The number 1 element that sways buying decisions is consumer confidence, and it is nigh impossible to create consumer confidence when a consumer can’t see you and learn about you. They need to first decide if they can TRUST you before they buy from you. A good about page will help.

Make it Personal.

Is your business only you or you and your partner? Or do you have a small or complete staff?

Whatever the size of your small business, your website should introduce all of you (ordinarily) in the first person.

The first business websites, created to be like an “Online Brochure” were typically created by an HTML programmer in the early days. This programmer or someone else interviewed the business owner(s) and then wrote a report, much like a newspaper columnist would write a feature story or an editorial. Thus. Third person. But that was then.

If your website has third person copy on it, get it changed as fast as you can. Why? Just let me reason with you a while.

Third person articles are distant. Do you want to distance yourself from your clients through your website or do you want to bring them closer to you?

Your Website is a Virtual Office for Your Business.

We'll use Best Way Websites as an example for you. Think about it. If someone were to walk into our office and speak to our staff, and ask this question: “Tell me about your company”, do we really want the staff to say something like this:

“They provide products and services for small business owners. They have been in business since 1999. They are experts at helping small business owners effectively market their businesses and have developed some great software that enables small business owners to edit their own website. They have also created a search engine optimization program that is achieving outstanding results for its subscribers.”

NO!

We want our staff to say something like this: “Hi, welcome to Best Way Websites.  My name is _______, how may I help you today?

“We make it easy for small business owners to grow and manage their businesses by creating, marketing and maintaining effective, attractive and affordable websites for them.  We give them as much help as they want and need so they can focus upon their businesses and making more money.”

Your website has not been written by an electronic newspaper reporter, has it? No? Then don’t make it sound that way. Websites can do many wonderful things for us, but by their intrinsic makeup they are NOT personal. They are cold. Warm them up and warm up your clients and prospective clients by warming up and personalizing your website!

Consider showing you or your staff on the about page -and maybe in the header of your site (that shows on all pages). It does not need to be prominent, but it should be present.

If you operate your business from any type of brick and mortar facility, be sure and get a photo of it online as well. If you operate from a home office, then let them see you in your home office setting.

This is most important when you are hoping to secure business outside of your own city.

People need to see that there are real people associated with your business, because there are more scam sites out there than there are real ones, I would say maybe even ten to one.

Your personal face should be a smiling face! Smiling faces sell. Just pick up any mainstream magazine and browse through it and you will see lots of positive, smiling faces. Smiling faces add a warm personality to an otherwise cold website.

Make it human.

Your "about" page should be about you as a person, not just as a business owner. The more you share about you, your family & friends and hobbies and such, the more REAL your site becomes. Share as much as you are comfortable with.

When people visit your website, they need to learn about you.  If people have difficultly discovering who you are, they will usually click away.

List your affiliations.

Are you a member of your local chamber of commerce or other business groups? List them. Are you a member of other service clubs or not for profit organizations? List them.

List your credentials and certifications.

Even though this is precisely the OPPOSITE place to start when first introducing yourself to a new prospective client, they need to get there eventually.

With your marketing message, you grab their attention telling them how you can solve their problems, but then have to convince them that you can. Your credentials and certifications help to validate that you are an expert in your vocation.

List Your accolades and awards.

I know that the Holy Scriptures say "Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips." (Proverbs 27:2). When you post your accolades and awards, you are publishing what someone else has said, which makes it carry more weight than if you were to say it yourself.

Don't be squeamish about touting your skills. Be honest, work hard and tell the truth about yourself, even when it is good!

^ Top
......................................................

If your company provides products.

... and you are selling products through an ecommerce store, it is most likely that what is viewed on the page is dynamically generated and therefore not search engine friendly.

So, if this is the case with your website, you will want to develop some static, HTML product pages and then link from those pages to your store, or bring the product from the page to the store via a .php include if your store will support it.

