A potential client visits your web site to look around. How do you keep them there, and when they leave, how do you get them to come back? Retailers are masters at keeping customers in the store because they know that there is a correlation between how long a shopper remains in the store and how much they spend. While studies have shown that this isn’t the way it works with ecommerce sites, the correlation is definitely there for service industry related sites.

Store layout
Retailers use products, informative sales staff, in-store advertising displays and strategic rack placement to slow your walk to the cash register. You can do the same by employing a few simple techniques:

Use simple navigation
The often debated "3 Click Rule" is a good place to start when considering a navigational structure. It states that if a user cannot find what they need in three clicks or less, you stand the chance of losing them completely. Closer to the truth is that the user merely needs to find what they need with as little hassle as possible. The fluid nature of the internet enables a user to click over to your competition in mere seconds.

Provide helpful content
Nothing chips away at your credibility more than an “article” that contains no real information and is actually a thinly veiled advertisement for your company. Sorry folks, but your web site is no place for an advertorial. Save those for the trade rags. Show potential clients that you put their needs before your raw profits by doling out some useful information via the web and you'll build more credibility and trust than a bucket of ads or advertorials.

Never leave a reader hanging
Your potential client has just finished reading your informative article on tips for winterizing your home. Now what? If they don’t have anywhere else to click to, they will leave your site. This might be a good time to invite them to subscribe to your newsletter, to tell them about your pre-winter tree trimming service and to direct them to another article highlighting pre-winter plant life protection. Whatever it is, never leave the user without a place to go.

Speaking of places to go ... please take a moment to go sign up for our bi-weekly newsletter so you can get these and more helpful ideas delivered to your mailbox.

Also, did you know that Monarch provides a free intial consultation to new clients? Contact us today for more information.

» Save this article  »   » Print this article

^ top