Amazon Prime: Online Marketing by Prime – Amazon.co.uk

Amazon Prime: Online Marketing by Prime – Amazon.co.uk: by Jason Li 2013 ©
 

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT (For Marketeers Regarding Amazon Prime)

“Try Amazon Prime FREE for one month: Unlimited FREE One-Day Delivery on millions of eligible items; Express Delivery for £4.49 per item (delivery before 1pm).”

“Over 300,000 popular Kindle Books to borrow for free, as frequently as one book per month and with no due dates.”

(Taken from Amazon Prime)

 

Amazon Prime – what you have just read is about a service that is changing the world forever.

It’s the single most important business copywriting and strategic marketing reveal that you must analyse and understand if you want your business to succeed.

So Am I Promoting Amazon As A Secret Amazon Prime Employee?

No... Although - I admit straight away: I LOVE AMAZON.

For me... first came the internet, and then came GOOGLE and Amazon as the world’s most useful internet services in the world.

And it’s going to be for the foreseeable future possibly humankinds most valuable consumer supplier of goods and services.

Here’s Why (And How Amazon Prime will do this)...

Amazon has played its card in how it is going to get even more rich, and you’re about to see why this is with Amazon Prime.

What is Amazon Prime?

There’s some clue in the opening paragraphs so I’m going to state how important it is and have you read it again:

“Try Amazon Prime FREE for one month: Unlimited FREE One-Day Delivery on millions of eligible items; Express Delivery for £4.49 per item (delivery before 1pm).”

“Over 300,000 popular Kindle Books to borrow for free, as frequently as one book per month and with no due dates.”

In summary, at the time of writing in June 2013, customers get to borrow free Kindle Books and enjoy free delivery. Plus there are streamlining movies services too.

So you see, for those who understand how effective direct marketing and strategic marketing is... Amazon is going to be

The De facto World’s Greatest Direct Marketing Business!

Here’s some stats to prove it:

Amazon was launched in the United States in 2005.

(Taken from Wired.com) In the fiscal year of 2012, analysts at Morningstar suggested that Prime members grew from 7 million to nearly 10 million. Prime membership was greatly boosted by promotions to customers who bought a Kindle Fire.

In total, Amazon had about 182 million customers during the year, so Prime members make up about 4 per cent of the total customer base.

So here is the significant bit about profit: Prime customers accounted for $78 more in profit before interest and taxes per customer than non-Prime customers, as revealed by Morningstar analyst R.J. Hottoy.

And now the comparison bit: The average Amazon customer when calculating the operating profit from the 182 million customers is $10 per customer.  So Amazon Prime customers are about

SEVEN TO EIGHT TIMES MORE PROFITABLE

than a non-Amazon Prime member.

And now for the insane bit: about a third of Amazon’s profit come from just 4 per cent of customers who buy stuff on Amazon.

So how does Amazon go on to be the de facto direct marketing business on the internet?

Amazon Prime is capturing all the people in the world:

a)      Who have money to spend.

b)      Who are happy to buy direct... that is online.

c)       By offering people with money the convenience, opportunity to save money, and the service of wider selection of goods; so that it is easy to just go to one-stop Amazon to see if what the buyer wants is listed by searching Amazon’s product database.

d)      By keeping in touch with people who keep on spending by being constantly relevant...Prime members keep revisiting... and spending.

Once you’ve got used to buying books, Amazon’s fantastic web designers and copywriters make it easy for you to notice other items in other categories by:

·         Promoting other books.

·         Promoting non-book items such as brand name watches to streaming films to baby toys.

Emails

The secret power of Amazon is in emails.

Amazon sends you regular emails on all sorts of categories to tempt you to buy special offers. It’s really hard for consumers to resist.

Just think of near enough every item that are resold in retail shops (eg. Your Armani watch or Nike T-shirt) in the most popular and largest locations. Think of John Lewis, or Oxford Street in London, or even the Trafford Centre in Manchester. Amazon will likely have the item available.

