| 6.
Don’t Distract your Visitors |
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| If
you point people to where you want them to go, thereby increasing
your sales potential, be sure not to distract them along the
way. Don’t include annoying animation or Flash unless absolutely
necessary. Don’t offer lots of superfluous links on the “Buy
Now” page, otherwise a significant percentage of people who
are about to buy will wander away via the extra links. |
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| 7.
Include Compelling Images |
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| People
will almost always look at pictures before they read anything.
Images that invoke emotion are particularly effective. If you’re
selling products then you obviously will benefit if you include
pictures of each product. Product images should communicate
how they benefit the potential customer. If you’re selling flowers,
a picture of a bouquet on a table is not as effectual as a woman
in a front door beaming from ear to ear as a man in a suit hands
her that same bouquet. |
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| 8.
Offer More Than Just a Sales Pitch |
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| If
you include free information on your site, interspersed with
calls to action you are more likely to build trust and comfort
among your potential website visitors. By offering free information
related to your product or service you’re showing your visitors
that you have their best interest in mind. You can’t just say
“We have your best interest in mind”, you have to actually show
it, and free, useful information does just that. By allowing
people to get used to you by first offering free information,
you make it more likely that they’ll buy from you in the future. |
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| 9.
Constantly Build Trust |
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| People
don’t buy from people or websites they don’t trust. Offering
free information is one way to accomplish this. Others ways
include offering a good return policy, posting a privacy policy
link on every page, and making it extremely easy to contact
you. |
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| 10.
Nurture Existing Website Customers |
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| Selling
to someone who bought from you in the past is easier than selling
to someone for the first time. Treat existing customers special
by offering them discounts or designating certain site sections
only for their use. Include a bookmark feature on each page
of your site so that visitors can bookmark your site to return
again. Update your content regularly to entice return visits.
Offer ways for visitors to join a “Buyers Club”, to register
on the site to get custom content, or to join a frequent buyers
program. Once a person is comfortable on your site and familiar
with your business, they are more likely to buy from you online. |
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By
stating your website goals and learning who your customers are,
by putting yourself in the shoes of your site visitors when
creating, writing and managing your website, by pointing people
in the direction you want them to go while on your website,
and by building trust, you will see your website sales increase
substantially.
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Jason OConnor is President of Oak Web Works - The synthesis
of Web design, technology and marketing |
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Jason
is an expert at Web design and programming, e-strategy, and
e-marketing
http://www.oakwebworks.com
mailto: joconnor888 @ hotmail.com |
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