Enable Scan and Dig

Most people scan websites, they don't READ them. However, your product may need a juicy description to be read in order to convince your target to purchase it, so make the description sizzle as much as you can.

Start with a delicious, short description and an image no larger than necessary to display the product (so it loads quickly). Allow your website shoppers to either click to learn more and see more product photos (use on-page anchor tags (#) for a hypertext "jump" down the page.

Go ahead and provide a buy now button or link or an add to cart button or link, but always make a way for them to learn more if they are not ready to buy.

Don't try to make them read long copy at first glance - that forbids them from the "scan." Let them scan and let them decide if they want to read or learn more.

Provide Photos and Video

Be sure to provide great photos and video of your product(s) when necessary. Always use enough photos to tell the story. If one says it all, just use one. If your product is something that moves or there are advantages to showing differing perspectives, a video would be great.

They can't touch it or smell it on your website - so the visual (and audio) is what you must rely on. Do a good job with it.

Use a Testimonial or Two about That Specific Product

You will have a testimonial's page, but why make people go there when they are looking at a specific product. Post appropriate testimonials for the specific products that tell them what their peers think of the product.

Make More Sales via Sampling

Sampling is a proven way to get more sales. If your target has a low-risk or no-risk way of trying your product before purchasing a large quantity of it, they are more likely to give it a try. It is then up to your product (and you) to convince them that they should make a regular order.

Use sampling whenever possible. It will cost you something, but marketing always does. Marketing (and its associated expenses) is a necessary part of getting sales.

Create a way of minimizing the risk of your target that also minimizes your own. 

If your company provides services.

Adapt as much of the instruction above as is applicable, and be sure to post as many thorough testimonials as possible.

Use testimonials that are specific to the service that is being described.

For example, if your company provides tree services, your list of services might look like this:

• Pruning
• Fruit Tree Care
• Tree Health Care
• Training
• Removal
• Planting
• Stump Grinding
• Hauling
• Chipping / Grinding
• Mulching

You would want a good testimonial or two or three on the page that explains the specific service offered.

Offer Free Advice or Instruction

Free advice or instruction is equivalent to lightweight SAMPLING. By posted or published free content AND / OR brief, personal initial consultations you may be able to win the confidence (TRUST) of your target which will result in a new client.

Even if it doesn't, the "good will" you create can end up generating new referrals for you.

Sampling Can Work for You, Too!

For example, Les Schwab Tires fixes flats for anyone for FREE, regardless of whether or not they purchased their tires from them. This service has won them LOTS of new customers.

Find creative ways to allow your target to sample your services and enjoy the rewards of attracting new clients.

 ^ Top
......................................................

Every website should provide a frequently asked questions (FAQS) page.

A FAQs Page Can Save You LOTS of Time

One of the things you need is more time, right? If someone is only a "tire kicker" why not get that question answered without it taking your time again and again and again and again and again ...?

Just answer it once by putting it on your FAQs page. Some people will still call, but it can greatly reduce the number of calls (so long as the page is easy for them to find) that waste your time.

Provide a List of Questions and Answers to Those Questions Asked Most Frequently

Start with either your most frequently asked question or the most important question. State the question clearly and then provide a complete answer.

Enable drill-down navigation for those that may want even more information by linking to another page.

When appropriate, include images, video and testimonials interwoven with the answers.

Ask the Questions for them that they SHOULD be Asking

Educating your clients is a must. You know what they need to know, and there is no better way to teach than the classic questions and answers format.

If they knew more, they would ask different questions. This is your opportunity to ask these questions for them. Providing the answers to these questions that they don't ask (but should) provides another opportunity for you to engage them with the hopes of winning their business if they are on a discovery mission, or providing valuable content to them if they are already customers.

Ask more Questions that you WISH they were Asking

In addition to the questions that they do ask, and should ask, there are also questions that you WISH they would ask. These questions would be "Why should I choose you? There are lots of other businesses that I could choose instead?"

The answer to this question is your USP (Unique Selling Proposition[s]). If you want people to do business with you, you must have one or more compelling reasons.

