A Professional Maintenance Company Saves You Time and Increases Sales

Your competitors have websites up, but they are forgetting one crucial element…

Updating. Your competitor’s website in most cases is the house next door to you that still hasn’t taken their Christmas lights down from their house. They have been caught up in the rush of the New Year and it is just not on their priority list. Those lights however are a reminder to them and their neighbours that they are having trouble keeping up.

Your more successful competitors do update their websites (and take down their Christmas lights!), except…

It’s not just about adding new content and deleting old Christmas sales pages. It’s about building a website that’s keeping up with the internet, minute by minute, second by second. If you’re doing business over the internet, constant updating isn’t just a good idea, it is a make-or-break game changer for your business. So the question isn’t Do I Update? Rather, it is How Can I Optimize My Time And My Website As Effectively As Possible?

We all know that Time = Money. But what if we add Experience into the equation? Time + Experience =

The answer is still Money, only a lot more of it. Many people purchase their website and then balk at the idea of paying a company to maintain and update it. But purchasing a maintenance contract allows you to focus on other things that only you can do for your business. That leads to more business in the long run. In the meantime, you have streamlined your online presence and kept up with your competition.

At Alt Web Design Ltd., we are confident in our ability to:

• Keep costs low. For just £666p/m we guarantee to improve your search engine rankings, lower your PPC costs and increase the number of leads generated through your website
• Give you absolute freedom with a no-hassle anytime cancellation contract
• Save you time and worry. A simple mistake could lead to hours of frustration. With Alt Web Design Ltd., we take these problems out of the equation
• Provide you with peace of mind knowing that your website is optimized and outperforming your competitors. You’re a business owner; you don’t need to worry about complicated Google algorithms. We guarantee to reduce the amount you are paying, increase exposure and increase the number of clicks your pay per click advert gets.
• Increase your standing on Google Search engines. Up to 80% of people click on the #1 search result in Google. If that’s your competitor and not you, they will be getting your sales!

Call Craig at 0121 663 002 to learn more about our cancel anytime website maintenance contracts. We can’t wait to hear from you!

In this final part of my ecommerce crash course, which I hope you have enjoyed and used to leverage your ecommerce sales to the maximum, I want to show you how you can install confidence in your consumer buy showing the purchase history of your product or service.

One sure way to sell a product is confidence, the confidence can be conveyed in many ways, testimonials and reviews being the most powerful, but not everybody consumer who buys your product or service will return to your website to review it, so its not the most effective way of installing confidence in your consumers, but it is certainly an element you need on your ecommerce site, so what could be as effective and require no effort on the part of your consumer?

It’s pretty simple: shows the sales history, eBay do it and so should you.

Just a simple image saying how many of the product has been sold

This helps install confidence, firstly it lets your consumer know that you have sold many, it shows you have a trade history and that you have been in business making sales for a long time. It also plants a seed in your consumers mind that many other consumers have brought or downloaded your product – it gives your consumer that piece of mind that others have made the same purchase, obviously, the high this number the more confidence it provides, but do NOT fake it!

Compliment this with your product reviews/feedback and testimonials and it is a very powerful way to install confidence  in your buyers mind.

Remember:

Confidence is important in any sale, without it why would anyone feel confident giving their money to you? Do all you can to convey confidence and it WILL increase your sales.

I hope you have enjoyed my ecommerce crash course and that it has helped you to increase your sales, leave your success stories below or email them to me if you wish: craig@altwebdesignuk.com I am always happy to help you improve your website, sales and conversions.

Here’s the boring bit first, a little theory on what this is and why it works. Read any business marketing book and they will all emphasise the importance of “word of mouth advertising” or “cheerleaders of your business” – That golden nugget, nothing is more powerful than word of mouth recommendations, someone shouting about your business, product or service from the roof tops.

Social media allows you to leverage this with very little effort, its actually pretty simple for your consumers to spread the word about your product by simply clicking a button.

I feel Facebook do this best (as with most things!). It started off with their “Like” button, you could add a simple button to the top of your product or service web page and if your consumers wanted to, they clicked like, it then showed up on their Facebook wall and was there for all of their friends to see, a pretty cool feature which is very powerful and offers some potentially great results, but it’s getting your consumers to “like” you – it wasn’t very engaging and often over looked… Until now!

Look at the way Debs shops have integrated it into their website above, notice the actions “I want” and “ask a friend“. For me this is absolutely brilliant and ever so powerful. What a way to get your products shared amongst your target audience without actually doing anything! Facebooks open graph system is a relatively new tool that allows you to create custom buttons, instead of the boring “like” button, it works in the same way – Your consumer clicks it and it shows on their wall for others to see – But it’s much more engaging.

