The Internet is almost bursting with websites these days. Every day more sites are added, and chances are if you have a website for your company, a competing company has one, too. This makes it more important than ever before to make your company’s good points stand out above the others. Unfortunately, you have only seconds to do that before someone clicks off your website for another.
Here is a short guide to help you find your strong points and know what to do with them once they are obvious to you.
Customer Service
This part of a business garners more complains–and compliments–than many others. Why? Because if you let an inferior widget go out the door by accident, your customer will probably stay loyal if you replaced it free and quickly. Thus, if customer service is strong in your business–and it should be–make this obvious on the front page of your website. Good service will help you stand out.
Superior Product
If you have a superior product and good customer service, you have a lot going for you. Make sure this fact is on the first page as well. Your best qualities should be visible to the visitor as soon as your page comes up, so place these facts in the top of your layout. If you have a mid-quality product, maybe price is your crowning glory. If so, make it known.
Quick Delivery
When people bought things at the store, they had the advantage of bringing it home with them most of the time. The problem with the Internet is that you have to wait to receive goods. Stand out by making fast delivery your motto, and carry it out when the time comes.
How To Get It Across
One of your best friends in the advertising business is the testimonial. Put these on the front page, visible as soon as the page loads. They should be from people who are willing to post their names or businesses, maybe an email address for authenticity. Always put them in quotes–those are eye-catching ways to separate sections, and they indicate another is speaking for you right off the bat. If you can get a celebrity with positive news sources surrounding him or her, so much the better. Never use the quotes from a person who has a lot of negative press–it rubs off.
Also have a nicely designed website. Although red and white stripes may get people’s attention, they won’t stay on a page that is about to give them a migraine. Clean and clear is best with colors and fonts that are easy on the eyes. Also avoid movies or anything that needs time to load–people will click on another page in seconds.
If you can, get a recommendation from the news teams that investigate products and companies, often putting a stamp of approval on them. These can be better referrals than movie stars.
In the end, the thing that will make your business stand out is doing a good business. List the ways that you are better than everyone else at doing a good business and you have a golden key to word of mouth advertising as well as having your customers email links to their friends.
