How to create a successful website that keeps customers returning

 

 

A sleek build: SME websites should be eye-catching and simple to use. Photograph: Barry Lewis/Corbis

 

We are all aware of the virtues of social media and how a successful Twitter account or Facebook page can boost sales, create contacts and drive in traffic. However, if those carefully crafted tweets and statuses lead customers to a confusing and badly designed website then all the effort put into promotion will be fruitless.

Without sounding too obvious, a great website is essential to a successful business. A functional website that reflects your business ethos is your best sales tool and a bad website can damage reputation and sales.

"With around 36 million Brits being online every day and 48% of people starting any sort of search for a product or service online, it's almost at a stage that you can't afford to not be online," says Lynsey Sweales CEO of SocialB, a online marketing and social media business.

Where to start?

Before you begin building your website you should have a clear idea of exactly what you want and how you want to create it. Vanessa Austin Locke, partner of Austin & Locke, has just been through the process of creating a website. The company specialise in creating brand association strategies and come up with ideas that boost reputation, influence decision-makers and generate content.

Austin Locke chose to use a designer and said she was looking for "a combination of technical ability and creative vision". "A strong sense of aesthetic was most important to us," she added. She aimed for simplicity with impact when it came to the design of her website. "Simple and easy to use yet still engaging in a graceful way that's not intrusive. We're all constantly advertised to, and it's irritating. We designed it with the client's comfort in mind."

Website designer or hosting platform?

Creating a website does not have to deplete your savings; there are myriad of hosting platforms such as WordPress, which allow you to develop functional and aesthetic websites. "If you know how to use WordPress already then don't make things harder and more expensive for yourself by using a new designer or building a CMS," says Austin Locke.

She continues: "If not, invest in a web designer but be careful, there are a lot of cowboys out there. We were quoted some absurd prices and had a terrible first experience with a 'designer' with a lot of technical ability to build a website but no aptitude for aesthetics or design."

When deciding how to build your website, Sweales believes it doesn't have to cost a fortune. "With the likes of WordPress there are some great templates you can use, but if you want something a little more bespoke then look for a website designer. But stress that you want to be able to update the website once it's up and running, you must maintain that flexibility."

The design

The creative aspect of designing your website can be the most enjoyable part, but it is paramount you get it right and your online appearance reflects the essence of your business.

Digital designer Maria Withers, who designed the Austin & Locke website, believes that design trends are temporary but keeping up-to-date with them is essential when devising a website.

"Your design should focus around your user's needs, if a website isn't aesthetically pleasing or intuitive your website can become redundant and users will bounce from your web page.

"Content is key to your website. The heaviness of imagery on a website completely depends on what message you want your website to convey. Images should be relevant to your product or company so as not to confuse a user."

When sourcing images SMEs can try image libraries such assignelements.com or ingimage.com - or team up with students as Austin Locke did for the Austin & Locke website.

"We shot our own and my advice is almost always to get creative, it's fun and you'll learn some new skills while retaining creative control. Find some up and coming photography or videography students or young pros, and they might be able to give you a good price on some original imagery as well as some priceless ideas."

A few strong, key images that succinctly express the nature of your company, are more effective than many badly sourced images. "Attention spans are short online and one image can communicate 1,000 words," says Austin Locke.

How to boost sales

Managing your website correctly can boost sales and SEO and social media play a key role in driving potential customers to your site.

"You can make money from a website in a number of ways. You could set up Google Adsense, which will show Google ads on your website," says Sweales. "Or you could accept banner ads on your website; this is more time consuming and both can distract from your core objective. If you have a website that markets your business, I wouldn't be swayed to accept ads if it affects business branding. It's worth setting up your business on Google Places for free as well as key directory sites like Yelp and Yell as they can help in the interim," says Sweales.

"If you do create a website a must is setting up your Google Analytics. This tells you how many website visits you get, where they come from and where your enquiries or sales come from. Setting up a website without it is like throwing your money away as you can't measure any marketing you are doing."

Avoid creating a bad website

Building an attractive website isn't enough to entice visitors; it has to be user friendly, easy to navigate and ensure customers return.