Imagine this, your consumer goes to your website and sees your product, they cant make up their mind and so they click a button saying “Ask a friend” that then shows up on their wall and a discussion about your product can begin, with one click your consumer has opened up the possibility of showing your product to all their Facebook friends – POWERFUL!

Another good example is the “I want” button, it allows your consumer to show their friends what they want – If it’s close to the festive period or maybe your consumers’ birthday, their friends will know this and it increases the chance of your product being brought as a gift for the person who clicked “I want” – VERY POWERFUL!

Why not create a button titled “own”? People are competitive and like to show off, let them show off to their friends that they own your product and brought it from you…. Maybe their friends will have to have the same item…..

Remember:

Use this wisely, think of the options it opens especially with the “I want” button, this is a great way to get people seeing and discussing your product without doing any of the hard work!

Video can be easily integrated into any website and compliment the use of powerful product images with ease. Statistics show that 52% of online buyers feel that a video makes them feel more confident in their buying decision. It puts their trust in the company for presenting their self with a professional image and puts trust in the product as it allows the consumer to see it in working action from the comfort of their own home, before purchasing!

Asos do this well, they have a simple video of a catwalk model along with the option to select images beneath, it presents the product from all angles and in real life situations. Remember I mentioned in Ecommerce Crash Course #3: Writing descriptions that sell, keeping it real, showing the product in real life situations is a proven way to help boost sales.

Using video on ecommerce website is becoming a very popular trend, stats show that video usage increased 9x throughout 2011, After watching a video a consumer is 144% more likely to add that product to their shopping cart and even more good news is that 52% of consumers who watched your video are less likely to return the product.

Ice.com who added video to their website found that sales increased by 400% and their returns dropped to 25%.

As you can see the stats speak for their selves, but you are probably wandering why is video so powerful and why does it provide those brilliant benefits?

• As I stated in “Use a POWERFUL product image” images sell, the more angles the better, video can provide a 360% view of your product and show it in action from all angles, it’s convenient and all in one place.
• Showcasing your product in a video addresses common fears within a consumer, if they can see the product being used and know before purchasing how simple it is to use the product and feel confident they can use it once purchased they are more likely to purchase.
• Return rates are proven to drop because it’s not a “blind purchase”, it’s like having the product in front of you, for real! Showcasing all the benefits of a product is a sure way to ensure the product meets the needs of the consumer beforehand, thus reducing the return rate.

Video is a great way to increase your sales, reduce your return rates and engage with your consumers, it’s like having your own QVC channel on your website.

Remember:

Use high quality video else it will do more harm than good, present the product in as many ways as possible as this is what the consumer wants to see, get across the benefits/ease of use/convenience of the product – this will reduce the likelihood of a return.

In this article I want to talk about the product descriptions, in particular writing product descriptions that are so powerful and desirable, your customer can’t help but be drawn in.

Descriptions start LONG before a visitor has landed on your product page. Let’s say for example I do a quick online search for “apple mac book air”, Again I will use apple as an example as their marketing is world class, in the search results you see a strong blue title followed by 2 lines of text beneath it. This is often the first point of contact a potential customer has with your website and if that title and description aren’t powerful enough, if it isn’t irresistibly click worthy then they will not even give your website a chance.

This title and description requires a lot of thought as it is often the first contact your visitor has with your site; do you really want to turn customers away from your website BEFORE they have even clicked onto it?

I’ve already written an article in the past called “How to use website title tags” that I advise you read, it is from this article you will find out how you can set your title and description to display in search results like the above image.

Remember: Make your titles click worthy; stimulate emotions, state facts, benefits, create curiosity, stimulate some sort of emotion or reaction that drives your customer to click your link!

So that’s optimising your product descriptions before a visitor has even landed onto your product page, now let’s talk about how to write killer descriptions that sell a product on your actual product page.

First and foremost, USE IMAGES, I’ve blogged about this before and can’t stress it enough, look how apple combine a powerful image with an incredible simple description

Don’t confuse specifications with benefits

A dual core processor is not a benefit, it’s a specification of a product and quite often you will see on ecommerce websites, particularly those that sell high tech products lots of specs…. And to most people they mean nothing… Imagine you don’t know what a dual core processor is and you land on a website selling a laptop that states its Dual core processor i7 3.3 GHZ… it’s another language to most, instead you need to actually sell the benefit, what the end result of that dual core processor is:

The latest in processing power means no more slow computers, our new and improved processor speeds up every day computing and makes running multiple programs smoother than ever before.

