people will only turn up to win the prize
but others will hang around.
Before I re-launched my current
website, I decided to self-produce
my own site using Wix (wix.com). A
system that’s easy to understand and
use. I eventually found out that Wix is
great for simple website presentation
(say over a single or two pages) with
an uncluttered homepage and little
content. My site is more of a magazine
that demanded quite the opposite,
though. Result? My site looked
cluttered, hard to navigate and – to my
intense frustration - was slow. I found
out that my readers trusted me and the
high quality content on offer but they
didn’t trust my site. Despite having
everything else going for me, I began
to lose readers. I found a web designer
that I could work with, one who was
ready to talk at the end of a phone
(even on a Sunday would you believe),
a real person and not a call centre in
Florida. He developed a fast web-
engined system that could handle a
massive amount of information, based
on Wordpress (wordpress.com). Since
those changes were implemented, my
conversion traffic has increased 10 fold.
Why? Because my readers, my
customers, can access the information
I’m offering at any time, in any place,
using any device and it’s there.
Instantly.
The moral here? Make sure that any
and every website implementation
you employ is thoroughly road-tested
but also make sure that you have a
proper support system in place. A high
conversion rate can only be achieved
by a concerted team effort. Even if that
team is you and your web designer.
Conversions can also be quickly
applied by involving yourself in social
media. The downside? Social media can
use up a lot of time and effort. So you
need to allocate a portion of your day
to dedicate to it or switch members of
staff to it full time.
The benefits are that social media
users can access you immediately and
ask questions. They can get to know
you, your personality, your views, your
products and services and more. The
‘getting to know you’ bit is critical.
Absolutely critical. ‘Getting to know
you’ is one step away from ‘trust’. Just
don’t blow it. If you allocate staff to this
area, make sure they are fully trained,
compatible with the task, are patient,
carry a thick skin, an even temper
and can think on their feet to take
advantage of opportunities.
Even better than having a mere
presence on social media - a company
page on Facebook or Twitter page
for example - is for your company to
become actively involved in specialist
groups pertaining to your industry, on
a daily basis. If you sell gardening tools,
for example, join specialist gardening
groups. Don’t push your company
down other people’s throats and don’t
be heavy handed in promoting the
company itself. Your user name (which
is linked to your company page) will do
that for you and people will eventually
ask questions of you. Let them come
to you. Just offer your expertise, offer
help and advice. Pretty soon, people
will be running to you with questions
and wanting to know how you know so
much about Marigolds!
Finally, let’s talk Groups. I recently
launched my own Facebook Group.
This is relatively advanced stuff, Iknow, takes up even more of your time
but it does allow you to build an actual
community devoted to your thoughts
and ideas.
A Facebook Group is a forum which
you host and features members that
you either invite to the group or grant
permission to join when they come to
you. In your Group, you set the agenda
but you’re also free to implement gentle
marketing techniques: competitions,
giveaways, more advice and help and
so on. When you get to this stage,
conversions flow like water.
Gaining trust and guiding
conversions from that trust is an
essential part of online business - from
any business, actually. Using the above
advice, though, you can make a good
start in putting your business venture
on the right track.Paul Rigby is a journalist
in the fields of music and
hi-fi. He runs his own blog
at http://www.theaudiophileman.
com and Facebook Group at
http://www.facebook.com/groups/
theaudiophileman/ABOUT THE AUTHOR