Thanks to the internet the marketplace has become a much harder, more aggressive place to trade.
I have written this guide to help you target and attract the right customers to your website and products.
There are a number of things that need to be taken into consideration before rushing in and getting your website developed:
1. Do you know your target audience?
Do you know the exact demographic of the customer you want to attract to your business? Understanding your potential customer is probably the most crucial element. For example, if your business sells designer label clothes for men then it's safe to assume that the demographic of your customer looks something like this:
Gender: Male
Age-group: 25 - 35
Wage: £20K+ per annum
Marital Status: single
I have to admit I didn't do my research on this product and simply deduced the above demographic based on the types of people I know that buy designer label clothes. However, if you are serious about identifying your target audience then you should probably undertake some simple customer research as and when you can.
2. Develop a clear business model.
Whether you already own an established, more traditional, offline business or not, a new business model is required as operating online will require a different approach to traditional trading. Here are a number of elements you should think about when developing your business model:
Do you have the capital to develop or source products yourself to sell online? This is an important question as this is probably the most expensive way of trading online. However, in the long-run, if well marketed, it could be the most effective way of generating a profitble income.
If capital is a problem then why not consider selling on behalf of another company? For example, many finance companies work with a number of brokers, introducers, affiliates and intermediaries to sell products for them. If you get your website and marketing strategy right this could be a very profitable way of making money without costing you too much to setup.
Monetise your website. A lot of websites on the internet are primarily information focused - such as blogs or news based websites and don't offer a product as such. However, if your site has an opt-in mailing list and a high-level of traffic then you could consider placing adverts or sending out sales emails to your list on behalf of other companies in return for a commission share.
3. Ensure your website will meet the needs of your business.
It is important to update your website on a regular basis if you want to compete on the top search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. Freshly updated content is probably the second most important element of search engine optimisation (SEO) after effective link-building so this is an important consideration. Your company should intergrate a suitable content management system (CMS) to help you update your site on a regaular basis.
However, online marketing is not the only elements you need to consider when developing your site - you should consider an effective eCommerce payment system to ensure selling products safely and reliably. However, if your business is focused on selling as an intermediary for another company then it is likely that they will supply you with all the relevant bits and pieces to set this up.
4. Free traffic.
Let's face it - free traffic is the best type available so optimise your website to attract it! When developing a new website or re-developing an existing one then you need to build it with SEO in mind. You could consider getting recommendations from an SEO company, however, this could be expensive and it can also be quite difficult to know which of these companies are cowboys and which are legitimate - do your research first! Alternatively you could source as much information about SEO as possible freely from around the web and try to do it yourself...
5. Branding.
Branding is very important when setting up a new website, especially in a competitive business sector. So your brand needs to communicate how your company stands out from the crowd and conveys the type of values your business encompasses.
6. Ensure the website is conversion focused.
It is very important that your website encourages visitors to take action. For example, is it easy for visitors to view and purchase products or services from your site? So you need what marketers have termed a "call-to-action"- effectively directing your customers to where you want them to go. This can be achieved through a number of strategies:
Use active, urgent language that tells the visitor what you want them to do, for example:
* Buy
* Call
* Register
Position your call to action effectively - this should be placed high on the page and relatively central so that it stands out to visitors.
Create space around the call to action to draw attention to it and make it stand out - big, bold and beautiful is the opinion of many online business owners, however, its also important to think tastefully and try not to put visitors off completely.
7. Web analytics.
Effective, succesful online businesses are obsessed with reports and quite rightly-so. Without web analytics integrated in your website then you're "driving blind". Using a tool like Google Analytics can help you to get answers and solve a multitude of problems. The type of information you can get from this includes:
- Where your visitors are coming from.
- How visitors are responding to your website.
- Whether visitors are leaving the site before reaching the sales conversion pages.
- Top landing pages, etc.
Photo by Salvatore Vuono
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