"A bad website consists of irrelevant content, which doesn't represent the product or business you are advertising. A website that isn't intuitive or doesn't answer a user's questions when they are on your website indicates that your website isn't useful and a user won't stick around. SEO should also be ensured in order to drive traffic to your site and have high rankings in search engines," says Withers.

Austin Locke believes static content is one the worst website offences and companies should "keep it fresh and flowing, a website is like a room… it needs airing".

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Not Getting Enough Traffic? Here’s Why…

Social media experts are right. Social media is powerful, and at times, world-changing.

Just look at the recent events in Tunisia and Egypt. Twitter and Facebook have been instrumental in organizing the protests.

But here’s where the so called “experts” steer you wrong:

The Remarkable Power of Social Media

Yes, it’s far easier to spread a message—both political and marketing—around the world. However, that does not mean social media is a miracle cure for every struggling political movement or online business.

Think about it…

Did you receive hundreds of new leads the second you created a Twitter account or Facebook fan page? Did your traffic sky rocket with the addition of those sharing buttons?

Nope. It likely remained the same.

Here’s the secret the experts don’t admit: social media empowers quality content to spread, but if your content sucks, social media won’t do a damn thing other than waste precious time that you can spend on improving your content. Content is king.

How to Use Social Media the Right Way

Unless you’re just starting out, you have already implemented the basic social media enablers, social media accounts and sharing buttons. You’ve also spent time connecting with people and built a modest following.

These are the basics, and if you haven’t already, you should definitely do them.

(Editor’s note: integrating social media buttons is a cinch with Thesis)

So, assuming you’ve done all that, now what?

The real reason you’re failing to attract traffic has nothing to do with misusing the tools. You also likely aren’t missing out on the “real” secret to Twitter marketing success.

What’s the problem then?

Your site isn’t getting traffic because your content isn’t important or useful enough. It’s that simple. You’re not raising the bar, helping people, entertaining them, changing lives, and inspiring your readers to take some form of action. If you were, your audience would grow. Trust me.

Now I’m not saying “if you build it, they will come.” You definitely need to get the word out about your content. However, if you are promoting your content and you’re not building a raving fan-base, it’s probably your content that’s hurting you.

Still not convinced your content might be the problem?

5 Signs Your Content Needs Work

Do any of these signs sound familiar?

1. You don’t receive email from raving fans telling you how you’ve changed their lives or how much they love your product and want to tell everyone they know about it.
2. You often find yourself copying what successful people have done instead of developing your own original ideas.
3. You focus more on the metrics of your business (visitors, subscribers, sales, etc.) than you do on how to create the most mind-blowing products in your field.
4. If you’re blogging, every time you sit down to write something, you have a hell of a time coming up with ideas for what to write about.
5. Your entire project or business is based on what you see as a market opportunity,not something you truly, passionately believe in with your whole self.

If you said yes to any of these, your content may be the problem.

Unfortunately, like with social media, there isn’t a silver bullet that instantly improves your content. You must work on your writing skills, develop your own voice, and work extremely hard. Platitudes, I know, but it’s the truth.

The Bottom Line

The next time you believe the hype about social media as a magic fame creator, consider the source. It’s more exciting for experts to pitch the latest “shiny object” as a quick fix for your business. Remember, they’re trying to build an audience and sell products just like you.

So, if you’re not getting enough traffic, take a look at your website. In the end, your product, service, and content will always be the most important part of your website and business.

How is your website doing? Are you getting traffic? Do you think social media is over-hyped? Let’s talk about it in the comments!

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The Simple Secret Behind Getting Your Content Shared

Content marketing is obviously about sharing content with your followers.  More than that, actually, content marketing is about getting your fans and followers to interact with the content you publish. The best case scenario is to get your followers share your content, basically doing the job of spreading your content so you don’t have to pay (often a lot of money) to increase your reach and brand awareness.

Content marketing is about getting your fans and followers to interact with your brand.

Click To Tweet

Everyone out there will tell you that for your content to have an impact among your followers, it should be original, well written, well organised and, of course, interesting.

But how do you really make your content something people will want to interact with and share?

