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3 reasons why websites fail

Succeeding on-line is actually easy if you know what you're doing. Unfortunately most website owners get conflicting advice and don't know what path to take.

These conflicting messages come from their suppliers such as graphic designers, business advisers and friends who, in most cases, don't have the knowledge and experience to know how to succeed online. The next time they give you advice try asking these questions to gauge their ability:

1. Have you got examples of how you've improved sales for companies similar to mine?
2. How often do you or your customers get sales enquiries from the website or Internet marketing?
3. How much sales does your website and Internet marketing generate for your company or your customers?

Notice how none of these questions focus on technology? They all focus on sales which is how you measure your business website success. Think of your website like a new sales employee.  Their main performance measurement is how many new sales they get. If you're not getting new sales then the website or sales employee needs to be improved or replaced.

Every new sales employee needs a plan to help them sell. A website is no different. It needs to reach new customers and then convince those customers to buy from you. Funnily enough, most websites get this totally wrong. Here's the three biggest reasons why your website might be failing:

1. Customers can't find you

I've met companies that have spent several thousand dollars on a website and have never been contacted from their website because they never get found on Google. The company that builds your website has to understand Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) so your website will get found by Google. We've created a free tool that can assess whether your website is Search Engine Optimised here: www.spinningplanet.co.nz/meta-tag-analyzer

Put your web address (ie; www.yourname.co.nz) on everything: business cards, car, email stationary, clothing or even your building. The more people that see your website address the more likely they are to go to it.

Another good way to generate visitors to your website is by writing a regular blog on your industry. Not only does this get more visitors to your website but it also makes you a leader in your industry which improves the perceived value of your business.

You can also generate more traffic to your website using social media such as Facebook or LinkedIn. Get  advice on doing this because most businesses do it wrong.  

2. Your website isn't giving customers what they want

Most business websites haven't been built to fulfil the customers needs. Unlike the old days of television and newspapers where you created one ad that targeted everybody; Internet customers want you to converse with them directly.

For example, if I owned a car sales business who's main customers were businesses wanting a fleet of cars and people wanting new personal cars then I should create two pages that answer those customers questions and fulfil their needs. Here's an example of the type of content that would be on those pages:

Need a Business Fleet?

The above text would be a Call to Action button on the Home page that leads the interested customer to a page that answers all of their questions and convinces them to rent a fleet of cars. Here's an example of some of that pages content:

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Most customers have at least two questions they need answered so having FAQs on the target page not only quickly gives them the information they want but it also gives you the opportunity to posit questions they may not have thought of.  

Q: How much does it cost to rent a fleet for my business?
A: Fleet costs range from $500 - $5,000 per month based on fleet size and your requirements. Click here to view case studies of small to large fleets and their cost.

Q: Do you supply car maintenance?
A: Yes. We have a number of maintenance packages that can be viiewed here.

Testimonials

The most important element of a website is to build trust and one of the best ways to do that is to include testimonials from happy clients.

"We moved from owning our own cars to a fleet which has literally saved us thousands each year." Natalie Henderson Spinning Planet Limited

There's many other elements that can be used on the target page to fulfil the customers needs and help them choose your product or service over your competitors such as including additional resources like videos, call back buttons, live chat, galleries, request a quote, book a meeting, etc. but these would depend on what product or service you were offering.

Make an offer

Finally, like a new sales person, you'd make an offer in the form of a Call to Action such as:

3. Poor communication

Even if you've got a great web company like Spinning Planet that understands online business strategy, internet marketing and how to build professional websites, that won't matter if you have poor communication. Here's some things to take note of:

1. Ensure that your email information is correct
   We recently contacted a large number of websites with the contact details that were listed on their websites and as the contact details for the ownership of their domain names and around 30% of them were incorrect. Are your customers having the same problem? Go to your website and make sure that your correct email is listed and if you also have an email form that it works correctly.
2. Reply as quickly as possible
   If you fail to reply to an email query within 24 hours you've probably already lost the customer because they've also found your competitor's website who responded immediately.
3. Follow Up
   If you responded to a customer make sure to follow them up and see if they need any additional information. There have been many occasions where that has been the deciding factor for a client to choose Spinning Planet because our competitors didn't bother to follow-up with them.

If you have any other big reasons why websites fail make a comment below.

brynn :-)

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Brynn

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