Everyone wants to make more sales. If it were only as easy as snapping your fingers and making it happen, everyone would be rich. Here’s how successful companies do it and how you can too.
Watch, Read, And Learn From Others
Look at other websites that are already doing well in their respective niches. Want examples? Visit Spencers.co.uk to learn more about visual design. Go to Copyblogger if you want to learn about online or digital marketing. Visit any direct marketing site if you want to see what’s working in marketing. Visit Nielsen Norman Group if you want examples of how to improve usability on your own site.
In almost every industry, there are at least a few stand-out companies. Watch them like a hawk.
Have A Clear Call To Action
A clear call to action helps you generate more leads by telling your users exactly what you expect of them. Don’t think that your readers will “go the extra mile” to figure out what you’re trying to say or what you want them to do. They won’t.
In most cases, they’re passively reading what you’ve written. They’re in a more relaxed mode of thinking. They may be processing information, but they’re not always or necessarily going to put 2 and 2 together. This is why a call to action is so important. It doesn’t leave people wondering “what’s the point of all this?”
At the end of blog posts, for example, you can insert an email signup form that moves people from your blog to your email list. On your homepage, you can make an offer that gets people onto your email list.
On your landing pages and sales letters, and on every email signup form, make sure you have a clear call to action like, “Sign Up Now” or “Send Me Emails” or “Send Me Free Tips” or “Buy – Now!”
It might feel too obvious to you, but it’s not to your site visitors.
Use A Responsive Design
According to some research by Pew Research Center, about 90% of Americans own a cell phone, and 45% of them use it to access the web, specifically for web browsing. Your website needs to look amazing on their devices, or you’re missing out on potential customers. You need your website to be responsive. If you don’t know what this means, then you need to hire a web developer to make it happen for you.
A responsive website is one that adjusts to whatever size screen the user is viewing your website on. In other words, if your users are on a smartphone, your website will readjust its size, automatically, to fit perfectly, and look great, on that size screen. But, if they switch to a tablet, the site will readjust to that size screen. And, if they view it on a laptop, it will adjust to that size screen too.
The trick to making responsive design work is to not have a cluttered or complicated site. Your website should be straightforward and detail exactly what it is you do for your customers. Most websites fail miserably in this respect.
For most websites, it’s perfectly fine to publish your phone number right on the homepage. Make it easy to contact you. In fact, it might be a good idea to make the phone number “clickable.” That way, mobile users can just tap the number to call you.
Outside of that, your text should be large enough to read on a mobile screen, without crowding the screen. Any forms you have on the site need to be resized automatically, too. So, if you’re collecting email addresses, you will want to make sure that your form isn’t cluttered and that it’s inviting to people using smaller screens.
Publish Great Content
What’s great content? Basically, it’s content that outperforms all other content in terms of being entertaining, informative, and easy to understand. By creating engaging content, you get visitors excited about what you have to offer. However, content isn’t just for promoting your paid material. It’s also great for sharing your brand’s personality – your personality.
If your content is good enough, it will be shared on other websites. And, it could even go viral. Brian Dean from Backlinko has an excellent guide on exactly how to make posts go viral.
Make Your Navigation Easy To Understand
Most business websites have a mediocre (at best) navigation menu. If your site uses drop down menus, or confusing anchor text links, or contains too many menu items, then you’re confusing your site visitors. They’re not going to be able to figure out what your site is about, and they’re going to hit the “back” button very quickly.
Navigation links should be straightforward and simple for anyone to understand. “About” should take people to the about page. “Home” should return people to the homepage. “Contact” should take people to a page where it’s easy to get in touch with you. “Blog” should take visitors to the blog. “Products” or “Services” should take users to your product or service page.
Ernest Mathis is studying for his business degree, though has already started his own online business and could be considered a young entrepreneur.. He writes about business matters for an online audience when not lost in his studies.
