There is plenty of information about what the company does, but nothing that tells a potential customer what they should do after visiting the page.

Now, this is a very common error that millions of website owners make, and to an extent, it’s an understandable one as well.

After all, the people behind the website understand their business perfectly and they are therefore completely aware of what a potential client has to do to take advantage of their offer.

Unfortunately, it’s wrong to assume that this same potential customer is equally aware of the next step, because many of them won’t be.

It’s a big mistake to leave your site visitor without any clear ‘next step’ guidance because many don’t know what they’re supposed to do to take advantage of the offer or to do business with you. You must tell them in clear terms what the next step is, doing so will surely increase your  conversions.

In the case of Space Design Solutions, I’d move the ‘Services’ menu that is in the green panel on the right of the page down to make way for the call to action that I’d include at the top of this panel:

So, if you have a site where you are attempting to provide a superior customer service, ask yourself about your own call to action. Does it exist at all and if so, is it clear, obvious and easy to act upon?

Remember, customer service is all about giving prospects and customers what they want, and one of the things that they really need is to be told what they need to do next. If you don’t tell them what the next step is, they will do business with the company who does.

If you would like us to review your own website, CLICK HERE to apply for a FREE Strategy Session today!

Almost without exception, it doesn’t matter how good your site is, it could always be better. In this short customer service series, I’m going to demonstrate how your site might be improved with a case study based on a site that is owned by a friend of mine at Space-Design-Solutions.com. I recommend you think about how these ideas fit in with your own online presence.

Here’s how the site opens in my browser window:

It’s attractive and the color combinations work well, but there are several things that immediately strike me about this page if I’m looking at it from a customer service point of view.

Okay, so there are several link buttons across the top of the page, one of which is takes the visitor to the ‘Contact Us’ element of this page (at the bottom). Apart from the fact that this information should not be at the bottom of the homepage (for reasons that I’ll explain in more detail later), my question is, ‘Why are you asking a potential customer to click a link to contact you?’

You have made it just that little bit more difficult for them to get in touch with your company to do business with you. Providing superior customer service is all about making it as easy as possible for potential customers to get in contact with you, and yet this is doing exactly the opposite.

What I’d therefore do is place a telephone number and postal address at the top right of the page after moving the couple studying the drawing down a little.

This is crucial because in terms of providing a superior service to your customers, you must realize that potential customers in your local market expect to buy offline, not online. They therefore expect to call and perhaps visit you, so you should make it as easy as possible for them to do so.

It hardly needs mentioning that providing top quality customer service is all about giving potential clients what they want. For this reason, I would definitely recommend putting the telephone number and address at the top of the homepage.

In order to qualify for a free internet marketing strategy session, business owners must apply online at http://www.KatyInternetMarketing.com/strategy-session/ “Our strategy sessions are very thorough (and time consuming), so we can’t accept every applicant; that said, we do offer great advice and training on our Facebook page and on our blog, and that is of course available to everyone interested” commented Puyol when asked about the need to apply for a strategy session.

Nowadays it is crucial to have an internet marketing and web design expert on your team, to get started with your free internet marketing strategy session contact Katy web design experts at www.KatyInternetMarketing.com

It is important to mention that a website is in many cases the first impression a potential customer gets from you; and like the old saying says: “There is never a second chance to give a first impression.”  What impression would you like YOUR website to give?

At KatyInternetMarketing.com we help small businesses create their online presence by building websites that are not only appealing to the eye, but are designed to bring customers through your door. Our process helps us in planning and delivering high quality websites at an affordable price.

Quality Web Design Essentials

It’s not merely about having a website for your business. Your customers should also be able to find your website easily. Some of the key elements of a good website are:

•    The design or layout of the site – The look and feel of your website is crucial in holding the interest of your visitors. Our experts will create the design which suits your business in terms of branding as well as being user friendly.

•    Navigation and function of the site – Easier the navigation, better the user experience. Easier navigation also means that your users will spend more time on your site.

•    SEO Friendly – Since we realize the importance of search engine traffic for your business, our experts will ensure that the website code is search engine friendly.

Website Creation Process Highlights

The following points are taken into account while building a website for your business.

•    Build websites based on your business goals and keeping your target audience in mind
•    Competitive keyword research. This is crucial in marketing and positioning of your website.
•    Website designs to help build branding of your business.
•    Technology that will lead to a better user experience

Content is the key to any web designing initiatives and we extensively work on data collection in order to help build quality websites. Once the content is ready, you will be able to see a demo of your website.  In this stage, there will be an understanding of how the placing of text, visuals, navigational buttons and feedback messages are displayed.  Branding of the company and positioning of the products are looked into detail at this stage. We also provide periodic demonstration in order let you know of the progress.

KatyInternetMarketing.com follows a color theory which has enormous impact on what you try to convey to your clients.  Color combination theories are extensively used while coming up with the color scheme for your site. Once this is finalized, paper prototyping is done which will give you a demo of how the site looks and functions. Vigorous testing and quality checks are also put in place to ensure that the site is functioning as intended.

When it comes to web design, Houston can count on Katy Internet Marketing LLC!  We can help with all your web design, SEO and internet marketing needs.  Do not hesitate to contact us for a custom quote as we can assure you of quality service at an affordable price.

Generating more business through your website might seem like a challenge at times. You may have tried newspaper ads or TV ads and have had very little turnaround with these. You might not even consider using the social media websites you use for your personal accounts to drive more traffic to your website, but more and more businesses are going this route. There are three ways you can use social media to drive more traffic; YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook.

