5 Keys to Creating a Website that Sells

Your website is essentially your storefront, business card and significant marketing piece all rolled into one.  How it affects your visitors and customers is then essential to your success.  By creating a memorable experience, customers are sure to return time and time again.  The following are the five keys that I believe will help you create a website that sells.

 

Key 1 – Make your website interactive

As the internet continues to grow and evolve it’s becoming more important to create a community around your business. You want to engage your visitors and customers which can be accomplished in a number of ways.

Make your website interactive to create a community and engage your visitors Share on X

You can:

* Provide a forum

* Post surveys or polls

* Enable visitors and customers to review or rank items.  For example, a “How valuable was this article?” question and a scale of 1 to 5 stars or a ranking from 1-10

* Offer a blog and inspire comments and feedback

* Host contests and sweepstakes

* Publish video and audio content as well as written content.  This gives users another way to access you and your personality.

 

Key 2 – Make sure your website provides value

People go online for a number of reasons.  They go online to research a potential purchase, to seek solutions to a problem they’re having and to be entertained.  If your website provides all three; products, information, and entertainment, then you’re in great shape.  The good news is your content can provide both information and entertainment and, when written well, can also inspire purchases.

Here are a few ideas to provide value for your customers and prospects:

* How to articles, videos, and audio

* Tips articles, videos, and audio

* Case studies

* Workbooks and reports

* Interviews with experts

* Product reviews.

 

Key 3 – Make sure your website is easy to navigate

Our attention spans are so short now that it takes a visitor only about 3 seconds to decide whether they’re going to stay on your website or click away. If your site is laid out nicely, with products and services, information, prices, FAQs, and content easy to find then people are more likely to hang out.  The longer they stay on your site the more likely they are to make a purchase or to return again.

To make your site easy to navigate consider:

* Keeping your site simple

* Your pages are uniform with the same options and appearance

* If you have a lot of content, great!  Use drop-down menus and organise your content by topic for easier access

* Offer a search function where users can search for products, services, or content topics quickly and easily

* Provide a way for users to easily go back to previous pages.  A back key is an option, however, if every page has the same options and drop-down menus, including the ability to quickly return to the home page, a visitor will always be able to find what they need

* Test your website’s appearance on different browsers to make sure every visitor has a good experience.

 

Key 4 – Make your website easy on the eyes

Ever visit a website and the text was so small or the colours so incompatible that you couldn’t read a word?  Readability is critical to a website that sells.

Make sure:

* your colours are easy on the eyes

* graphics aren’t distracting

* formatting like underlining, bold and italics is kept to a minimum

* spacing between sentences and paragraphs is adequate

* font size is large enough for people to read and the font is easy to read.

 

Key 5 – Give them a soft sell

People expect to be sold to and they’re looking for it – they’re wary.  Instead of hitting website visitors with a hard sell, provide information, solve their problems and show them the benefits of your products or services.  They’ll be much more receptive and appreciative.

Use your website to provide information, solve problems and show the benefits of your products or services Share on X

The downloadable report or video you provide will reflect your expertise and offer real value in exchange for contact details. This is the start of your relationship with your prospective customer. You can then continue to build it using email marketing.

Creating a website that sells requires a structured approach and a desire to create the best experience possible for your visitors.  Once you’ve created your website, consider testing it and asking associates, friends and family for their opinion but take care it doesn’t get designed by a committee!