B. Andrew, Author at Harcourt Lane

How to create a winning sales brochure

Despite the boom in online marketing, brochures are still an effective way to market your product or service. In this post, I will share with you five tips for creating a winning sales brochure.

1. Focus your message.

Aim for “one message” only. Don’t try to do too many things in one brochure. Identify one key objective, and then target all your writing towards this message.

Ask yourself the following question:

What am I trying to achieve with this brochure?

For example, are you aiming to create awareness of your product or service, to generate leads, or to acquire new customers? Determine your aim, and then write with that in mind.

2. Keep your target customer in mind.

Who are you writing to? You should have a very clear idea of who your reader is, what his problem is, and how you can solve that problem. Don’t focus on your product or service; rather, focus on your reader, and how your product and service can make his life better. Also, use language that will be readily understood by your target customer. For example, if you are selling mechanical equipment, consider whether your target customer is an engineer or a household user. Your approach (and writing style) should match your reader.

3. Don’t be clever.

Stick to language that your target customer will understand. Don’t go for ‘creative’ puns and in-jokes. The risk is that your customer will not understand them, and your message will fall flat. Be clear and direct. Remember: it’s not about you; it’s all about your customer.

4. Focus only on what is essential.

A brochure is not big enough to say everything there is to say about your company or product or service. So keep it short and effective. See point 1) above: “focus your message”. Once you have decided what your message should be, focus only on that. This means you must exclude any information that is not necessary to your objective. For example, if your objective is to get people to request a free consultation, there are two main things you should want to include:

Enough information to convince her that your product is worth her attention; and
Enough information to help her book the free consultation.

In this example, your brochure is not the place to start convincing your target customers that your product is the best in the market. You can do that during the free consultation. Simply use the brochure to whet their appetite so that they sign up for the free consultation.

5. Include a Call To Action.

What do you want your target customer to do after he has read your brochure? Whatever it is, tell him to do it, and show him how. For example, if you would like him to sign up for a free consultation, tell him to do so, and give him the contact details where he can sign up. If you would like him to place an order, tell him that, and explain how he can do so. This may sound straightforward, but I’ve lost count of the number of sales brochures I have seen without a clear Call To Action. Don’t forget: you created your brochure to achieve a particular aim. Spell it out; tell your reader what you expect from him.

Conclusion

Brochures are an effective and timeless way to market your products and services. Follow these five tips to create a winning brochure.

By B. Andrew

Your website – why you need a content strategy

Your website can make or break your business.

In a previous post, we discussed why, as a business owner, you absolutely need to have a website. It is truly vital in this day and age.

So you’re running a business, and you’ve set up a website to promote your products and services.

Here’s a question: exactly what content should you put on your website?

Of course, there are the obvious things: the name of your company, the products and services you offer, contact information, etc. Yes, these things are vital, but that’s far from the whole story.

You need a proper content strategy.

A solid and well-defined content strategy will make your website work for you. It will create the desired connection with your website visitors, and this leads to trust.

Trust is vital for successful marketing.

Your content strategy should address the following question:

What is the main purpose of my website, and what sort of content do I need to support that purpose?

In this blog post, I will explain why you need a content strategy, and also show you the key elements of a successful content strategy.

At the end of this post, I have included a free resource for you that will help you create your very own content strategy, one that is tailored to your own business. My free Content Strategy Blueprint gives you an easy step-by-step way to create a successful content strategy for your business. Don’t forget to claim your free copy after reading this blog post. You’ll find the link at the end of the post.

First, what is content?

There are different business reasons for having a website. For example, if the main purpose of your website is to raise awareness of your expertise, you will want to ensure that you include a lot of content that supports this purpose. A good way to do this would be to include a blog, where you write articles to showcase your expertise and credibility. On the other hand, if you want your website simply as a place to display your products and services, you might not see the need for a blog. You might focus instead on content that explains in detail what you are offering to your visitors.

