While SEO (search engine optimization) is the method of making your site rank for search engines, the real goal for a business website is not just to be found but to convert it’s visitors into paying customers.

What are some reasons that people who find you and visit your site, don’t become customers?

• When they find you, you didn’t offer what they were looking for (or at least they didn’t see it). You can overcome this obstacle by creating targeted, focused landing pages. If you have several services or types of products, create a page for each one that is really focused and optimized on that one product or service. You may have fewer visitors to that particular page but, the visitors who do go to it, are going to find exactly what they are looking for. Your website will more than likely have a lot more pages when you do it this way, but, that is what you want. More pages that are targeted landing pages.

• Call to action is not clear. Once your visitor has found what they are looking for, what is the next step? Is it to call you, email  you, order from you? You need to make it clear what action it is your visitor needs to take next. Make it really easy to contact you or order from you. If you are asking your visitor to fill out a form, don’t ask for too much information on their first contact with you. People will balk at filling out detailed forms just to do business with you. Make sure you have a good phone number listed as well as your address. Even if you work from home, people like to know you actually exist more than just on the internet.

• Lack of trust. Building up trust for your business is very important. This is where participation in social media can play a role. Build relationships and communicate with people on Facebook and Twitter. Let people get to know you a little bit. Gather testimonials from your current clients and put them on your website. When you use social media, take part in the conversation. Don’t just broadcast what you are doing. Comment on what other people are doing. Basically, be relevant and sincere. Trust takes a little time, don’t wait, start now!

• Fear. Some visitors to your website will not heed your call to action out of fear. They don’t know what you expect from them. This may be because they don’t know how much your product or service will cost. It may be because they don’t know enough about your product or service. It may be because, as we discussed in number the last poin above, they just don’t know if they can trust you. The more information you can provide, the more you can overcome fear.

  If your prices depend on, say, the size of the job or market fluctuations, or whatever, you can always state that your price starts at whatever your lowest price is. This lets your visitor know what the starting point is and will help their comfort level. We have found that some businesses do not like to post prices because they may want to change their prices. Talk to your web designer about a content management system that allows you to make changes to your site without fear of losing information or messing up the design. If your website designer insists on making all of your changes and charging you for them, you may want to find another designer. However, if you prefer that the designer make the changes, it is not unreasonable for them to expect to be paid for the time it takes to make them.

Look at your website and see what you are doing, or not doing to get your visitors to covert to customers. Getting them there, is not enough!

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Let’s face it. Most websites out there are still a brochure on the internet. Why is that? Because, that is what a lot of business owners ask for. They don’t want the trouble or expense of making frequent updates.

In this day and age, that is a crazy! With content management systems (CMS), website owners can easily make updates themselves and have a much more effective website.

A website that is up to date, search engine optimized and user friendly can be the most effective marketing tool available. Think of the things you can do:

• Tell about current specials

• Blog about what your business is doing

• Let people know about special events

• Change prices

• Create a buzz about new products and services

Even by writing this blog article, I am adding value to the Wharton Website Design and Marketing website because I am adding valuable information that is useful to small businesses.

Beyond that, you can incorporate social media into the mix to get the word out even more.

In the internet marketing biz, more information is more, or rather, more valuable information is more. By using CMS you can try out different campaigns, target different markets and add a lot of value to your website.

Get rid of the old fashioned, boring brochure style website. Make your website better than that! Make it a great tool in your marketing arsenal.

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By Christi Dicus Wharton

My Grandpa, Frank Dicus

My Grandpa is 93 years old. He was a very successful businessman. One thing he used to say that has always stuck with me is “Nobody every died from hard work.” He knew that because he worked very hard and his businesses succeeded. He also worked very smart.

Many people are looking for a way to “get rich quick” or a “silver bullet” for success. Think a website is a silver bullet for success? It’s not. Now, you may be wondering why I’m saying that, seeing how we design websites for small businesses. It’s because it’s the truth. There are no silver bullets.

A website is a tool. It can be a very useful and helpful tool if it used correctly. Facebook business pages are tools. Also very useful if used correctly. Unfortunately, you can’t just put up a website or business page and people will come. You have to work to:

• Keep them up to date

• Keep them relevant

• Keep them fresh

• Keep them useful

Technology has made all of our lives easier, but in the world of business, hard work is still a highly valued commodity.

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I may be dating myself here, but I remember those days.

When we wanted to take a trip, we went to the travel agent and booked flights and hotels, and hoped they knew the best spots. We never knew about the unique little resort by the lake unless our travel agent knew about it. We didn’t have any idea what really great restaurant was in the area unless we heard about it from our friends or neighbors. Now, we just go online and check out the flights, compare prices and purchase and print our tickets. Now, we just go online and we can see pictures of the hotels and resorts with their rates on their websites, we can see menus and reviews of the area restaurants on their websites, and find out if there are any special events happening in the area.

When we broke a piece of mom’s wedding china that has been discontinued, we were sad. We couldn’t go online and get a replacement on Ebay or Replacements.com. We may not have even known that there was a place in our own home town that sold older pieces of fine china. Now, we just go online and look for her china pattern, how much it cost and can have it replaced before she even notices it missing.

When we wanted to know our bank balance, we waited for our bank statement and then subtracted any checks that we had written since the statement was printed. We couldn’t go online and see what our current balance was from anywhere in the world.

When we wanted to call the new store that just opened up, we had to call information to get their number or wait for the new phone book. Now, we can just go online and look up their phone number and even get information about their products and any sales they might be having and a map to their location, all on their website.

When we wanted to buy a house, we had to go to the real estate office and look through their out of date MLS books with the small black and white pictures. Now, we just go online and find houses for sale with nice color pictures and sometimes even virtual tours. We don’t have to deal with whatever Realtor greets us at the door. Now, we can go to the agent’s personal website and read about them. We can see what kind of experience they have, read testimonials and see what their interests are so we can find one that we want to work with.

These are but a few examples of how the internet has changed the world. Has your business changed with it? Does your business have a website that is up to date and has information about your great products and services? Does your business have a website at all? It’s hard to believe that we are fast approaching 2010 and there are still businesses, large and small, that do not have websites.

If your business has a website, keep it up to date. If your business doesn’t have a website, get one. Don’t let your competition leave you behind.

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