You must have heard that it’s necessary to have a website if you are serious about making your business a global one, and you should be, but you probably never knew that your website needs to be structured in a certain way so it does not turn into a glorified business card.
I am not talking about a particular template to design your site, I am talking about some components that should not be missing on your website if you ever want to make serious sales from it.
Having a website that does not increase your revenue or bring in more customers often is actually a loss.
It’s just like having an office that customers don’t visit.
Or like paying for the flight ticket to a town you need not visit… I don’t know why that example is popping up but I guess you get my point; it’s a complete waste of money.
The thing is most of the web developers in Nigeria are not aware of that fact.
They believe their job is just to combine bits and bytes together (no pun intended really).
The reason you have a website is primarily to make sales/profit directly or indirectly period.
In this report, we show you five things you need on your website or your to be a website if you must rack in sales from it.
Table of Contents
Traffic
Why have a site no one visits in the first place?
One of the most important things any business needs is visibility. If nobody knows about your business/website, you won’t make any sale.
People don’t buy what they don’t know.
The reason why you buy MTN is that you know MTN. They are all over the place; your television, social media, billboards.
That’s why you have social media.
READ ALSO: How To Find Viral Content On Instagram To Post On Your Page
They just want you to, first of all, know they exist.
You must set in place strategies that will bring people to your website.
Strategies that will make them know you exist.
HOW?.
Write great content: Content drives the internet. It’s the engine of the social web.
Ever searched for information on google and found a new website? You found it because of their content.
You may not know how crucial this is but you already know of Business World Africa because of this content you’re reading
Paid Traffic: This is a scenario where you pay the internet giants to have your site, product or service shown to people.
Example, I have had to pay Facebook so that people can see what I am doing and it is highly effective.
While content adds traffic, paid traffic multiplies traffic.
The great thing is that it really does not cost an arm and leg.
It is very cheap especially if done right.
Great Landing Page
When you finally get people to your site, what do they see?
A landing page is a page that serves as the entry point to a website or you can read more about it here.
Do they see things that will compel them to patronize you or do they see things that will knock them off your site?
If you visit a site like Jumia, you will see things that make you want to bring out your atm card and make a purchase.
You don’t need to be in the e-commerce sector to have a great landing page.
To fully optimize your landing page you’ll need one or a combination of these:
- A free gift
- Well crafted sales copy that not just informs but pushes the customer to buy something
- A bonus or discount
- Entrance to a benefit (especially for membership sites like Facebook)
Design
Your appearance affects how you are addressed and that is the logic behind a well-crafted landing page.
The most logical of men still bows to beautiful designs.
Designs are important; they help convey your brand image and unique selling proposition.
Imagine visiting the MTN website and not being blinded by yellow?
It’s them. Its who they are. That’s their unique strategy.
The right things at the right place properly fitted with great graphics and spiced up with your brand images go a long way in buying over your customer because buying is majorly an emotional thing.
Sales Funnel
Ok, this is a bit tricky and complex but I’ll try to simplify it.
A sales funnel like a normal funnel is a system put in place to transport a set of people from cold prospects to clients.
The same way a normal funnel helps you direct the flow of a substance into an intended area.
If you don’t have this in place, you’re leaving a lot of people/money on the table.
If you ever really want to get the best out of your website, you need to put this in place.
Contacts
Do you have a database of people who have indicated interest in your site/product either by visiting your site or engaging with your online activities?
You need to. That’s the beauty of having a website.
Recently, the Imo State government pursued some traders from their stores and demolished the stores. Imagine the lose.
The goods lost.
The brand images lost and worst of all they don’t have any contact list of their customers which means they will start afresh all over again.
But when you devise a system that enables you to capture their contacts voluntarily or involuntarily, you win.
It has become a popular quote amongst internet marketers that the money is in the list and I have found it to be very true.
Do as much as you can to get the contact of anybody that visits your site.
Ways you can do this include:
- Asking
- Giving a gift in exchange for their contacts
- Installing a facebook pixel on your site
The questions now remain; which of these are you doing and which are you letting go?