Here is another opportunity to compel them. Don't miss it!

^ Top

......................................................

A Simple, HTML SiteMap

A simple sitemap is just a bulleted list of the pages on your website, typically following a logical, hierarchical outline form, such as below, and uses standard HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) protocol.

• Home Page
  • About Us
  • You might even
  • Have more ...
• Business Opportunity
• Services
• FAQs
• SiteMap
• Contact Us

You should make a list of all of the pages on your website like the example above.

Note: this process is all automated if you are using our CMS!  We've created an automatic HTML sitemap generator that keeps your HTML sitemap updated for you!

You should also create an XML SiteMap for your site, especially if you want your pages to rank well in the organic search engine's results pages.

An XML SiteMap

Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language that defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards.[6]

The design goals of XML emphasize simplicity, generality, and usability over the Internet. It is a textual data format with strong support via Unicode for the languages of the world. Although the design of XML focuses on documents, it is widely used for the representation of arbitrary data structures, for example in web services.

There are free XML generators online, but we recommend our awesome automated XML sitemap creator that will automatically update when you add or remove a page from your website.

When coupled with our automated content program, an XML SiteMap yields a powerful boost to obtaining and maintaining good rank in the organic search results pages of the popular search engines

Note: this process is all automated if you are using our CMS! 

^ Top
......................................................

To start with, even if you have your complete address in the head of your website or in a sidebar, go ahead and repeat it in the first lines, such as follows:

Best Way Websites
by pajezy.com inc
834 East Front Street
PO Box 2851
Port Angeles, WA 98362
(888) 225-1342

If you do business via a physical location, include a link to a map as well.

Contact Form

Also provide a quick contact form. You notice that I did NOT include an email link in the address information above. There are two reasons:

1) publishing your email address makes it easy for spam scrapers to grab your email address - resulting in you receiving more spam.

2) An embedded email link will fail if the person is not using an application to send mail from their computers, and many people don't - they only use web based email, thus, the link will not work for them anyway.

Keep it short. Just ask and require their name, email address and reason for the contact. You may include other fields as well, but don't make them required.

If you have a need for gathering more specific information, as you often will, this is not the place to get it. Create a separate page to collect this detailed information, and make every field required that you need.

 

Please Note: the form below is for General Inquires Only. If you are wanting a free, custom website demonstration, click here and complete the custom website demo form instead. Thank you.

Your form fields would follow here ...

Email Address Encryption

The pajezy website form generator ALWAYS encrypts the recipient's email addresses so spam scrapers can't get them. When you define the "target" for you forms, you simply provide the email address(es), separated by commas.

When this page is published, the email addresses are encrypted. You can visit the resulting HTML page on your live website and view the source code. Your email address will look something like this: ZG91Z0BwYWplenkuY29t.

Define a Redirect Page

Your form pages require a redirect page. This is sometimes called a "congratulations page" or "thank you" page. Once a person completes your form and clicks on the submit button, they will be redirected to this page that you have created and defined.

This is where you tell them "thank you" or "your form was submitted" or whatever you want to say. Sometimes, you may want to link to additional resources or present special offers.

"Hide" the Redirect Page

If you don't hide the page (so it does not appear in navigation) it will be added to your visible navigational structure, unless you are using a theme with custom drop-down navigation. Since you don't want browsers seeing this page unless they submit the form, hide it.

Avoid Form Errors

Don't use ' or " in your forms. They will be interpreted as commands and will cause errors. If you don't define and provide a redirect page, users will see a "page not found" when they submit your form. The form submission will still work but they will think that it didn't.

^ Top

......................................................

Linking to other sites is a standard convention and you should participate. Often this page today is called a Resources Page instead of a links page. Knowing why will help you know how you should do this as well.

Outbound Links in General

Your links page is not the only place where it is appropriate to link to an outside (external to your website) resource.

When it makes sense to do so, you should link from any of your content pages to resources outside of your website. When it helps explain your content and is of value to your site visitors, you should provide the link.

