One of the things I often notice on websites is that I'm
not sure where to go or what to do when I arrive. There
are those websites that are simply online brochures that
tell me all about the features of a product or service, but
don't ask anything of me. There are other websites that
give me a headache, as they try to send me in too many
directions at once. When faced with too many choices, I
become overwhelmed and ultimately leave the site without
taking any action.
How do you get your visitor to stay on your site and
convert to a prospect? By presenting one clear call to
action on every page of your site.
Do you want the visitor to listen to an audio clip? How
about signing up for your email newsletter? Do you want
the visitor to call a toll-free number and listen to a
message? Would you like them to subscribe to your blog
updates? Do you have a free ecourse that you're offering to
your visitors? Don't be shy about telling your visitor
what to do. Most people don't want to have to think when
they arrive at a site (myself included), and are more than
happy to follow whatever directions you provide and actions
that you outline.
For owners of service businesses, I strongly believe that
the most important call to action that should appear on
your site is asking your visitor to get on your email list.
This information becomes the gold in your marketing
funnel. You begin to build a list in this fashion, and can
email your contacts on this list on a regular basis with
special offers, new programs, or just news updates.
The primary way that I capture someone's contact
information is through my email broadcast service, aWeber,
which offers me the coding for a subscription form that I
can place on any page of my website. Once they have opted
in to my list, they begin to receive my email newsletter,
as well as emails about special offers, sales, and other
pertinent news about my business.
Too many times I hear my clients lament that they're
getting traffic to their websites, but the phone isn't
ringing. I think it's pretty unrealistic for you to expect
a visitor to buy from you immediately upon "meeting" you
via your website or becoming acquainted with your service,
unless you offer a very highly specialized product or
service that visitors cannot obtain elsewhere. Think of
your own buying habits. I'll bet that you fall in the 7-10
"touches" category that marketing experts say is needed in
order to get someone to purchase what you're selling. What
do I mean by a "touch"? It could be an email newsletter
that you send out regularly, a direct mail postcard that
you send, a phone call that you make, or a lunch date that
you set. It takes roughly 7-10 contacts (touches) for
someone to begin to get to know you, respect you, and like
you enough to make the decision to buy from you.
If your offer is compelling enough, 1%-3% of the visitors
to your website will convert, or take the action you want
them to take. What constitutes a compelling offer? Once
upon a time, it was simply an invitation to subscribe to
your email newsletter. However, it seems that everyone is
writing an email newsletter these days, and with the levels
of spam growing increasingly larger day-by-day, a free
email newsletter is no longer as enticing as it once was.
Instead, offer a free giveaway that provides a solution to
a problem that keeps your visitor up at night. Make it
compelling enough that your visitors doesn't hesitate to
give you his name and primary email address.
To be effective, your call to action needs to prominently
displayed on your homepage, not hidden mid-way down the
page in a paragraph of text, or "above the fold", to borrow
an old newspaper term. In this case, your call to action,
should be the first thing a visitor sees when arriving at
your homepage. In some cases, you may want to have the
call to action appear on every page, making it crystal
clear to your visitors what action you want them to take.
What compelling piece of information can you offer visitors
to capture their names and email addresses? Once you have
that info, what is your plan to follow up regularly?
Creating a clear call to action on your website, along with
an effective follow-up strategy, will measurably increase
your sales. Isn't that we all want from our businesses?
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Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business
Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals
learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their
expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To
claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing
Toolkit, visit her site at http://www.OnlineBizU.com . Ask
Donna an Internet Marketing question at
http://www.AskDonnaGunter.com .
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