One social media website you can use is YouTube. YouTube is a place where you can share all kinds of videos that you can think of. You can even post videos to drive traffic to your website. These videos should be created in a way to provide valuable information for your topic and set you up as the expert. By sharing your knowledge or tips you are creating a trust with people. They now view you as an expert on this subject. For example, if you are a hair stylist and you are sharing tips on how you created a great hairdo, people would be more likely to trust the expert to do their hair. Although you will be sharing information or tips on your topic, the results of more traffic generation are a payoff.

Another social media website that can be used to drive traffic to your site is Twitter. This is where people answer the question on the page, what are you doing now? Many people use Twitter for personal benefits but if you are a business owner you can use this website to provide valuable information for your line of business. Your followers are not going to be interested in your personal life, but if you use this site the right way you can drive more traffic just by providing relevant content to them and gaining their credibility.

Facebook might seem like it is just fun and games for you and your friends, but it is another social media website that can be used to generate more traffic to your site. Did you know you can have a Facebook page set up for just your business? You can. It is a great way to get your name out there and drive people to your site. You can only have one Facebook profile but as many Facebook pages as you want. Keep in mind you do not want to just sell, sell, sell to people. You want to provide relative content. You post on your wall videos, pictures, notes, etc. People are looking to find things that interest them. Ideally your goal is to get a lot of people to like you because it builds your credibility or trust in others. With Facebook you can get a better feel of what your market is all about because you can have conversations and people can leave comments on your wall.

You can use social media to engage your audience at a much higher level than other types of media.   By using these three websites YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook, you can generate more traffic to your site. Provide relevant content, engage your audience, be the expert, and provide more value than your sales pitch.

Got Questions? Enter them below as comments:

]]> http://www.katyinternetmarketing.com/services/3-ways-to-use-social-media-to-drive-traffic-to-your-website/feed/ 0 http://www.katyinternetmarketing.com/services/online-publishing-media-distribution/ http://www.katyinternetmarketing.com/services/online-publishing-media-distribution/#comments Thu, 08 Jul 2010 16:25:11 +0000 Guillermo http://www.katyinternetmarketing.com/?p=85 The Online Publishing & Media Distribution services Katy Internet Marketing, LLC offers helps your customers and prospects easily find your business online.

The process is as follows:

1. By utilizing state-of-the-art research technology we discover what it is your target market is typing in the search engines to find services like yours.
2. Once we have narrowed down the keywords your target market is using to look for your services online, we produce media that is carefully designed to appear on the search engine result pages for each of the keywords found.
3. We then distribute these pieces of content on carefully selected websites to maximize your exposure.

Our online publishing & media distribution method puts your business in front of customers that are actively looking for what you offer.

What is article marketing?

This method consists of writing articles about specific topics and publishing them in article directories.  These articles are typically optimized for a specific keyword, and ideally should contain valuable content that other webmasters will want on their websites.

The articles you write would be accompanied by a byline or author bio that would tell the reader about you, but should also have a link to your website.  As webmasters pick up copies of your articles to publish on their own sites, they also agree to post a link to your website.  The traffic gained from this links would be enough reason to start an article marketing campaign; but as an added bonus, the more links pointing to your website, the higher you will rank on the search engines, bringing you additional traffic!

What are the benefits of article marketing?

One of the obvious benefits of article marketing is the fact that you will get more visitors to your website.  The increase in traffic (if used correctly) will mean more subscribers to your mailing list and more sales.

Among the not-so-obvious benefits of article marketing is that the traffic your articles generate is extremely targeted.  After having read an article you wrote, the reader is presented with a link to your website and a reason why they should click it.  If the “reason why” was compelling enough for them to click the link, then these visitors have been pre-sold in whatever it is you want them to do once they get to your site, therefore increasing overall conversions, signups and sales.

Another great benefit of using article marketing is that in a sense, being an author gives you a certain level of prestige and authority status.  If a person reads an article you have written and decides to click on the link to your website, a huge objection has been overcome, which is the lack of trust.

Our services are tailored for small businesses keeping your budget in mind. All marketing campaigns are custom designed and we strive to get to know and understand your customers so that we can effectively engage them and keep them coming back to your business.

With Katy Internet Marketing, you will be able to attract clients who are interested in your services/products and work with those who value what you have to offer. Some of our services offered are:

•    Search Engine Optimization – It’s not enough to have a website of your own. You need to ensure that your target audience is able to find your site through the search engines. Our search engine optimization service will help you rank higher in the search results which in turn will drive massive targeted traffic to your website.

•    Search Engine Marketing – Pay Per click (PPC) advertising can be an expensive affair if you do not have the required expertise. Our goal is to increase targeted traffic to your website while ensuring that the advertising cost is under control and the Return On Investment (ROI) is always increasing.

•    Email Marketing – Email marketing can be highly effective if done correctly. It’s one of the easiest and effective ways of interacting with your potential clients.  Katy Internet Marketing will help you build an opt-in email list the correct way so that you can stay in touch with your prospects and customers without the risk of having your emails labeled as spam.

Let us take care of your Internet Marketing campaigns for you so you can go back to doing what you do the best and focus on your business, your customers and your loved ones. Our Internet Marketing services are currently offered to businesses operating in Katy, TX and the Greater Houston area. So, if you don’t have a website, or your current website is not bringing the results you desire, contact us today for a free consultation.