I confess, I’m a member of the mobile generation. I’m not one of the annoying types who answer their phone at restaurants or during meetings, but I do carry my mobile everywhere and thanks to Telstra’s NextG service, I’m continually connected to the internet.

There are a growing number of constantly connected consumers, who, just like me, browse the web from their mobile phone, on an exceptionally small screen. We are a frustrated lot too, because most websites are not built with small screens in mind.

Many people don’t believe their website will need to be adapted for mobiles, but if your business does financial transactions over the phone, or have a retail store, chances are a percentage of your customers are already trying to find you. Here’s a couple of real life examples of how someone with a mobile might be interacting with your business.

Restaurants

While enjoying an afternoon out of the house, a couple decide to go to a restaurant for dinner, but aren’t near a phone book. They look up the restaurant’s website on their phone to find the phone number.

• Quickly seeking a phone number is currently the most common reason someone might use their phone-based internet provider.

Real Estate

While driving past an interesting property, someone might notice a For Sale sign out the front and look up a real estate’s website to find out the price of the property.

• Looking for specific information on a business website outside of operating hours is realistic, and will rise as customers become increasingly time poor.

Retail Stores & Attractions

While out and about we might want to check the closing time of a particular store, or opening times of an attraction.

• Easy to find trading hours is an essential asset on websites.

Accommodation

On the way for a weekend getaway, you forget how to get to an accomodation property. You whip out your trusty mobile phone and look up the website for directions, or just for an address to enter into your GPS unit.

• Driving directions and addresses are handy additions to your website for customers.

Your web designer should easily be able to adapt your website to create an easy to read version for a mobile phone in 30 minutes - 2 hours, but having all the information a mobile user might require is important in the first place.

The next time you see a friend with one of those fandangled-looking mobiles that can surf the internet, ask if they can look up your website and have a go at browsing it, or finding specific information. You’ll be suprised how it looks!

Did you get that title?

The past two days I’ve noticed a number extraordinarily long domain names… they’re a bad idea because they’re very hard for your customers to remember.

Domain names should be as short, snappy and memorable.

If you have a long business name, consider dropping non-essential but common words from your domain like services, the or solutions.

You could also consider using initialism, although you do need to be lucky in registering those. For example if your business name is The Hurley Brothers Real Estate you might consider the following domain options:

• HurleyBrothers.com.au
• HurleyRealEstate.com.au
• HurleyBrothersRealEstate.com.au

But you wouldn’t consider TheHurleyBrothersRealEstate.com.au. Definitely too many words.

One of the major factors responsible for a cost blowout on website development is continually making changes and tweaks whilst the site is still under development.

Most web development companies will charge you hourly for changes made to your website, so it’s important from a cost perspective to get all the glitches, spelling mistakes and formatting ironed out before you hand it over to your web developer.

Lots of little changes add up, and can put a project significantly over budget. Even worse for businesses with marketing deadlines, it can also cause your website to be late.

When you’re approaching a web developer for a website, ensure you have the following ready:

• A high resolution/vector copy of your logo.
• Your branding materials like company tagline, colour scheme, mood/attitude of your business.
• A collection of images you’ve used in marketing collaterial or a good list of images from a stock photography website that matches your brand.
• List of the websites you love.
• List of the websites you hate.
• Copy for your website in word documents for each page.

Do your new customers ask the same kinds of things time and time again? Save your admin time by adding the answers to your website. You’d be surprised how many customers inspect your website prior to contacting you.

Here’s some logical things could consider adding to your site:

Employment Information

We hear lots of stories of how difficult it is to find staff in today’s tough labour market, but you’d be amazed how many positions are advertised in newspapers that don’t ever get entered on a company’s website.