But it’s not one or the other. A website can serve many purposes. Even so, it is always prudent to prioritise one purpose above all the others, and to gear your content towards that. Even if your website serves more than just that one purpose.

Before I say more on ‘content strategy’, it is important first to answer the question: what is content?

Content is everything that appears on your website. Primarily it is the written text. For sure, when many people talk about website content, they refer mainly to the written text. But content goes beyond that. It includes multimedia, such as videos and podcasts. It includes images, links, widgets, forms, and buttons.

Generally, content covers everything on your website that conveys a message to your readers.

In thinking about website content, we should focus not only on what we write or include on a web page, but also on matters such as, where (on the website) we place the content, how we style it, and how often (if at all) we update it. All of these should be borne in mind, as part of good content strategy.

First and foremost, we should consider the user experience. We write primarily for the user, and not for ourselves. So the writing style and vocabulary must match that of your target readership. For example, don’t use technical jargon if your target reader would likely not understand those terms.

When preparing content for your website, it is not a good idea to dive straight in. It is important to take a step back, and address the question I posed above:

What is the main purpose of your website, and what sort of content do you need to support that purpose?

In answering this question, you will need to consider the following:

(1) What does my customer really want, and how can I provide it through my website?

Even if you are not selling directly through your website, this question is still important. In such a case, you should provide information that should show your customer how he can make the purchase offline.

This question also requires that you scrutinize your content plan carefully to ensure you include only content that is useful for your reader. Many websites include information that is of interest only within the company itself (for example, messages from the CEO that have no direct relevance for the customer). I generally advise against this, but if you absolutely must include such content, don’t put it on the front page. Put it on another page (which should be clearly labelled for what it is), and make sure it does not interrupt the visitor’s experience.

(2) How can I establish credibility through my content?

This is wide-ranging, and covers matters such as whether or not you should have a blog, how to write your company’s profile, and even the language with which you address your customer.

This also covers matters such as whether your website is seen as out of date. For example, I’ve lost count of the number of websites I’ve seen with a ‘Latest News’ section, where the latest news item was something that happened several years before! This sort of thing creates doubt in the mind of your visitor.

Similarly, if you have a blog, make sure it is updated regularly. It doesn’t have to be updated daily, or even weekly, but make sure that there are signs of life in your blog. Choose a schedule that works for you. Create an editorial calendar, and stick to it.

(Even the technology of your website can speak volumes here. In this day and age, it does not play well for your credibility if you have a website that does not optimize itself properly for smartphone screens.)

As part of your content strategy, you should create a plan for regular maintenance and updating of your website, whether or not you have a blog.

(3) What form should my content take?

This depends on the market you’re in. Of course, if you’re a photographer and you run a blog, it makes the most sense that your content would consist mainly of images – very likely pictures you have taken, as this would enhance your credibility. It would make more sense to do this than to have a website filled with words, with only the occasional picture. On the other hand, some businesses will be more suited to a website dominated by text. This is certainly the case here at Harcourt Lane. We are a marketing and communications consultancy, and a lot of our work involves writing content for our clients. So we showcase our writing skills throughout our website. This makes more sense for us than having a website filled with images or video.

(4) Will my content always work for me?

Creating your website content is just the first step. You should also have a plan to ensure your content is supported. This means that it should be reviewed periodically to ensure it is still serving the needs of your user, and, as a consequence, the needs of your business.

Also, as discussed above, your content must be kept up to date, whether or not you blog. Out-of-date content will surely undermine customer confidence.

It is good practice to appoint someone who will have responsibility for maintaining your content. This would involve responsibility for ensuring that your content remains centred on the needs of your user, that it serves your business purpose, and that it establishes your credibility. This person would also be responsible for setting up and maintaining the editorial calendar, as well as your blog (if you have one). He may not write all the content himself, but will have a solid plan to procure the right content for you. Some companies hire an employee to do this work, while others choose an external agency. At Harcourt Lane, we have several clients for whom we perform this service.

