In the Internet age, consumers like to comparison shop. Help them make better decisions with a robust Web site.

Today, when most people want information, they go to the Web – to educate themselves, to look for solutions or to compare companies and products. Often they may be ready to buy, based on the information they find. That’s why it’s so important to design a Web site that includes all the information customers need at any stage in the buying process. 

Your Web site is your electronic storefront and as such, it should accomplish three things. First, it should be easy to locate. You can invest thousands of dollars on the best Web site in the world, but if you don’t drive traffic to it, the site won’t do you much good.

Second, your Web site should position your company the way you want it to be perceived – attractive, relevant and consumer friendly. A sloppy, clunky or slow site makes you look sloppy, clunky and slow. Your site should be easy to navigate. Think of the sales process. If you want to sell a customer up to a higher-end product, you need to walk them through the sales process and show them why your top-of-the-line product is the right choice. 

Finally, your Web site needs to feed the sales bucket. The site can generate leads for you, but if you have a hole in your bucket, e.g., you don’t call back the prospect in a timely fashion, you will miss out on the sale. A good site moves beyond generating leads to delivering sales.

By incorporating a number of best practices, it’s possible to achieve these goals as you increase traffic to your site and through your door. Consumers are bombarded with thousands of messages a day, so begin by choosing a URL that is easy to remember. To get you started, here are some simple things to keep in mind. Try to avoid back slashes, underscores or dashes between words as these are more difficult to remember and prospects want to get to you as easily as possible. Also, since people aren’t always the best spellers remember to register similar sounding or spelled sites. 

Next, get your name out there. Make sure your Web address appears on everything, from your stationery, invoices and business cards to all your outbound marketing pieces, advertisements and service vans etc. 

In my next blog titled simply, “Advance Sales Via The Web Part 2” I’ll discuss what you need to do once you get a customer to your site.