August 3, 2016
If you run a business with a website, it is essential that you understand the three keys to success online, they will help you grow your business. Most importantly, once you understand them, you need to take steps to change and improve things and measure the results.
No matter what your business does, whether you run an online shop (eCommerce) or if you are promoting a service, the three keys to success remain the same in principle, following them is sure to help get more new business and grow.
So what are the three keys to success online? Below is a summarised version, if you would like to discuss any of these points in depth, please do reach out to me with an email, or call me on 01252 329160.
Key to Success 1 – Ensure your website is visible online
Having a nice looking website that nobody can find is rather like having a fantastic shop and not being on the high street, in other words, it’s no good if nobody can find it.
This is the first key to success, you need to make sure your website is found online when people are searching for your product or service, you should also make sure people who meet the demographic of your target audience are being shown your product or service.
Sounds good, but how?
One of the best methods of making sure your site is found online is to ensure your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is in order, you don’t need to be a web developer or an SEO guru to do this, there are some straightforward things you can do to make some immediate improvements, speak to our team if you would like some basic, free tips, we are always happy to share. Or, if you would like a professional to help with your SEO, talk to us and we will put together a plan to meet your business goals.
If you have budget, it is also worth considering pay per click advertising, you can promote your website on Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and a number of other platforms. Another great way of getting visibility is to remarket your website, this involves showing your sponsored adverts to visitors who have previously been to your website.
Make sure you are also posting on social media, interacting, sharing and growing your audience, the bigger the audience, the more free ‘eyes’ that will be seeing your business.
Make sure you also capture every email address you can, grow a database of potential clients and send them regular newsletters and useful information to keep yourself in their mind.
Depending on your product and service, there are many other ways of making your website visible, these can be as simple as displaying your website address on the side of a van, through to an advert on the radio or flyers and leaflets showing yor domain name.
Make a plan and ensure you have decided how you are going to make your site visible online and how you are going to get your potential customers to find it.
Step two – OK, so my website is visible, now what?
Once the website is visible, you need to ensure people are actually clicking through to the site, if they don’t click through, you won’t have any traffic, which means no new business.
To achieve this, it is critical that you make sure your adverts and online listings are being found be people who are actually interested in your product or service.
To get it right you need to research your keywords, look at what phrases competitors are targeting and decide on a list of search terms you want to be found for.
Then, you need to ensure the message is right when your site is found, whether it is a sponsored listing or an organic search result, if the message does not act as a call to action, people will be far less likely to click through to your site, you need to give them a reason to click through, so think about what will grab attention and make people want to find out more and tailor your online message around this.
The traffic is coming, what is the third key to success?
If your website is visible online and you have a decent flow of traffic clicking through, the final key to success is making sure that the traffic is turning into business.
Sounds easy but how?
Let’s say you have 100 people visit your website, do you know how many of them would complete your goal? Most business owners I speak to have no idea and worse, many don’t have a goal or even know what a goal is.
So, make sure you have a goal, this means that when a visitor comes to your site, you know what you want them to do and what action you want them to take on the site. It could be that they fill in a form, sign up, download something or make a purchase for example, these are all goals (which can also be classed as a conversion), it makes sense to have multiple goals.
Don’t assume people will call or email you, these days you need to be smart, it is no good relying on people having to make an effort, you need to make it easy, our experience has shown that giving away a free guide is a superb way of capturing visitors names and email addresses, just think about what information your visitors would love to have and create a downloadable PDF that gives them exactly that, in return you can get email addresses and names to follow up and start a conversation with these new prospects with a view to converting them into business.
Here is an example of a PDF download we created for one of our clients who specialises in forklift truck training, this one is very simple, but highly effective:
Don’t stop there, you need to work out what your conversion rate is (for example: 100 visitors, 20 PDF downloads = 20% conversion rate), then get to work on increasing it.
Some great ways of improving conversions and interaction with your website visitors are:
- – Have an online live chat system on your website
- – Download PDF option with ‘must have’ information
- – Free giveaway, consultation, advice or other offer
- – Other special offers, vouchers, discounts or deals
- – Newsletter signup
- – Make sure your website functions on a mobile/tablet device (phone numbers should be click to call)
Making sure you have a plan in place for each of the three keys to success will help to grow your business and make sure you work towards dominating your online marketplace.
We can help with all three steps, it’s what we do!
For a free analysis of your website, visit www.total-seo.co.uk and request a free review right now, or, if you would like to talk to us about your website, call 01252 329160.
