Many see their website as just a virtual billboard, offering clients a visually appealing advertisement that will eventually translate to sales. While establishing your brand is a crucial first step, there are many other goals that your website can achieve to increase sales and customer loyalty. These include providing comprehensive resources to educate clients, increasing communication with existing clients, and generating direct sales through e-commerce.
Your website should give visitors a complete and evolving overview of your business. This is beneficial in three ways as it attracts new clients, maintains existing clients, and routes business resources. Maintaining a blog on your website about your business’s latest activities establishes your company as an active resource for professional expertise. Additionally, educational content is an excellent way to boost your rank on search engines. Website can also build a source of communication through e-mail newsletter opt-in campaigns.
Comprehensive online information about your business also helps route your resources to where they are truly needed. With solid website resources, people can decide if your product or service is a good fit for them and get basic information such as operating hours. This frees your personnel up to make sales rather than fielding rudimentary questions about your business.
Another way your website can benefit your business is through direct sales, or e-commerce. If your business sells standardized, shippable products, it is a prime candidate for e-commerce. Image Management clients such as Master Appliance and D.W. Davies have achieved excellent results with online sales. With e-commerce on your website, visitors can go from being virtually unaware of your business to paying customers immediately.
Your business deserves website development that fulfills as many goals as possible. Educating potential clients, maintaining interest with current clients, and driving direct sales are a few of the ways your website can go beyond simple branding to generate real value for you and your clients.
Published on November 27, 2012