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How do you make sales online? It’s not what you think.

Of course, the goal of any business website is to generates sales, or generate calls that lead to sales. But the fact is that a very small percentage of websites actually generate sales that pay for themselves, much less generate profits.

Regardless of your website name, e-commerce package, or design, below is what works.

This Strategy 6 of 7 in The 7 Steps article series, and we’re not going to talk about how to setup an e-commerce system – there’s plenty of articles out there about that. This article will instead focus on the ‘primal elements’ that every busienss site needs to consider when speaking to customers through their website.

If you absorb this information, and take it to heart, then I don’t care if you use PayPal or even no shopping cart at all – it won’t matter much. You want to make sales online? Here’s how to do it.

Is your website ugly? Who cares?

I don’t really care about how a website looks if I know that I am buying the right thing. Neither do you, if you think back to the purchase that you’ve made. Why were you convinced to buy?

It WASN’T the moving images and flashy design.

You might even have in your mind a website that you purchased from that ‘wasn’t so slick’ but you loved it anyways because it did what you wanted it to do – convince you that you made a solid, well-informed decision on what to buy. Don’t you love that warm-fuzzy-I-know-that-I-made-the-right-decision feeling?

Here is a table of elements that shows what I’m talking about.

Websites do NOT sell based upon…	Sales DO depend upon…
Flashy websites with moving things. The best e-commerce package. The greatest selection. The most products. The lowest cost. The biggest marketing budget.	Making it easy to find things. Making it compelling to buy. Showing the customer the benefit. Building trust with comparisons & examples. Showing that you’re the expert. Keeping in touch until the customer buys.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt if your website is pretty – but it’s not really a conversion factor.

A note about service vs. sales.

Although there are some differences in e-commerce sites vs. service sites (you sell a service, not a product), it matters very little in terms of making money through online channels. After all, both types of sites are selling to humans, and humans work the same the world around.

The Product Site. The product-based site (with a shopping cart) deals with the – you guessed it – purchase of products, whether another company’s products or your own. You could have dozens or hundreds of products, and therefore pages to navigate. The primary problems involve searching for the right product, and convincing that customer that it’s a better product than other competing products. Many think that it’s the ease of checkout. But if you sell it right, you don’t even have to have a checkout cart. If your customer wants it, they’ll call you and get it.

The Service Site. The service-based site (you sell a service) is concerned with fewer pages (you probably don’t have hundreds of services) and therefore navigation through your site is oftentimes very simple. The primary goal is convincing the customer that you’re better than other competing services and expertise, and that you have great customer service (you’ll answer the phone when someone calls).

How to generate sales and leads.

Every business site needs to focus on a few simple things, regardless of whether you’re selling a product or service.

We find that with our customers it’s not a matter of adding the newest bell or whistle to the website, but rather not focusing on how the customer thinks – that is, that the customer doesn’t really give a damn about you at all (at first, at least), but how you can benefit them. They will care in the future if you please them, but that’s another article.

If you lose sight of these ‘primal elements’, it doesn’t matter how much money or time you throw at the site, it’s not going to make you money.

1. Make it easy.

The customer has to find what they’re looking for. This is accomplished through navigation or search. If they can’t find the product, you ain’t making money.

• Give your website to someone that might buy your product and has never seen the website. Tell them to find a product or service without using the search box. If they can’t find the product, you need to focus on creating a strong navigation.
• For the search aspect, tell the same person above to find something different. If they get to the search results, and can’t find what they’re looking for in about 5 seconds max, you got a problem.

I don’t have a search box! If you don’t have a search button on your website, you can grab a free version at Google Custom Search.

2. Make it compelling.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines compelling as something that is “demanding attention”. By creating strong calls to action, you demand the customer’s attention. You’re not telling them to BUY NOW or anything like that – you’re drawing attention to why your product is better.

• Give them something for their consideration in purchasing or calling. On a product site, free shipping (on, say, orders over $40 or more) is a real attention grabber. On a service site, offer them a free consultation or the like. Heck, even a free hat is more than nothing.

3. Show the benfit.

It’s not what you sell, it’s how the customer benefits. It cannot be stressed enough the importance of showing the benefit to the customer.

• Someone could say “I’m a plumber,” or they can say “I solve small problems before they become big ones.” There’s a difference.

4. Build the trust.

If you’re customers dont’ trust you, you won’t sell. In our article about trust issues on websites, we talk about competitor comparisons. How are you better than your competitors? Use tables to show the comparison!

• Also, use accreditations to great effect. A Good Housekeeping logo on a product page goes a long way. If you’re a service business, any accreditation in your industry will will show the customer that your for real.

5. Keep in touch.

The customer might not buy right away. So you have to keep in touch with them.

• RSS is a great tool for this, because it allows customers to get updates about your product or service immediately.
• The newsletter works the same way – if at all possible, entice your customers to receive your offerings inside their email Inbox – they check their email more than your website. Give away free stuff in your newsletter that you can’t get anywhere else (special coupon, jump start on purchase before others, etc.) – that’s an incentive to sign up.
• Social media marketing: Be where your customers are. That means if they’re on Facebook, then do that; if there on Twitter, be there. Your customers also might be on specialty social sites.

How to track and test sales or leads.

Google Analytics.

If you don’t know where you’ve been, you don’t know where you’re going. Using a program like Google Analytics ensures that you keep track of your sales or leads. Here’s some ways Google Analytics is used:

• Goals & funnels. Funnels are a way of visualizing ‘dropoff’ through a process, like the many steps of a shopping cart.
• Time on pages. You can measure the time on pages and get two distinct pieces of information; one, what works (large time on page) and what doesn’t (low time on page).
• “Searched For”… You can analyze what people search for on your website. Again, this will tell you two things; what interests them, and what interests them and YOU DON’T HAVE. Perhaps you should expand your business product line or services!
• Site overlay. A handy tool to actually see what someone is clicking on – it ‘overlays’ the page visually, so you can see what is and isn’t being clicked on. You can navigate your entire site like this, and it will give you a great feeling of what’s working (navigation-wise) and what’s not.

A/B testing.

Do yourself a favor and take a peek at Google Website Optimizer. It’s a pretty simple concept, but rarely do people use tools like this. You might think it’s a waste of time, but if you’re unwilling to test things, what are you doing in business, my Friend?

Conclusion:

Generating sales or leads is not that hard – we make so. Focus on the most basic elements.

• Make it easy.
• Make it compelling.
• Show the benfit.
• Build the trust.
• You’re the expert.
• Keep in touch.

And don’t forget that tracking is the key to knowing if your efforts are working! Use tools like Google Analytics and Website Optimizer for tracking – they’re free and fun! Yes, I said fun!

Next week… the FINAL STRETCH.

Next week in our Strategy Wednesdays article, we’ll discuss the final frontier – creating referrals. If you’ve been following along in the past 7 steps articles, this is the one that gives you lasting power – even in a bad or super-competitive market. Stay tuned!

More useful articles:

• A more in-depth analysis of the tactics used for generating sales
• More on email marketing
• The 7 Strategies to Internet Marketing Success
• Calls to Action: 7 Critical Elements
• 4 Elements Every Product or Service Page Must Have
• Calls to Action, part 1/2: Why Your Customers Don’t Buy or Call
• A great video on using GA with e-commerce