Think about it, you can kit out your whole home by buying off Amazon without having to leave the sofa.

But Amazon Destroys Business

Isn’t that what locals always say when a successful innovative business comes along.

(Hey... there’s nothing better than a local business with tradition and history.)

In fact, we’re lucky we live in a free market system and innovation is here to improve customers’ buying power, or else monopolies can dictate products and prices.

So yes, you may not like your Tesco’s taking customers from local businesses, but look at it this way... if there are two restaurants on the same street, and one is busy and the other hardly has any patrons...

Is It The Restaurant That Is Struggling That Is Wrong

Or Obviously It’s The Consumer Who’s Wrong?

So the question must be posed? Is it big businesses that destroy local businesses, or consumers who are not considerate and change to shop at big businesses; or the local business who cannot be bothered to innovate and improve? Hold that thought.

Amazon Prime Innovation

Remember the paragraph describing the services of Amazon Prime?

Amazon would have spend months analysing the customer research data to come up with their new compelling strategy of capturing the segment of

The world’s most CONSISTENT SPENDERS in the online direct marketing category

During a history of innovation and technology to improve humankind, humans cannot resist technology.

You see – humans choose the easy option when faced with similar choices (a consumer psychology tip that can help you win orders by just mastering this technique alone – it’s in the ebook The Goose Bump Effect in more detail.)

Here are some examples to prove it:

·         We wore clogs and moved onto shoes.

·         Transport was once by horseback, now it’s by car, bikes, trains, airplane (and skateboard).

·         Messages were sent by letters, and now sent by text, social media or email.

·         Once we drove into town to buy books or a film... now you just search Amazon.

And this is where we are today: Innovation, convenience, better pricing, wide selection of goods and so on and so on.

That’s why Amazon Prime is the most important development in direct marketing.

Scared by Amazon Prime?

You don’t have to be. You just need to keep being systematically pro-active.

Here’s some ideas that might help your business:

·         Don’t ever stop innovating even if you are top of the tree.

·         And don’t forget the importance of direct marketing. Keep in contact with your customers.

·         Make sure you systematically collect data and research your customers.

Thanks for reading. Please share this article with friends who like Amazon.

 

Read more ...

Call to Action Best Practices (including Buttons)

Call to Action Best Practices (including Buttons) : by Jason Li 2013 ©

Call to Actions (CTA) are really important...

In fact critical...

Whether it’s on a web page, sales letter, or email...

Get this wrong and sales conversions will be low...

Get good at it and your enquiries and sales conversions will allow your business to grow.

How else does Call to Action affect business?

Call today to register for the ‘Annual prize draw’ ***01234 5678910*** It ONLY takes 40 seconds! Registrations end 5pm this Friday 31st

·         Call to Action affects how many enquiries you get.


·         Call to Action provides better qualified leads.


·         (It’s unusual – but yes, Call to Action) Reduces labour costs. You see, sales people spend lots of unprofitable time cold calling or visiting prospects at the very earliest stage of the sales cycle with no idea if the prospect is ready to go all the way to conclude by making an order; especially in business-to-business and complex sales. This means working with a prospect at the low interest/enquiry stage leads to low response rates and makes the business inefficient.


·         Call to Action brings forward interested buyers because they are not sold to. Buyers can sniff out a sales pitch all day long... because they get pitched all day long. But after reading your copy, prospects that contact you have decided they want to seriously consider working with you. Otherwise, why would a CEO of a business with legal, operational, human resource, turnover, logistics, product, brand, Inland Revenue issues, and so on make an enquiry?


·         Call to Action provides your sales people more productive time on working on seriously interested prospects.


·         A good Call to Action can determine whether a prospect makes an enquiry today or in 6 months. (However, you may need to provide an incentive to bring forward an enquiry.)


·         A good Call to Action motivates interested prospects to consider if they are ready to take action now (or very soon after assessing their own situation on the spot.)

