Article: What's Your Website Done For You Today?
By Steve Crisp
I've been three years in the web hosting business now and I feel like a
grandfather. Unfortunately, the little ones are still not grown up yet;
they keep making the same mistakes over and over. Of course, those
little ones are firms who are just now venturing into the arena of the
World Wide Web. And there are many of them who come on board each and
every day (with yet millions of businesses remaining to join the
party.)
Three years ago, the biggest mistake of a web newbie was not realizing
that their web site was more than just advertising for their storefront
business. Today, the biggest mistake of the web newbie is not realizing
that their web site is more than just advertising for their storefront
business. Same fatal error; only the verb tense has changed.
In part, the blame must be laid at the feet of the web site owner
because they are ultimately responsible for all decisions, but the
marketing community needs to bear some of the responsibility as well.
Each week, I get at least two or three phone calls from marketing firms
requesting information on how to construct a web site for their
client's business. After extensive discussion, it becomes obvious that
the marketer's concept of a web site is as an adjunct to existing
advertising and promotion for the client's products or services. There
is an expectation that simply placing a web site on the net and
promoting that site will lead people to the storefront.
They have missed the point.
A web site is a stand-alone entity offering goods and services apart
from any office, shop, warehouse, or manufacturing facility that has a
physical presence in the material world. A web site is not merely a
forum for the discussion of a product or service that will lead a
qualified buyer to call, write, or email for more information; a web
site is perhaps your only contact with the prospective purchaser or
client.
A web site is not a lead-in to a pitch. It is the pitch AND the close.
When a client physically enters your "real" world, you are on the phone
or face-to-face. You have ample opportunity to judge the situation,
tailor a presentation to the specific client, and overcome anticipated
objections as they arise. A web site does not afford you those same
conditional opportunities. Once you grab 'em, you'd better hook them
right then and there or else they are gone and you won't even know they
showed up.
Yet, too many web sites are used as teasers like one would find in
print ads, radio/television, or direct mail. They dangle the bait and
play on the expectation that some spark of want will arise within the
prospective client, creating the desire to make the initial contact or
request more information. If you are waiting for that future client to
call in order to clarify whatever issue may arise, you have just lost
the sale.
Tell the client what they want to know -- and use overkill in the
process. You know the objections; list them and deflate them in detail
on the web site. You know why your product or service is better than
everyone else's; tell them in great length. Give the boring technical
specifications and don't make your almost-client ask you for more
information. Give them images galore. Remember, you don't pay for space
or printing costs on the web so you may as well lay it all out in
public; a world-class web site can be produced for what it costs you to
place a single, one-time ad in a trade magazine. And that web site is
always there, yet instantly amendable.
Tell them about yourself, your company, and your children if you like.
The more information, the better. Not that everyone will read all you
have to state, or even care, but make it available to the web site
visitor. Give them the exploded diagrams. Give them the detailed
benefits. Give them the graphs and charts and cost analyses. Give them
a map to where you are located even if they will never show up at your
real door.
Give them all they need to make an informed decision so that the
product or service is already sold when they first contact you via
traditional means.
The ideal web site would eliminate the sales department of any company
or reduce the entire existing sales force to mere order takers. Yet we
don't live in an ideal world, so don't go firing your sales team
prematurely. But just because the goal is lofty, doesn't mean that it
isn't worth trying to reach. :)
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