Create More Customers

We've all heard that "content is king." Good content or hopefully, great content is what separates you from the rest of the pack. You can design the most beautiful website in the world, but without good content,  it won't really matter how cool your website looks.

What is good content?

It's very simple- good content is "valuable" content. If you can enhance your reader's life with the knowledge you bring to them, that's valuable content.

It doesn't have to be about making more money (although that's a good thing and probably the first thing that came to mind). It can be as simple as a new perspective on something your readers deal with in their daily lives, a new way of looking at things. It can be about a hobby, a passion you have for something, a zillion other things.

The benefits to you of valuable content

Let's look at the benefits of having valuable content on your website:

• It engages your readers
• It gives your readers a reason to keep coming back
• It gives your readers a reason to stay longer
• It gives your site credibility
• It can establish you as an authority in your area of expertise
• The media may come to see you as an expert in your field
• Quality content will be ranked higher in search engine results
• More websites are likely to link to your site which will place you higher in search engine rankings
• Conversion rates increase which equals more revenue

What do you think are some additional benefits of valuable content? Leave a comment.

Wishing you the best,

Rick

I just read in the Los Angeles Times today about the new "in-your-face Web ad formats." According to the article, these new formats are "designed to be both more obtrusive and interactive."

There are 3 types of these new supersize ads

1. Fixed panel- which looks like part of the page but scrolls up and down with the user
2. XXL box- which allows users to turn pages within the ad
3. Pushdown- which opens to display a larger ad

The reason for these new type of ads?

The reason is because all of us have learned to tune out banner ads. We've all developed "banner blindness."  In fact, we've become so good at it, that according to usability expert, Jakob Nielsen, in his 2006 book, Prioritizing Web Usability (VOICES) - "Banner blindness has expanded beyond the deliberate act of not looking at banners to encompass avoidance of anything that usually signals irrelevant information or advertisements...In fact, anything that's overly large or colorful risks being ignored, particularly if it includes animation." We must have had a good reason for becoming so skillful at ignoring ads. Perhaps, it was because we're more interested in the content of the page and learning something of value to us? I realize that print advertising is falling by the wayside, and you have to find some way to attract the attention of your intended audience.  We all do, even if we're not purposely trying to monetize our audience.

Will bigger and more intrusive work?

But are supersize ads that take up a large portion of your browser screen, the answer? If I visit a particular website to learn more about a subject, will I be likely to have more or less goodwill toward that website and it's owner if my screen real estate is obscured by these giant ads? My guess is less. For now, these in-your-face-advertisments are being used or will be used by publishers such as the New York Times, CNN, CBS, ESPN and the Wall Street Journal.

What's the answer?

I'm not sure what the answers are to the dilemma confronting these online publishers. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. What are your thoughts on this subject?

We all have our own ideas of what constitutes great customer service. But I think we can each agree that it means taking that extra step, doing something unexpected that makes us feel like a valued person.

 
A Personal Story
A few months ago, my wife and I celebrated our wedding anniversary. I called this very highly rated restaurant in Beverly Hills to make a reservation. The gentleman answered the phone with, "Thank you for calling Mastro's. How may we be of the greatest service to you?" When I told him that I was making reservations for our anniversary, he said, "What a tremendous compliment that you've chosen our restaurant to celebrate this special occasion." My first thought was, "That's nice, but come on, let's get real."

To make a long story short, one of the items we ordered was the "Seafood Tower." You can add lobster tail, shrimp, crab, oysters, etc. to it. Well, they left out one of the items and I pointed it out to the waitress. I didn't think that much about it. I just figured they would bring it out on a separate plate. Well, not only did she apologize, the maitre d' apologized, and the chef came over to apologize.  They brought the missing item (I don't even remember what it was), and deducted it from the final bill. Needless to say, I was impressed and did in fact feel like a very valued person.

How can we translate this attitude, this feeling, to our own website, where we probably have very little personal interaction with our visitor?

 
Look at your website from your client's perspective.
What are their worries, their anxieties? At what point do these concerns present themselves along the purchase path?

 
To a new visitor, your business is a big unknown

• Are you reliable?
• Are there any hidden costs?
• Do you have multiple methods of payment?
• Are my transactions secure?
• Can I contact you?
• How quickly will you respond to my inquiries?
• What are your refund policies?
• What are your shipping policies?
• Can I track my shipment?
• What do other customers think of you?
• Can I purchase without registering first?
• Have you given me enough information to make a decision?
• Is your product description accurate?
• Will your autoresponder confirm my order and let me know when it has shipped?
• Is there an FAQ page that will answer most of questions?
• I s there a picture of you, so I know I'm dealing with a real person?

I'm going to stop here for right now, but I think you get the idea. Put yourself in your customer's shoes.

Your website needs to anticipate as many of their questions as possible, in advance, and then answer them in advance, on your webpages. If you're not sure what those questions might be, do a quick usability test. Pay 3 or 4 people from outside $40 or $50 each to spend a half hour on your website. Give them tasks to do. Ask them to purchase something and record their comments.

I guarantee that you'll be surprised at how many of your visitor's questions and concerns have been overlooked. And if you have answered everything in advance, more power to you.

Welcome to the Create More Customers blog. Our goal is to help you turn more visitors to your website, blog or podcast into customers. After all, you spend all of this effort, time and money attracting people to your site, isn't the point to convert as many as possible into paying customers? Isn't that what you really want?

Conventional wisdom says that out of every 100 people who visit your site, only 2-3 will become actual paying customers. Where did the other 97 or 98 go? Why did they leave? What a drag! That isn't any fun.

True, some may have arrived by mistake and you really don't offer what they want. Even more true, is that while you may offer exactly what these visitors are looking for, your site design made it too difficult and too time consuming for them to find it.

Always remember that your competitors are just a click away. If you don't grab your visitor's attention, (literally in a matter of seconds), and convince them that you're "It", well, game over! The end. That's all, folks! They ain't gonna be returning any time soon.

So, how do you convert more visitors into customers?

Simple, you look at your website from their perspective, the only one that really matters.

In future posts we will be looking at all of the following and more, much more:

• Site design
• Usability
• Navigation
• Disabled users
• Marketing techniques
• Persuasion tactics
• Copywriting for the internet
• Web 2.0 social media strategies and more

While the focus of this blog is to Create More Customers, the focus of our sister blog is to Attract More Visitors. Together, with our upcoming home web site, IncreaseOnlineProfits.com, we present you with an integrated whole to help your business achieve its goals. Our home website will go into much more detail with "how-to" articles, videos, interviews, etc.

Fill in the box in upper right corner of this page and grab our "Free 77 Point Internet Marketing Checklist" along with a free sign-up to "IncreaseOnlineProfits.com Insider". We'll also notify you when IncreaseOnlineProfits.com is ready. (We'll never share your information with anyone.)

Best Success!

The purpose of the Create More Customers blog is to help website, blog, and podcast owners view their websites and marketing efforts from their customer's perspective, the only one that really matters. We will be discussing site design, usability, navigation, marketing techniques, persuasion strategies, copywriting for the internet and more.

More on this in my next post...