If your web strategy is working people will be arriving at your website via a Google search, a backlink, a tweet, an email or a Facebook comment and regardless of where they’ve come from it is great news that they have arrived at your site.
You already know how important it is to make a good first impression and I’m going to share four tips to turn visitors into real buyers.
It’s important to give something valuable away for free. Think e-books, checklists, reports, tip sheets or calendars of events.
Create that document in a digital format like a PDF, a Word document or an MP3 file so it won’t cost you anything to give away since it can be downloaded directly from your site.
There is some contention among web professionals about whether you should force people to enter their email address to receive the giveaway and I urge you not to do that.
There is plenty of time for that as your relationship becomes stronger. You don’t want to come on too strong at the start because you risk making people uncomfortable and scaring them off.
If someone finds your website and your digital giveaway valuable they may like to get to know you a bit more. Once you’ve earned that first element of trust it’s good to allow them to deepen their relationship with you.
I like to give people the choice of how they connect with me or my organisation. That way it is on their terms and they are in control.
I suggest you let people “like” you on Facebook, follow you on Twitter, connect on LinkedIn or subscribe to your email newsletter or blog.
They can unsubscribe or un-follow at any time, so they won’t feel any pressure and it’s up to you to keep them interested.
Now that you’ve got people who trust you enough to get to know you better it’s important to keep giving the love so the relationship gets stronger. It comes back to creating remarkable content that is interesting and useful for the other person.
Remember to keep your journalist hat on, not your marketing hat. Share stories that are interesting to them rather than interrupting them with guff about you or your organisation.
This is not the time to hassle them with ads or promotions because you risk losing them and undoing all the good work you’ve done so far.
Eventually, when the time comes that they or their friends are in the market for your services, you should have earned enough trust for them to be comfortable making an inquiry.
The ultimate sign that you’ve earned plenty of trust is when someone buys from you.
If you’ve nurtured the relationship this far you don’t want to blow it by making it too difficult to buy from you.
Make sure it’s clear on your website how people can purchase from you and you’ll soon make your first sale.
With that milestone under your belt, congratulations, you’ve done a brilliant job with your web strategy and if you can do it once you can do it again and again.
Keep creating valuable giveaways, let people get to know you better by creating more remarkable content and turn more web visitors into real buyers.
