5 Techniques To Boost Your Online Business
You’ve got a website, a blog, social media presence, landing pages and online advertising. You’ve got all your bases covered … or do you? It’s one matter to have all these in place, but it’s another to truly make the most of them.
In this article, I’ll show you 5 techniques you can use to get extra mileage from your online efforts. Real tactics you can use to tremendously boost your online business.
Technique One
“Muscle Up” Your Confirmation Pages
These are often the most design-neglected pages on a website. Many of the pages contain nothing more than the obligatory copy: “You have been subscribed. Thank you for subscribing” or other similar minimal “just-the-facts” type of copy.
You are missing a great opportunity here. Shouldn’t every page of your website be working for you? Of course it should.
Use these types of pages to extend offers, such as discounts or bonuses, free downloads, etc. Use these pages to initiate instant engagement between the customer and your business. A hard-to-resist offer is an excellent way to do so.
Technique Two
Create A Introductory/Featured Content Landing Page
When new readers come to your website or blog, they may not know where to start. If you already have a lot of content, it may be difficult for them to find your best content.
The solution: create an introductory page that welcomes new visitors and shows them where to get started. It also introduces them to some of your best content.
Your best content for acquiring and retaining a long-term customer is the content that will win over their confidence in your company, service or products. Content that shows you are an authority in your field.
Create an introductory paragraph or three to highlight what new visitors need to know. Follow that with an index of links to a number, (say 5 to 20), of your most useful or most-read articles.
Technique Three
Create Lead Generating Offers
These are simply free gifts you offer prospects, in return for their signing up for your mailing list.
Don’t offer throwaway crap. Make it something worthwhile, something that will matter and resonate “value” in the mind of your prospect. Items of value are eBooks, special reports, webinars, guides, videos, and email courses.
As a rule of thumb and for legal purposes, be sure to let subscribers know exactly what they will get by signing up. In addition, inform them that they will receive future emails, as well as, that they have the option to unsubscribe at any time.
Technique Four
Using Your Satellite Social Sites
Your website is the “mother ship” that feeds your “satellites” of social websites. You should be using and feeding the content and offers you create for your main website to your social media sites. Feed and share all your site blog posts and articles to Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and even Tumblr.
Another great benefit of doing this is that you may pick up new prospects, who otherwise would not have found you.
Technique Five
Virtual Handshaking – Online Meet and Greets
Chatting on social media and chatting with a live face and voice in real-time are two very different things. Interacting with your prospects in real-time allows you to put a real face to your business.
Online webinars, meets and Live Q&A sessions are powerful stuff. This type of real-time interaction can go a very long way in making customers feel comfortable about doing business with you.
There are many online tools to help you accomplish this. If you expect smaller audiences, Google Hangouts may be a good solution for you.
Summary
The five above techniques are highly effective tools for boosting your business. They are oft-overlooked areas you can use to your advantage. Ultimately, it’s about improving your customer’s experience. In turn, this boosts their confidence in your company, service or products. It shows high engagement on your part, which reads to the prospect as: “your company is on the ball.” It helps position you as an authority and people tend to prefer to go with the expert in most situations.