The Online Attraction

Thinking about how to get your business out there online set me thinking about something completely different – going out on the town. We’ve all done it. We’ve all had brilliant & not so brilliant experiences of it & strangely enough, those experiences kind of mirror the way in which you can get your website right or completely wrong.

Picture it – you walk into a club, you’re looking great, feeling great & literally exude confidence.  You know you’re funny; you’re intelligent in fact you’re everything you’ve ever wanted to be.  You’re strutting through the crowds; all eyes on you... 

Now stop; from here on in, it can go one of four ways…

1. As you start to look round the club it begins to dawn on you that the words hardcore on the flyer didn’t refer to the music
2. You’re strutting slows to a halt when you realise that maybe, the white flared suit & large circa 1970’s John Travolta hairdo you’re sporting, may not be the style of choice anymore
3. You see people looking appreciatively at you nodding their heads in approval, then when you open your mouth you can only speak in Neanderthal style grunts

Or …

4. All the things you know about yourself are expressed in your image, your body language & in the way you talk to the people around you

It’s the difference between, having a brilliant night out with new friends or running back to the safety of your sofa, slightly embarrassed.

Come on we all want to be number 4, not just personally, but in business as well.  Potential customers will judge you based on your website and if you get it right, you’re onto a winner.

Picture it – you go online to search for a new service or look at a service that’s been recommended to you.  More often than not if you’re looking for a business service, it’s an area you don’t know much about, & most likely relates to an issue or challenge you’re facing. 

So what is it you’re looking for?

1. You want a service that’s popular, established & well used

• When people search for websites they go one of two ways – either they know your name & enter that or the use a more generic search term
• It’s also true that over 80% of people go to websites featured only on the 1st page of search results

You’ve got to be seen in the right place & this is where search engine optimisation comes into play.  SEO as its known revolves around the importance of a website and its relevance to a users’ search.  It isn’t possible to buy these positions from the major search engines, but it is possible for specialists to help your business win these great positions. They do this by selecting the keywords or search terms that are used most often, by your market, to find your services.

2.  You want a service that projects the right image for you

• As in life people tend to make a split second decision about what they see in front of them.  The picture you create at the start of a visitors’ online experience will determine how they view you going forward.
• It’s also true that the more up to date, relevant & interesting your website appears, the more likely visitors are to stay, rather than move onto your competitors

Having an interactive site with plenty of interesting ways to get in touch with you (or calls to action) is the way to make visitors stay.  A content management system (CMS) is the tool used to achieve this as it allows you to change the content and structure of your site in real time.  No special technical skills are needed, and within minutes new pages or whole new sections of the website can be added, creating opportunities for visitors to engage with your business on or offline.

3. You want a service that says the right things to you in the right way

• In research recently carried out 78% of recipients said they would visit another site if the ‘business website used bad English’.
• It’s also true that the more you back up your knowledge with evidence the more likely visitors are to trust what you say

Well constructed content can make or break a website.  You know all the things that make your business brilliant; you need to get them across in the right way to potential customers, so that they understand the core values of your business from the outset.  Making sure that everything is spelt right and that your grammar is bang on is vitally important; but you also need to demonstrate your knowledge, your skills, your experience & your successes, in a way that says to people ‘we are the company for you’.  There are many techniques to enable you to do this, so here are a couple of ideas...

• News / articles – these can be about you, your customers, your suppliers or your industry & remember they can be written by any of those people.  You can keep it on your website or you can use it to create interesting newsletters (just like this one!).  The key is to be informative, up to date & relevant
• Blogs – these are in essence a more personal version of your news.  It’s about creating additional interactive lines of communication using the opinions, ideas & comments from your people; then giving customers & prospects the opportunity to add their own
• Customer reviews – allowing customers to review your service online demonstrates how open you are about the quality of your service.  They also validate the gains customers make by working with you as opposed to your competitors

Overall you need to look at your business in the same way as you would meeting someone for the first time – make sure they can find you; make sure you look right & make sure you say the right things.  When you do, they all pull together to express exactly why people should be working with you.

Get all this right & I don’t think you’ll be the one crying on the sofa.

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