Add an Email Newsletter
Email newsletters continue to be one of the best, most effective tools you have in your marketing toolbox. Email newsletters help you maintain a relationship with your prospects and customers. It’s a push technology, so you don’t have to hope people come to your website to get your message, you can send it directly to them. And compared to other marketing channels, it’s dirt cheap.
Related: The 5 Minute Guide to Why and How You Should Do an Email Newsletter
Put Contact Information Front and Center
If your business relies on any kind of personal contact, it should be dead easy to contact you. If you’re a small business, there’s no reason you shouldn’t have your phone number of every page. Contact forms are good, but be careful to not make them too complicated (there’s an inverse relationship between the number of items on your form and how many people will use it).
If you have a physical location (storefront, office, etc), add maps to your location. Google and Yahoo both offer free map services that can be added with a short snippet of code. Include directions from major thoroughfares and information on parking if necessary.
Polish and Refine the Text
The text on your website is your number one tool for converting prospects to customers. It should be short, scannable, and “to the point”. Use short paragraphs, lots of bullet points, and headings. Go over it again and again. Plan to re-examine the text on your site monthly.
When it comes to product and services type pages, there are a few more specific things to keep in mind. You should present all (or at least most) of the information people need to make a purchase. For most people, the first piece of information they look for is the price. If you offer more than one product/service, give users a clear upgrade path through your product range and offer comparisons.
More info: Writing for the Web
Get Better Photography
If a photo is worth a thousand words, a nice photo will say a thousand nice words. It’s important to convey a sense of quality to your prospects and good photos are an easy way to do that. Put your best foot forward!
For products, it’s essential to link to larger images. Don’t stress out about using fancy pop-up. Most people are just after the extra detail a big photo offers.
Add (and Use) a Click Tracking/Analytics Package
For you to make improvements, you need to know what your visitors are up to on your site. It’s important to know where they came from, how long they stayed, and what they did.
Currently, the best free solution is Google Analytics. It’s easy to install, there are literally dozens of reports available and for the busy manager, you can set it up to email you weekly or monthly. As well, there’s tons of information out there about how to interpret and use the information such as this video below.