Profitable Website

Here are some components that will turn your website from an EXPENSE into a PROFIT-PRODUCING MACHINE

Professional, Clean Layout

Your website should be clean, professional and easy to navigate if you want visitors to stick around for any amount of time. Flashy, confusing websites only cause visitors to hit the back button as they search for information or products related to your industry.

Many businesses make the mistake of overcrowding their websites with stuff that their visitors really don't care about.

Your website, especially your home page, should be built to grab attention quickly so people can find what they're looking for.

Most people who visit your site simply want to know how your business can help them solve their problem or solution.

For instance, don't put your business biography on the home page of your site. Your visitors aren't really looking for that... they're looking for that SOLUTION that your business can provide to them.

Let's look at some of the other factors of a profitable website...

Lead Capture / Direct Response

You probably already know that "The Money is in the List!"

Building a list of prospects and leads should be the priority of any business owner. Once you start establishing a relationship, you will create a loyal following of buying customers.

If you are not capturing leads on your website, you are letting potential business go down the drain. If people are already visiting your website, this is the perfect opportunity to grab their contact information so you can continue to build a relationship with them.

One of the easiest ways to capture leads is by installing a lead capture system on your website. This is usually a form that asks visitors to entire their name and email address in exchange for a free offer - such as a coupon, free report, or whatever your customers would find extremely valuable.

Once you have these leads in your funnel, you can then start sending emails to them about your company. Your emails should focus on building a relationship with your list and you should only send promotions from time to time.

When done correctly, your list will love you and continue to do business with you as long as you keep giving them what they want.

We will discuss Email Marketing in more detail later in this report.

Strong Call-To-Action

Every page on your website should have a call-to-action, which is something that tells your visitors what you want them to do. Depending on your type of business, this could vary.

Some businesses want their prospects to call them, some want them to email them, and some want them to come into their establishment.

Whatever you want your website visitors to do, put this on your website and make it stand out.

This probably sounds like basic information, but you'd be surprised at the number of businesses who do not have a call-to-action on their websites.

Call-to-actions have proven to help businesses convert more website visitors into actual, paying customers. Some people simply need to be told what to do when they hit your site - and it works!

Whichever call-to-action you use, just be sure to make it stand out and available on every page of your website.

The ideal place for a call-to-action is in your website header... this way, it will be shown at the top of every page of your website.

Also include the pertinent information they will need in order to perform that call-to-action.

For instance, don't just say "Call Us Today!"...

Instead, say, "Call Us Today at XXX-XXX-XXXX!"...

Include your phone number - don't make them search for it.

If you want them to come into your establishment, don't just say "Come See Us Today!"...Instead, say, "Come See Us Today at XXX Main Street City, State!"

Again, make it as easy as possible for them to act.

Speaking of contacting you...

Make sure that all methods of contact are easy for your visitors to see on all pages of your website. Some business owners make the mistake of only putting their contact information on their "Contact Us" page.

However, your contact information should be on all pages of your site to make it easy for your customers and prospects to get in touch with you.

It is very frustrating to land on a website home page only to find out that their contact phone number is not there... and now you have to search for it!

Also be sure to put a contact form on your Contact Us page so visitors can reach you right from your website.

This will give your visitors a variety of options when it comes to contacting you.

Once they fill out and submit the form, you will receive a notification at the email address you tie to the form.

Relevant Website Content

The content on your website should not be one big advertisement. It should be valuable information that explains how you can help your target market with their problem or solution.

Especially the home page since this is your visitors' first stop.

Unfortunately, some businesses use their website home page as a brochure to talk about their business background, goals, missions, accomplishments, and more.

While this is great information, the home page is not the place for it. Create a different page to display this information, such as an "About Us" page.

When customers first hit your site, they're looking for information that can BENEFIT them.

Your website content also determines how well your website will rank in the search engines. When people go to the search engines to find a local product or service such as yours, they type in the keywords - as we talked about earlier.

If your website content has your profitable keywords on it, it will enjoy higher search engine rankings when people enter those keywords.

Basically, the search engines actually read the content on your site to determine whether or not your business is "relevant" when it comes to certain searches.

In order to improve your relevance, be sure to work your profitable keywords into your website content.

Images and Graphics

Having images and graphics on your website is crucial - they help convert your message to your target audience as well as improved search engine rankings.

As they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words..."

Graphics and Images can help your visitors immediately see what your website is about as well as engage them into finding out more about your business.

Not only that, but graphics and images also make your website more pleasing to the eye. However, be careful not to "over-do it" as it can easily become a distraction that causes your visitors to bounce.

You can also help your search engine rankings by renaming your pictures.

Google has "robots" that crawl every website to figure out what they are about based on the content.

However, they can't see things such as images - only text. But they can see the "name" of the images.

Therefore, it's a good idea to use keywords when naming your images. This way, your site will gain relevance when those keywords are entered into the search engines.

Not only that, but your images will also show up in Google Images, which is where Google houses all of the images found on their search engine.

Blog

In case you haven't heard the news... your website needs a blog.

A "blog" is a web-log website feature that allows you to post fresh, new content consistently.

Google and the other search engines LOVES fresh, unique, constant website content and a blog is the perfect way to give them what they want.

The more content your website has, the better.

A blog can be viewed as an online journal that you make posts about your business. The content can be short, sweet and to the point - meaning it's easy to create. However, you should post frequently and build a substantial amount of fresh content for your website on a consistent basis.

How often you post depends on your type of business, but you should post anywhere from every day to at least once per week.

The search engines don't like stagnant websites. Websites with no "action" are considered irrelevant for their keyword terms and they lose rankings along the way.

Blogging also allows you to brand yourself as the expert in your field. You can answer questions and provide valuable information about your industry on a frequent basis. Just remember to use keywords that relate to your business in your posts for optimal results.

A "keyword" is a word or phrase that people type into the search engines to find your type of product or service. Your role as a business owner is to optimize your web properties to capitalize on some of those keywords by including them in your content.

But don't over-think things... keep it simple.

Once prospects find your business based on your website content, you could have a new customer for life. Setting up a blog is a big step and it can be accomplished a couple ways.

You can have an independent blog, which would be located on a separate domain from your website... or you can have a blog attached right onto your website.

The method you choose depends on what makes the most sense for your type of business.

The best independent blogging platform is WordPress. It's easy to install, configure, and setup. Not only that, but maintaining a WordPress blog is simple once you learn your way around the back office.

One of the best features of WordPress is that it allows you to add several features and options to your website without having to know a bunch of HTML and coding.

In a nutshell, WordPress blogs are great for feeding the search engines with fresh content.

However, if you already have a WordPress website, you can simply add on a blog to your existing website. This is a simple process and will help you boost your website's rankings as well as keep in touch with your customers and prospects.

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