There are lots of great reasons to have an employment page:

• It makes your business appear dynamic, successful and growing in size. This gives customers confidence that you’re a legitimate business that employs good staff and cares about their workforce.
• An employment page is a much cheaper advertisement than any other form of advertising, and allows for extensive information and interactivity.
• It never sleeps… you’ve probably heard this one before about websites, but an employment page will work for you even when you’re not actively looking for staff. Savvy new people coming into town will often do a Google search to find employment in their preferred industry - wouldn’t you like to be hiring the best!

Refunds & Privacy Policies

When I recently had a problem with my laptop, it was after close of business and I wanted to know the process for obtaining work done under warranty. Unfortunately I ended up needing to call the company the next day and waiting on hold for 30 minutes while the receptionist chased up the relevant information for me. It would have been far less frustrating for me if the company had simply chosen to publish this info online.

Information about refunds and privacy are required when you conduct transactions online, but most other businesses leave these important bits out.

If you have a policy, put it up online.

Prices & Rates

Despite price being the primary motivator for online shopping, lots of service-based businesses are still not transparent about their prices online preferring instead an enquiry page in place of publishing the actual rates.

Customers have a lot of choice online, and if they can’t find the price information they’re after from your website they’re more likely to buy from a competitor who is open and honest about their pricing online.

Frequently Asked Questions

For the miscellaneous questions you are asked, include them on an FAQ page. For website which include an FAQ page, these are frequently the most popular pages after the prices page.

Include all the information you can’t fit onto other pages.

I keep a running list on my desktop of the questions I am asked most days… and I publish the answers in this blog!

Having under construction pages on a mostly finished website is a clear sign of a disorganised business owner. While it’s tempting to make an under construction page as a self reminder to later write the text for that page, it doesn’t send a positive message to your customers.

Web surfers get frustrated when they click on a menu item and visit an empty page. Some people think that an under construction page will entice users to come back later, but honestly, we’re all just too busy to remember which websites might have a page coming soon.

Remember your visitors don’t know what pages you’re planning to add, so best advice is to simply leave these pages out. Don’t have them linked from the menu, and don’t give any hint that a new page is coming.

Just launch it, then advise with a great email newsletter.

Promoting your website is no longer about banner ads and reciprocal links - the web has grown up. While there are many ways to spend your advertising dollars online, there are also plenty of ways to tap into the community of the internet and take advantage of the free opportunities to spread the word about your business. Here we take a peek at the free promotional avenues you can tap into but you might not have realised their significance.

Get your site in the search engines

This is the most important free promotional technique for all websites. Search engines are responsible for 85% of the average website’s visitation, which means if you’re not well placed in the engines you’re missing out on a lot of customers.

Here’s the quickest way to get your website ranked well:

1. Think of the keywords your customers will search for to find you.

For example, if you consider the tourism industry in Cairns an owner of an apartment complex in the city might consider the following keywords;

cairns apartments
cairns city accommodation
cairns self-contained apartments
cairns family accommodation

2. Include these keywords in your website text

The search engines will not rank you for the keywords you want unless you include them in your text. Ensure you include them in a natural way using proper English. Here’s an example of a paragraph of text using the keywords above:

Cairns Oceanview Apartments offer self-contained accommodation in the heart of Cairns city especially well suited for families and couples travelling on a budget. Only walking distance from the popular attractions on the Esplanade, Muddy’s Playground and Cairns Central Shopping Centre our Cairns apartments are the perfect accommodation choice for your tropical holiday.

Submit your website…

Search the web for directories which focus on particular industries, such as tourism, education or finance. You may even by lucky enough to find very specific directories for micro-industries such as managed apartments or English schools for example. Think about the many terms people use to describe your industry and search for these.

Most businesses belong to trade associations or professional bodies which feature member listings. Ask for a link, and ensure you’re listed appropriately.

Avoid directories or bodies which solicit your business for upgraded listings as they are generally not well enough trafficked to be worth the while. Very large directories often provide very little actual visitation to websites listed within, so spend money carefully. Instead look for niche directories which operate in a specific sub-industry or location.

The more websites you are listed on, the more credible your business appears to search engines and to customers. Search engines will repay you by listing you higher for your keywords the more websites that link to you.

