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Stop the Revolving Door on Your Web site.

Posted by Jeffrey Cohen on Wed, Dec 28, 2011 @ 05:43 AM
Have you taken a look at your Web site statistics lately?

Have you taken a look at your Web site statistics lately? As Web users get increasingly surfing-savvy, they are spending less and less time perusing sites they come across. Their initial visit may last as little as 10 seconds. If your site doesn't immediately rivet a visitor's interest, he or she is gone -- possibly never to return.

You have as little time to lock-in interest as does a highway billboard. And, once you gain that interest, you need mechanisms to guide a visitor to action: purchase your product, generate a lead, inquire about your services -- whatever you deem a successful outcome of a Web visit.

Statistics show that it is not uncommon for only one Web visitor in 500 to take action on a Web site. For some reason, most Web site owners find this an acceptable ratio. As a comparison, say you operated a traditional retail store on Main Street U.S.A. If 499 persons out of every 500 who walked into your store immediately left -- without even a glance at your merchandise -- would you find that acceptable? Of course not. You'd go out of business rather quickly.

So how do you halt the "revolving door" on the Web?

A critical step is to give your Web visitors an alluring and easy way to interact with you. And we're not talking about your site's "Contact Us" link.

The vast majority of Web sites rely on their site's "Contact Us" page for inbound inquiries. This is one of the biggest mistakes a company can make.

Statistically, the "Contact Us" page is one of the least visited pages on a Web site. Why? When a person is making an initial evaluation of a company's products or services, the last thing he or she will do is pick up the phone or send an e-mail. Consciously or unconsciously, he or she doesn't want to be bombarded with a sales pitch or get on another "spam" e-mail list.

So, if not via the "Contact Us" page, how do you encourage someone to engage your services? It's easier than you might think...

Even in today's high-tech interconnected world, still the most powerful word in all of marketing is "free". Give your Web visitors a taste of your services. An easy way is to create a couple-page PDF with some tips or insights about your industry -- and offer it as a free download on your Web site.

One of our clients is a company called Hayward Turnstiles, Inc. Visit www.haywardturnstiles.com and notice the small button in the upper right that says "Download our FREE Turnstile Guide". Simple techniques like this can be hugely successful at bringing the "revolving door" to a rapid stop. They jump-start the interaction, generate leads, create fertile and fresh databases for permission marketing e-mails and e-newsletters -- you name it.

Instead of a 1-in-500 interaction ratio, maybe it becomes 200-in-500. Now isn't that much more reasonable?

This is just one of many business-building techniques we offer our clients. ImageWorks specializes in making sites work for companies -- not just be pretty pictures on the screen.

So stop the revolving door. Lock in business. With a few small techniques, it's easy.

Topics: Web Marketing

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