Conclusion

In today’s business environment, having a website is vital to your success. However, you also need a sound content strategy, so that your website can work for you. Your content strategy should make sure that your website supports the needs of your customer, and also establishes your credibility. Setting up a website is great for your business. Having a sound content strategy will bring you success.

Start now to create a successful content strategy. My free Content Strategy Blueprint will guide you step-by-step to create your own content strategy – one that is right for your own business. Click HERE to receive your copy.

By B. Andrew

Why you should hire a copywriter

A skilled copywriter can transform your business.

As I often say, it is not enough to create an amazing product or service. Without effective marketing, it will not succeed. Marketing is the lifeblood of any business. Do it right, and you can expect great success.

Marketing is all about the story you tell. And a key part of that is the words you use. Your words must convey empathy, authenticity, and trustworthiness. Empathy because you must show your customer that you understand his needs and his pain points. Authenticity because he must know that you are the real deal (and therefore he will not go elsewhere). Trustworthiness because if he is going to hand over his hard-earned money to you, he would like to know that he is making the right choice.

Any number of marketing surveys will tell you this one truth: buyers make decisions on an emotional level first, and only after that, logic kicks in to justify the decision. In other words, in deciding whether or not to buy, buyers engage first with the heart, and then, with the brain.

This means that a good copywriter should be able to produce content that engages directly with the customer. And that this must happen on an emotional level.

What is the customer’s greatest need? What are her fears? What are his aspirations? You need a copywriter who can key into all these and more, and then help you connect with your customer.

As a small business owner, you might be tempted to write your own marketing copy yourself. I advise against this. Even if you are an excellent copywriter, you are likely to be too close to your business to do it justice. You need to have a bit of distance, so that you can step into the mind of your target customer.

One of the major objections I hear from small business owners is that they can’t justify the cost of a copywriter, and so would rather write their copy themselves. The thing is, if you look at copywriting simply as ‘writing beautiful words’, you may, quite reasonably, balk at paying for it. However, copywriting is more than just pretty words on a page. A skilled copywriter will produce powerful, attractive content that will draw in customers and sell to them. Such content will pay for itself, many times over.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been consulted last-minute by panicked business owners facing a ‘copy crisis’. Typically, they would have attempted to write the copy themselves, and, after several rounds of writing and rewriting (sometimes even in a committee), they would have realized that the copy did not work. And of course, with a product or service due to launch, panic would set in.

That, at least, is better than the situation where the marketing campaign has actually been launched, including the weak copy. At that point, it becomes clear that the copy cannot perform. They then have no choice but to pull the entire campaign. One can only imagine the wasted time and effort.

For your business to succeed, you need solid, powerful content. Do not launch your marketing campaign until you are sure of the power of your copy. Sooner or later, every business owner will discover the power of great copy. Better to find this out early in the day.

By B. Andrew

Writing your website text – what to expect from your copywriter

A good website can do wonders for your business. It can project an image of professionalism and trust. This creates a bond between you and your target customer, which you need in order to succeed.

In this respect, your website content is key. The words on your website will tell their story about the kind of business you are running. They will either build up trust in you and your business, or they will put off your visitors. It is very important to present yourself well, using content that conveys your expertise, empathy, and trustworthiness.

If you have excellent copywriting skills, you might be tempted to write the content yourself. Alternatively, you would be looking to hire a copywriter or copy consultant to write the content for you. However, even if your copywriting skills are fine, I always advise that you hire a professional copywriter or copy consultant to write your website copy for you. This is because he will bring an objective eye to the process, and, in the process of preparing the content, will ask you questions that you might not necessarily have considered, given how close you are to the business.

In this blog post, I will give you some advice about what you should expect from a copywriter or copy consultant if you hire one for your website.

