For those who wish to start an online business having a website is not a choice it’s a must. Your website is going to be the crutch of your online business and get started off on the wrong foot can doom your Internet business before it ever gets off the ground.
Most Internet “newbies” are not aware of the most important aspects of any website. All too often folks get caught up in the flash and style of their website rather than the functionality. The fact is not only does a website have to look good it has to function good.
To start an online business you must focus on the ultimate end goal and that is to have people visit your website and make a purchase. Trying to impress your visitors with a lot of color and design will not do your online business one bit of good if they leave without buying anything.
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Visitors to your website are going to take one or two of three possible actions, they will learn from the excellent content you supply and they will click on a link which leads to a purchase or they are going to leave.
The most crucial part of your website is what is displayed above the fold, this is the part of your website that a visitor is going to first see without having to scroll down the page at all. A new visitor to your site will make a decision on whether to stay at your site or leave and this will take place in less than 10 seconds and this is why your home page above the fold must really grab their attention.
All to often those who start an online business fail when it comes to the creation of their website.
To follow are the SIX critical elements of your homepage that you MUST include within the first fold, or your visitor will be gone as fast as they showed up.
- You must have a compelling headline packed with specific benefits
Your headline needs to grab the attention of your visitor immediately and convey the #1 benefit your website has to offer. You should not just tell your visitors what your offering you need to convey the advantages of what your product has to offer.
You need to tell your visitors how your product will improve their life and in what way. You need to let them know your product will:
- Make their lives easier
- Save them money
- Help them in their personal life
- Increase their income
- Help them feel better physically
- Improve their looks
- Entertain them
- And so on….
Decide right from the beginning that you are going to start an online business that is going to be successful your first time out and building a website that follows these guideline’s is going to give you a much better chance at success. OK enough lecture, back to building your website.
Make sure that you’re really SPECIFIC. It’s not enough just to say “you’ll save lots of time,” or “I’ll help you save money.” You need to write headlines that give PRECISE details.
For instance:
“Discover How You Can Build Your Own Online Business Within 7 Days and Start To Bring In An Extra $1,000 to $2,000 Every Week Guaranteed!”
Your headline needs to be placed at the top center of the page in large font that will standout and grab their attention. Be sure to do things like highlighting specific words and making other words standout by bolding them or using italics, you want your visitors to have your key points drilled into their minds.
- Critical element #2-Make your site easy to navigate, it should be simple one click
It has been tested time and time again, the more you make your visitor work the faster they hit the back button, so every click increases your potential of losing a paying customer. Just keep that in mind as your designing your website, keep the navigation as simple as possible.
If you want to start an online business that will prove to be successful keep the following in mind when designing you sites navigation:
- Visitors shouldn’t have to click more than 3 times at the most to order, apply, or subscribe.
- Your navigation should appear in the SAME PLACE on every page of your website.
- Your navigation buttons should be clearly labeled so it’s obvious what will happen when they click.
- Try to keep the size of your site to a happy medium, visitors get scared off from sites that have dozens or hundreds of pages.
Just to be certain that your websites navigation is not going to turn away potential customers have a friend navigate through your site while your sitting right there, you may notice that it is more complicated than it needs to be.
- Critical element #3-Make sure you have a very clear “Call To Action.”
This may sound crazy but people in general like to be told what to do. You do not want to leave things up to chance. If your visitor cannot figure out what they need to do they will leave so make sure you tell them EXACTLY what to do at every stage of their visit, tell them things like:
- Click Here To BUY!
- Click Here To Subscribe!
- Fill out this form to get…
- Keep reading to learn more about…
To start an online business off on the right foot you really need to be aware of the things that would turn you off at certain websites. If your business sells a number of products you need to make it easy for your visitor to find just what they are looking for so you may want to set up categories.
If your online business happens to be a service type business don’t have a link that says “About Us” you need something more compelling that will make the visitor curious to find out more about you and/or your service.
- Critical Element #4-Testimonials
People like to see proof! This is so important because it has such a phycological effect on people when they see that others have bought your product or used your service and they liked it so much that they were willing to write a testimonial about their experience.
Your probably wondering how to start an online business that already has testimonials. What you can do is have friends and family try your product or service and have them write some well thought out testimonials to get you started. Whatever you do, don’t make up fake testimonials because people can see right through those. To start an online business off on the right foot make sure you get real testimonials by real people and include their contact information as this will have a much stronger effect on the people reading them.
- Critical Element #5-This one is extremely important! You need to have a compelling offer that will make your visitor want to give you their contact information by filling in an Optin form.
Putting an optin form on your home page that captures names and email addresses is critical to the future of your online business. By building a list of names and emails you have the potential to follow up with your visitors for years to come. You build a relationship with them and you will be able to continually make future offers of similar products.
What you need to do is create some type of free product or offer that will entice your visitor into giving up their contact information. It’s important that you give them something of real value that way you are more apt to gain their trust.
- Critical Element #6-Create extremely compelling Salescopy that will have your visitors racing towards that “BUY” button.
When your first starting out it is hard to resist building a website that has all the bells and whistles and a bunch of interesting graphics. What it all boils down to is an easy to navigate website that is designed to sell rather than being designed to look at. Your Salescopy is the most important element of your site as it is the Salescopy that will convince your visitors to buy what you are selling it needs to answer their objections and close the deal.
There you have it, to start an online business you need to focus on these 6 key elements when it comes down to building your website.
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