Small business owners may not have the resources to invest heavily in their web presence and finding solutions to problems can be like finding a needle in a haystack. You know something's wrong but don't have the faintest idea how to fix it. Is it a technical issue? Are your ads not performing well? Don't know what kind of traffic you're getting? You maybe should keep reading if you want how to improve your website.
1. You aren't getting traffic. You're excited about the big, expensive job the design team just finished on your site. Well it's a shame it isn't making you a cent. Just because it exists doesn't mean people know about it.
Announce it to the world by submitting it to reputable directories and sharing your useful content with others on social bookmarking sites. You can even do some link exchanges just to get your site crawled early on.
Another advantage you have is adding your site to the search engines. However, it's not as easy as it sounds, but with a little SEO practice you can find your business at the top. We recommend using web analytic software to monitor the progress. A good place to start is a free version like Google Analytics.
2) Setting up your site for failure can sometimes be a bit easier, then setting it up for success. I say that because most sites that are generated today for most businesses already have someone, somewhere, out there doing it already. So if the content on your site, and the product you provide, doesn't set you apart from your top competitors then you are setting yourself up for failure.
Take a glance at the way the top competitor has theirs set up and use that as a measuring stick of where you need to go with yours. Make sure that you are creative, and try to stand out amongst others.
Then of course you have to remember to have some sort of "call to action." This is where you make the potential prospect make a decision. However, make them decide whether or not to purchase the product or sign up for a newsletter. If you only get the latter, at least you can still have contact with them. Just make sure you're not confusing the visitor on where to go next or they'll end up on someone else's site.
Use your web analytics software again to find out what pages visitors are landing on first. If your home page gets the most traffic, make sure there are clear links to your sub-topics. If inner pages are your most popular landing pages, find out if the traffic is targeted.
Keeping your site simple is sometimes the best way to go. Try not to get cute with convoluted language, or multiple steps that make it a bit more difficult to use.
4. You're getting traffic but no sales. Are you sure the traffic is relevant? For organic search engine placement, have you done keyword research and analysis before optimizing your content? Look at your web stats and see where your visitors are coming from. What keywords were they searching for when they landed on your site? How much time does the visitor spend on each page? Sales won't come if your visitors aren't interested in what you're selling. This is why preliminary keyword analysis is so important to search engine marketing.
Then again, there are going to be other times when you're traffic IS relevant and you still aren't getting sales. There are many reasons for this, but you probably have a technical or navigational problem with the site. The best way to deal with this is make it routine to test all the functionalities. This would include the web browsers and all your systems. We always recommend you submit test forms and provide link checks for the site. One of them could be broken.
This is moving away from web site problems but if any part of the sales process takes place away from the site, investigate those areas of your business as well.
1. You aren't getting traffic. You're excited about the big, expensive job the design team just finished on your site. Well it's a shame it isn't making you a cent. Just because it exists doesn't mean people know about it.
Announce it to the world by submitting it to reputable directories and sharing your useful content with others on social bookmarking sites. You can even do some link exchanges just to get your site crawled early on.
Another advantage you have is adding your site to the search engines. However, it's not as easy as it sounds, but with a little SEO practice you can find your business at the top. We recommend using web analytic software to monitor the progress. A good place to start is a free version like Google Analytics.
2) Setting up your site for failure can sometimes be a bit easier, then setting it up for success. I say that because most sites that are generated today for most businesses already have someone, somewhere, out there doing it already. So if the content on your site, and the product you provide, doesn't set you apart from your top competitors then you are setting yourself up for failure.
Take a glance at the way the top competitor has theirs set up and use that as a measuring stick of where you need to go with yours. Make sure that you are creative, and try to stand out amongst others.
Then of course you have to remember to have some sort of "call to action." This is where you make the potential prospect make a decision. However, make them decide whether or not to purchase the product or sign up for a newsletter. If you only get the latter, at least you can still have contact with them. Just make sure you're not confusing the visitor on where to go next or they'll end up on someone else's site.
Use your web analytics software again to find out what pages visitors are landing on first. If your home page gets the most traffic, make sure there are clear links to your sub-topics. If inner pages are your most popular landing pages, find out if the traffic is targeted.
Keeping your site simple is sometimes the best way to go. Try not to get cute with convoluted language, or multiple steps that make it a bit more difficult to use.
4. You're getting traffic but no sales. Are you sure the traffic is relevant? For organic search engine placement, have you done keyword research and analysis before optimizing your content? Look at your web stats and see where your visitors are coming from. What keywords were they searching for when they landed on your site? How much time does the visitor spend on each page? Sales won't come if your visitors aren't interested in what you're selling. This is why preliminary keyword analysis is so important to search engine marketing.
Then again, there are going to be other times when you're traffic IS relevant and you still aren't getting sales. There are many reasons for this, but you probably have a technical or navigational problem with the site. The best way to deal with this is make it routine to test all the functionalities. This would include the web browsers and all your systems. We always recommend you submit test forms and provide link checks for the site. One of them could be broken.
This is moving away from web site problems but if any part of the sales process takes place away from the site, investigate those areas of your business as well.
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