Case study: Email Campaign business-to-business using Call to Action

I manage an email campaign to certain businesses. Many businesses that receive emails from this campaign usually have a professional gatekeeper (I call them pro gk’s – I imagine if they had goalie gloves they would be brilliant because nothing would get past them). Therefore by telephone the owners are always out of reach. (It’s like trying to contact Richard Branson you would think sometimes for some sales people due to well trained gk’s.)

As the email is genuinely targeted at business owners (or directors as a minimum decision making level), the emails have to be excellent in getting their attention and them to read it (and we can’t use Meercats because they don’t work for this campaign).

Criteria for success from the email campaign:

·         Business owners get 100s of emails... so they must be very interesting to get read... I can’t emphasis this enough.


·         Ensure owners see the value of the product and services.


·         To drip feed value over a series of emails.


·         Ensure the whole offer is of better value and differentiated from competitors.


·         The email is viral enough to get passed around.


·         Different decision makers see value in the email (this allows the buyers to assess the email content and if the products and services really are compelling enough for the board room to make it a priority).


·         Generate enquiries from serious prospects (The general buying and thinking process of buyers will be to go on the website, look at competitors, speak to friends – even the wife), and carry out internal investigations.


·         Get the company in front of decision makers at an early stage and build up a relationship... even if the prospective buyers already have long standing relationships or in a contract.


·         Be a means to build up a relationship with decision makers where cold calling and sales reps can’t due to little success leaving messages and voice mail with admin staff.


·         The sales staff earns more commission and have better holidays as they are spending time on closing not speculation.


·         Sales staff are travelling less miles and in better health as time is organised with serious buyers only... bordering on order taking as much as possible.


·         After all this... the call to action must draw out interested buyers to call this company, not another, and to call sooner rather than later.

So here are some Call to Action observations:

Due to writing direct response sales copywriting, and taking part in a number of marketing communications campaigns, I have gathered some interesting titbits of knowledge about Call to Actions which may be of interest (Please note your own A/B split tests can give different results):

WIIFM Value: Your Call to Action should answer why your prospect should take an action. Remember, humans are inherently selfish. Your Call to Action must answer “What’s in it for me?” better than any other competitor.

It’s easy to do: Even if your product or service is complicated. Simplify the starting process so that prospects can get up and running in a matter of seconds. (If you struggle, some tips are in the beginners guide book ‘The Goose Bump Effect’ in the top left above Services.

Urgency: Create a time limited offer. Such as 40% discount or a free matrix/chart worth £20 if you register by X date.

Bigger is better: Generally, if your Call to Action is larger than the surrounding copy and designs... your Call to Action has a better chance.

Easy navigation: Prospects who are interested will want to get going now. If they’re sat on the fence, making it so simple to start now will also help you persuade the ones who are just “so close to registering.”

Remind them what to expect: Ideas include: download a file, request information, add a product to shopping cart, subscribe to a newsletter, navigate the next page, download a trial, submit form, request a call back, register for prize draw, and so on.

Stong guarantee: Humans are risk averse because they don’t like change. We’re programmed to avert being hurt. A strong guarantee reduces this worry.

No links, ads or cluttered text (on web pages) next to the Call to Action: Humans cannot multi-task. Humans cannot focus on two complicated things simultaneously.

F-shaped Call to Actions: Humans start at the top left (in the Western world) and move the eyes to the right, then down a bit, then across again, and then down again. If your Call to Action can mimic this, if will catch the prospects eye.

Simple Products have Call to Actions above the fold: You can have the Call to Action right at the top if it is a very simple and universally known product. Many prospects won’t need to read the copy or look at the pictures to ‘get it.’

Complex products have Call to Actions delayed: The more complex and more you have to educate, add value and differentiate, the further down you should have your Call to Action. Putting your offer and what you want to be paid too early reduces your chances of success because prospects can’t understand how you are worth the value.

