Maximizing the Contact Us Page

Your Contact Us page can be one of the most important destinations on your site, so it's important critical that you ensure that the right information is included, and that the right method of contact is given. Having more or less than is necessary can hinder a visitor who wants to communicate with you.

Microsoft Office Live Small Business's Monte Enbynsk summarized several suggestions that website writing specialist Leslie O'Flahavan offered. The suggestions include:

• Check regularly for messages sent to the e-mail that you have listed on your Contact Us page. Make it as easy for visitors to find and click on your address or contact form (a contact form protects you from spam) as possible.
• Use a picture of your business if it has a physical address and list directions if you want customers to be able to visit you in person. Pictures, Enbynsk notes, should be relevant, such as a photo of your staff.
• List other places that you are online—like Facebook or other social media and networking sites—where someone can learn more about you and contact you.
• Let visitors know where you'll be holding events so they can come and participate.
• While including all of this information, Enbynsk says you still need to keep it simple. Include all information that is relevant to allow the visitor to get in touch with you—that's all.
  

Read Enbynsk's full article.

Time for a Workout: Trim Down Your Copy

Have you ever skipped a paragraph because it just looked to large? If you're like most people, the sight of a huge block of text is repelling more than inviting—especially in the blazing-fast pace of online navigation.

If you're worried that your site is text heavy, then it probably is. Here is an exercise that can help you trim your text while keeping all the essentials intact.

1) Take the text of the entire page and reduce it it to one (or two if you have to) paragraphs. If it was easy to do, then you probably didn't need so much in the first place. If it was difficult, it was definitely worth it because you just took the power of the whole page of text and packed into a single paragraph.

2) Here's the really hard part: reduce that entire paragraph into one sentence. This can be a painful process, forcing you to eliminate all but the most basic information your visitors should know.

3) Finished? You have just created the most important sentence of your page, possibly your website. This newly crafted, streamlined sentence should be the first thing visitors read on that page or on your website.

4) Use your power-packed paragraph to describe your products/services/purpose in more detail. If you need to go into further detail, direct visitors to the bottom of the page or to another page where they know they will be reading larger amounts of text.

For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.

Varying Price Points When Promoting Products

When cross-selling and up-selling, not only is it important to keep the products you promote related to what your visitors are searching for, but you also want to promote products with varying price points.

This means that when you are suggesting products to your visitors for a potential cross-sale or up-sale, you want to promote products that have a wide range of prices; some that are expensive, inexpensive, and mid-range.

By doing this you gain the possibility of getting more sales. Those visitors who are impulse buyers are very likely to add an item to their shopping cart at the last minute if the item is inexpensive. Some visitors just want a one-stop-shop for all of their needs and will buy the more expensive products that you promote. Others may not buy any of the items you suggest right away, but by letting your visitors know that you carry that item, they are more likely to come back to your website for it in the future.

Promoting products related to what your visitor is searching for and making sure those products vary in price points ensures you are not missing out on an opportunity and are achieving the highest sales potential for your website.

Ask about HIT’s Recommended Products Module and how you can take advantage of cross-selling and up-selling on your website.

For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.

Becoming an Industry Expert

Adding a saying or slogan can also help you build visitors’ trust. Your saying may include “Certified in …” or “Over. . . customers served,” for example. You want to make sure that your saying is honest and accurate.

Certifications are a good way to help site visitors gain your trust, but they also help show that you are an expert in your industry. Many industries offer certifications. If they don’t, then try to get published in an industry magazine or newsletter. Include a link to the magazine or newsletter on your website.

Another way to show that you are an expert in your industry is by continual blogging. If you want to become an expert in your industry, see what the industry experts are blogging about. Begin to research what the experts are researching, and then blog about your own take. Once you become an industry expert, you’ll get visitors that you normally wouldn’t get. You’ll get sales opportunities that didn’t previously exist. You’ll be better, in some ways, than your competition.

For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.