BlogCatalog

Is Your Web Site “Sales Ready”?

Customers aren’t likely to throw money into your lap, much as you’d like them to.  You have to lead them down the path to your door.  This path is your sales process.
 
There are many different theories about how to close sales, depending on the type of product or service you’re selling, its cost and other factors. 
 
The important thing here is to know the process you use and how your web site fits into that cycle.  You’ll want to make sure information on the site supports your sales message.
 
Phases of the ideal sales process:

• Attention:  Gain prospect’s interest by letting them know what benefits they’ll get by working with you.
• Qualification:  Determine whether the prospect is a good fit for your offerings.
• Information:  Gain their trust by giving information (success stories, examples, credentials, etc.) that shows you can solve their problem. 
• Presentation:  Learn about their needs, present your solution, gain agreement in principle that your solution would work for them.
• Proposal:  Prepare a proposal that summarizes that agreement.
• Contract:  Finalize the sale.
• Delivery:  Deliver product or service as promised.
• Evaluation:  Follow up for “lessons learned” and referrals.

Your “sales ready” web site can make your job easier.

In the Attention Phase -

• Make sure your site is search engine friendly and choose keywords thoughtfully.  Your web design team can help you here.  
• Grab attention on your home page.  One technique is to start with a catchy headline, tell who you work with, follow with a brief description of a common problem your clients experience, and tell how you solve that problem.   This also starts the qualification process by ruling out those who would not be a good fit for your offerings.

In the Qualification Phase -

• Qualification starts when you clearly describe what you do and who you work with (home page).
• It continues throughout the site as you talk further about your services and products.
• A well worded RFQ form on your web site gives you information you need to qualify the prospect, and can help the prospect define his needs and gently introduce him to what you do offer, as well as what you do not offer.

In the Information Phase -

• Your web site should give information that’s helpful to your prospect to show you have the knowledge to help them solve their problem.
• Consistently providing helpful information – as in a newsletter or blog – helps build trust.
• You can also build trust by including testimonials and before/after pictures. 
• Write from a benefits oriented point of view.
• Know what action you want them to take and include a call to action.

Your sales process is dynamic.  As you learn more, as your business environment changes, you’ll want to tweak your process and the supporting information on your web site.

That’s why you need a CMS web site that lets you change information yourself without waiting for, or paying for, a web professional each time.
 
Can You Easily Change Information on Your Web Site Yourself?
 
If not, contact us for a quote on a site with a Content Management System (CMS).  A CMS web site makes it easy for non-technical people to upload files and update wording on their web site. 
 
You’ll save hundreds or even thousands of dollars by performing these routine updates yourself rather than paying a web professional every time you want to change the wording on your site.

If you can use Microsoft Word, you can use our Content Management System!

Get a free quote on your CMS web site at www.affordablewebdesign.com/quote.

How to organize the content on your web site

 Effective, well-organized web CONTENT is one of your best sales tools!  It drives visitors to your site, positions you as an expert, gives you higher search engine rankings, and keeps clients coming back for more. 

Before you build your web site you need to spend some time organizing the content and information that will appear on your site.
 
There are many successful ways to organize your site’s content.  Here’s one proven strategy for consultants, professionals and small service companies that will help position you as an expert as well as save you valuable time by weeding out prospects who aren’t a good fit for your services.

• Home Page – Give an overview of your services.  Start with a headline, tell who you work with, briefly describe a problem your target market has, and then tell how you solve it.  End with a call to action (example: “Call us and ask for our free report”)
• Who We Work With – Give more detail about the clients you work with and the problems you solve for them.  This helps qualify clients by letting them know exactly what you do and what you don’t do.  Your time is valuable and you don’t want to waste it on prospects that are looking for something you don’t provide.
• How We Work – Talk about the results you can provide for them.
• Services – Detail the services you offer and end with a call to action (example, “Call or email us to learn more”)
• Testimonials – These are important so if you’re not already gathering them, start now! Unsolicited testimonials are great, but you can also make a note of all positive comments, summarize them yourself and get the client’s permission to use them. 
• About Us – Your bio builds credibility.  Photographs of you and your staff are appropriate here as well.
• Resources and Links – Include helpful links for your clients (but don’t link to your competitors!)
• Contact Us – Give people several easy ways to contact you.  Consider placing a well-thought out “request for quote” form on the contact page as a way to qualify leads.  (If they don’t take the time to fill out the form they may not be serious prospects.  You might want to limit how much time you spend trying to turn them into a client.)

