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Currency Begets Currency

Nothing affects currency like currency. To put it another way, web sites that feature fresh, up to date information about their products and services are far more likely to succeed financially than sites that allow their ecommerce stores to grow stale.

Regardless of the type of content needed to optimize your website, keeping it lively, fresh and current is easier said than done. In fact, for some ecommerce businesses maintaining accurate data on the website is literally a full time job. Whether your business is large or small, your web host can work with you to develop a strategy to keep your site on the cutting edge. There are many software programs available that can save you substantial amounts of time and money in your efforts to stay up to date. Your web host can help you select the one that best meets your needs.

A website with fresh content is crawled more frequently by search engine spiders. When search engine rankings go up, so does your web site traffic and your bank account.

For better or worse, speed is a fact of modern life. People are in a hurry. They want it and they want it now. Typically you have 10-15 seconds to grab a person’s attention when they hit your site. If they find obsolete products, dated copy and stale information they will quickly click to another ebusiness site (and take their money with them).

The most critical step in keeping your site current is market research. Understand the people who use your products or services and cater specifically to their needs. If your target market is mostly business professionals, then you will want a data-driven site that appeals to chief executive officers and fiscal administrators. If your product is aimed at teenagers or young adults, then a more “hip” approach is the most likely to succeed. This means you have to stay on top of current events, lingo and the ever changing trends that drive their buying decisions.

If your site features specialty products (like pet training manuals or educational toys for infants) make sure that you include links to newsletters and other information that might be of interest to your customers. Better yet, develop your own newsletter and make if available to them free of charge as a value added service.

Here are some additional tips to keep your web site viable:

• Stay focused. Make sure your web site is squarely focused on selling your product or serves. If your business offers a wide variety products do not try to sell them all from one page. This will overwhelm potential customers and they won’t be inclined to visit your site a second time.

• Maintain credibility. The most professionally designed web site with cutting edge content won’t sell if your customers don’t believe you or don’t’ trust you to protect their confidential information.  Provide a prominent link to your privacy statement from every page where you ask visitors for personal and financial information.

• Keep it simple. Don’t assume that your customers are technical experts. If you don’t make it easy for them, your competitors will.  Navigation on your web site should be simple and logical. Your site should download easily and quickly. There is nothing more annoying than clicking on pages that haven’t been created yet.  All your pages should be reachable within three clicks so your visitors can sail through your product offerings with very little effort. Add powerful search and catalog features to enhance their shopping experience.     

• Consistency is key. Nothing is more distracting than for visitors to feel like they have just gone to another site. Keep colors, themes and writing styles constant so your customers will know it’s you.

• Content is critical. Superior content sells. Does your copy actively communicate to your customers? Is it compelling? Is it delivering the intended message? Is it professionally written and presented? Is it getting results?

• Interaction is essential, especially for virtual businesses. Include a way for visitors to contact you and make sure that you (or the people who work for you) understand the importance of being responsive. Include a “contact us” link on every page, every time. Answer their questions promptly. Include personal touches that make regular customers feel valued. People prefer to shop where they feel appreciated and understood.

The fact of the matter is that your web site is in most cases the only interaction you have with your customers. If you had a brick and mortar store, would you want your customers to see dust on the shelves, disorganized inventory, wilted produce and obsolete products? You should treat your virtual storefront the same way. Get out your virtual dust mop and shine the place up a little. Search your shelves for items that need to be improved, replaced or removed. Putting forth a little extra effort to keep things spiffy puts you ahead of the pact. And isn’t that exactly where you want to be?