Background research

Your consultant should do proper background research. Copywriting is not about finding pretty words and putting them onto a website. Such writing tends to come across as puffy and insincere. You have to build a bond of trust with visitors to your website. This means therefore that your content must be authentic. In order to achieve this, your consultant really ought to know what he is talking about.

This means that he has to do his homework.

At Harcourt Lane, we begin every new assignment by sending a checklist and questionnaire to the client.

The checklist

The checklist helps us identify precisely the areas in which the client needs our help. Clients often don’t realise the different areas in which copywriting can help their business, and so we use a checklist to help them see the entire range of possibilities. For example, for a client who wishes to create a new website, or to review an existing website, we will send her a checklist setting out the different possible aims of website content. These include:

Generating sales;
Building awareness;
Building corporate image/brand;
Establishing authority (e.g. as an expert);
Sharing news and updates; and
Creating customer engagement (for example, through a blog or users’ forum).

We ask the client to select her desired aims. This guides us on how to write the content.

The questionnaire

As mentioned above, your consultant should do his research. His research should cover the following areas:

Your business, including all your products and services;
Your competition;
Your target market.

As far as your business is concerned, he should want to know, at least, the following:

The aim or mission statement;
The range of problems typically solved by businesses of that nature, and by this business in particular;
The range of products and services offered by the business;
The size of the business;
The nature of specialism (if any) required for the business; and
The nature of the industry in which the business is operating.

He should learn everything that there is to learn. He should therefore obtain all relevant documents, including plans, reports, marketing and advertising materials, product specifications, proposals, etc.

Regarding your products and services, he should want to know, at least, the following:

What exactly you are offering;
How exactly it helps your target customer;
Its features and benefits (including unique features, if any);
How it compares to any competing products or services;
The mode of delivery of the product or service;
How the product or service is supported.

Regarding your competition, your consultant should conduct research to discover, at least, the following:

Who are your main competitors?
Where are you (roughly) ranked, in relation to them?
What advantages do your competitors have over you?
What advantages do you have over your competitors?
How do your products and services compare to those of your competition?

Regarding your target market, your consultant should do his homework to discover who exactly they are, and what are their biggest needs, or pain points, so far as relates to your business. He will need to be very specific, all the way down to identifying the precise demographic of your target customer, for example, her income range, level of education, preferred reading material, family situation, etc. He will need to create a ‘customer avatar’. This is, in brief terms, a detailed picture of your target customer. For more on customer avatars, see this blog post.

Preparing to write

Once your consultant has done all his research, he will be ready to start writing. By this time, he will have sketched an idea of what your website should look like. This applies both to new websites (which are obviously being written from scratch) and to existing websites (which are being reviewed). Regarding existing websites, you may have given your consultant particular instructions on the current text and structure of the website, for example, whether and how much of these to retain. If you instruct him to maintain some of the existing text and structure of the website, he will be more constrained in what changes he can make. However, if he is given a free hand to rewrite and restructure the website, the changes could be more marked. In the case of new websites, you are also of course free to instruct him on your preferred structure.

At some stage, your consultant should have information for your website, such as the following:

The extent (i.e. how many pages);
The structure (for example, main pages (such as: Home page, About page, Contact page), and sub-pages which deal with the different products and services);
The tone of voice;
The relevant keywords for your website, and where exactly to place them;
The links profile (for example, what (page/sub-page) should link to what (page/sub-page)?;
Call To Action placement. A ‘Call To Action’ is an instruction to your website visitor to do something, for example, to ‘Buy Now’ or to ‘Sign Up For A Free Trial’. You will want these placed at optimum areas across your website. By this stage, your consultant should have an idea where to place them.

A word about design. At Harcourt Lane, we focus purely on the text. This is our area of expertise. Some of our clients have their own designers, and we work with them to prepare the final product. This includes agreeing on which images accompany which text, image placement, colour scheme, and such matters. However, we also have clients who do not have their own designers. In such cases, we help the client by bringing a designer on board. We work with some fantastic design firms, and we can easily outsource that part of the work to them.

