So the big question: When you stumble upon a problem that you know you would want to know about, do you send the site owner a message and tell them?  Or, do you glance away and move on, kind of like when you encounter someone with a bit of broccoli in their teeth?

I visit, well about 300+ web pages a day and usually will encounter at least one or two things I’d want to know about.

How about you?

Is your website sales funnel sturdy and efficient, easily facilitating users from top to bottom or does it more closely resemble a rusty, old funnel with some leaky holes or, worse yet, is it closer to a strainer, with the majority of the volume escaping in a rush?

The classic sales funnel or sales pipeline process also applies to managing the movement of website visitors through the process of completing a transaction – whether it’s submitting a form, making a purchase or accomplishing another activity.   While the very nature of the sales funnel process is an elimination of non-qualified participants, website owners must ensure that all steps are maximized, without gaping holes in the process, to ensure that qualified funnel participants don’t abandon the flow mid-stream due to lack of receiving the correct information at the appropriate time in the buying process.

Our sales process methodology defines the steps in the funnel process based on the needs of the prospect.

Awareness ~ Communication ~ Understanding ~ Evaluation ~ Solution

Awareness

The traditional sales funnel process begins with filling the funnel with leads and prospects –  the more qualified the better.  The same applies to filling the website funnel – people must become aware of your offering.

♦ Have you implemented Search Engine Optimization to enable prospects to find your website based on their needs (the keywords they type into a search engine)?

♦ Are your PPC or paid ads too generic, resulting in paying for the wrong traffic to arrive at your site? Are you using negative words, dayparting or geo-targeting to better qualify your traffic?

♦ Have you tested multiple ad variations to maximize spend and achieve the most qualified leads?

Communication

In the classic sales process, there is a “first date” period where the parties get to know each other, establishing trust and developing a relationship.    With a website, this must be accomplished in a virtual environment.

♦ Does your website greet visitors upon arrival, assuring them that they have found the correct location and providing assistance in easily locating what they are looking for (usability and navigation)?

♦ There times when you go to a store and “are just looking” versus times when you are educating yourself prior to a purchase versus other times when you just want to run in, get what you need and get out.  A website is the same and should utilize multiple communication paths to accommodate multiple types of visitors.  Carefully consider and test the best sequence of events and appropriate level of communication for each visitor type.

Understanding

During the traditional sales process, needs are identified, a solution is developed and presented to the prospect, and questions and concerns are addressed to ensure the prospect has a good understanding of the offering’s features and benefits.   The process should be interactive, with information delivered at a pace and depth that is most beneficial to the prospect.

Information gained from a website should accomplish the same goals by clearly communicating with well-written copy and the use of demos and testimonials to support the key features.

Evaluation

All transactions contain a point in the process where the decision-maker evaluates the benefits of proceeding versus the consequences of not doing so.  Accreditations, testimonials, memberships and other trust certifications strategically placed on pages at this point can increase user confidence and reduce anxiety.

For most small businesses, the user hasn’t heard of the company or brand and must evaluate the viability of company as well as the offering.    Even for a non-financial transaction, such as newsletter sign-up, personal information in the wrong hands could cause, at a minimum, receiving unwanted spam.   Recognizing your users’ apprehensions and working to overcome them will greatly improve your website’s success.  Publish a privacy policy and adhere to it.

Solution

Users want to easily and safely solve their wants and needs.   Have you made your website easy for them to accomplish this?

♦ Do your forms have fields that you really don’t need? Test removing un-needed fields for improved conversion rates.

♦ If you are selling a product on your website, publish return & refund policies, customer service contact information and normal processing and shipping estimates. Implement a highly secure payment process from a reputable processor.

♦ Say “Thank you” to your customers.

♦ Communicate, communicate and communicate.

To begin analyzing your website’s visitor retention capabilities, start by imagining the visitor’s mindset and actions prior to arriving.

♦ What need or desire are they searching to solve or fulfill?

♦ What ad copy or search term did they click on to get to your site?

Once the user clicks, where do they arrive?
Have you implemented an optimized landing page?
Clearly-defined, tested landing pages can significantly improve visitor conversions.

For visitors arriving at your home page, does the website quickly communicate to the visitor that they have arrived at the correct website based on the ad or search term?  How many times have you clicked on an ad and felt the link must have been coded incorrectly because the destination website appears to have no relevance to the search?

♦ Does your web page header, in a matter of seconds, tell the user your company name/brand, logo and provide a short synopsis/tagline of what the user will find on the site.  (Look at the top of this page)

♦ Is your website interesting and well-designed with relevant, informative content?

Website design and layout: To get an idea of how users are interacting with your website, use the Google Analytics-Content-Site Overlay tool (it’s free).

Heatmaps can also be used to determine areas that attract users’ attention. 

