Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Stuff You Need for a Great & Profitable Website

By Angie Sandy

Whether you've been an internet entrepreneur for quite some time or are just getting into the world of online business there are a few things that every business website must have to both attract and keep customers.

Powerful Customer Experiences

A fantastic customer experience is paramount to a great and profitable website. How do you create that fantastic experience? First and foremost, in order to make a decision to buy anything, your customers need to be able to find what theyre looking for quickly and easily. Make sure all your information is right up front and easy to find.

FAQ pages, for example, are a great resource for all those common questions. Shipping charges and easy to find product descriptions are also a must.

For many customers, it also means feeling a sense of connection to the store. Frequent buyer programs help create that sense of community, however free content, superior customer service, a fun and friendly about us page as well as unified branding images like your logo, all help to tell customers who you are and what youre about.

Regular and Valuable Content

Any profitable website uses content to both draw traffic to the site and to keep them there. The trick for busy entrepreneurs is to manage all their content effectively and efficiently. A content management system or CMS is a great tool for busy business owners because it provides an organized system.

A CMS enables you to create, edit, password protect and delete content without the assistance of a webmaster and without needing any programming skills or knowledge. You can upload and manage a high volume of content quickly and easily.

Secure, Easy To Use Shopping Cart

The checkout process is where many businesses stumble. Customers demand, and deserve, a simple and very secure system and many shopping carts just dont measure up. Items are dropped, customers are asked to jump through too many hoops, and quite often all of the information they need, like shipping charges, isnt apparent until they hit the pay now button.

For business owners a good shopping cart system will manage your data, produce real time reports and not cost an arm and a leg.

Search Option

Include a search function on your site and give your visitors and customers the ability to instantly find exactly what they need. For example, a pet store owner with this search feature on their website makes it easy for a prospect to find that dog coat theyre looking for. Forcing them to search throughout pages of items is a sure way to detract from their shopping experience.

Providing this functional search feature enhances your customers experience as well it provides you with valuable keyword data to incorporate into your marketing strategy and product line decisions.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Theres no doubt that SEO plays a critical role in driving website traffic and sales. Finding a website builder with integrated SEO systems is like finding a wining lottery ticket. Imagine being able to link and tag your content and website code without having to jump through hoops or learn a programming language.

Dont forget to include a sitemap in your website. Sitemaps will help you stay at the top of your search engine rankings by informing the search engines each time a change or addition is made to your website.

Branding

In the competitive world of online business, your branding strategy can certainly help set you apart from your competition. While a logo is important, think about the Nike swish or the colorful eBay lettering, for a small business owner your personality is a large part of your brand. Your personality can be reflected in the content and design on your website.

Creating a great and profitable website starts with a website builder that provides the tools necessary to create a powerful customer experience. Choose your builder wisely, look for one that is easy to use and provides the tools you need to create the business you desire.

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