What Pages Do I Need On My Website?
Posted: Monday, April 15, 2013 at 2:33:13 PM EST by Richard NorrisTo get the right result, you need the right tools.
All rights reserved by kevsyd
Before you go and buy any tools from a hardware store, you first look at what it is that you are trying to achieve.
You can determine what pages you need on your website by looking at what you want your website to achieve; your website’s purpose.
To make it easy to reference, here are some common purposes for websites as well as the pages needed to achieve those purposes.
Ecommerce Website
The goal of an ecommerce website is to get your visitors to buy your products/services.
Obviously you would need product pages, however you would need to look at what method you want your visitors to use to buy your product.
There are two ways you can get your visitors to buy from your website.
Online transactions.
This is ecommerce in its truest form. Your visitor gives their credit card details or logs into PayPal, the order is processed and they are shipped their goods. Fast, simple and gets the job done. This is used by most businesses with off the shelf products.
Order Forms
Not all businesses operate with off the shelf products. Some businesses may have strictly custom orders with no one product being the same. This is where order forms can help.
Linked from each product is a form for the visitor to fill in some basic details of what they require. They then submit the form to which the sales person responds via phone to get further details and arrange an accurate quote. Once the buyer wants to go ahead the order is processed over the phone or bank details are sent depending on what payment options are available.
These methods need to fit in to how your business wants to run and what resources are available to do either option.
Information Website
The goal of an information website is, believe it or not, to convey information, whether it relates to a business or an industry.
The main element that an information website should revolve around is a blog.
This blog should contain the bulk of the information and resources to the visitors.
If the purpose of your website is to convey information, you will find benefit in linking your blog to various social media streams as well as looking to guest blog for other businesses that have a similar target audience to yours.
Forms will also play an important role as you want to offer your visitors an opportunity to get more information about your industry.
Bonus Tip: Have extra information you can give those that ask for it.
Blog Website
Unlike a website that has a blog with one specific topic, a blog website can be talking about a variety of topics within an industry.
A blog website will be focusing around obtaining followers. This is probably not the best for corporate or even businesses but rather for sole operator consultants that thrive on networking with others.
This should be coupled with a newsletter as well to send to your followers.
These are just three examples of website purposes out there and what pages aid in that purpose. If you are unsure about what pages you need to fulfill the purpose of your website please leave a comment below or send us an email. We would love to help you identify what pages you need. Alternitively register your interest in an upcoming workshop that discusses page purpose.
 About the Author : Richard Norris.Richard is the CEO of SiteZero , an Australian based Digital Marketing Services organization. Richard loves technology and is the Ecommerce evangelist at SiteZero. You can connect with Richard on Google + , Linkedin or at the SiteZero Facebook Page Richard Started his first Business in 1985 and entered the online world in 1998. He’s a bit like “The old man and the sea” of digital Marketing |
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7 Things to Put in Your Information Column
Posted: Monday, April 15, 2013 at 2:32:41 PM EST by Richard Norris
All rights reserved by A Different Perspective
Don’t waste this space.
Your website information column is valuable real estate. It provides your visitors with quick links to most items on your website.
Thought needs to be put into what items you want to frequently expose to your visitors, as the information column can show up on every single website item. So here are my 7 recommendations of what to put in your information column.
Newsletter Subscription.
Newsletters are a great way to have a regular touch point with your clients and customers so it is almost a must to have this in your information column.
Contact Us
This one is really obvious. It is a must if you don’t have a contact us menu item. Some visitors aren’t used to using websites as shopping mediums; they would rather pick up a phone than send an email so you need to accommodate this.
Social Media
On the other end of the scale there are those who don’t ever pick up a phone unless it’s to check their Facebook wall or their recent tweets. Social media buttons in the info column can also encourage visitors that aren’t fully plugged into the social media world, to get on board.
Blog
Blogging would have to be the easiest way to provide regular content to your website. Having a quick link to it helps inform your visitors, while also showing love to Google who in turn will up your rankings.
Customer of the Month
What a great concept to encourage your customers to be nice. When offered with an incentive such as this: customer of the month gets 25% off all products during the month; your customers will be striving to be the best customer out there.
