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Author: Martin Lemieux

In the past, if a potential client wanted to know more information about a companies policies, procedures, prices, product/service information, they would have to either; contact the company by phone, or read through expensive brochures.

These days companies have an alternative to providing all of this information, it's called a website!

Setup Your Website To Answer Questions:

Companies world wide spend billions of dollars on answering potential clients questions. Customer support could either make you, or break you. Time, and time again, I've met with so many entrepreneurs who though a website should be used to make their sales pitch! This can't be further from the truth. Sure, you want to expose your marketing message from your website; your website should be a marketing lead generator. BUT, your website should also help to ease your potential customers minds by answering their questions before they call you. If done properly, people should call you directly from your website in order to fill out an application, to make a product order, or they just want to speak to a live person.

Here are some details you should include within your website:

  • Product Details
    • Specifications / description
    • Size
    • Materials
    • Warnings
    • Ingredients
    • Reference materials
    • Colors (samples)
    • Small & large pictures
    • Prices
    • Taxes
    • Bulk pricing
    • Specials
    • Shipping information
    • Quantities available
    • Features
    • Guarantees

  • Service Details:
    • Services you offer
      • Descriptions
    • Services you don't offer
    • Service area
    • Location
    • Case Studies / Testimonials
    • Step-By-Step process
    • Illustrations
    • Awards
    • The ideal client
    • Preparation guidelines
    • Reference materials
    • Stats / Figures
    • Quoting forms
    • Combo packages
    • Pricing structure
    • Extra prices
    • Service timelines
    • Guarantees
    • Disclaimers
    • FAQ's
    • Support structure
    • Contracts
    • Billing requirements
    • Upfront fees
    • Payment plans & options
    • Bonus freebees

While making your sales pitch, you also want to inform people about your services, or products. Too many companies fail to use their website for what it was intended for, more information.

But I Don't Want My Competitors To Know This Information!!!

If you truly worry about your competitors, then you aren't the best in your field hands down! Companies who don't care if their competitors know "how they do things", or "their pricing structures" are companies who lead the field, not just following others.

A Good Example Of This:

Look at Progressive.com, a leading insurance provider who pushes people to get a quote online in order to compare prices with their competitors. Do you really think they care about their competitors? Absolutely not! If they did, they would never expose their competitors prices along with their own. They know just as much as I do that, people are shoppers online. Providing more information than you need to will attract the bigger fish, instead of always fighting for the small ones.

The More Information You Give, The Bigger The Fish!

"Insider Secrets" are no secret. If you choose NOT to teach people about your industry, it's the same as fishing without worms. Insider secrets help the little guys learn what they need to know, and it also shows the bigger fish that you're not here to mess around, your here to catch the prize winning fish. Bigger, more profitable leads come from experience, and expertise. How are the bigger fish going to know that you have the best worms out there, if all you do is hide it from them?

I'm not trying to tell you to expose your secret ingredient, I'm just trying to point out that most companies never give more information than they should. Sure this strategy works in newspaper ads, TV commercials, magazine ads, and direct mail, but it doesn't apply to the internet.

The Internet = Information:

Your website should produce information, if it doesn't show your potential leads you know what you're talking about, it will never help them to build trust in your judgment.

My parents owned a local renovations business. I taught them about exposing more insider secrets on "How To Fix This", and "How To Prevent That". From this strategy, people were calling them up saying something down the lines of "I called you because I extensively searched online, and your company seemed like the most experience reno business out there".

In Conclusion:

The internet is very unforgiving. A simple 3 page brochure website is not as valuable as a website that has tutorials, illustrations, and insider secrets. A computer cannot invoke emotions like a print ad, or TV ad can do. To make up for this lack of personal touch, we use things like words, thoughts, illustrations, video ads, tutorials, faq's, and ideas. The more personalized you can make your website, the more ways you will have to attract better leads.

"Marketing online is not one thing that you do, it is the combination of multiple strategies that fuel into one funnel." - By: Martin Lemieux



Martin Lemieux is the owner of a successful article directory network with over 80,000 author submitted articles, with over 30,000 active authors world wide.

http://www.Article99.com - Authors Club

 

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