“In Business” by Roland Millward

With millions of websites how can you make sure that yours is successful?

There are 3 principles that you need to follow to make your website work. We can remember these by using the letters A C C. What do these letters stand for?

A is for Attraction
Your website must be attractive to visitors. It must be easy to read and grab the viewers attention in 8 seconds. People that visit the web are by nature looking for information quickly and they need to see that your website will offer what they want in a few seconds. Make sure that is the case with your landing pages. If you are using per per click it is vital that the landing page responds directly to the search terms used and that the page they land on is the one that will provide the information searched for.

Your website is your shop window to the world and once inside your web pages it is your store / office. It needs to represent quality, trustworthiness, efficiency, value, service and all the other qualities that customers are looking for from a business.

C is for Conversion
It is one thing getting customers to your website and staying on it for a while. You now need to convert those visitors into customers.
It is a good policy to try and capture the details of as many visitors to your website as possible by using an online form via a company such as Aweber (this will be vital for the next stage). How do you capture these details? There are 2 ways: You could require everyone has to ‘log in’ to access your website. This method I would not recommend and you will lose more customers than you will gain. The best way is to have a sign up form for a FREE gift such as a FREE eBook or other promotional tool. Aweber will provide you the forms to do this. Here is an example from my website FromeMortgages.co.uk. Notice on the home page there is a drop down form that appears. It is set so that returning visitors will only see it after a space of 5 days between visits. On the left column there is a ‘sign up’ form that appears on all pages. I am only collecting names and email addresses but you can collect more information.

Once you have customers information what is the next step?

C is for Communication

It tis said that it can take around 7 contacts with a person before they become a customer. Good communication from you is vital to build the trust that a potential customer will feel before he buys. This is where email using an auto responder is vital. Then we must not forget the telephone and old fashioned mail.
When you keep in touch with customers it does not mean that each time you try to sell them something. In fact is far better that you don’t. Use your communications to keep them updated. You might tell them about a change on your website or maybe you are extending your stores opening hours or closing for a holiday. Give them information not hard sell. Build up trust for you and your business. Don’t bombard them with forms of communication so that they will begin to get weary. Vary the style and type and make it genuine. For instance if you have posted a brochure of free book then a follow up phone to ask if they have received it would be a good idea, but again on that phone call be brief and don’t push for a sale. This may seem strange for those hard nosed direct sales types but the softly softly approach works far better even if it seems to be a slower process for the impatient one.

So there is my brief of summary of ACC. Take a good look at your website and see how you can put ACC into practice.
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With this recession beginning to take its toll now is the time to make sure that we really focus on our business and the services and goods that we provide.

The businesses that will survive will be very different from those that fail. This is not just in the sense of good financial management but in the way which they operate in the market place. Businesses that are middle of the road will certainly face severe problems. As a business owner / manager you will need to lift your business above mediocrity.

Your service and products will need to be the best – not the cheapest. The immediate reaction in a downturn is to simply cut prices. However cutting prices reduces profits and if a business makes a loss it is heading for disaster. Take a look at what you can do to improve service and sell products that people are willing to pay a fair price for without cutting into profits. Try and avoid simply competing on price alone. Look for ways that you can add value to your goods or services that will set you apart from nearly all of your competitors.

Look for all the advice that you can get and analyse your business plans and action immediately things that need adjusting.

Speed is essential in surviving. You must stay ahead of your competition. In a survey of what made the most successful entrepreneurs, it was discovered that it was the speed at how quickly they reacted and put plans into action that really made it for them. Do the same!

One of the things that many of us are bad at is pausing.

You know the scenario. You ask a question and then because the person does not answer quickly enough (in our minds) we say something else.

Today I want to write about pausing in several ways. The first in connection with the above scenario.

When you ask a question. Wait for an answer. Several seconds can seem like minutes but people do need time to think as to how they are going to answer. The time will seem far longer to you that it will to them. However the time will be worth it. You will get a proper answer and if it is being used as part of selling a product you will be far more successful.
The second point is to use pausing in our general speech. Good pausing is used to make ourselves clearer. For instance to emphasize something important then either pause before your statement of after it. Pausing certainly makes your point stand out. If there is a distraction perhaps a loud noise then rather than shout over the top of it, pause until it passes or we can move to a quieter location. Pausing gives our listeners time to think about what we have said and not to miss something else we are saying whilst they are trying to work out what we said last.

Thirdly it is in this context. Before making a decision or answering a question, pause! Think about what you are going to say or why you are going to do something. Do not be rash. Yes, far too often we are in a rush and this causes mistakes to be made. We can reduce those errors by simply pausing and taking a moment to reflect first.

Yes pausing is important and by taking the time to think about it and learn how to pause at the right time and in the right places will help you not only in your business but in life generally.

What do you think about this article? Have you any experiences that show the benefit of using pausing as tool?
Your comments are welcome.

As 2008 comes to an end it would be a good time to do two things.

Firstly look back on the last year and analyse your strengths and weaknesses the success and failures. What can you learn from these? Why did some things work and others did not.

Secondly take those lessons and apply them to your stratgey for 2009. What are you going to do to make this year better than the last?

Every business needs to adapt and change to new trends and changing markets. With the economy likely to be on the downturn in 2009 you will need to make sure that you use every tool at your disposal to keep your business prospering. It will still be important to remember the statement that ‘turnover is vanity, profit is sanity’ in a market where competition will see prices being cut dramatically. Whilst you have to compete are there ways that you can generate sales that will still keep you profitable?

Take time to think through your plans and have brainstorming sessions with your associates to see what ideas you can implement.

Best wishes and success to you all!