Also Read: The Complete Guide to Creating Perfect Social Media Posts

First of all, let me clear the sky: there is no certain way of achieving social media engagement. No matter how good your content piece is, no one can guarantee it will be shared or engaged upon. Whoever tells you so, is simply planning on using a lot of advertising money to reach a maximum of people who may or may not care at all about your brand, content or product.
There is, however, one simple truth behind whether content will be shared or not: It must be a story worth re-telling.

The simple truth behind getting your content shared: It must be a story worth re-telling.

Click To Tweet

A Story Worth Re-Telling

A story, no matter what the story is actually about, which industry it covers or whom it was written for, is interesting if it connects to the person reading it in away that will make this same person want to re-tell the same story to their friends.

Yes, your content becomes interesting for your followers when it makes them feel powerful about themselves. How? Because it changes their state of mind, challenges their knowledge or make them feel good about themselves.  It is that element of your content that will get people to share it.
Guy Kawasaki refers to this element as enchantment.

Enchantment: The art of changing hearts, minds and actions.

Enchantment is about inspiration, entertainment, enlightenment and education. Enchantment means that people will like, comment and share your content because they feel it connects to them, not because they care for your brand.

People will share your content because it connects to them, not because they care for your brand.

Click To Tweet

People Do Not Care About Your Brand

Your fans and followers probably genuinely like your brand. They use, wear or consumer your products because they like them, because it makes them feel good. And this brings them back to your brand again and again.
However, when it comes to sharing your branded content, they will only do it when they think doing so makes them look good, them, not you:

• - People do not share social media content to promote your brand, they think it is your job   to do so, not theirs.
• - People do not care if you gain more followers or not
• - People do not share your content because of your product’s value or benefits

In fact, no more than 33% of social media interactions with a brand have to do with the product or brand experience.  The majority of content sharing occurs for very personal and selfish reasons.

People Share Content Because It Makes Them Look Good

Yes, we are all selfish individuals, on social media at least. People will share content on social media because it makes them look cool, smart, controversial, funny, insightful, or trendy. In fact, selfish motives cover more than 66% of the reasons why someone will share information.

66% of the reason why people share your content are selfish motives.

Click To Tweet

May I remind you of how popular selfies are?

Let’s Sum Up

People will like, comment and/or share your content because:

1. They love it
2. They identify / It had an impact on them
3. They think it will make them look cool

People will not interact with your brand because:

1. They want to promote your products
2. They want to help you gain followers
3. They are proud of being one of your customers

People will NOT share your content to help you gain awareness: Click To Tweet

Great content is about making an impact, getting people to identify and making them believe they will look great when sharing it.

What do you think? Will you share this story?

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How to Build a Social Media Strategy

 

Using social media for your business can be fun, but it can be a lot of work. The first step is knowing why you are using it. From there, you develop your strategy so everything circles back to your “why.”

The question I received this week was from someone who was just hired to by a jewelry start-up to handle their social media. Their question was -

How do I build a social media strategy?

Social media has become an integral part of today’s marketing landscape.  It is something all businesses need to take part in or they will be the odd man out and who really wants that?

Once you’ve decided that you want your business to have a social media presence, you have to figure out how to best use it to your advantage.  That is where a social media strategy comes in.  Some businesses choose to hire a social media manager to handle it, however many businesses want to do it themselves.  Either way, here are some things to consider when you set up a social media strategy for your business.

1: Figure out the WHO.

Think about who your ideal client is.  Who is your most popular type of customers – moms, businessmen, college students?  Figuring out who your audience is, is the first step.
  
2: Figure out WHERE they are online.


Take a hard look at that target audience.  Are they stay-at-home moms who spend a lot of time on Facebook?  Are they business professionals who are on LinkedIn a lot?  Once you decide where your audience is, that is the platform you should start with. If you find they are on more than one platform, start with the strongest and then add in the second one.  There is no sense is being active on every single social media platform if your target market/audience is only on one or two.  You do not want to spread yourself thin.  I suggest concentrating on doing one or two platforms and doing them well.
Side note: If you are targeting teens, you may want to give Instagram and SnapChat a good look - this is where they are going.

3: DEFINE your goal in using the chosen platform(s) to connect with your audience.

