Two Main Characteristics of a Top Small Business Website
What makes a top small business website? Let’s begin with what doesn’t.
Pretty pictures, spinning graphics and irrelevant company information. These are the things that slick-talking graphic designers and web designers will try to sell you. They want your website to look good because a pretty website makes them look good.
But these things don’t matter. When you ask any small business owner what they want most they will usually tell you that they want more customers. Often, this translates to more qualified sales leads and this is exactly what a top small business website produces.
Let me make this very clear. There are only two reasons why any small business should even have a website.
- To inform customers about the products or services offered
- To generate qualified sales leads
If you sell a product online, there could be a third purpose and that is to sell your products. However, most small businesses do not offer online products so let’s discuss how a top small business website informs customers and generates sales leads.
Obviously the web is a great medium through which to tell the world what you offer and what you can do. Unlike mass media or print, costs are much lower. The web is also much more flexible so you’re able to update your information at a moment’s notice. So why is it that so many sites give customers and prospects irrelevant information?
This drives me crazy. Statistically speaking the “About Us” page on a corporate site is the least likely to be visited. Yet this is the page where so many companies like to brag about how great they are. They talk about their rewards and all of sorts of accolades but you know what? Nobody cares. People want to know what you can do for them.
A top small business website will focus on the visitor. Provide your visitors with information that will help them solve problems and you’ll find that they will be much more receptive to your site. It is also important to remember that people buy from other people – not from businesses. If you must have an “About Us” section of your site, talk about people. Make it personal. Talk about you or your staff but give visitors a chance to get to know you.
Everybody wants new sales leads. If you’re a small business owner or a sales rep for a company just imagine what your life would be like if you never had to make another cold-call. Rather than wasting your time and reeking havoc on your emotional health, you could just respond to prospects that have indicated that they are interested in whatever you are selling.
The absolute easiest way to do this is to offer something for free on your website. Make it something of value to your visitors and have them exchange their contact information as well as their consent to keep in touch with them in exchange for it. If your offer is enticing enough and relevant to the product or service you offer, you can build a list of prospects that you know have at least some interest in what you sell.
Have a form on your website and have interested prospects complete it in exchange for your free information. Have their information automatically added to an autoresponder email sequence and continue to provide the prospect with helpful information. Don’t abuse them buy trying to sell them something in every email.
Provide valuable information and over time you will gain trust and you’ll find more and more prospects becoming paying customers. This all begins by designing and building a top small business website that informs visitors and automatically generates sales leads.
If you’re looking for ways to generate free sales leads without cold-calling, I offer the Crash Course in Modern Sales Prospecting. It is completely free.
Eric Haaranen
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