Colour: Orange or Red against a contrasting background can assist conversion rates. Red colours generate a feeling of aggression and increased heart rates. This is where marketing consumer psychologists will tell you that many people make decisions based on emotions. You can use red for strong actions such as ‘buy’ and soft actions such as ‘request contact’ (and use a blue colour for trust).

Copy: The wording makes a big difference to response rates. If you just have a simple ‘buy’, you are risking leaving this open to the 100% convinced only to buy this product, and from you, and right now to take action. Sometimes an 80% convinced prospect is ready to go to 100%, and your copy has to take them there.

Of course... if you’re just another HR payroll software, plumber, interior designer, or tax accountant who provides great service or other commodity out there, a Call to Action alone won’t help you too much.

Spend a bit of time improving the product so that you are more helpful (of value) and differentiated than other competitors, and your conversion rates will naturally improve.

My call to action to you: Share this with another person who likes business articles about sales conversions right now. 

Time to do this: only 30 seconds so start right now.

Karma points: plenty (and you’re friend might be delighted you thought of them too.)

Further reading:

How a counsellor like Oprah Winfrey will outsell a salesperson: trust and buying psychology

Read more ...

Free business tips: Ready to create a stampede?

Free business tips: Ready to create a stampede? : by Jason Li 2012 ©

Free business tips, we all love them...

I do. I like to read ideas that can help me...

And I pay for ideas that work too.

In fact, there are some products I’ve bought...

Just after finding the free version provided great value...

I would never have seen value without learning about them from their free business tip.

Take the great sales gurus Gitomer and Brian Tracey; I initially read a few articles they wrote, and watched YouTube videos for free to know what value they could bring to me. Since taking the free information and actively trying some of the ideas I have found they worked really well; and so I went on to buy products from them.

Picture taken from www.Telegraph.co.uk.

Iceberg theory: Sample business tips will prevent losing prospects interests

How many prospective customers do you speak to? Or if you hire sales people then how many do your sales people speak to, or your whole business including website, leaflet ads, newspaper ads, word-of-mouth – how many do you speak to? It could be hundreds per month. As you may realise, there are so many ways new prospects are interacting with your business without you as the owner knowing about it.

Another problem is how many of these prospects are interested or would be happy to start using your products and services and haven’t: “Because of just one thing....”?

It is usually because of that “one thing” that prospects don’t turn into customers, they walk away; and you won’t know why because no-one in your business spoke to them about your offer - so how could you know? They saw your ad and were keen to buy - apart from just one thing. “Oh come on, give a business a chance,” I hear you say.

At this point you didn’t even know they were ‘in your shop’, so-to-speak. In fact, the sales process started when they saw your ad or heard about you from a friend, not in your shop or your forecourt or on the phone. Selling started before any human interaction.

Imagine an iceberg, and think of a huge one as you will like this. The actual people you speak to are possibly only 1 – 3% of the conversion of a direct mail or newspaper ad campaign. That means up to 99% of your target market you rolled out your marketing promotions campaign to did not personally speak to your business. But in fact, your business did speak at them, when they read your ads or listened to a pitch by a friend who recommended you.

1.       So the prospects you did not speak to in person are the rest of the iceberg.

2.       Your potential revenue are prospects that your business has spoken at so they know you exist: but not yet truly convinced and engaged in person.

Offer sample business tips to your iceberg

Not everyone likes to buy on the first chance meeting, even if you are a known brand. I’ve been there myself. I knew about Golf cars since I was a kid as my dad is a car fanatic who loves What Car magazine and Top Gear. He always said buy Golf for good fuel economy, then remind me a few weeks later how Golf’s are great for safety and so on. But my I never bought a Golf for years. And then I got a free test drive (all test drives are free) while at the garage, and I liked it.

You see, I was interested, but was never ready to make the leap. Your prospects are maybe the same, they’re kind of ready to do business, but also kind of not as inertia (can’t be bothered to change due to hassle etc) stops people doing things.

‘So what you can do is break down the big change to a very tiny little minimal change by using a way for prospect to try a sample business experience from you and start to get prospects used to using your products and services.’

