Five Ways To Increase Sales Through Your Website
Prior to the advent of technology and digitalisation, marketers made use of trade shows; promotional materials such as flyers, brochures, and catalogues; vehicles wraps as well as television and radio advertising to promote their products and services.
While traditional (offline) marketing still has its place in the marketing mix, businesses must step up and embrace the digital world if they want to survive in the face of competition. This is especially true for Thailand which ranks number one in the world for internet and mobile internet use, while other Asian countries are not far behind either.
Today, any business that wants to grow their brand absolutely needs a website. Statistics show that there are approximately 1.94 billion websites registered as of December last year. E-commerce has grown considerably as well. In fact, the e-commerce industry is projected to hit a total of $3.45 trillion in sales this year.
As an online business entrepreneur, are you looking to jump on the bandwagon and do your part in hitting the $3.45 trillion sales this year? Conversion is the key and managing your website is the answer. With that being said, here are five ways to increase your sales by creating and maintaining your website:
1. Establish your brand and manage your reputation
A website is an online extension of your physical store. In fact, it can stand alone as an online business entity. A website is a lot more than a collection of texts, images, and videos enhanced with a chosen background and organized through your preferred layout. It is critical to your company’s brand, which in turn affects how consumers perceive your products and services and ultimately the company itself.
Therefore, you have to ensure that the way you have established your website translates into the kind of brand you want your business to have. Then, you can go about taking care of your company’s image and managing its reputation. Once you have earned a solid brand reputation, your clients will put their utmost trust and confidence in the products or services you are providing, and this eventually will lead to an increase in sales.
2. Employ SEO and PPC strategies
Two strategies that are incredibly useful for improving a site’s traffic and increasing sales are Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. An SEO strategy is a way to improve a site’s online visibility on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). PPC, on the other hand, is a form of paid advertising that brings pre-qualified traffic to a website.
It’s important that you seek help from an SEO strategist to ensure that your website appears on the first page of Google when users look for something related to your products or services via a search engine. The same is true when running an effective PPC campaign. A professional PPC campaign manager can make sure that your budget is spent efficiently and that your campaigns are driving sufficient traffic and generating positive Return On Investment (ROI).
3. Make your website user-friendly and mobile-friendly
These are two things that a graphic designer should be aware of when creating and designing a website: user-friendliness and mobile-compatibility. A user-friendly website allows a customer to navigate through the site and jump from one page to another with ease. Aside from this, a website should be compatible with mobile devices. Over 65% of web traffic in Asia is on mobile, so having a mobile-friendly, responsive website is crucial if you want your business to thrive online.
If you hire an inexperienced designer who ends up making your website too complicated, chances are your online visitors will get frustrated and ‘bounce off’ – in other words, leave without any meaningful interaction. This holds true for websites that appear blank or those that have cluttered layouts when viewed on mobile phones. The chances of converting these visitors into actual customers will be very slim.
4. Use attractive photos and videos on your blog
One of the best ways to gain exposure for your website is to have a blog and update it regularly with fresh content. Having unique content in your blog creates opportunities for your site to show up in search engines which helps drive more users to your site.
If you are managing a website for your business, you could regularly update your blog by posting pictures of the latest products, or videos of services being provided to clients. These photos and videos can be further explained through effective SEO write-ups. A carefully optimised blog that offers genuine value will attract potential customers as well as keeping your regular clients in the loop.
5. Have a compelling call-to-action and visible contact details
Finally, some of the effective websites are those with call-to-actions (CTAs) such as ‘sign up now,’ ‘click here to shop,’ ‘subscribe now,’ and a whole lot more. Visible contact details build trust and help ensure successful conversions.
If you are maintaining a website, these are two components of a website that you will have to take into consideration. CTAs prompt your customers to do what they are supposed to do next. If they navigate through your site and find what they are looking for, CTAs will lead them in the right direction. Making your contact details visible as well is just a click away from converting your online visitors into successful customers. You don’t want to miss that chance!