Product of the Month.
People buy what is popular. So showcase what your customers keep on buying. Obviously if you only have a handful of products like SiteZero does, it may not be so effective. However this could be effective for someone like Cake Ornament Co, who has a lot of products in their inventory.
Product Menu.
A product menu is separate to your main default menu. It should be easy to set up and provide a quick avenue for those who just want to shop. QIS Packaging and Sewer’s Delight have examples of the product menu in the information column.
If you have any other suggestions of what you have put in your information column we would love to hear about it. Please send us an email or leave a comment below.
| About the Author : Richard Norris. Richard is the CEO of SiteZero , an Australian based Digital Marketing Services organization. Richard loves technology and is the Ecommerce evangelist at SiteZero. You can connect with Richard on Google + , Linkedin or at the SiteZero Facebook Page Richard Started his first Business in 1985 and entered the online world in 1998. He’s a bit like “The old man and the sea” of digital Marketing |
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| Richard Norris | | | |
Getting Testimonials
Posted: Monday, April 15, 2013 at 2:32:11 PM EST by Richard Norris
The best way to increase your sales team
Testimonials are a must have for your website, we all know this. But why, what is the methodology and reasons for having someone else saying that my product or service is great over me, the owner of the business.
Sorry to say but it’s for that very reason, you’re the owner of the business. To your website visitors you are happy to say whatever you want to get a sale and some extra coin.
Testimonials break down that wall.
They allow your visitors to be influenced by the best sales people your business will ever have, your current customers.
Whatever emotions are towards you, the business owner, are removed as soon as a customer stands up and brags about your business.
The social media scene has a great environment for businesses to receive social proof. Facebook for instance allows people to ‘like’ your business. Do you think that the more ‘likes’ you have the more business you could generate from Facebook?
Twitter is based around people and business following you. If I did a search, on Twitter, for a florist because I forgot Valentine’s Day was coming up, do you think I would go to the florist that had 50 followers or the one with 150 followers?
A third and final example is LinkedIn. If you were to search for a printer to form a strategic alliance with would you connect with the printer who has 25 connections or the one with over 100 connections?
All of these examples have obvious answers and that’s because of social proof.
The more testimonials you have the greater chance you have of securing future business.
Here are five quick tips to getting quality testimonials.
- Listen for a ‘ping’. Whenever you are meeting with a client and they say something positive about your business or product, that’s a ping. Get them to send that to you in an email. There’s your first testimonial.
- Doesn’t have to be long. People don’t want to read a thesis about why Bob bought a blue widget from you. Keep them short concise and they will be more effective.
- Video wins. Not everyone will do this but, if you find an audacious customer, stick them in front of a video camera for 30 seconds and get them to talk about your business. Visitors to your website will love the interactivity and Google will love that you put a video up.
- Don’t spend thousands. You don’t have to be Steven Spielberg to produce a testimonial video. Video capabilities on current smart phones do the job perfectly. It doesn’t matter if an ambulance goes past, sirens blaring, it show authenticity and realism.
- Give incentives. Travel Managers do gift vouchers, run a competition that if a customer emails you a testimonial they go in the draw to win a $200 travel voucher.
These tips are what we have found generate quality leads and referrals. If you have come across any other ways we would love to hear from you by either commenting below or contacting us here.
| About the Author : Richard Norris. Richard is the CEO of SiteZero , an Australian based Digital Marketing Services organization. Richard loves technology and is the Ecommerce evangelist at SiteZero. You can connect with Richard on Google + , Linkedin or at the SiteZero Facebook Page Richard Started his first Business in 1985 and entered the online world in 1998. He’s a bit like “The old man and the sea” of digital Marketing |
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| Richard Norris | | | |
How to setup SiteZero Small Business email in outlook
Posted: Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 3:40:58 PM EST by Rachel MuzhariOnce you have received a confirmation that your mailbox has been created. You are now ready to set this up in outlook.
You will be advised of your username and password.
Username:user@domain
Password:xxxxxx
The steps below outline how to set this up in Microsoft outlook 2010
Step 1: Start Outlook.
Step 2: On the File menu, click Info, and then click Account Settings.
Step 3: Select Account Settings from the drop-down list.
Step 4: On the Email tab, click New, select Email Account, and then click Next.
Step 5: Click to select the manually configure server settings or additional server type’s check box, and then click Next.
Step 6: Click Internet E-Mail, and then click Next.
Step 7: In the Add New E-mail Account dialog box, click Microsoft Exchange, POP3, IMAP, or HTTP, and then click next.
Step 8: Under User Information, follow these steps:
In the Your Name box, type your full name.
In the E-mail Address box, type your full email address.
Step 9: In the Account Type box under Server Information, click to select POP3:
In the Incoming mail server box, type the name of the server.
In this case it will be: mail.domain.com.au
In the Outgoing mail server (SMTP) box, type the name of the outgoing email server.
This can be: mail.domain.com.au or sometimes if this does not work you can use your ISP's outgoing server
Step 10:Under Logon Information, follow these steps:
In the User Name box, type your user name.
Username:user@domain
In the Password box, type the password:
Password:xxxxxx
Click to select the Remember password check box.
Step 11: Click More Settings
Click Outgoing Server
Check My Server Uses Authentication
Select Use same settings as my incoming mail server
Click ok
Step 12: Click Test Account Settings. This feature calls a dialog box that shows in a step-by-step manner each testing phase of the configuration that you entered.
Step 13: Click finish
You have now setup you email account in outlook.
If you have any questions on how this process works contact SiteZero Support, or leave a comment below.
Get Attractive Content
Posted: Monday, April 15, 2013 at 2:31:31 PM EST by Richard Norris
Leave your customers wanting more.
Over the past couple of weeks we have looked at how to identify your target audience and how to create a customer profile. We have come to our final stage, which is taking what we now know and writing for our target audience.
The fact that you have read at least one of these three posts puts you in front of most businesses around the country.
Writing for your ideal audience can be quite difficult for those who don’t know what they are doing. Some overdo it, but most don’t target their content specifically enough to suit the characteristics of their ideal customer.
The worst thing you could possible do, content wise, is to be intrusive. Having flashing red buttons saying “We are number 1” is an old fashioned approach and will cause damage to your websites performance rather than improve them.
Your visitors don’t care about you.
They only care about what they want and their needs. That’s why they are coming to you, you have something they want or need.
Therefore, your content has to reflect your ideal customer’s wants and needs.
Have you ever met anyone that only has one need and one want; everyone has many wants and needs.
You probably have a list somewhere of the things you are trying to obtain this year; everyone has goals of some sort. What you would have achieved from reading the previous blogs is some ideas of your customers’ goals.
For instance, if you are the owner of a flower shop, you may have identified that males between the ages of 25 and 35 are your ideal customers. The reason for this is because they all have wives, and the last time a woman bought me flowers was my Mum for Valentine’s day when I was in grade 7.
So what would males aged between 25 and 35 want or need. Most of us enjoy sport. So run a tipping competition from your website around the NRL. You may not enjoy it but your customers will. So much so that whenever they’re in trouble with the wife you are the first person they call; because you accommodated another want outside of your business.
Another example would be if you owned a small automotive repairs business. You may have identified that your ideal customer is a female aged between 30 and 40 because their husband is at work all the time they have to go and get the cars serviced.
A way that you could write attractive content is to start up a blog and write about various day spas and therapy places. Because you ideal customer is probably home with the kids they would appreciate some “alone time”, this is a want. You having the blog there catering for that want. You will always have that customer coming back because you have addresses a want outside of your business.
Both of these scenarios, florist and mechanic, also provides a fantastic oppourtunity to encourage repeat business. The florist may run a promotion that for every $200 you spend you get two free tickets to the next home game. For a $50 you have sold $200 worth of product. Men would come in before every home game. They get in the good books with the wife and also get free tickets to the game.
The mechanic may run a promotion slightly different. The promotion might be that if you get two cars serviced with us within 6 months, we will give you a $50 massage voucher at a local day spa. She gets good with the busy husband and gets time to herself.
