Enabling all of your products to be found on the internet requires a change in the way you will look at your website. We’ll outline seven guidelines that can help you improve your chances of intercepting the web searches potential customers are doing when looking for your – or your competitor’s products.
1. Your web site needs to be structured to provide them the information they need as easily as possible. Your customers or potential customers are looking for your products and services because they need them to do their job. Without loyalty to brand or sales person, they are looking for information first and want to find what they need quickly and effectively.
2. Your website must demonstrate technical competence and leadership by the presence of original reference material that will prove to customers that they found the right company. Your customer makes a quick determination of credibility – make sure you can prove you are credible to those who visit you the first time.
3. Your website must be up to date in terms of design and conventions. Your customer might judge your company based on your website alone. If your website is outdated or is difficult to use, your customer will get a negative impression about your products and look elsewhere.
4. Cater to everyone in the sales process. Development of a user interface for a variety of different needs – the engineer, technician, end-user, outside/inside sales force and customer service employees all have their requirements and it is critical that your website becomes the go-to location for everyone in the process to do their job. Why not develop your website to be the repository of technical knowledge for your products so that your internal employees will use it to provide technical support to customers as well?
5. Include all the details of your products you can, including part numbers, cross reference lists and specifications. Your customers probably don’t know very much about your products – they are only looking to solve a problem. The ability to allow users to find any information about any of the products you sell, manufactured at any time in your company’s history is paramount, as they might only have a part number as a cross-reference. If they input your part numbers in a Google search, will they come up?
6. Your customer might be looking for your competitor. Use guerrilla marketing techniques to get your company’s website to come up in a search when your competitor’s part number, nomenclature, or keywords are entered in a search and you’ll get more potential customers to your website – this means you have to include them on your website somewhere, too.
7. If in doubt, make sure to include it. Your website should include as much technical information, field experience and tutorials as you have available. Your customers are looking for it!