You get a clearer picture of what the end goal is.

Do not confuse benefits with technical specs, if you must display the technical specs of your product on your product page, use a simple tabbing system like http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/hp-pavilion-p6-2260ea-desktop-pc-14134712-pdt.html  ALWAYS push the benefits, THE END RESULT THE PRODUCT DELIVERS.

Of course you can apply the same principle to clothes.. Next.co.uk do it very well in the below image, instead of making the main focus the fact that the item is 50% cotton or 50% cashmere or whatever, they use a seductive and engaging description that draws you in.

Another important factor to take into account with descriptions is to always keep them real to the customer, for example, state product sizes, weights and even go as far as stating what the model in the picture is wearing

Combine the powerful images I spoke about in my previous article with some powerful and seductive descriptions full of end benefits and watch your sales increase!

When you are using words, you can only convey so much and as that old saying goes “a picture paints a thousand words”.  Apple is a company who use images that sell their products to the maximum. Notice I said images and not image!

Research has shown that when your visitors are on your product page and they see an image, for example of a laptop, they want to see it from more than just one angle, with the majority of people wishing to see the laptop from behind, the side and above so that they can see the keyboard.

Whilst we are talking about Apple and their laptops, I want to use their MacBook air as a brilliant example to further back up what I am saying.

Just take a look at the images used on their official website:

And then a promotional video that they used to showcase their product:

The way the product is presented is in its absolute best light, it shows the products sleek design from a number of angles and also show cases its Unique Selling Point (USP), its thinness, in all the shots.

Apple has always been a leader when it comes to showcasing images that make their product unbelievably desirable. So learn from what they do, because IT WORKS!

Using apple was a way to show you how powerful images can be, now I want to show you how powerful images can be on your website.

Let’s use Amazon as an example, and their case for iPads (see image below)

You can see from the screenshot above that the iPad cases are presented in a number of ways in one image alone, and then there are further multiple images for you to view with more angles of the product in. This amazon example works really well, as it shows the iPad case in angles you wouldn’t normally think of, it makes the product look desirable and shows the product playing to its strengths. Before purchasing that product you get a very clear picture in your mind of its capabilities and it’s that what plays in your customers mind and pulls them towards the purchase.

Make no bones about images sell a product, the more images that make the product appear desirable, and the greater the chance of a customer purchasing. Amazon is the world’s top online retailer and made its owner a multi billionaire, they would of put the images used through thorough testing, stage after stage after stage and they display what improved their conversions, These guys know what sell, so use it to your advantage, after all, they would of done split testing you can only dream of!

The scarf example:

Two identical black scarf’s, two very different images, The second image will no doubt stimulate your want for the scarf a lot more than the first image.

You role would be to help in the execution of our marketing plan, find and attract new customers who are looking to have a new website created or their existing website re-vamped and then pass these leads  over to our client management team who will then close the deal.

You will require skills in:

• Lead generation
• Telemarketing
• Direct Mail

You will be approaching customers from a “cold approach” so you must be confident in this approach.

You may be required to go to meetings, so being UK based is preferred

Compensation to be discussed, but it will be weekly pay plus performance related bonuses.

Email: craig@altwebdesignuk.co.uk

Skype: altwebdesign

Phone: 0121 663 0202

These important finds were carried out on over half a million ecommerce shoppers and the findings are incredibly shocking.

1. Product sizes, colours and quantity confuses your visitor and increase the chanes of a lost sale:

Selling a product that comes in various colours and sizes requires your visitor to make a selection, your visitor has to perform an action and it can get confusing.
For example if you are selling an iPod, that is available in 4 different colours and 4 different storage options, you should make the selection process incredibly simple.
If someone cannot figure out how to add a pink 8gb iPod to their basket and they end up attempting to do it several times, they can end up with multiple products in their basket, products that they don’t want.
This WILL cause your visitors to abandon their checkout and result in you losing the sale.

A simple fix: Put your product selection process in simple steps, an example for an iPod would be: allow them to first select the product, step 2 allow them to select the colour, step 3 allow them to select the capacity.

Do not presume your visitor has read the order instructions, this can lead them to get confused and leaving your shopping cart, instead, make the process for them simpler and step by step to avoid and confusion.

2. Images play an important factor in the likelihood of a visitor purchasing your particular product

A text description can only sell a product so much, after that, or even before that, the visitor needs to see a picture, or multiple pictures, of the product to ensure that they first have the right product in mind and to get an understanding of the product, how it looks and to get an overall better feel for the product.
Images create visual stimulation; they should be powerful and present the item in a strong and desirable way so that the visitor has no other option but to purchase your product.
Think of Apple and what they did with the mac book air on their TV adverts: showcasing the product in an envelope and they showing its slim line from all angles before using the simple words “the world’s thinnest notebook” – It creates desirability and it creates it simply.