Before beginning to write, your consultant should submit you a briefing document, summarizing what he has understood from his research, and how he proposes to go about the writing. A ‘creative brief’, if you like. Sometimes a client presents us with a creative brief at the start of the project, setting out exactly what they require from us. However, in most cases, we prepare it ourselves.

Writing

Your consultant should stay in close touch with you during the writing phase. You don’t have to be looking over his shoulder, but neither should you keep your distance. No matter how much research has been done beforehand, new ideas will arise during the writing phase. It is important for you to be available in case your consultant wants to discuss these with you.

After writing

It is standard practice for the client to be allowed a fixed number of revisions without being charged extra. So your consultant may provide that you will have, for example, two free revisions of the text that he submits. In this case, if you request a third revision (or more), you will be charged extra. Typically, the ‘free’ revisions do not cover a substantial change in the assignment. So if you decide to issue brand new instructions that differ significantly from the original, you may be charged for that.

Conclusion

Your website is very important for your business success. If it portrays you properly, your business will reap the rewards. Your website content is the key to building trust between you and your visitors. It should project a powerful, authentic and trustworthy image. Make sure your content always works for you.

By B. Andrew

How to make your website work for you

In an earlier post, I wrote about the growing surge in online trade, and about the fact that more and more customers are using the internet to buy their goods and services.

This is only the beginning. It is expected that, in the next few years, consumers will buy far more over the internet than they will from physical stores and businesses.

So what does this mean for you, as an entrepreneur? Quite simply, this: you need a website.

In order to have a fighting chance of succeeding in today’s business environment, you need a website. You cannot afford not to have a website. Without a website, you are closing yourself off to a huge section of potential clients. It could be the difference between having a wildly successful business, and having a business that just gets by.

But having a website is not enough, on its own. You need a website that does the following three things:

Finds and attracts potential clients.
Convinces your visitors to buy from you.
Makes it easy for your customers to hire you or buy from you.

In this blog post, I will explain these three points, and give you some advice on how to achieve them.

1. A website that can find and attract potential clients.

This is obviously something that should be happening before ever the customer sets foot on your website. Of course, if you have customers who already know your website, they will just type in your address, and hey presto!, there they are.

However, those are not the customers I’m referring to here, although they are also important. I’m referring rather to your potential customers – those who have never heard of you, but would be likely to hire you or buy from you. The question is this: can your website find and attract such prospects?

The answer is yes. If you put the right things in place, your website will be able to attract people who may never before have heard of you.

There are different methods through which you can attract people to your website. Below, I explain two such methods:

(a) Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) techniques. Put quite simply, these are techniques that make it easier for the search engines (predominantly, Google) to become aware of your website, and to direct people to you. If your website is properly optimized, there is a higher chance that people who search for keywords relevant to your business will be directed to your website.

SEO takes two forms: on-page SEO, and off-page SEO.

Briefly, on-page SEO deals with how you structure and code your website, and what sort of content you put on it. This includes, for example, the hierarchy of your website’s pages and sub-pages, and whether and how you use relevant keywords (i.e. keywords that are relevant for your target market).

Off-page SEO generally deals with things that happen outside your website. The most predominant of these relates to links, i.e. whether other websites are linking to your website, and, if so, of what quality are those websites? This is important because it is one of the main criteria Google uses to rank websites.

We will go into more detail on SEO in another blog post.

(b) Social media. Social media platforms are a good way of directing traffic to your website, and I would advise you to make active use of relevant social media platforms. However, as a small business owner, you may well find it too time-consuming to maintain an active presence on all the major social media networks (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest), so I always advise to pick one or two, and then attend to them regularly. Depending on the sort of business you have, there will be some social media platforms that fit your business better than others. For example, if you run an IT consulting business, LinkedIn might be a more appropriate platform than, say, Pinterest.