Write articles for others to use

Many of us write mini-articles everyday in the regular emails we write to our customers and our clients. Consider making these a more formal article and submitting them to other companies for inclusion in their newsletters and on their websites.

The usual policy for such an exchange is that other websites and newsletters can reproduce the article only in its entirety, without modification, and includes the author’s by-line and a link to their website at the bottom of the article.

For those of us who already write articles consider posting these articles onto your website as well, and include a note that allows others to republish your article without specifically seeking permission as long as the article is left entirely intact. This allows your articles to more quickly be distributed across the internet.

Issue press releases

Consider newsworthy events that happen in your business and consider submitting them to print and web periodicals within your industry. Links from news and media sources are favourably considered by the search engines and are poised to boost your website even higher in the search rankings.

Press releases also have the added benefit of making your business appear dynamic, changing and expanding which encourages others to do business with you.

Start a blog for your business

Blogs work incredibly well for establishing a regular visitor base to your website. Most business people offer regular industry comment to clients and associates, and a blog allows you to get this content out to a wider audience.

Include your URL on everything

You might be surprised how simple this suggestion is - but I still need to search high and low for some business’ website address (URL) despite having their business card and brochure in my hand.

Don’t make potential customers look for you. Print your everywhere your phone number is: letterhead, business card, envelopes, flyers, brochures, emails, outdoor signage etc.

To aid readability, I recommend excluding the http:// part of your web address and just including the www.domain.com.au part instead.

Leverage the power of your email signature

Business owners send hideous numbers of emails each day - email is reported as the most common form of executive stress.

Help combat this stress by knowing that every email you send is promoting your business and encouraging people to visit your website.

Promote your website in online forums and blogs

One of the reasons many people are attracted to the internet is because of the vast number of forums, blogs and online communities of people with very specialised interests. Tap into the areas in which your business exists by seeking out your peers and competitors online and finding where they exchange information.

Respect the culture of these discussion groups by not openly spamming advertising throughout the posts, but instead offer valuable contributions and information to the people asking questions. Ensure you include a signature at the bottom of your posts which links back to your website.

Regular visitors to these forums will gradually trust and recommend your business provided you do not aggressively market your business or overtly plug your products.

Write testimonials for businesses you’ve used

Many businesses display testimonials on their websites and this is a great show you support local businesses. Ask that your testimonial include a link to your website, and ensure you include a company logo so it may be included with your testimonial.

The end result is another link to your website, and credible support of a business transaction.

Ask visitors to bookmark your site

This encourages repeat business so people can find your website again easily by just checking their list of favourites. It’s simple, quick and free.

There are lots of other free ways to promote your website, but a common theme throughout most of these ideas is involving yourself in the online business community.

Unless you become familiar with how the online customer thinks you may never tap into how to make money out of them, or establish yourself as an expert in your field.

Do you have any other ideas? Submit them as a comment below.

If you want a successful, effective and profitable website, get out there and use the internet.

There are not many businesses who don’t have a website, or who haven’t considered building one. Unfortunately I come across many business owners who have false expectations about what a website will do for them because they don’t understand the medium. I encourage any business owner who wants to have a serious online presence to get serious about their own online habits.

This is especially important for anyone looking to have an eCommerce website, or an online shop.

Here’s a list of things I believe all website owners should do online:

• Book a flight.
• Buy a gift from a small business niche retailer in another state, or country.
• Become proficient at sending, receiving  and replying to emails.
• Win an auction on eBay.
• Post in a forum.
• Book accommodation for your next holiday.
• Search Google, Yahoo and Live for specific local products & services.
• Find their location on Google maps.
• Regularly use netbanking.
• Subscribe to an RSS feed.
• Write a review for a hotel, restaurant or service you’ve used.

Business owners making great money from their websites immerse themselves in the internet and watch how other similar businesses innovate and develop their products online. This helps them understand their customers and jump on new trends as they emerge.

