Although there are many experts who claim to know what makes a website successful, upon researching one would find that almost every expert would agree that navigation has a large part in the formula. Easy website navigation is the key to repeat business. There are thousands of websites out there floating around. Not every one of these websites is successful and that is mainly due to the website structure itself. If you want to create a website that is structurally capable of leading to repeat business, then you should consider these tips during the creating and building processes.
Easy website navigation needs to begin with the design of your website. Before your website is published on the web, it should be finished and able to be easily navigated. Don’t wait for the problems to present themselves through use to figure out what works and what doesn’t, especially if you are running a web business. There is simply no room for needless error when it comes to your business. The first thing to remember during initial design phases is that your website should be so simple to use that an eleven-year-old child should be able to figure it out. It is unlikely someone that young would ever be conducting business online, but many adults need the simplicity on websites. You should also keep it simple enough to run on even the slowest computer you can imagine someone owning. Not everyone has the fastest and newest computers around, so you will need to keep that in mind. If you only design for the highest forms of technology, you will likely loose quite a few potential customers.
When it comes to the actual design, try to use things that are easy to the eye. Pictures and graphics work really well, as long as they are not too large or complicated. If you are using photos, make sure you use thumbprints that can be clicked upon to reveal a larger image of the photo. The thumbprints will load quickly for those with slower connections, but also allow the option of seeing the image in larger form. Consumers would much rather gather information from pictures on the web than by reading boring text. A good rule is to offer a majority of images, with a little text mixed in.
When adding content to your site, there are a few things you should not do. First, you should not repeat common information. If you assume your audience is ignorant, they will likely be offended. Second, you should not repeat information from other websites with the same subject as yours. This will only make you look uniform and basically convince consumers you have nothing unique to offer them. If they can get the same deals at another website, they just might take their business there. Be sure you are adding valuable information and products on your website. Consumers are intelligent and want to be treated as such.
When trying to figure out how to link each page to another, you will need to keep an “obvious” state of mind. This means that any place that you feel you must type “click here” should be so obvious that even without the actual words “click here”; the consumer should feel that is what should be done next. Designing your site with predictability in mind is a great idea. The more comfortable the consumer feels with the site, the better your business will be and the more repeat business you can expect. When the customer “knows” what will happen next, they will automatically feel comfortable. Surprising customers is not usually a great idea, so make sure everything works as it should. Place links in appropriate places so the viewer does not need to search endlessly for the link to the next page.
Lastly, remember to avoid backgrounds and colors that distract from your products and website in general. Never use anything blinking in your site design. Blinking ads and content are annoying to everyone that uses the internet and can even cause medical problems in some viewers. Repeat business will not exist if you use content that is difficult on the eyes or it annoying to viewers. To get people to come back to your website, you need to create a place that can be navigated with complete ease. Make sure that all links are checked daily to ensure that your website is running as smoothly as possible. Also, be sure to have all of the “kinks” taken care of before you even publish your site online. Do these things and you are sure to have repeat business.
Navigate With Ease – Why Easy Website Navigation Is The Key To Repeat Business
How To Build Repeat Business Using Autoresponders
The aim of a sales page on a website is to give your customers only two options; buy your product or leave your website. Why let them leave without giving yourself another chance to sell to them? You don't have to... You can set up a system which will give you many opportunities to sell your product or service to each single visitor to your sales page.
The secret is to use what is known as an autoresponder which is an email utility you can use to save the contact details of your visitors and then to send them emails at set intervals.
To make use of an autoresponder you can either use the services of a third party supplier or you can purchase and install a script onto your website. To begin with it's a lot easier to use a third party autoresponder.
Irrespective of whether you use a third party service or your own script, you will have to use a form to capture your visitors contact details. This form can be built into any HTML web page be it your sales page, or a page designed specifically for use as a popup.
The underlying concept behind the use of autoresponders is that people rarely buy on their first visit to a website. Research has shown that most people need repeated contact with an advertising message before they respond to it and purchase the product or service.
Autoresponders were designed for just this. You can load a series of advertising messages into your autoresponder and adjust it to send the messages at set intervals. That said, people react badly to advertising; in fact most people just plain ignore advertisements.
To get round this, you have to design your email series so that it is not perceived to be advertising. A good way to do this is to design your email series to include plenty of useful information; give your subscribers some good quality free information in each email and weave your advertisement into it.
For example, let's assume you are selling an e-book titled "101 Dieting Tips". You could create a series of 7 emails, each containing a single dieting tip. At the end of each email you could inform the reader of your e-book containing 101 tips and include a link to your sales page.
The bottom line is the content you include in your email series must be of very high quality; after all you are going to ask for somebody's contact details in exchange for it.
Bear in mind nobody is going to sign up for your email series just you write it, or you include good content. In truth visitors to your website aren't interested in you, they are interested in themselves. They have a problem they are trying to solve, and that's why they ended up on your website; they thought they could find a solution there.
Another point worth considering is you are a relative unknown to the person visiting your website; they don't know you or trust you. It's because of this distrust that many people won't buy your product or service on their first visit. If you can get them to subscribe, your email series should build up their trust to the point where they will buy your product or service.
First you have to get them to subscribe, and you do this by advertising you are giving away "free" tips which will help solve their problem. Your opt-in form must be prominently displayed on your sales page, build it into the content. You should also design a popup form that displays your opt-in form either when people first get to your site, or when they leave.
Finally, a properly designed opt-in form which causes many of your website visitors to subscribe to your information series will incorporate these three design tips:
1) Use a heading, in a larger font and of a different color to the rest of the form, which includes a major benefit. In other words, in as few words as possible, explain the biggest benefit your visitor will receive from subscribing to your information series.
2) In as few words as possible explain two or three additional benefits your reader will receive from subscribing to your opt-in list. A list of bullet points is the best way to do this.
3) Your primary objective is to get your visitor to join your opt-in list, so ask them to subscribe. Get into the conversation going on inside their mind, use words like "Yes! Send Me the Tips Now!" on the submit button of your form.