Ask yourself what do you want to get out of your social marketing efforts – sales?  Brand advocates?  Increased engagement & relationship building?  How you use your social media will really come from this.  If you want to increase sales, for example, you would want to take advantage of Facebook offers or holding a contest.  If you want to increase engagement, you would want to post questions and images that will generate a response.  Your goal is like your compass.  Everything you do should point you to that goal.

4: DEVELOP A PLAN to get there.

Now that you have your audience identified, your platforms picked and your goal set, now you have decide what you are going to do to get to that goal.  This step goes hand-in-hand with step 3.  Often these are done at the same time.  You definitely want to be active and post at least 2-3 times per day.  Contests, tips, question & answer sessions and sharing information are all types of content that will help you achieve your goal. You need to ask yourself – how many times am I going to post?  How much time do I/can I invest in this?

5: WRITE IT OUT.

This is where all of the previous steps work into a formidable plan.  Take all the ideas you have had and write them down.  Decide on a content (posting) schedule.  Do you want to post 2 times per day or 3 or more?   When do you want to post?  Are you going to run a contest?  If so, when?  For how long?  Are you going to run ads to help with your Facebook page visibility?

I see this step as laying out the road map for your social media marketing efforts.  Having a written (or typed) out plan will help you achieve your goal(s).  Pin it up somewhere you will see it and act on it.  There’s nothing worse than putting time and energy into a plan and not acting on it.

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30 Reasons to Market Your Business on Pinterest in 2014 [Infographic]

Pinterest has really taken off in last few  years but in 2013 it really pulled off and joined the league of the Top Social Media channels i.e Facebook and Google which is spectacular for a website which is yet to generate a revenue from the website.

What was considered as a website for sharing and curating wedding pictures and recipes have now emerged as a major contender in social media space, particularly in the eCommerce and retail business.  Studies have shown that Pinterest now commands upwards of 41 percent of e-commerce traffic from social networking sites, and the average Pinterest user has a household income of more than $100,000 per annum leaving behind other channels and becoming the most profitable website for social media marketing when it comes to ROI.

How lucrative have those visual pinboards been? Well, the average e-commerce order placed by a Pinterest user is $179. Compare that to $80 for Facebook and $69 for Twitter, and you can easily notice that there’s money to be made.

If that fact wasn’t enough to convince you of the power of Pinterest, Omnicore has designed this Infographic.

Related Resources from B2C

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How to Profit From Your Social Media Profiles

 

There is only ONE reason you should have a presence on social media for your business.

That's right. Just ONE.

The reason is - to use the platform to connect with ideal prospects and get them on YOUR mailing list.

It doesn't matter how many fans, followers or connections you have if those "relationships" aren't generating revenue for your business.

To get results from the time spend tweeting, updating your Facebook page and posting on LinkedIn, you need to have in place a strategy that converts your connections to email subscribers.

Once a social media connection joins your email list, you now have the opportunity to get to know them, build a relationship and (when the time is right) extend an offer of a product or service to help them solve a problem they are facing.

Now that we are clear on what you should be using social media for, let's review 7 ways you can leverage your profiles to grow your email list:

1. Tease the content of each newsletter issue before it's sent out with a simple post like "Coming tomorrow: 

[the theme of your newsletter]." 

Remind your social media friends why they don't want to miss out on the valuable info you have to share and include a link to your opt-in page.

2. Post a brief summary of the juiciest part of your newsletter on your Facebook Page, either as a preview or after it's sent, and ask a provocative question that relates to it. If your fans want the whole story, invite them to subscribe to your newsletter.

3. Pique the interest of your fans and followers by teasing that theme of your newsletter, either with some related posts or by asking your audience for their thoughts on it.

4. Add an app to your Facebook fan page, which will allow users to quickly and easily add themselves to your mailing list without having to leave Facebook.

5. When an issue of your newsletter is sent out, make sure you share it on Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+: "Extra! Extra! Read all about it!"

6. Create or download an image that relates to your newsletter content and post it, along with a link to a sample issue of your newsletter on Pinterest. Tell your audience this is a preview of what they will get when they subscribe.

