Increase Market Share – By Making a Great First Impression
If you were opening a new store, you wouldn’t welcome in the first customers before everything was in place. So why is it that so many small businesses launch websites with gaping holes where content should be? It’s the digital equivalent of walking into a shiny new branch of Bloomingdales and finding that the entire cosmetics department is still “under construction.”
If you want to profit from your website – whether that profit is expressed in money or in exposure – it behooves you to be patient, and make sure your site is ready to make a great first impression. In other words, if you want to make a splash online – not a belly flop – at least make sure you’ve got your bathing suit pulled up!
First Impressions Count – Especially Online
A website is not like a storefront that pedestrians might pass day after day. On the Internet, you get one shot at grabbing the attention of potential customers. If you manage to get them to visit, one bad experience means that they may never return.
Take a florist site, for example. There’s a huge market for people who want to send flowers to friends far away, so theoretically, it should be easy to make money online. But what happens if your domain name is misleading, or if your home page gives visitors no clue about the geographical area you serve? What if your site suffers from confusing page navigation? What if you launch the site before you’re physically prepared to respond quickly and fulfill orders?
Patience – not procrastination – is what you need to make sure that your site is ready for prime time before you go live.
Increase Market Share and the “Mind Reader” Factor
Up to this point, we’ve covered a few pointers about how to avoid making a bad impression. Making a good impression, of course, is just as important – especially if you want to increase your market share.
Capturing the visitors that come to your site, and turning them into customers, requires more than just impressive flash animation. You need to have a clear idea of the needs of your target market, and make sure that your site communicates – clearly – how you can fulfill these needs better than the competition.
In a site focusing on re-sale antiques, for instance, you’d better be sure that you understand which type of items are in high demand, and explain – in just a few words or pictures – why antique-o-philes have found the perfect place to shop online. If your visitors recognize immediately that you understand their needs, they’ll be more likely to stick around and hear what you have to say.
Conduit – Putting Your Best Foot Forward
Conduit community toolbars are an ideal way to get your most important marketing points across quickly. They also serve as a one-click portal to the offerings at your site. This makes an excellent impression on new customers, because the short and stylish sales pitch presented on the toolbar platform leads directly to your in-site order fulfillment.
Toolbars are designed to enhance the browsing experience with a customized selection of features that match the taste of your target audience. These fun-filled toolbars – and all its individual features – are designed for easy sharing with friends. That means that your toolbar spreads news of your site dynamically to potential customers, expanding your market reach, and turning a good first impression into a long and profitable relationship.