I have found that there are massive benefits to writing to suit the needs and wants of your ideal customer, it encourages customer loyalty and also encourages your current customers to refer to their friends which can only mean more business for you!
These are partsof how a you can get a sucessful website. To learn more key points to make a website sucessful, attend the SiteZero workshop "How To Make a Sucessful Website". Enter in the promo code, SZ022012 to get a complimentary ticket. This workshop is a must attend for those looking for a brand new website.
| About the Author : Richard Norris. Richard is the CEO of SiteZero , an Australian based Digital Marketing Services organization. Richard loves technology and is the Ecommerce evangelist at SiteZero. You can connect with Richard on Google + , Linkedin or at the SiteZero Facebook Page Richard Started his first Business in 1985 and entered the online world in 1998. He’s a bit like “The old man and the sea” of digital Marketing |
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| Richard Norris | | | |
How to Craft a Call to Action that Converts!
Posted: Monday, April 15, 2013 at 2:30:50 PM EST by Richard Norris
Learn the secret to increase your websites conversion rate.
Call to Action is the marketing term for telling your customers what to do. You would have probably seen one on this website already.
Business owners and the general public use calls to action for everything gaining new clients or asking their mum for some money. However, they don’t take the time to actually think about what that call to action states and how to make it more effective.
Why do we need a call to action?
You don’t get if you don’t ask.
How can you receive something if you don’t ask for it? Everything you have received you have asked for. Whether you ask directly through speech, or indirectly by your actions and how you live your life.
The visitors to your website will never subscribe to your newsletter let alone buy anything if you don’t ask them to.
How do I craft one that converts?
This is where some set skills come in and a bit of creativity.
There are 5 areas that, I believe, make up a strong call to action. If you master these 5 areas your conversion rate will go through the roof.
1. Use doing words.
“Click Here”, “Contact Us”, “Subscribe”. All of these are doing words synonymous with website marketing and a must for a call to action. You customers will feel at ease once they know what they have to do.
2. Add an incentive.
People don’t care about your business; they want to know what’s in it for them. Add an incentive to your doing word and this will improve your conversions. As an example, “Subscribe today and receive 30% your next order” will convert much better than just “Subscribe Today”.
Bonus Tip: get specific with your incentives. Instead of “do this and receive great benefits” get creative and say “receive a 25% discount across our entire range”.
3. Use Buttons.
Coupled with a good graphic designer, a button is a great way to make your call to action stand out from the other content on your website. You have so much more freedom in colour choice, textures and gradients than if you just wrote a call to action in you web copy and made it bold.
4. Experiment with Colour
Your call to action won’t be as effective if it fits in with the colour scheme of the rest of your website. Provide it with contrast so that it stands out. If you have a blue theme, make your call to action button orange or green. Consulting your graphic designer would be a wise thing to do here but there are free colour wheels available online (like this one) for you to consult what colours are complimentary to one another.
5. Let It Breathe
Calls to action get claustrophobic when to many things are around then. To make your call to action convert better, create a space for it that is in a central, easily visible spot on you website that doesn’t have much around it. Having things around you call to action will lessen its effectiveness and lower your conversion rate.
We have found that by implementing these 5 aspects increase the conversions of calls to actions dramatically. Feel free to experiment with these aspects, change the wording every three months and at the end of the year see which one has worked the best. For fast tracked results set up multiple websites but have varying differences on each. After six months compile your analytics and see which website performed best and make this your main website, rinse and repeat for the next six months.
If you have any question or any examples of calls to action you wish to share, please contact us or leave a comment below.
| About the Author : Richard Norris. Richard is the CEO of SiteZero , an Australian based Digital Marketing Services organization. Richard loves technology and is the Ecommerce evangelist at SiteZero. You can connect with Richard on Google + , Linkedin or at the SiteZero Facebook Page Richard Started his first Business in 1985 and entered the online world in 1998. He’s a bit like “The old man and the sea” of digital Marketing |
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| Richard Norris | | | |