However, it is not enough simply to attract people to your website. You have to attract the people who are right for your business. If your techniques attract people who, upon getting to your website, find nothing to keep them there, then there will have been no point.

2. A website that convinces your visitors to buy from you.

This is a very important topic, and the success of your online business depends very much on getting this right. Your website must serve your visitor. If it does this right, you can expect great success. If it doesn’t, your visitors will go elsewhere.

At Harcourt Lane Agency, much of our work involves helping clients create website content that attracts customers and creates the vital connection between the business and the customer. This leads to higher sales and a successful business. We have seen, over and over again, that your website is your ultimate marketing tool.

Your website must convince your visitor that you understand his needs, and that you have the solution to his problem.

A visitor who lands on your website will have several questions on his mind. You should be able to answer ‘yes’ to them all. Here are the questions:

(a) Am I in the right place?

Your website should proclaim boldly what it is, and whom it serves. Your visitor should be left in no doubt as to what sort of business you are, and what products and services you are offering. Remember that not everybody enters your website via the home page. Every page of your website should make clear to the visitor where he is, and should show him how he can navigate to what he wants.

Many websites simply list their products and services. It is far better, and much more effective, to approach this from the point of view of your target customer. What problem does he have? How will you solve it for him? That’s what he wants to know when he comes to your website. Hand it to him on a plate.

This is not as easy as it sounds. It is not just a matter of good, plain English. Your words must build a connection between you and your prospects. Your words must convey empathy, authority, and trustworthiness. Through your words, you must build an attractive and compelling case for your business. Your words must attract, convince, and convert.

(b) Can I trust this website?

Many factors influence whether or not a visitor will trust your website. One of the most important is your website content.

Your content should be well written, and presented in simple and clear language. The grammar should be impeccable. Poorly written content is an absolute turn-off, and gives the impression of an unprofessional business. If a business owner cannot be bothered to present himself properly, why should anyone trust his products and services?

It is also advisable to use all standard internet protocols. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Here is an example to illustrate my point. Some time ago, I did some advisory work for a company that was launching a new online sales portal. They had set up a very good website. However, they had disabled the normal ‘Back’ button (located in the browser), and instead made their visitors to use one embedded within the website itself. The website attracted a lot of visitors, but very few of them bought anything. Most visitors left the website within several seconds of arriving there. I advised the company that failure to follow standard protocols was costing them dear. The non-standard Back button was the main reason for the poor performance of the website. It had caused the visitors such unease and inconvenience that they chose to click away from the website. The matter was quickly resolved, and sales flourished.

Your visitors will also want to know how easy it is to buy from your website. For more on that, see Section 3 below.

(c) Is this website easy to read?

Get to the point quickly. Don’t burden your visitors with too much information. Avoid technical jargon. Avoid unnecessary images and videos. If you have multimedia content, such as videos and podcasts, don’t let them get in the way of what your visitor really needs. Provide your visitor with the option of downloading these, to watch or listen to at another time. Basically, make a clear path for your visitor so that he can directly access what he wants.

(d) Can I find my way around this website?

Create a solid website structure, with a clear hierarchy of pages and sub-pages. Make sure your visitor does not get lost in the website. Organize your website so that your visitor always knows where he is at any given time. Make sure all your links work. As an added bonus, a website that does these things will also rank well in the search engines.

It is, of course, possible that a link might no longer work, and that your visitor then ends up on a 404 error page. Make sure your 404 error page contains very helpful information to help your visitor find his way to what he really needs. Your page should not just say ‘Sorry, Page Not Found’. This can be frustrating. Provide some useful information. Consider publishing a site map.

3. A website that makes it easy for your customers to hire you or buy from you.

Your website should make it easy for a customer to hire you or buy from you.