Online business tips

I have covered before in this blog the availability of using website resources to generate and move prospects through the sales funnel. (See Start Here for new ideas.) In the age of the internet, it is worth finding a way to allow prospects to visit your website to learn more about your business.

Once I see an ad or hear about a good experience by a friend, I instantly check the business out on the internet. If your website is good, then you can move me through the sales funnel. This is without even speaking to me directly or me knowing anything about your business apart from either hearing a recommendation or a seeing something somewhere on a poster or a leaflet.

So now your content on the website has to use marketing strategy to engage me to desire what you can offer and move me to bridge the gap, from some interest and doing nothing, to maybe making contact or start saving towards buying what you can offer. Your website has to capture and look after your iceberg of prospects.

Download business tips

Allow prospective customers to download special reports or samples from your website. It does not have to be the product itself. 

A good download business tip is to create vouchers to encourage prospects to visit your store or call in. You could go a step further and ask prospects to email in and you can email back a voucher or code for them to use. It helps people who can’t be bothered or teetering on the edge of doing something, known in marketing as the Tipping Point.

In fact, get your whole iceberg into your establishment with a voucher: that would be fun!

In summary:

·         If prospects see your ads or you get recommended by a friend, the selling process has started.

·         Anyone that is aware of your business is in your iceberg.

·         Prospects may be interested but just one thing can stop them buying – and you may lose that prospect.

·         So use a website and the free business tips above to engage and tip the prospect into an action to try a sample of your products and services – the decision is easier and less risky for prospects – so more prospects will come out of the woodwork and volunteer to try.

·         The ones that like the sample will go on to buy the full fat version – which means more revenue for you.

·         Try it this week. And please share this article if you believe these free business tips are helpful.

So don’t miss out on prospective customers who have become aware of your business and not taken it further. The ideas above should stimulate a way for you to develop a way to get more people in your iceberg to speak to you. It’s a new coded language, I know.

Read more ...

Good website design can help with on boarding lots of prospects better than sales people

Good website design can help with on boarding lots of prospects better than sales people: by Jason Li 2012 ©

Of course, its common sense and we all know that clever websites with the best websites designed on being focused on being a sales machine can help with on boarding prospects needs, but better than sales people?

How the best sales people on board prospects

It is fair to say in fact that in a one-to-one challenge, an excellent sales person can possibly outsell most websites at a quicker conversion time. What I’m saying is that given both methods to on board a prospect, an excellent sales person will no doubt move a prospect through the sales process further through the sales funnel, and possibly quicker than the website too!

A sales person will spend quality time learning about meeting the needs of prospects so that they move to the next stage of the funnel. Sales people are laser sharp and look for the quickest way to help the prospect move to the next stage.

The sales challenge verses ecommerce website design strategy

However, if you have a very good ecommerce website design strategy that can move prospects through the sales funnel, then a good website can beat many excellent sales people. Why is this? Well a good ecommerce website that has been tested and brings in good leads on a regular basis just needs help in systematically getting more prospects to the website. Once this is done, a website will systematically take a whole lot more prospects (and decision makers) through a sales funnel then a sales person that is doing this one-at-a-time.

Let’s look at some numbers, which I’ve made up. Let’s say the excellent sales person has 300 prospects every month at stage one in the sales funnel and there are five stages to an order. Consistently they have twenty prospects who reach stage four ready to order each month. This includes being flat out with talk time, admin like emails, answering queries, objection handling et cetera.

Now the website that is also a smooth running function can take prospects through the funnel, either with one prospect or a million. Yes, but the website is not proactive in any way you may say. Yes, you may also point out that the website is likely to be much slower at moving prospects through the sales funnel. But if you feed it prospects, a good website will give out a greater output. What are the chances of the website handling 10,000 prospects as well as 500? You’re right; the website will do this mechanically over-and-over again just as efficiently and effectively.