Open External Links in a New Window

We suggest that you follow this simple linking rule:

When you are linking to an internal (on your own site) resource, have the link open in the same browser window.
When you are linking to an external (off of your website) resources, have the link open in a new window.

Internal Link Return: If your site has been properly created and distributed (as pajezy themes ALWAYS mandate), your visitor will have no problem returning to the page they have left. They can simply use the back button on their browser or the main navigation to return.

External Link Return: In most browsers, this link will open a new TAB in the browser and it is easy for them to click back on the tab they left (your site). In some cases, it will open a new browser window (session), and usually on top. This they will close to return to your site.

Why You Should Provide Links Out

You don't have to link to direct competitors!

First thing to consider is this: you don't have to link to direct competitors. We work with small business owners and we are not suggesting that you send your site visitors to competitors!

An external link does NOT mean that you have to lose the opportunity for a sale. You should link to authority resources and you can find them without linking to direct competition.

To Aid Your Website Users

If your website users are hungry for more information, participate by linking them to helpful resources.

Your website (properly developed) is designed with your target(s) in mind. If you don't understand what is meant by target, get in touch with A1 Small Business Marketing.

Your goal is to provide great content for your target, and sometimes this great content is found elsewhere. You may want to pull a snippet from an external resource (with permission) and then link out to that resource for more details.

To Promote Your Referral Partners

You say, "I want to effectively market my small business." One of the best ways to do this is to create your own referrals group. Find businesses in complimentary industries or those that provide complimentary products or services to you own and draft a formal (not necessarily complicated) referrals group. These groups are sometimes referred to as power partners.

Meet with some regularity (at least monthly) to discuss how you can better refer business to one another and come up with a strategy to implement on your websites as well.

To Positively Effect Your Search Engine Rank

Linking away from your site ... sends people away from your site! It doesn't sound smart to do this, but it is when done properly.

You are probably NOT the ultimate authority in your field. Having ZERO external links certainly makes your site look suspicious. One SEO research company has computed that good external links amounts potentially to 4% of the Google algorithm for organic serps.

Outbound linking certainly doesn't HURT your own SEO, it actually helps. Even without the data provided above, this is a common-sense conclusion.

And, as explained (and illustrated) above, you can link out to authority pages WITHOUT linking to competitors who may potentially win the business of your referrals!

Your Links Page or Resources Page

Your links page or resources page should link out to local governmental agencies that your website visitors may need or agencies directly related to your business.

Your links page or resources page should link out to your official membership groups or professional affiliations that you hold. Link them here even though you may have them listed on your about page as well.

It is also quite common to link to popular area attractions.

Request links back as a courtesy from all of those that you link to. You'lll be able to get some links to your site as well this way.

Complex Linking Strategies

SEO said to linking, "You've come a long way, Baby!". In order to continue to provide relevant results (the results that users want), search engine algorithms are in a state of flux. They are NOT STATIC.

Linking is not simply for providing great content to your website visitors, it is a method for increasing your rank in the most important search engines. Authoritative, inbound links are a big part of the algorithm of all of the major search engines.

This section is focused upon links out. If you want to use links to raise your rank in the search engine's organic search engine results pages, then you must create and maintain an effective in-bound linking strategy.

The first part of that strategy is to have content that is worth linking to ...

^ Top

......................................................

The Ultimate Trust-Builder

Enthusiastic endorsements from your customers are the most powerful way for you to raise consumer confidence, and consumer confidence is the #1 reason someone will give you their business.

If you place consumer confidence in your stock-pot and cook it down, it will result in TRUST.

Only naive or dishonest people will rush in to conduct business with someone that they do not know. People cannot really trust you if they do not know you, so how do you build a bridge to them?

Testimonials are Great Bridge Builders

People may be genuinely interested in trying your products or services. Your website looks great. It appears that you have the proper credentials, but how do they know they can trust you?

They don't.