A simple fix: Use multiple images of your product, from all the best angles, the front, side, top and even behind! Make your product look desirable, If it’s an item of clothing then style it up with other pieces, don’t just put on a single photo of a scarf, dress it up with a coat and other accessories to really make the item stand out.

Do not underestimate the power of images, sometimes no image is better than a ridiculously poor image, look around at websites such as amazon or pc world, look how they make their products look desirable and use multiple images from all angles. Images can also harm you, especially if they are poor and add no value what so ever, so get the images right!

3. Lose the distractions:

When a visitor lands at your page and they don’t purchase that’s usually because they are getting distracted by something on your website: an advert or a link to another page, it distracts them from what they were doing, takes them away from the page and puts their focus elsewhere. Don’t distract!

A simple fix: If you do need to have links to other pages, e.g. a page to get a discount code or to find out about shipping costs, then do it smarter, don’t take the visitor away from the page, open the link in a new window or tab, that way the original page is still there and easily accessible with no effort or thinking required.

Track where your visitors are going, what they are doing once they click on to a product page and then end up not buying. You will often find that the reason you lost the sale is because something on your site distracted them and took them to another page – monitor where your visitors go, what they click and what effect this has on sales.

And now I bring you to the #1 shocking behaviour that shocked me and the experts who performed this test:

4. Your shopping basket is actually a wish list!

I thought this was crazy too, until I read the research …. You need to closely monitor what’s being added to your shopping cart and not being purchased, it’s probably not down to price either. Sure, we all open multiple websites, add the same products to the carts across them and see which works out the cheapest, but research has found that users are using  their cart as a virtual wish list, kind of like pintrest, so use this vital information to see what users are looking to purchase.

A simple fix: Unfortunately there is no fix for this, but the information you can gain from this is incredibly value, it’s a look into the mind of your customers, it’s the only place to get a snap shot of what they are looking to buy, you can then use this information to see what products have potential vs. those that don’t.

You can track this vital information in your shopping cart software and use it to your advantage; it tells you an incredible amount of information about that individual shopper and it gives you leverage to use targeted advertising to upsell these products to them at a later date. Remember though: The EU cookie law, if someone refuses cookies then you can’t track, target advertise or upsell them at a later date

People are choosing local trade, that second to none service and personal attention your customers are looking for cannot be offered by big corporations, local trade is certainly on the rise.

Having a local business website will certainly improve your business and your service that you offer to your clients. Having a local business website will allow you to let your customers know who you are, what you do and importantly how they can get it.

Your website can also be used to show potential customers who your staff are and provide a welcoming image for your local business.

A local business website from web design Wolverhampton can help not only improve your service but also increase sales, adding in ways to sell your products and social media re all simply achieved and will benefit any business.

Your business website can be used to:

Sell your products online
Generate leads
Provide further information about you and your business
Be found before your competitors
Managed with complete ease, by you – with no experience required!

Search engines are really changing the way people search, local results are now being shown at the top of normal search results and placed on to a map – increasing your exposure, your website can be optimised to be found by as many people as possible using the power of search engines.

With many changes to the way Google works and the latest updates affecting more websites than ever, it is important that you stay ahead of the game and importantly the competition!

Learn how to maximise the use of your title tags by clicking here

Wolverhampton Web Designer – Local business Websites

• Have high conversion rates
• Increase your sales
• Rank at the top of Google

And can be easily updated and maintained by you – no experience necessary.

If you are a tradesman or small business operating in the Walsall area then we can help you get your first website online or redesign your existing one.

You can also get from us a website which will rank you at the top of Google, it is important to have your website listed above your competitors as this means a greater chance of more business for you.

With Google recently deciding to penalise exact match domains, optimising your website to rank at the top of search engines for local keywords is more difficult than ever, but do not fear as we have many solutions that will help get you to the top of Google.

A website should not just look beautiful and dazzle your visitors; it is one element of your marketing campaign and must be fully optimised to ensure that it achieves its goal.

Typical website goals are anything from getting visitors to enquire via an email form or ring your phone number to selling your product to those who visit your website.

When used as part of your marketing campaign your website can be an effective way to increase your income and improve your profits.

At web design Walsall we educate you every step of the way and do not use any tech talk, we will listen to your needs and create you a website which fits your exact requirements.

Walsall Web Designer – Local Websites for Local Businesses