Feng-GUI provides a free, easy and really cool heatmap tool using artificial intelligence that simulates human vision.   While you are there, check out their blog for more information.

Website copy: Website users scan websites for desired information.  While most companies want to write volumes to communicate the wonders of their product or service, the reality is that website visitors, for the most part, simply don’t read it.  Keep it short. Keep it simple. Bullet points are your friend.

Navigation and usability: Is your website easy to use?  How many layers do users have to dig through to find what they need?  One of the best sources of usability information is Steve Krug’s book, “Don’t Make Me Think.”

Make it relevant and provide value:  Does your website deliver value that is relevant to the user or does it tend to be more on the self-serving, hyperbole-loaded side?

♦ If you want Google to love your site, make it relevant and provide the users they send you value.

♦ If you want users to love your site, make it relevant and provide them value.

Color:  Color has a strong effect on human behavior and feelings.  Make sure the colors you use are aligned with the message you want to convey.

Blue = Trustworthy, dependable, conservative
Green = Soothing, balance, wealth
Red = Energy, passion, enthusiasm
Purple = Regal, spiritual, wisdom
Grey = Timeless, practical, humble
Black = Authoritative, powerful, mysterious

In general, less is more, so save the rainbow effect for a different use and remember, white can be your best friend.

Maintain Focus: Small business websites sometimes become a bit too personal.

♦ If you want to display photos of the kids & dogs, create a blog for them.

♦ Except in special circumstances (writers, artists, public speakers), don’t put your own photo on the home page.

♦ If you have a special cause or unrelated interest, set up a different blog or website for that.

Getting found utilizes search engine optimization tactics to enable prospects to find your site through organic search (free) and/or using paid marketing, such as PPC campaigns like AdWords.

Keeping visitors requires designing an interesting, well-maintained website with relevant, informative content that is easy to find and easy to use.

Converting prospects involves mapping website flow and content from arrival to conversion in order to facilitate the desired behavior.

While all three areas are complex topics, over the next series of posts, we will provide high-level information that will provide a starter tool kit for those do-it-yourselfers that want to roll up their sleeves and learn the basics for website success.

Getting found through SEO

To begin, pull up your website.

♦ Look at the top blue bar – the title bar. Does it have a descriptive title using your keywords?  Does each page have a unique title? If not, unique titles should be added to each page.

♦ On your browser, go to View – Source (for Firefox, View-Page Source, for Safari it’s View,-View Source). Look down the source code for- <META NAME=”Description” CONTENT=. Is there a description following the =? If not, a well-written, relevant meta description for each page should be added.

♦ Again looking at the source code, look for <META NAME=”keywords” CONTENT=. Are there keywords associated with the page’s content? If not, relevant keywords need to be added, but don’t overdo it.

♦ Using the find function, look for <h1>. Header tags H1 through H6 can be used to emphasize the main sections of the page.

Website content

♦ Optimize multiple pages on the site, each with different key phrases – not just your home page

♦ Keep content updated and fresh – try to add 1 or 2 pages each week

♦ Use anchor text – text that contains hyperlinks within the body text

♦ Use graphic & image alt tags

♦ Use <strong> instead of bold and <emphasis> instead of italics

Website optimization tools

♦ Use Google’s Webmaster Tools, Google AdWords Tools for identifying keywords and Google Analytics to track site statistics. They are free.

♦ Post an XML sitemap in your root directory and notify Google via Google Webmaster Tools.  Be sure to keep your XML sitemap updated.

♦ Make sure you have an accurate robots.txt file

Domains

♦ Display site permanence by extending the expiration date of your domain/URL.

♦ Use redirects correctly

Inbound link building

♦ Links are very important for Google rankings. Create a link building strategy and set aside a few hours every week to work on building links.

♦ Apply to get listed in DMOZ and perhaps become an editor of a category

♦ Get links from PR4-PR7 sites. Try Directory Critic for ideas.

♦ Never buy a link.

♦ Don’t participate in reciprocal links with sites you don’t know.

♦ Don’t use automated link building services

♦ Get listed in local directories like Merchant Circle

♦ Put an Add This button on your site to promote social networking

♦ Sign up with social media sites and begin social networking

External ideas

♦ Consider buying descriptive URLs that people may type that are relevant to your keywords.  The URLs can be redirected to your main site (be sure & set them up as 301 redirects without masking)

♦ Consider starting a blog and occasionally link back to your site to drive traffic. Get free blog hosting in less than 5 minutes at WordPress.com or from Blogger.

The NEVER DO THESE THINGS list

♦ Never use hidden or tiny text

♦ Never use punctuation links

♦ Never participate in link farms

♦ Don’t overstuff pages with keywords

♦ Never use doorway pages

♦ Never use duplicate content