This is the second post in a series of posts that examine ways to get your website in tip top form for the new year and turn it into a selling machine.

In an online world where most websites are confused and disjointed, your prospect is practically begging you to make a website that helps them accomplish their goals and call them to action. People need direction. This can be your local advantage.

What is a Call To Action?

Like all good sales people, your website must ask for the desired action that you want the person to perform. If I can take it further, your website should ask in different ways to get the desired result. Statistically, the best sales people ask for a sale at least twice when the time comes.

Let’s get right to it. Is your website designed to move your prospects along the sales process that ultimately benefits them and you? I’ve seen too many websites that are devoid of any call to action.

Ask them to buy something.
Ask them to directly call you on the phone.
Ask them to fill out your survey.

Your call to action must be on every page and ideally placed in a place where the visitor can view the request. More about that in a second.

I’ve taken a screen shot from the popular financial services website mint.com. The two red arrows clearly show their call to action.

(more…)

Do you get a lot of phone calls from people that were just on your website? No? Is your inbox full of leads that have been generated by your website? No? Do you ever check your web logs or your google analytics account only to find that people aren’t actually visiting your website?

If this sounds familiar to you, you’re not alone. I speak to hundreds of business owners on a monthly basis and the most common complaint they have about their website is that they don’t feel it’s helping them generate more revenue or leads. I probably hear this sentence at least 3 times a day, “My website really doesn’t help my business.”

If your website was your employee, you would fire it. The good news is that it’s probably a lot easier to turn around a bad website than it is to turn around a bad employee.

Let’s talk about some of the reasons why your website is not bringing you ideas and I’ll give you some ideas that will kick start your website and turn it into a contributing member of your business.

(more…)

With the implementation of a significant capability to their latest version of their iPhone, Apple may have redefined online search and forever changed the way we as consumers seek out businesses in our local areas. If you’re a business owner or strive to be found online, this is a change that you should be taking very seriously.

Siri is a digitally voice commanded virtual personal assistant with numerous abilities. For the purposes of this post, we’re going to talk about the features that will have a direct effect on your business being found by your prospective customer now and in the future. Keep in mind that Android (Google’s mobile operating system for smart phones) and Windows mobile operating systems already have abilities that are inferior but similar in some ways to what Siri has and are planning even more advanced capabilities. In the long run, Siri represents a capability that will be ubiquitous to all smart phones within the next couple of years.

Siri (and similar future platforms) will affect your business in the following ways:

(more…)