Before you take the web by storm with the 3 strategies outlined below, you need to clarify your goals. Do you want to increase sales? Reduce staffing costs? Improve your service?

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Once you’ve decided what you want to achieve, don’t skimp on your investment. You need more than a little pocket change to develop an effective website – but by following thesethree tactics, you can ensure that it’s money well spent.

Attract

It’s a big wide web out there and it’s extremely unlikely that potential customers will stumble across you accidentally, unless you put some work in.

In order tomake yourself easily searchable, you need to know how your customers are searching and target them within that realm. Bear in mind, there has been a major shift away from traditional search en gine queries in favour of more specific searches within business directories, forums, blogs and social media.

  • Know your target market, their needs, and their behaviour online.
  • Optimise your website and submit an XML sitemap to all the major search engines.
  • List your website in local and national directories, and other directories that are
    relevant to your industry.
  • Create profiles on social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter,
    and post comments and interact with your customers on a daily basis.
  • Send press releases and articles to popular industry blogs and relevant
    online magazines.

Convert

By strategically designing your website to capture leads and drive sales, you can convert as many visitors as possible into customers.

  • Make sure each page of your site has a clear call to action.
  • Create incentives to collect data. For example, offer a free webinar in exchange for
    contact information.
  • Make your site as user-friendly and readable as possible. This includes liberal use of
    white space (no cramming!), short and concise copy, and relevant information that’s
    easy to locate.
  • Provide all the content a potential customer requires to make an informed
    purchase decision.

Nurture

Just like in the real world, online business is all about relationships. Every step of the way — before, during and after the sale — you have the opportunity to nurture your relationship with your customers. The best way to build loyalty and trust is by interacting with your online audience as much as possible.

  • Respond to all feedback — positive and negative.
  • Use community forums and social media sites to interact with both prospects and
    existing customers.
  • Provide resources and testimonials that add value and authenticity to your offering.
  • Develop a rewards program to generate referrals and leads.
  • Stay top of mind with existing and prospective customers by creating an
    e-newsletter with promotions and tips. Hey look at that, you’ve just been nurtured!