Making a good impression online is crucial to your success as a business. Even if you don’t sell through your website (perhaps you are a local company) you still need to be visible online and available to contact. Here are 4 top ways you can ensure you are getting this right.
1. Get the design right
With most businesses, it all starts with a professional company website. In most cases it is at the heart of your company, where orders are made, contact details are found, information about the business can be read and it is the first thing people will see of who you are.
For this reason, it needs to be right. An attractive web design will be able to create something bespoke that works for your specific company. It really is an art, everything from the colors to the fonts to the amount of white space on the page. It is not something you can guess at, so unless you are experienced in this area then pay someone to do the job for you. Get this wrong and you could be putting customers off at the first hurdle.
2. Write a blog
A blog helps you to establish authority in your field. It enables you to show your products in action in a way that is not overly promotional which has been shown to be effective.
For example if you sell clothes you could write about different trends and reference a product you sell which is similar to what a celebrity recently wore for example. It is more subtle and effective than ‘buy this product!’ A blog gives people another reason to visit your website which can mean more traffic for you, and it generally shows that thought and effort has been put into your brand.
No site that is after short term financial gain by selling rubbish items is going to go to the effort of writing a good blog post, and customers realize this. So it helps to build up trust online.
3. Be active on social media
Social media is so important when it comes to business. If customers are shopping with you, especially for the first time, they will want to know that they can easily get in contact if something goes wrong. Seeing that you are active and responsive on social media, and that your responses are polite and helpful gives them a good impression.
Encourage people to follow you on social media by offering them something. It could be telling them first about sales you are running, giving out discount codes, running competitions or sharing useful content (such as your blog content).
4. Build up positive reviews
Another thing that customers will look at when they are gathering information about your business (to decide if they want to shop with you) is to look at your reviews. Third party sites like Reevoo and Trustpilot are great for this, as are reviews on your Facebook page as people can see they are genuine and written by real people.
Encourage customers to leave you a review once the transaction is complete. If they have had a good experience most likely they will do this for your online business.