7. Regularly post invitations on all of your social media profiles to your opt-in page to encourage new sign-ups. Don't assume everyone has seen it! You are constantly engaging with new connections and your existing connections may not be aware of the free offers, promotions and discounts you have available on your website.

Keep this in mind. Facebook, as we know it, didn't exist 10 years ago. Neither did Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+ or Instagram.

Who knows, 10 years from now they may all be gone and we'll be playing with some new social platform.

But YOUR email list is a priceless asset that will always have value and profit potential. So don't get caught worrying about how many fans, followers or connections you have. Instead use your presence on social media to grow your email list and build REAL relationships with REAL people.

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8 Ways to Attract More Social Media Fans and Followers

 

1. Optimize Your Social Presence: First and foremost, you must make sure your presence is optimized. Make sure the bios/profiles for your social media accounts are complete and that they include clear and concise descriptions of your business, your company logo, and your website URL. And now that social media updates are included in search results, be sure you're also optimizing your tweets, Facebook posts, and LinkedIn company status updates with keywords appropriate for your business, which could help you get found in search.

2. Promote Your Social Presence Everywhere: And by everywhere, we mean everywhere -- on various pages of your website, on your blog, on signage in your storefront if you're a local business, in print advertising, on your business cards, in your email marketing messages. Many social media sites now have official 'follow' buttons you can include on your website and blog. If not, you can create your own button and link it to your social media account. Twitter, for example, offers an official follow button that enables your site visitors to become a Twitter follower with just one click!

3. Share Useful, Valuable Content: It's not just enough to promote your presence. You need to make your presence is something that's worth following in the first place. Make sure your tweets, Facebook posts, and LinkedIn updates consist of valuable, useful, and engaging content. Avoid product-focused content, and instead, make your social updates consist of educational content that has the potential to attract more fans and followers. People follow brands in social media because they're looking for something useful, not because they want to know about how great your products and services are.

4. Add Social Sharing Buttons to All Your Content: Just as you should be promoting your social presence in as many places as possible, you should also be enabling your site visitors and email subscribers to share your content with their personal networks as easily as possible. Add social sharing buttons (e.g. "Share on Facebook" "Tweet This," etc.) to all of your content -- on individual blog articles, in email messages, on landing pages for ebook and webinar downloads, within the pages of your ebooks, etc. By evangelizing your audience to share your content, you'll have better potential to reach a broader audience that extends beyong your direct network of fans and followers. And if those people like the content that their friends are sharing with them, they may be inclined to become direct followers of you, too!

5. Find, Follow, and Build Relationships With People In Your Industry: Use tools like Tweet Grader, Twitter Search, and Twellow to identify other Twitter users in your industry. Start following them, participating in discussions, and engaging in conversations. Find and follow other influential bloggers and retweet their content. Follow back anyone who follows you. Participate in Twitter chats and hashtag conversations like #FollowFriday (#FF). Start following some of the people your followers (and the people you're following) are following, too! 

6. Interact With Fans and Followers: Just as you should be regularly sharing educational, insightful content, you should also be monitoring your presence and interacting with your fans and followers. Ask questions, be engaging, and participate in discussions to create a presence worth following.

7. Create a Custom Facebook Welcome Page: Follow this quick tutorial to create a custom Facebook landing page tab to welcome first-time visitors of your Facebook page. Set the page as your 'Default landing Tab' (you can do this when you're editing your page under 'Manage Permissions'), and use the tab to encourage new visitors to 'like' you right off the bat! (Note: With HubSpot, you can take this one step further by installing HubSpot's Welcome App, which also presents visitors with a form that can convert them into leads directly within Facebook.)

8. Offer Incentives for New Fans/Followers: Make it so your social media presence is a must-follow. Research shows that 58% of Facebook users expect exclusive offers from business pages, so consider offering exclusive promotions and offers available only to your social media followers. Create a Facebook contest and make it a requirement for users to 'like' you in order to be eligible. Create an offer available only to Twitter followers that can't be obtained elsewhere. Make it so that users need to follow you in order to receive specific perks.

Building your social media reach will take some time, but if you are committed to the steps above, we guarantee you'll start seeing results. How else would you recommend increasing your social media reach?

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