Websites Under Your Control Blog

Getting website visitors to
actually do something

We talked earlier about how ineffective it is to get someone to come visit, and then make them do detective work to find what they are looking for. 

Any link to your site from any other site on the Internet should point directly to a custom page -- these are called landing pages.

Why is this important?

Your advertising Return on Investment (ROI) will be highest if you deliver exactly what was promised in the topic of the link when someone clicks on those external links.

It's not enough to merely lure people to your home page through pay-per-click ads, e-mail campaigns, social media marketing or ads on TV, radio or print. What are they supposed to do when they get there? Start searching?

No, you want them to take action.

A landing page should result in new customers. It should provoke action from the visitor, such as giving their contact data, having them sign up for a special offer or encouraging them to make a purchase. 

To maximize your landing page's effectiveness, follow these tips.

• Use an obvious call to action. Don't make visitors read several pages of text. Keep it simple. Use large type with clear instructions. Put the directions in a box with lots of white space around it. Use graphics to direct attention to your call to action. Be sure to detail what will happen when they fill out your form.
• Don't mince words. Say what you mean. If you're having a sale on glass widgets, use a headline like "Huge Savings on Glass Widgets!" Use a subhead to further support the headline like "Lowest prices on glass widgets in the USA!" Then briefly explain the sale.
• Don't give the visitor too many options. Don't put links to other sites or other offers, and minimize the links to other pages on your own site. Concentrate on the main offer. After the visitor acts on your offer, then forward them back to your website so they can completely check out your site. Limit any distractions on your page. Dedicate your landing page to your call to action.
• Don't overwhelm the visitor with too many words or images. Keep images small so they load quickly. Don't advertise or self-promote on your landing page--only use text that encourages action on their part. Reduce the distractions as much as possible.
• Be sure your landing page says what the prospects are expecting. Don't bait and switch. If you lured them there with an ad for glass widgets, don't try to get them to buy stainless steel widgets instead.
• Add reviews or recommendations that will make your clients feel secure when they respond to your call to action. If you are associated with any well-known organizations or companies, use their logos to create trust.
• Implement a tie-in with social media like Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. These sites can increase the number of visitors exponentially. (Here is how we suggest you do this...)
• Keep your forms short and simple. Don't ask for anything you'd be reluctant to offer to a stranger. If you're making a sale, emphasize that your site is safe and you use encrypted data transfer. Add a feeling of urgency to the offer. Don't forget to offer a guarantee of satisfaction so visitors feel safe spending their money.

The main thing to remember is that people will be more likely to follow through on your offer if your landing page makes it easy for them. The fewer hoops they have to jump through, the more people will jump.

 

You have this professionally-designed website that you can edit yourself, and you have finally achieved that goal of first-page listing on Google for some of your likely search phrases... but do the visitors to your site become customers?

Businesses that fail to "close the deal" will find that even high levels of traffic may not provide the return on their investment that they desired.

There are several way-too-common reasons why otherwise great websites don't generate the business they should. Check your own site, and see if you...

• Qualify Yourself
• Qualify the Potential Customers
• Make it Easy to Buy
• Help Them Take the Next Step

Qualify Yourself

Will potential customers want to do business with you? How will you stand out from the many competitors who are also found when someone searches Google for what you offer?

First impressions: Make sure that your website projects a professional appearance and generates trust in visitors. When someone clicks through to your web pages, they should feel they have landed on the site of a reputable business, and the quality of the site should engender confidence.

Provide your visitors with testimonials from past clients. Put snippets of these testimonials where they will be seen even if no one goes to the testimonials page.

Display relevant credentials and licenses, along with memberships in professional business associations.

Include an “About Us” page that describes the history of your company and bios of the owners and the key staff. List the qualifications of team members, and include "personalizing" things like community service and involvement.

Include your physical address and phone number. (If your address is a PO box or mailbox service, you'll have to work harder on other areas to build up the trust factor.)

Include frequent case studies or sample projects in your blog, mixed in with useful information related to your products and services.

Publish a regular newsletter, not full of ads, but with information useful to people who might become your customers.

Qualify the Potential Customers

"Qualifying potential customers" merely means making sure that there is a good match between what you offer, what they need, the location of the service, and the price.

Problem: If it isn't obvious what you offer or where, they are much less likely to ever call you.

Solution: Make it clear what you offer, and where.  (Many sites have their location in their title tags, but while this is great for Google, it is usually overlooked by website visitors.)

Pricing:  Many businesses do not want their prices on their website, for fear their competitors will see them.

Most people will not contact you for details when there is not at least some indication of pricing on your website.

We have to ask, however, whether the potentially lost "bargain-shopping" customers are as valuable as those who simply move on to the next website where they discover that the services are within their price range.

Given the many options for a provider, most people won't consider the ones who offer no pricing information at all.

Bonus: You won't waste time dealing with customers who won't spend what you ask, if you provide reasonable hints of your pricing on your website.

Make It Easy to Buy

While many service providers can adjust what they offer based on their customers' needs and budgets, many potential customers prefer to purchase packages of services at fixed prices. For the provider and customer alike, such packages remove the headache of having to make numerous decisions about many possible options.

Even if every project will be customized, start with a "standard package" and then adjust as needed.

With pre-bundled packages, the customer can often find exactly what they need on their own without the extra work on both their part and yours. The packaged services are also ideal for online purchase, since the whole bundle can be included as a single product.

Bonus: Don't underestimate the time saved when you don't need to develop a custom package with unique price estimates for each customer. What's your time worth?

Help Them Take the Next Step

Just listing your email address or phone number on your website won't cut it. (But omitting those will pretty much guarantee failure...) 

Do you need to "ask for the order" or give a "call to action" when you have already described what you have to offer and how to reach you?

Researchers have found, as reported by Malcolm Gladwell's best seller, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference,  as much as a 900% increase in follow-through will result for walking the prospect through the next steps...

Make sure that your website includes a message calling on visitors to take action. Many websites forget this simple step and end up losing valuable sales.

 

Extra Bonus Topic: Make It Easy for Them to Keep Buying

While you are at it, why not boost your recurring revenues by offering your customers something you know they will need every so often? Make it easy for them to get automatic refills, updates, replacements, tune-ups, or whatever else your customers ought to be getting on a repeat basis.

Otherwise, you are abandoning these customers back to the marketplace when they next need what you offer.

 

Need help putting all this together for your website?

Call us at 866-640-1234, or email us at partners@friscowebsites.com.