Can You Afford A Web Site in 2009?

Happy 2009!  This Is Your Year!  This is the year you’ll follow your dream and start your own business, or continue to grow your existing business. 
 
People still want and need a variety of products and services even in uncertain economic times.  So find an unmet need and meet it – with the help of your web site!
 
As a small business owner you might ask, “Can I afford a web site in today’s economy?  Do I really need one now, when every penny counts?”

According to Tory Johnson, small business expert & workplace contributor to ABC’s Good Morning America, “The first thing every business needs is a web site, even if you’re not selling something online, because that’s where we all go for information.” 

 What Makes a Web Site Affordable to Small Business?  First let’s take a look at what makes a web site unaffordable.

• You can’t afford a site that looks amateurish or unprofessional, because your business image will suffer. 
• You can’t afford a site that doesn’t function as it should, because you’ll  lose potential leads and customers (opportunity costs).   
• You can’t afford a site that’s not search engine friendly, because customers won’t be able to find you. 
• You can’t afford a site that’s hard to update, because you’ll lose revenue from incorrect and outdated information. 
• You can’t afford not to do it right the first time, because you’ll pay much more in the long run in redundant costs to rebuild the site correctly.

Can You Afford Not to Have a Web Site?

You owe it to yourself to make 2009 your most profitable year yet and a well-planned, well-designed professional web site can help make that goal a reality.  Your web site can start you on the way to your most prosperous year ever!

Get a free quote on your web site at www.affordablewebdesign.com/quote.

Affordable Web Design Wins 3rd Golden Web Award

“Our sites are search engine friendly, and help our clients increase sales as well as build their business image.” 
– Lewis Yildirimturk

 Gainesville, VA, October 20, 2008 – (PR.com) -Affordable Web Design, Inc. wins a third Golden Web Award for its successful corporate site, www.affordablewebdesign.com.
 
The Gainesville, Virginia, web design company, founded by Lewis Yildirimturk in 1998, received the coveted “Golden Web Award” for the third time in October.
 
The American Association of Webmasters created the award to honor professional web developers who excel in web design, content and creativity.  Judging criteria include original design, high quality content,  user-friendly navigation and layout, clean coding, and correct implementation of high end features including Flash, multimedia, and database programming.
 
The Affordable Web Design corporate web site draws clients from all over the U.S. and Europe because of its high ranking in Google and other search engines. 

Many factors contribute to a site getting a high search engine ranking, including appropriate coding and high quality content that invites linking from other sites. 
 
Good search engine ranking is difficult to achieve, but Lewis Yildirimturk’s decade of web experience obviously pays off in this area.
 
“We’re proud that our web design service has achieved levels of excellence deserving of recognition by the AAW,” said Yildirimturk.  

“We’re not just graphic designers; we’re also experienced Internet programmers. Our sites are search engine friendly and help our clients increase sales as well as build their business image.”
 
Affordable Web Design specializes in Online Stores and database driven sites with Content Management Systems that allow for easy updating by the web site owner.  It’s especially important that businesses have accurate, up-to-date information on their sites because outdated or misleading or outdated information will cost them money.
 
“Often new clients tell us that it’s a big headache to try to get their former web designer to update critical information on their site,” said Bonny Shilton, web designer and web project manager at the company. 
 
“We solve that problem for them once and for all by building a site with a Content Management System, so they can update it themselves from any Internet connected computer.”

Get a free quote on your CMS web site at www.affordablewebdesign.com/quote.

What’s a CMS & how can it help my business?

You rely on your web site to present your business in the best possible light to bring in new and repeat customers. That’s why it’s important to keep the written content on your site relevant and up-to-date, and that’s where a CMS can help.

A CMS allows the non-technical person to create new pages and add text, graphics, audio and video files to the web site.

Here’s what you can do with a CMS:

• Update your web site yourself and greatly reduce web site maintenance costs.
• Get your important information onto your web site fast.
• Increase your revenue by capitalizing on time-sensitive opportunities.
• Update your web site’s content from any Internet connected computer.
• Make changes yourself without fear of “breaking” your site.
• Copy MS Word content and easily paste it into your site using the CMS editor.
• Insert audio and video files yourself.
• Make web site updates without buying special software.

Get a free quote on your CMS web site at www.affordablewebdesign.com/quote.

(Blog entries by Bonny Shilton)