Have you ever heard the term “snake oil salesman?” This refers to the practice of trying to bombard someone with hype in order to get to lower all your natural defenses, so that you purchase a product or service that you might otherwise not have considered. This kind of approach goes back hundreds of years and has been partly responsible for developing a typical consumer’s distrust for salesmen of any kind. Very few people like the hard sell approach and most often run the other way from it. As a web-based sales person, why would you consider taking that stance when you design your website?

One of the primary challenges of Internet marketing in general is that you do not have the option of being able to look a customer in the eye and engage him or her with a handshake. This traditional means of interaction can often help to build a bond of trust between two individuals and can often lead to the consummation of a sale. The challenge facing the webmaster is to reproduce this element of trust virtually and every word that you write on your website goes a long way toward or against this goal.

If you listen to so called copywriting “gurus,” some of them will tell you that you have to be hard-hitting and that you have to be very graphic with your examples and use a lot of hyperbole. Yet we are seeing a definite trend away from this, especially as the social media phenomenon takes hold and becomes an integral part of Internet marketing. Now, more than ever, it is necessary to establish a process of trust before anyone is likely to buy something from your website.

To be as effective as possible, the website of today must strike a fine line between technical optimization and personal appeal. We all know that it is necessary to structure a site so that the search engine robots can determine, according to the algorithms, that the site falls into a certain subcategory or niche and is appropriate for distribution through associated channels. However, it should never be obvious to the web visitor that the site has been optimized in this way. Long gone are the days when you could simply insert “long tail” keywords to an excess density. You must include your appropriate keywords, but you must focus equally as well on secondary keywords or appropriate words and phrases from an SEO perspective. What this boils down to is simply writing educational, informative, enlightening and entertaining material, to give the visitor a real sense that they are spending their time wisely by staying on your page and reading the content.

As you establish trust through gentle repetition or endorsement, the visitor will feel more inclined to consider purchasing from you. Web copy that is sensational and designed to bully somebody into purchase will likely not work for you. Avoid copy modifiers that are designed to overstress certain points and remember to talk on an “adult” to “adult” basis, rather than if you were a “parent” talking to a “child!”

How have you established trust with your consumers?

Matthew Toren

No business can afford to discount the opportunities posed by an online presence. This refers equally to an organization that may have traditionally focused on off-line activities or on “bricks and mortar” locations to drive sales. Whatever line of business, product or service, there are significant reasons for exposing your company to an increasing army of hungry and thirsty searchers discovering the Internet on a daily basis.

Your shop window to the world online will be your website. First impressions count for a lot here and you have but a few seconds to convince the visitor to stay before he or she clicks away to find another gem. While there are many ways to create your own website, should you be inexperienced or not in possession of a creative flair then you should outsource this task. There is a lot to think about when putting together a web site, but from a visual perspective, it must be immediately appealing.

Quite apart from the technicalities of making your website “visible,” which we’ll get to in a second, the content contained within must be sharp, to the point, entertaining, educational, informative, amusing, unique, bold, thought-provoking – or any combination of the aforementioned! This does not mean that you have to have a university-style thesis on every page, but you have to contribute something special and create that “hook” to draw your customers into the sales funnel.

Consider a ghostwriter or a specialized copywriter to create the content of your page, especially the page that is directly concerned with soliciting a call to action. Once you’ve convinced the visitor that your product or service is for them through the skillful creation of content as described, you must bring this all together, narrowing that sales funnel and prompting a purchase decision.

If you create a great visitor experience, then the first time visitor will be tempted to return. Offer them the opportunity to bookmark or to subscribe to your feed updates and you will commence a two-way communication, which can hopefully lead to additional sales and increased volume.

Your website must be a constantly evolving product. Try and add new content on a daily basis if you can and this is where blogs come in very handy. These days it is quite simple to set up your own blog using a platform such as WordPress or Blogger and these are particularly useful pages as they are set up to receive comments. Your overall credibility will soar if you have a well trafficked blog page with great comments, back and forth and positive contributions from others.

Your overall goal must be to increase the amount of traffic to your website as creatively as possible. This starts with search engine optimization, which is the process of ensuring that your page is appropriately coded and presented, so that it will appear within search engine results when people are looking for your product or service. Optimization includes strategic use of keywords, both primary and secondary, which not only tell the search engine operators that your page is relevant but which also adequately inform your visitors, so that they can go ahead and buy from you.

If you really want to grow your business online, make sure that you follow up with all prospects, leads and existing customers. Create a “squeeze page” by offering your website visitor something of significant value, free. If you creatively package this, then they will provide you with their e-mail address in order to receive this item. Following a process of “double opt in,” ensuring that they understand that they will be receiving communications from you, you can then send them your regular newsletter containing additional value added material and helping to establish that process of communication, leading to sales down the road.

How have you expanded your business online?

Matthew Toren