3 Incredibly Annoying Website Blunders
"If you build it, they will come". Remember that line from Field of Dreams? If you build a website for your small business, they might come alright, but nobody said they'd be buying.
Building a website isn't enough. To sell something online you need to build a site that gives people the motivation and confidence to take out their credit card and give you the number.
Many website owners are making critical errors that will almost certainly stop a sale dead in its tracks. To keep your website sales flowing, avoid these annoying website blunders:
The "Always-on-sale" Blunder - No doubt you've seen websites that run automated scripts which continually change the date on the order page to make it appear as if the "sale" price is expiring today. Of course tomorrow the date is simply advanced by 1 day to make it appear as if that is the day the sale is ending.
Like many sales tricks, it worked for a while. It instilled a sense of urgency in people. Since they didn't want to miss the sale price they were prompted to buy the product or service today, fearing that tomorrow the special offer would be gone. Online prospects are now much more skeptical of this type of offer, and it is often viewed in a negative light. After all, do respected retailers like Sears or Target offer one-day sales that never end?
If you want people to pay more attention to your "sale" price, make it a weekly sale. Clearly spell out the start and end date for the sale, and withdraw the sale offer at the end of the week. The "weekly" sale offer is far more believable and you'll earn credibility points for actually keeping your word and ending the sale.
The Outrageous Guarantee Blunder - Some sites offer outrageous guarantees. "If you don't triple your online sales in 30 days I'll give you double your money back on my Making Money Online course". This type of guarantee is over the top, and is viewed as the sure sign of an amateur running a business.
Again, look to the most respected retailers online or offline that you can think of. They all offer a money back guarantee, but nothing further. The more outlandish the guarantee, the more it appears as if your business has nothing in common with trusted companies that are well respected by their customers. And that's not a good thing.
The Flash Blunder - Once the realm of high-end websites, Flash animation has now become available to the small business owner online. However, that doesn't mean you should subject your online prospects to a 1 minute flash intro about your company before they can get to the actual information they came looking for.
Keep in mind that all of your clients follow a path to your website. No matter whether they come from a search engine, a pay-per-click engine, or a related website, your prospects were expecting something when the clicked on a link to your site. If it was an ebook on job hunting that you advertised, and you greet your clients with a 30 second flash animation video that you think is "eye-catching", you didn't deliver on your prospect's expectation. What they wanted was information because they were potentially considering purchasing your product or service offering. What you gave them was something entirely different.
Get inside your prospects head and figure out why they are coming to your site in the first place. Then give them what they want with as few clicks as possible (ideally, just one click). Flash is great - just remember to moderate is usage on your site.
Yes, if you build it (and promote it and advertise it) they will come. Avoid these blunders and they might just buy something, too.
About the Author:
Will Dylan is the author of "Small Business, Big Marketing", a no charge ebook available at www.marketingyoursmallbusiness.com. Will also writes news releases for small businesses.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks