Sticky Sites: The Best Marketing Tool for your Business
Sticky websites: A regularly maintained website that visitors come back to visit on a regular basis.
Your website is an amazing marketing tool. When designed correctly, it works as an ambassador for your company, better than any receptionist ever can. It also has more staying power. 24/7/365 to be precise. Even when you’re watching the Queen’s speech on Christmas Day, your website is still there, ready and waiting for any prospective visitors to click and look.
So you’ve got your website up and running and it has been submitted to your major search engines and all looks quite rosy. So now this job is done, you can put your feet up and worry about something else, right?
Wrong!
You see once your website is up and running, this will keep the visitors and search engines happy for a while as it would for any new content. But after a short while, both respective parties that keep going back to it will see that nothing has changed and lose interest. Result: Your visitors lose interest and because of the all-important visitor’s loss of interest, your search engine drops down out of sight in the listings. Have you ever kept visiting a website on a regular basis that hasn’t to your knowledge ever been updated?
Suddenly your website isn’t quite the marketing tool you anticipated it to be and with a bit more time and effort it could have been a different story.
You see, your website shows how much you value your customer. The more “sticky” you make it, the more your visitors will come back to visit read what you have to say and visitors can turn into paying customers. But if you leave it how it is because you can't be bothered or can't find the time, your customers will find the time to find a website that does put the effort in. Perhaps a competitor of yours.
So how do you keep your customers visiting you and keep those all-important search engines happy?
Keep your content fresh. A newsletter that was hot and happening last November is now a golden moment in history and not a very good impression to any passing visitor. A regular update to your website will keep your visitors and customers coming back for more. So keep your Forthcoming Events forthcoming and your Latest News latest.
Become an expert in your field. Write articles, reports, case studies, anything that informs the customer and proves that you are an expert. This could be the time to invest in a blog (an online web journal, for example, the one you are reading now). With Blogger.com You can set up a blog within a matter of minutes.
Have an incentive. Everyone likes an incentive to do something, so give them one to visit your site. Hold competitions, promotions, or just a simple incentive (10% discount for buying online, free delivery, etc). Online chemist Boots.com are a great example as they hold all their current promotions on their home page.
Run a newsletter: this probably coincides a bit with the “become an expert” section, but with careful thought and research of email privacy guidelines, you could send an opt-in newsletter to like-minded people that are genuinely interested in what you have to say and in turn, your product. You could also marry the two and publish your newsletter articles on the web. An example of this can be found at Global EBusiness Forum WebProWorld. This way viewers can opt for the newsletter and/or check back to your site on a regular basis. Either way, you win.
There are loads of ways to maintain your site, even lazy man ways, that I shall cover in another article (I promise), but these four are the most popular tried and tested methods that many a website owner will swear by.
So what are you waiting for? Get updating and/or contact me for a free website consultation.
Your website is an amazing marketing tool. When designed correctly, it works as an ambassador for your company, better than any receptionist ever can. It also has more staying power. 24/7/365 to be precise. Even when you’re watching the Queen’s speech on Christmas Day, your website is still there, ready and waiting for any prospective visitors to click and look.
So you’ve got your website up and running and it has been submitted to your major search engines and all looks quite rosy. So now this job is done, you can put your feet up and worry about something else, right?
Wrong!
You see once your website is up and running, this will keep the visitors and search engines happy for a while as it would for any new content. But after a short while, both respective parties that keep going back to it will see that nothing has changed and lose interest. Result: Your visitors lose interest and because of the all-important visitor’s loss of interest, your search engine drops down out of sight in the listings. Have you ever kept visiting a website on a regular basis that hasn’t to your knowledge ever been updated?
Suddenly your website isn’t quite the marketing tool you anticipated it to be and with a bit more time and effort it could have been a different story.
You see, your website shows how much you value your customer. The more “sticky” you make it, the more your visitors will come back to visit read what you have to say and visitors can turn into paying customers. But if you leave it how it is because you can't be bothered or can't find the time, your customers will find the time to find a website that does put the effort in. Perhaps a competitor of yours.
So how do you keep your customers visiting you and keep those all-important search engines happy?
Keep your content fresh. A newsletter that was hot and happening last November is now a golden moment in history and not a very good impression to any passing visitor. A regular update to your website will keep your visitors and customers coming back for more. So keep your Forthcoming Events forthcoming and your Latest News latest.
Become an expert in your field. Write articles, reports, case studies, anything that informs the customer and proves that you are an expert. This could be the time to invest in a blog (an online web journal, for example, the one you are reading now). With Blogger.com You can set up a blog within a matter of minutes.
Have an incentive. Everyone likes an incentive to do something, so give them one to visit your site. Hold competitions, promotions, or just a simple incentive (10% discount for buying online, free delivery, etc). Online chemist Boots.com are a great example as they hold all their current promotions on their home page.
Run a newsletter: this probably coincides a bit with the “become an expert” section, but with careful thought and research of email privacy guidelines, you could send an opt-in newsletter to like-minded people that are genuinely interested in what you have to say and in turn, your product. You could also marry the two and publish your newsletter articles on the web. An example of this can be found at Global EBusiness Forum WebProWorld. This way viewers can opt for the newsletter and/or check back to your site on a regular basis. Either way, you win.
There are loads of ways to maintain your site, even lazy man ways, that I shall cover in another article (I promise), but these four are the most popular tried and tested methods that many a website owner will swear by.
So what are you waiting for? Get updating and/or contact me for a free website consultation.
Terms and Conditions: The Small Print that Covers Your Back
I recently thought it was time to update my terms and conditions. A lot has happened in 5 years and some of my services will change soon (details of new services coming soon).
Anyone who knows me, my legal head is not a good one. My principle in life is "Be Careful". And that has sort of helped. I cannot remember much about my first set of terms and conditions. I believe at the time, I asked a friend who practised law and she helped me out.
I contacted my local Enterprise Agency. For 90 minutes, both a Business Advisor and myself, put our heads together and came up with the basics of what to cover and how to cover it.
I was told to get it checked out by a solicitor. Luckily your local Enterprise Agency can provide you with a couple of solicitors in the area that offer an incentive eg, first half hour free, etc.
Off this list, I chose a solicitor who seemed to specialise in businesses similar to mine. At the consultation, they talked me through quite a few things: my terms and conditions, late payment procedures (late-payers, beware), my privacy policy and my email disclaimer. And my goodness, what an eye-opener the whole experience was.
As they read through some of my terms and conditions, we found that there were many loopholes which could have put me at risk at any time. I also found out that all contract clauses have to be reasonable otherwise they are in breach of The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 (thankfully nothing in my old contract was classed as unreasonable either).
They discussed what I needed to cover in great depth, so that even I understood it. Since then we have been going through every minute detail and I have felt that I could ask them anything, and they would advise me or put me right. After a month of fine-tuning, I finally got the final copy on Tuesday last week.
The final bill came to several hundred but I don't see that as a burden, I see it as an investment. For anyone setting up a business, include this cost in your business plan and your initial business expenses. It covers your obligations as a supplier/service provider and covers your customer's obligations of what is required.
Now I feel more legitimate, more professional and a lot less stressed. I will never be in Perry Mason's league, but I understand the legalities a bit more than I used to.
I would definitely recommend the solicitors that helped me. They were called Birkett Long Solicitors, and they have offices in both Colchester, Chelmsford and Halstead.
By the way, if any of my customers reading this that have not as yet received a copy, please could you drop me a line and let me know asap (and thank you for reading).
Anyone who knows me, my legal head is not a good one. My principle in life is "Be Careful". And that has sort of helped. I cannot remember much about my first set of terms and conditions. I believe at the time, I asked a friend who practised law and she helped me out.
I contacted my local Enterprise Agency. For 90 minutes, both a Business Advisor and myself, put our heads together and came up with the basics of what to cover and how to cover it.
I was told to get it checked out by a solicitor. Luckily your local Enterprise Agency can provide you with a couple of solicitors in the area that offer an incentive eg, first half hour free, etc.
Off this list, I chose a solicitor who seemed to specialise in businesses similar to mine. At the consultation, they talked me through quite a few things: my terms and conditions, late payment procedures (late-payers, beware), my privacy policy and my email disclaimer. And my goodness, what an eye-opener the whole experience was.
As they read through some of my terms and conditions, we found that there were many loopholes which could have put me at risk at any time. I also found out that all contract clauses have to be reasonable otherwise they are in breach of The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 (thankfully nothing in my old contract was classed as unreasonable either).
They discussed what I needed to cover in great depth, so that even I understood it. Since then we have been going through every minute detail and I have felt that I could ask them anything, and they would advise me or put me right. After a month of fine-tuning, I finally got the final copy on Tuesday last week.
The final bill came to several hundred but I don't see that as a burden, I see it as an investment. For anyone setting up a business, include this cost in your business plan and your initial business expenses. It covers your obligations as a supplier/service provider and covers your customer's obligations of what is required.
Now I feel more legitimate, more professional and a lot less stressed. I will never be in Perry Mason's league, but I understand the legalities a bit more than I used to.
I would definitely recommend the solicitors that helped me. They were called Birkett Long Solicitors, and they have offices in both Colchester, Chelmsford and Halstead.
By the way, if any of my customers reading this that have not as yet received a copy, please could you drop me a line and let me know asap (and thank you for reading).