If we were to say to the excellent sales person to take on say another 100 prospects, so 33% more, oddly enough the conversion of prospects to being on board may reduce. This is due to a number of factors such as: quality of talk time being less with prospects, not answering to queries quick enough, or being too brief, and so on.

A good website designed to be a sales machine is a long term investment

It takes time to create a good website that takes people through a sales process. You might say ‘well I don’t have time to put into it. I just want one to put up on the web and it is done with'. In that case is it worth it?

Here is my answer: “By the way, doesn’t it take months or years for sales people to get used to your industry, prospects, customers, and competitors to move prospects through the sales funnel?” What’s to say that a website can be developed and launched first time round and generate results? Or even second or third time around?

Yep, you guessed it. You will have to keep investing time every week in understanding and fine tuning your website until it is a good website designed to be a sales machine. That means a bit more work than creating one that looks really cool; uploading it and then telling prospects you have a website. Just like sales people, a website has to try new ideas and change the presentation.

Latent needs

A latent need is a need we have but not seen as important. Good sales people are able to help prospects see that they have a need or problem and make a decision to take action.

Again, the best websites designed as a sales machine can do this too. See “How to generate more leads for my business” article. This is where a good website can help a prospect consider their latent needs. I have at times seen it where people have taken it as far as possible with a prospect and passed the lead to another sales person because the other sales person just hits it off better, or plays “good cop-bad cop” to try and re-motivate the prospect to have another go through the sales funnel. This is what a website can do. Be the other sales person that hits it off with the prospect.

Top-of-mind-awareness

In advertising this is one of the Holy Grail’s of marketing – for the customer to keep your brand in mind when they are ready to buy. That’s why big brands spend millions advertising everywhere possible whether it’s on television, or at the cinema, or on radio, newspaper, online and so on.

With a targeted website, your website is both an advert and sales funnel vehicle. Adverts gain interest or trigger latent needs. Your website can do this with the right information initially. Then as the prospect keeps coming back, you can use tactics to move them through the sales funnel, automating the sales process.

You still need sales people to close deals.

That’s not to say that you won’t need sales people anymore. Excellent sales people are still the difference between some businesses. People still buy from people. People still need to speak to people about queries and have a human touch.

You might even find in a funny way that a good website is generating enough good leads that you might even need more excellent sales people. If your company does better because of the website and additional sales person, then this can only be good in the long run.

So invest in the best website designed as a sales machine with content that takes prospects through the sales funnel to gain more orders over the long run.

Read more ...

“How to generate more leads for my business?”

“How to generate more leads for my business”: by Jason Li 2012 ©

“How do I generate more leads for my business?” is one of the biggest business questions of all time, and I’m not foolish enough to say I have the definitive answer. But you want to know how to get more business? Well I can provide you some ideas that get you closer to where you want to be.

Everyone in business will be at a certain stage in their growth cycle and want to get from A to B. B is the goal. What I can offer are ideas on how to get to B that I have seen work for some businesses.

Lead generation software

Is lead generation software or a lead generation service the answer? Certainly if you find a good vendor for either method and it works then you have done very well. As you can see in the article about the sales funnel... no new prospects equals no business. We all need new leads and new prospects. So if you have found help in generating leads then definitely use it, as long as it is profitable.

Website lead generation

However, in the modern age, there is a more permanent way to generate business for your business, and that is with a website. With a website that contains the right targeted content to keep your prospects in your targets niche segment interested, you can keep all the prospects engaged in your products and services so that when they are ready to buy, they are likely to buy from you.

With a well constructed and written website, you can also find prospects on other sites and direct them to your web site and move them through your sales funnel.

Best of all, you are in control of the lead generation asset. A website is an asset owned by your business – whether or not you develop it or you or another outsourced vendor is the administrator.

But firstly let’s double check how does this compare to other lead generation methods?

