business builder marketing
Three ways
to make Website
more effective
Most commercial Web sites can be divided into two types: sales-driven (e-commerce) or informational. For organizations using e-commerce to sell products through their Web site, success is measured in dollars and cents. For the others, calculating success is not as simple.
One important indication of a successful site is a high number of repeat visitors.
For organizations that are not selling products online, maintaining a first-time visitor’s interest can be difficult. Visitors need an incentive to return to your site after they have learned about your organization.
Here are three recommendations that will will go a long way toward helping a business improve retention on its Web site.
New and old
Create automated resources for both new and existing customers.
Many organizations have sales and database tools that are used to keep track of customers. These resources may include forms, applications, service requests, manuals, instruction guides, advice for use of a product/service, etc.
Real-time scheduling options can add a whole new level of customer service or sales ability to an organization.
The benefits of such tools are two-fold. They provide an alternative method for generating sales or aiding in customer service, 24 hours a day. A small but growing segment of consumers prefers the Web to a live voice when dealing with sales or customer service matters.
These resources also decrease the amount of labor required for your sales and customer-service staff. Calls or meetings that were once a daily routine can now be deflected to your Web site.
Your employees will be able to focus their efforts toward other critical areas.
Special events
Create an area of your Web site that focuses on current events, organizational news, or promotions and specials.
Web-site technology can help you make a user-friendly administrative console where you can maintain and update areas of your Web site instantaneously.
Use the site to promote new ideas, products, services, sales, promotions, or any other new information relating to your organization. It will give visitors a great reason to bookmark it.
Dedicating certain parts of your site to updates will give it a buzz. Visitors will see that things are always improving and changing, and customers will know you want to keep them informed about your organization.
It will spark their interest and even excite them about your new products, services or upcoming events.
Including images, attached documents or links to other reference sites is also important to add to the credibility of the information you provide.
Give and take
Make your Web site interactive.
People interact online in many ways. Blogging has become hugely popular. Before that, online forums gave people a place to exchange ideas.
You can use blogs and forums, along with “Ask the Experts” or “Online Help Desk” functions.
Establishing ways for your organization to interact directly with customers and prospects, or allowing these visitors to interact among themselves, can generate new ideas, propose new products or services, and get customer feedback in an open, productive environment.
However, it is important to carefully structure for exchanging ideas. It is important that everyone involved comes away with a positive experience; this can be accomplished if ground rules are established.
While maintaining repeat visitors is by no means the only way to measure a successful Web site, it plays a large role. The Internet is an ever-changing entity, and therefore Internet visitors expect Web sites to grow and change, too.
By creating a Web site that allows visitors to interact, aid themselves, and receive updates from your organization, you will have created a more well-rounded experience for your Web site visitors, from the point of the first visit to the repeated future returns.
[contact] Rob Roland is project manager at Esultants Web Services in Minneapolis, a Web design and development firm: 612.623.8054; info@esultants.com; www.esultants.com
