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5 Keys to Creating a Website that Earns You Money

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December 4, 2012

As a mompreneur, your business website is essentially your storefront, business card and most significant marketing material all rolled into one.  How your website engages your visitors and customers is essential to your success.  If you provide a memorable experience, customers are sure to return time and time again.  If you’re ready to turn your website into a profit-making tool, then here are five keys to creating a website that sells.

Key #1 –  Make your website interactive. 

As your business grows and evolves, it will become increasingly important to create a community around your business. To accomplish this, you should take steps to engage your visitors and customers.  This can be accomplished a number of ways.  You can:

  • Provide a forum
  • Post surveys or polls
  • Allow visitors and customers to review or rank items (for example a “How valuable was this article?” question and a scale of 1 to 5 stars)
  • Inspire comments and feedback on blog posts
  • Host contests and sweepstakes
  • Publish video and audio content as well as written content.  This gives users another way to access you and your personality.

Key #2 – Make sure your website provides value. 

Your target market goes online for a number of reasons.  They go online to research a potential purchase, to seek solutions for a problem they’re having and/or to be entertained.  If your website provides all three – products, information, and entertainment – then you’re on the ideal track.  The good news is your content can provide both the information and the entertainment, and when written well, it can also inspire purchases.  Here are a few ways you can provide value for your customers and prospects:

  • How to articles, videos, and audio
  • Tips articles, videos, and audio
  • Case studies
  • Workbooks, ebooks and reports
  • Interviews with experts
  • Product reviews

Key #3 – Make sure your website is easy to navigate. 

Within the first 20 seconds of landing on your blog, a visitor makes the decision about whether they’re going to stay on your website or click away. If your site is laid out nicely, with products and services, information, prices, FAQs, and easy-to-find content, then people are more likely to hang out.  And the longer they stay on your site the more likely they are to make a purchase or to return again.

To make your site easy to navigate consider:

  • Keeping your site simple
  • Keeping your pages uniform with the same options and appearance
  • Using drop down menus to organize your content by topic for easier access
  • Offering a search function where users can search for products, services, or content topics quickly and easily
  • Providing a way for users to easily go back to previous pages, such as with a link to the Home page.  A back key is an option; however, if every page has the same options and drop down menus, including the ability to quickly return to the home page, a visitor will always be able to find what they need.
  • Testing your website’s appearance on different browsers to make sure every visitor has a good experience

Key #4 – Make sure your website has eye appeal. 

If you’ve ever visited a website and the text was so small or the colors so incompatible that you couldn’t read a word, then you understand that readability is critical to a selling website.  To help ensure your website is captures and keeps attention, make sure:

  • Your colors are easy on the eyes
  • Your graphics aren’t distracting
  • Your formatting like underlining, bold and italics are kept to a minimum
  • The spacing between sentences and paragraphs is adequate
  • The font is easy to read and the size is large enough for people to see

Key #5 – Give visitors a soft sell. 

People expect to be sold to and they’re looking for it – however, they’re wary. Instead of hitting website visitors with a hard sell, provide information, solve their problems and show them the benefits of your products or services. They’ll be much more receptive and appreciative.

Creating a website that sells requires a structured approach and a desire to offer the best browsing experience possible for your visitors.  Once you’ve updated your website using these tips, consider testing it and asking friends and family for their opinion.

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