No more cold calling, networking and gatekeepers

In an ideal world we wouldn’t need to do the above anymore and just sit back and rely on the website to generate leads. But I’m not advocating this too in a contradictory way. You see some people are brilliant at getting leads from cold calling or networking, so why stop. In fact, if you are good then do more (See the Pareto Principle) as you have found an effective lead generation method.

So yes, if you are a cold calling guru, keep going if it gets you results. But keep in mind that even cold callers use websites to search for information when they were looking to buy a certain product or service. A website has also helped a cold caller out there in some way decide who would be their vendor when they wanted to buy. Imagine now if you could also generate a few inbound leads for yourself too.

You should see websites as a great add on to your existing lead generation method. Any enquiries you get should be further advanced in your sales funnel. Especially if the prospect has decided they want a product or service like yours and are actively looking for a vendor to fit. And guess what, after being on your website they know about you and trust you more than many of your competitors, so you will be ahead of the rest at this point in the funnel.

If you’re worried about having a website that educates a prospect and then they go elsewhere; well don’t. If you are worried, it means you have just created a general educational brochure site and have failed to create any added value for why the prospect should use your products and services. Keep on reading to see how to combat this.

Keep visitors sticky on your website

The only way to make sure prospects are interested in returning to your website is by making it sticky. If you have problems such as people visiting your site and then leaving after looking at a few pages or never returning again, then possibly your website is a half hearted job.

Remember the articles I have written about creating value and marketing, the reason your website is not helping the prospect to buy from you is that it is offering nothing to be of meaningful use or value to your prospect.

Your website might also be too general and try to capture everyone who ever logs online. Have you ever come across someone who says if I start a full English breakfast cafe then I will get everyone who eats breakfast. It’s just not possible. If you look at my sales funnel article, you will see that your website has to be targeted.

It is not easy. I have a background in marketing strategy and worked with entrepreneurs on marketing strategy. I’m not as conceptual as some consultants who want to draw out the award winning big idea and concepts into weeks of consultation, I’m a bit more let’s get down to basic marketing strategy and fundamentals before jumping to slogans and concepts. If the big idea fits, then great. But that’s not the sole major objective when pleasing the customer. But if you cannot have a really good grasp of marketing strategy and understanding the consumer then you’re going to end up with possibly a website which is maybe well written and pleasant looking but not effective. Then when you look at the results a few weeks down the line you will say it can’t be the website as it looks really cool and reflects how I like to see a brand to be seen.

Unfortunately, this is where I have to let you know that you will have to get a person with a very good understanding of marketing strategy involved in making sure your website has the right targeted information. Of course, you want the website to have nice design too. But cool design and a good looking website alone will never get you leads. If this was the case, every good looking website will be owned by a multi-millionaire. All graphic designers or website designers would be millionaires. The most expensive looking websites would take the most market share.

Relationship building

Websites built on good marketing strategy with targeted content will keep prospects in your sales funnel. Some prospects can take a long time to admit they are ready to buy. Some will simply wait for their current supplier to upset them enough before they “can be bothered” to change. But over time, people make the change.

A good website will be automated in keeping prospects interested in working with your business when they are ready. In marketing it is simply “top-of-the-mind-awareness”. You are already talking in their language. The prospect knows that you can help them achieve their goals, whether it is a good hair style to be more attractive to finding pet food that keeps their pet healthy to software that helps their business productivity.

Once a prospect is on your site, you can keep them engaged longer in your products and services until they are ready. They may even move themselves through the sales funnel by sharing your information with other decision makers. You might find a web page which is read the most and tells you scientifically what it is that gains people’s interest.

Referrals

Once you have a prospect converted to a customer, how do they let others know about your business a year down the line? Well it’s easy for the new customer to tell a friend...because they spent a long time looking and reading your information you created for them which is of high value. So you are harder to forget.

Moreover, you’re on the internet so their friend can also learn about you in their own time and take themselves through the sales funnel.

Could a website help bring you and your prospects closer to being a customer? If this has website has given you new ideas or angles to look at your business, would you make a referral to a friend?

Read more ...