The package consists of:

• 5 pages of content: Home page, Breakfast Menu, Lunch Menu, Dinner Menu and Contact Page
• Customized Website Design
• WordPress Installation and Customization
• One year of Domain Name Registration
• One year of Hosting
• A WordPress “How to Update” Manual tailored to your business

For the month of March, 2010 we’re offering “The Restaurant Package” at a discounted price of $199. If you’re interested in finding out if this package is a fit for your business, please fill out our free consultation form or call us directly at 530-615-0012.

Image courtesy of Bogenfreund

You just contracted with the best deisgner in town and had a new website put together. You admit it looks great – just the right measure of flash and professionalism. Since you’ve changed the design though, your web sales are down. Google Analytics is showing that people aren’t just clicking on the categories and posts on your home page. What happened?

If you’re serious about finding the answer to this question then you need to ask your customers. Perhaps there’s one or two who you always get feedback from when you introduce a new product. Ask them to visit your site and take a look around. Ask them to purchase an item, or try and find out information. Ask them what’s missing. You may be surprised to hear what they say.

I was recently working with an author over a few blog posts I was doing. She was kind enough to go through the website and give feedback. She gave me a step by step report of going through the site from the perspective of a teacher trying to find a book to purchase. And when I saw it through those eyes, it was confusing. I had made some decisions based on what I knew about the site, instead of doing it from the perspective of my ideal customer. The design was confusing. Beautiful, but confusing. It was inhibiting sales.

Another thing the author pointed out, was that she was very comfortable with the old design, and that this one took some getting used to. Instead of listing prices individually next to items, I had put them in a drop down box. When she went to the page, she had a difficult time locating the appropriate prices because she was still expecting to find the information in a way similar to the old website. I added pricing information as text, but kept the drop down menu for ordering. This quickly solved the problem, and sales on the site increased.

Since that experience, I have learned how important it is to have a non-biased thrid party view the site and test usability. Pretty is nice, but if the ROI is little to none, what was the point of pretty?

Image courtesy of Down Town Pictures

You may have developed the greatest product since sliced bread. You may even be giving it away for free. But if no one knows that your amazing business or organization exists, how will they ever make a purchase from you?

With marketing and sales techniques we build bridges that encourage consumers to discover very specific things. We don’t build paths – people tend to step off of those. We don’t create maps – people tend to not follow them. We build a bridge that carries the consumer safely over the vast sea of internet information and lands them directly on our virtual doorstep.

When you’re building your online advertising campaign you need to devleop your strategy on the bridge principle: how can I (a) guide the (b) consumer from demographic directly to my (c) product. You should already have a grasp on the demographics you want to tap into from a market analysis. For example, you may find your ideal customer is a stay at home mom between the ages of 25-35. If this is the case, you would look at what types of websites and advertisement methods would best reach these customers, possibly Facebook and various SAHM sites. Now that you’ve identified (b), and I’m pretty sure you know what (c) is, you can calculate for (a) your advertising message.

There are a number of great guides for writing blog posts ( ProBlogger and Dennis A. Mahoney at AListApart.com) but not all types of blog posts are appropriate for small businesses. In this tutorial we explore creating a blog post that is in the best interests of both your business and your customers. For each blog post, we are going to validate its success by seeing how it measures up to the following three questions: 1.) Does it benefit someone other than the business? 2.) Does it increase your online presence? 3.) Does it help establish your authority in your chosen niche?

STEP 1: Choose a topic that matters to your customers.

In step one you are going to focus on problems that your customers or clients are currently facing. The more timely the focus (ie. Gift Ideas for Dad around Fathers Day) and the larger the problem, the better the topic is. Brainstorm for several minutes on some problems that you are aware of. If you have a retail storefront, has there been a product that people are asking about? If you have a service operation, what complementary services could you offer advice on? Choose one of the problems for this blog post.

STEP 2: Choose keywords.

In step two you are going to choose keywords that will help search engines find your post when people look for solutions to the problem you are addressing. You can find tools using Google’s Keyword tool or Trellion. Type in the phrase that you feel is most appropriate to your topic. Look at the suggestions offered and how many people have Googled that term. Choose three terms for possible inclusion in your blog post.

STEP 3: Choose a format to solve the problem.

STEP 4

STEP 5

Image provided by icathing

Adding opportunities for prospective customers to interact with your business in a positive way allows you to gain trust as an online entity. Trust is fundamental when doing business online because without it many prospects are unwilling to make that final step and part with their hard earned cash. By utilizing tools such as blogs and newsletters you can help cultivate a sense of trust that will encourage prospects to turn into customers. It’s something that I like to call pre-customer service.

Think of blogs and email newsletters as a means of chatting with your customers. In a storefront you would be able to encourage buying behavior by walking up to them and answering questions they may have about your products. Online you would do this by providing detailed information that is readily accessible.

You must go beyond providing a basic description in a catalog website because in many cases these are simply detailed sales pitches. Would you simply read off the side of the box to a customer in the store? Probably not. Most likely you would provide product comparissons, or describe different situational uses of the product. It’s these types of “store based” questions that will comprise the information you would put in your blog or newsletter.

If you’re using these techniques to enhance your storefront business you have a great opportunity to encourage casual browsers to buy. Consider how many people who come into your store who say “No” when asked if they need help and then they leave the building empty handed. Perhaps they like what they see but the time to purchase is not right. Maybe they do have questions but they feel uncomfortable asking. Instead of just walking away, hand them a business card that simply has your website address on it and a few highlights about what they can find there such as demonstrations, upcoming sales, and your email newsletter. In that way, you can turn the shy prospect into a customer, and then stay in the forefront of their mind when they are ready to purchase.

Photo by Jenny Downing.

Thank you for viewing our site. We’re in the process of reorganizing our website mission and may be up and down over the day.

Photo courtesy of law_keven.

If you are looking for a resource to improve your grammar, I highly recommend The Owl at Perdue. A free online resource – The Owl – provides writing tips and resources for your writing. While the focus is on academic writing there are many resources for business writing as well. From white papers to power point presentations, Curriculum Vitae to personal statements – you’ll find all sorts of great resources to bookmark. My personal favorite is their consolidated list of proper comma usage. I have it printed out and use it as a “comma-proofing” guide for my writing.

If you’re already a grammar king or queen you may be interested in some of their resources for technical writers or the section on mentoring and consulting. If you’re a grammarian by nature try their blog: The Grammar Gang.

Other Grammar Resources:

Book: Lapsing Into a Comma
Book: Eats, Shoots & Leaves