another is to feature an item or a customer. Update this space daily or weekly to create maximum impact.

  3. Use landing pages

You know the applause a pilot gets when the plane comes in for a landing? That’s the passengers saying they’re exactly where they want to be.

Your landing pages tell visitors just what they want to know. And what they want to know is, What’s in it for them? Do you have what they need? Because as an early jazz song says, If you don’t give me what I need, I’m gonna get it somewhere else.

If you serve different groups–perhaps women in business, at-home moms, grandparents, and others—you should have a variety of landing pages, each focusing on those customers specific needs.

4. Engage browsers to turn them into buyers

Start a dialog with your current customers, former clients, and new  prospects. Entertain them, educate them, or give them information that’s pertinent to their lives.

I’m a fan of fun quotes and one of my favorites would be perfect for anyone working in home or design. Oscar Wilde last words were reputed to be. “Either this wallpaper goes, or I do.”

Ask your customers for their favorite quotes, jokes, or stories. Or start a contest and offer a prize. Post a photo and bio of the winner. At a minimum, she’ll send the link to your site to friends, family members, and colleagues. If he’s on a social media site, he’ll post it there as well.

5. KYSS–Keep Your Site Simple

Save the bells and whistles for training your dog, because frankly, no one has the time or the patience to wait for your site to download. You make more work for yourself, and you lose potential customers, when visitors can’t find what they want quickly and easily.

Suit Your Site toYour Customers

Remember, a static site seems like you’re not involved. You lose buyer interest and ranking on search engines with one. Frequent changes, and attention to customer needs, show that you take them, as well as your business, seriously.

Want more ideas about bringing in business? I can help. I’ve been a retail reporter at Women’s Wear Daily and Home Furnishings News, a columnist at the Miami Herald and a correspondent at People magazine.

I’ve also handled the marketing and public relations at major corporations and small businesses. Need a speaker or a consultant? Get in touch at ringupmoresales@gmail.com. Or, for easy and effective ways to bring in more business, read Ka-Ching! How to Ring Up More Sales.

Copyright © 2011 Laurel Tielis

Filed under: business, retail Tagged: | communications, customer engagement, customer retention, marketing, websites