That's why you need to use testimonials. Their peers have used your products and/or services and recommend you.

Testimonials are Indirect Referrals

Referrals are the absolute best marketing you can get, because they enable you to sell to a new client based upon a trust relationship with an existing client.

The traditional referral is made in person, over the phone, email or some social media outlet between friends, acquaintances or members of professional affiliations.

A testimonial is indirect. It is best to always use a full name and link to their websites if they own businesses, so those referrals are then validated.

Review Sites are Simply Archives of Testimonials

There are many popular review sites that list consumer experiences and they will have a great impact upon your business when you are found there. They also provide a place where you can collect and publish reviews on your own web pages.

Be sure to acquaint yourself with all of the reviews sites that are connected to your industry. If you have reviews, be sure to respond, whether they are positive or negative.

An honest critic is a friend. The Proverb says, "The wounds of a friend are faithful, but the kisses of an enemy are filled with deceit." (Proverbs 27:6). Honest critics are your friends. Respond to this kind of just criticism graciously and those reviews that show negatively can be turned into a positive quickly.

How To Get Testimonials

Do a great job and you will deserve testimonials, but you may need to ask for them. Go "over the top" and give more than they expect. Follow up with them after the sale and ask if all went well.

When they thank you (especially if they are enthusiastic), ask them if they would mind providing a testimonial that you could publish on your website.

Get in touch with long-time clients and ask them to provide a testimonial / recommendation for you. Ask for permission to use their full name, city and link to their website if they have one.

You Can't Have Too Many Testimonials

You can never publish too many. Just keep adding the most recent ones to the top of your page.

^ Top
......................................................

Partners Pages and Links Pages

A Partner's Page is NOT the same as a links page or resource page.

There are other businesses that are complimentary to your own - not competitive to you. Seek these out and forge "partnerships" or referral strategies with them.

List them on your partners page. Use their logos and photos if they want, with a brief message about them or from them and then link out to their websites.

In doing this, you are going to receive a reciprocal link from their partners page that matches the format that you provide for them.

In other words, if you are providing a photo, logo, recommendation from you and introduction from them with a link back to their website, then they should be reciprocating back to you with a like listing.

^ Top
......................................................

Articles Provide BREADTH for Your Website

To serve your website visitors well, you need to provide helpful and authoritative content for them. So write articles.

If you are not gifted to write, then hire someone who is to interview you on your chosen topics to write the articles for you.

If you want to rank better in the organic search engines results pages (SERPS), then you need both DEPTH and BREADTH as a part of your on-site SEO strategy.

Well developed, complete articles provide BREADTH and the way you link to these articles internally on your website provides DEPTH.

Parsing Your Articles Provides DEPTH for Your Website

A complete article may have many pages and five to ten main points. Some articles can be parsed (divided) to make several articles that focus on one specific aspect and link out to additional, related subjects or the complete article.

Each Article Should be Named with Keywords in the Title of the Page

When you are ready publish your article, start by naming it properly when you create the page. Give it a Title that includes ALL of the relevant keywords.

The same is true when you divide it or parse it into smaller articles.

Organize Your Articles Page to Be User Friendly

Your articles page should be outlined into topics and then use a bulleted list below each topic with the anchor text matching the name of the article you are linking to.

Link from the title of the article, and provide a brief review of the article contents, at the close of the review provide a link to the full article.

Link to Your Articles Internally

You should also have this great content blended into your website naturally and link out to the articles when appropriate. It is best to link from natural keywords in your text.

Enable Drill-Down

If you have "mini articles" that are a part of a complete subject article, ALWAYS link to the abbreviated or concise version (the smaller one), which should also link out to the full article on the subject when they want to read more.

People usually SCAN webpages instead of reading them, and the are often in a hurry just to get to the meat of what they want. You are serving them best when you give them EXACTLY what they want to KNOW and ONLY what they want to know. If they want to LEARN MORE, you are providing that for them as well.

Just don't make them HUNT for the content. Make it plain.

^ Top