Four Tips on How to make your Website Work for Your Business

In these times of financial turmoil, it is even more important to make your website and other online tools work for your business and to ensure your online marketing plan and infrastructure to obtain and convert leads and retain them as customers is ready for the stormy weather ahead.

Here are four recommendations to help you keep the visitors flowing and leads converting.

1. Improve the Site's Conversion Rate Now

During a recession fewer buyers will make purchases and you don't want to lose any potential customers. Unsurprisingly, research has shown that during recessions consumers are more careful in how they spend their money. If you sell online then you can expect more price competition and due to the nature of the internet customers will spend longer looking around for the right purchase, carefully researching their options before making a purchase. To prevent 'leakage' of customers, you should do everything you can to make sure customers buy from your website and not someone else's. Make use of your website analytics to see where customers are leaving and use this data to make changes to 'plug the leaks'.

If you sell products online be sure to revisit your shopping cart and analyse the checkout process to see whether there are any potential barriers that may get in the way of someone making a purchase. Is the process too complex? Can it be streamlined?

You do not have to invest thousands in overhauling your site, but development which will lead to increased consumer spending on your website is an investment and money well spent.

2. Improve Your Organic Search Marketing

Maybe you already do Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) for your website. Maybe not. In these times of recession, you most certainly should be. In order to sell you're your products or services online people have to find you. Ramp up your SEO strategy to make sure they can do so. There are other methods such as including your business in a free listing on Google Maps through Google's Local Business Centre (www.google.com/local/add/). A local listing will put you on the map and help visitors find you more easily. You will stand out from the competition.

Review your keyword basket and current rankings in the search engines. Analyse competitors and refine your keywords to make sure you are focusing on what credit-pinched consumers will be looking for. For example, if you are an equipment vendor, now is the time to highlight equipment or services attractive to the buyers looking for "used," or "refurbished equipment," or for "repair" services instead of "new equipment." If you offer services you might want to refine your keywords to include "inexpensive", "low cost" or "affordable".

3. Evaluate your Per Lead/Sale Marketing Costs, Implement PPC or Email Marketing Campaigns

If your business marketing plan includes on and off-line marketing strategies, analyse the costs of a lead/sale costs from each of your marketing sources. For example, how cost per lead or sale from magazine articles / newspaper ads compared to an online marketing strategy like a Pay Per Click or email marketing campaign. PPC advertising can be done very cheaply compared to more traditional marketing methods and email marketing is an inexpensive way to keep in touch with your customers and announce new products/promotions etc.

Now is the time to analyze the data and make informed decisions about where to focus precious marketing resources.

4. Improve your Landing Pages and Lead Capture/Conversion Process

Create campaign specific landing pages for your PPC campaigns to better focus leads into the call to action your want: sign up, purchase, etc. Use tools such as Google's free Website Optimizer to improve the performance of your PPC campaign.

A website of course is the front end of the process. It is no good having a terrific website if weak back end infrastructure results in loss of leads.

Make sure your website has an effective backend process. Link your website to a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system via CRM 'web-to-lead' functionality. With this in place website enquiries are captured centrally and distributed efficiently. Set up workflow to send auto responders to engage your leads and to notify the relevant Sales person for follow up. In short, automate your lead capture process to speed up the conversion process and to make the customer experience as pleasant as possible. Selling to a happy customer is much less expensive than obtaining a new one.

Finally, although in these tough financial times it is tempting to do so, you should not make cut backs in the above areas. This will prevent the much needed flow of customers to sustain the business. Measurement and monitoring of these strategies online is not difficult if you use available analytical tools and combine with a sales and marketing tool like a CRM. Use your analytical tools to ensure that you do not waste your marketing dollars. Stretch them by spending only where the returns justify. Use a CRM to capture your leads more effectively and prevent leakage so that you can convert every one of them into a sale.

CRM Asia Solutions can implement an on demand CRM for your business in as little as one week for 500USD*

We also offer a powerful email marketing solution and can tailor costs to you're your needs and budget.

Finally, we partner with experts in Thailand, China and Australia to provide assistance with website (re)design and SEO strategies.

For more information or to request a quotation, please outline your basic requirements here and we will contact you.

CRM Asia Solutions
www.crmasiasolutions.com
info@crmasiasolutions.com