Make sure the ordering process is straightforward and uncomplicated. For example, visitors should not be required to set up an account simply to buy from your website. They should be able to buy without first having to register, or to fulfill other unnecessary requirements. If it is strictly not necessary for visitors to register before buying, don’t make them do it. By imposing cumbersome requirements, you could drive away willing buyers.

Also pay special attention to the shopping cart. Make sure you use an automated system from a reputable provider. A malfunctioning shopping cart is bad for everyone. Your buyer will be left frustrated, and you will lose out on a sale. Even worse, it could create distrust in your website. Make sure you use a shopping cart that is fully supported by its provider.

Also, at every step of the buying process, tell your customers where they are in the process, and how many more steps they need to take in order to complete their order.

And make it easy for customers to get in touch with you. Display your contact form in a prominent place on your website. Also, provide for alternative means for customers to get in touch with you, for example, an email address, and telephone or Skype details.

Conclusion

Your website is your storefront in the online world. It should project the right image of you and your business. Your website should attract visitors, convince them to buy from you, and then make it very easy for them to do so. As a matter of good practice, you should review your website frequently, so that you are sure that it is achieving these objectives. If you would like us to review your website for you, you can contact us here.

By B. Andrew

Your website – your ultimate marketing tool

The internet is stealing the show as the prime platform for doing business. Only a few short years ago, this was not the case. However, it is now fairly common for consumers to order goods and services directly from the internet. In the past, consumers tended to order online only from those businesses they already knew in the offline world, for example, as a result of having visited their physical stores or business premises. This has now changed, and shoppers routinely place orders from businesses that they have seen only on the internet.

A lot of this has to do with trust. Thanks to robust online security measures, consumers are now more at ease with buying from the internet. There is also the added benefit of convenience: the ability to purchase – in a secure online environment – with only a few clicks of the mouse. In addition, thanks to a multitude of apps, and optimized websites, it has become incredibly easy to shop online using a smartphone. All of these factors have led to the surge in the volume of online business.

Every year, United Parcel Service (UPS) conducys a survey known as the UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper Study. The 2016 study surveyed 5,000 shoppers across the United States. The Study found that, for the first time ever, the percentage of purchases made over the internet exceeded the percentage of purchases made in physical stores and businesses. The shoppers surveyed reported that they had made 51% of their purchases using the internet. (In the previous year’s Study, the percentage of online purchases reported was 48%.)

This is truly remarkable, and, in my view, indicates very strongly the direction in which things will progress over the next few years. (If you would like to read the UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper Study, click here.)

What this means for you as an entrepreneur is that you cannot afford not to have an e-commerce website. So, not only do you need to have a website, you also need to be able to transact business using your website. Your website must be set up to welcome your potential customers, to present you and your products and services in the most attractive way, and then to enable your customers to buy from you.

If you do not have a website, you are closing yourself off from a huge portion of your potential market. If online business continues to exceed offline business, you will end up targeting only a small segment of the market. You could be seriously outpaced by your competitors who have set up shop online.

By the same token, if you do have a website, it must be truly fit for purpose. More on that below.

Of course there are technical aspects involved in setting up a website (such as finding a good web hosting service, etc), but that is only a small part of the story. The real question is this: what impact will you make with your website?

Your website is your ultimate marketing tool. If organized well, it will have an amazing impact on your potential customers, leading to higher sales, and serious business success. On the other hand, a poorly organized website will not only fail to make sales, but could even drive away potential customers.

So what makes a successful website? By successful, I mean that the website must work for you and for your business. Your ultimate aim is to fulfill your client’s needs, and your website should assist you fully to do that. If your website is doing its job properly, it should achieve the following things:

It should find and attract potential clients.
It should convince your visitors to buy from you.
It should then make it easy for them to hire you or buy from you.

If your website is not doing these three things, or is not doing them very well, you will need to address this.

In an upcoming blog post, I will discuss these three things in some more detail. I will explain to you exactly why they are important, and how you can go about achieving them.

How to create a winning sales brochure