A website can increase sales by giving the business a presence. By boosting traffic to the website, the printer is gathering information, generating leads and turning visitors into clients and customers. But printers have to know how to turn their website into an income generator.
First, it is important to place contact info and phone number at the top, right corner of the page, where it is expected. Also, make sure to include your phone number as an HTML, not an image. That way, a mobile user can tap the phone number link and launch into a call immediately.
It is important to have a responsive design that works on tablet or smart phone. If it does not work on a mobile device, it is not worth having. That might take some work because it is difficult to create a single website design that works for every device out there. It is not plug and play. But it’s important to have it.
If you count your cost in time, responsive design is a little more expensive. If you count your cost in customers, it is cheaper. With a responsive design, you can automatically approach customers from all kinds of places, on all kinds of devices. If you target the desktop user only, you will be focusing on less than 50 percent of potential customers. So it might cost extra but then make a lot more later on.
There are several questions you need to ask when assessing your website: Does your website make it immediately clear what your company does and whom it serves? Does your website quickly communicate your company's unique selling proposition? Is it easy for your prospects and customers to find their way around your website? Does your website back up its claims? Does your website explain the additional resources you can provide to prospects and customers? Does your website contain lots of offers designed to engage prospects and start sales-winning relationships? Does your website make it easy for prospects and customers to take the next steps in their consideration or buying process? Does your website make it easy to place an order? Are there multiple ways for prospective customers to request assistance or additional information about your company and its products or services? Do you have processes in place to trigger immediate follow-up to these requests?
The search box should be designed so that it is different from other forms or boxes on the website’s home page. It should look nothing like, for example, the newsletter subscribe box. The bottom line is that site visitors expect to easily find the search box so they are likely to abandon your site if they cannot find it. That means you should highlight the search box prominently on every webpage. Another good way to get people to pay more attention to the search box is to name the button that begins the search process something like Search, Find, or Go – or use an icon such as a magnifying glass, which is clearly recognizable to visitors.
Also, it is a good idea to make blog posts, community forum posts, and videos searchable.
A website is a significant investment. But these days, no business can afford to be without one.
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