What do you do online to keep yourself current and up to date?

Click here is perhaps one of the most overused phrases on the Internet.

If you’ve got any click here links on your website, it’s time to spring clean your content and remove every last one of them. People are savvy enough with websites that they realise what a link is, and that you click on it to see more information. Links are usually fairly obvious too, they’re in a different colour and they’re underlined.

Remember that each link you place on your website is a call-to-action, so instead of being tempted to write click here for more information on your next website update try linking keywords and phrases of what your customer will actually find on the next page.

Real Life Examples

TravelZone

If you have any suggestions that you think would make travelzone even better, we would love to hear from you! Click here to add your suggestion…

Does this sound a bit better?

We would love to hear from you. Please send us your suggestions to make travelzone even better!

---

Tasmania Bed & Breakfast Association

If you would like to be sent a copy of our guidebook to B&B’s in Tasmania, click here to fill in your post details.

How about this instead?

Would you like to receive our publication Your Best Guide to Bed & Breakfasts in Tasmania? Tell us your postal address, and we’ll pop one in the post for you.

---

The Australian

Support The Men of Gold. Get behind the Qantas Wallabies, show your support and click here..

Try this.

Support The Men of Gold. Get behind the Qantas Wallabies and show your support.

Engage Those Customers

Your links should be an enticement for your potential to go further through your website. It’s like holding their hand and giving them a guided tour of your business.

Think about how boring a guided tour would be if we said go through that door instead of… behind this door is Napoleon & Josephine’s elegant matrimonial bedroom.

By writing great calls-to-action links you’ll keep your customers interest in your products and services for much longer.

I can’t be the only person out there who sighs at the size of her inbox every morning!

Being efficient on email is tricky for me because I get such a large volume of email email day, and I spend a large chunk of most days in meetings. It’s especially tricky if I’ve had a day off.

Here’s some tricks of the trade I’ve employed over the years to help reduce my email stress, and improve my customer service.

Leave only unattended emails in your inbox.

As soon as you’ve replied to an email, forwarded it to a colleague for action or talked about the contents in a phone call, move it out of your inbox. Either file it, or put it in a quick To Be Filed folder for processing later.

Don’t use your inbox as a task list.

As soon as you check your email, check for the ones which require you to do something which will take time, and put these on your task list.

Upgrade to Outlook 2007.

If you’re still on Outlook 2003, upgrade as soon as possible. Outlook 2007 has outstanding and superior search capability which is far quicker than it’s predecessors. This means if you need to find an email pronto, you can, no hassles. I’ve run Outlook 2007 since June 2007 and am very happy with it.

BCC follow ups.

If you know you want to follow up an email you sent, BCC yourself a copy as you send it. Leave this in your inbox until you receive a reply, and then file the reply and the BCC when you’re done.

24h turnaround.

We all inevitably get phone calls and follow up emails if we don’t get back to people quickly. I aim for a 24h turnaround with all emails to avoid the time wasting follow ups and embarrassing apologies. I am in the technology business after all, if anyone can reply to an email quickly, you’d hope it’s be me!

Have a good look at your statistics and examine the pages which contain a web form, most notably, your contact form.

It is important to know the number of people who visit these pages, because this is the number of your luke-warm customers. A percentage of these made it through the form and contacted you, and the rest didn’t.

Why didn’t they contact you?

One of the primary reasons people do not fill out contact forms is because websites request too much detail from a potential customer.

Long forms scare people. They look like they’ll take a lot of time, and Lord knows we all don’t have much.

Simplify your forms down to the absolute bare minimum of information that you require to conduct your initial enquiry with this potential customer.

For most businesses, you should ask for just the following:

• Name
• Email Address
• Comments

If you are a phone kind of person, consider also asking for a phone number. These three or four fields should be enough information for you to get the ball rolling.

This principle also applies to other web forms that are of an initial enquiry nature such as an availability request or quick quote.

For bookings and orders it is a given that you require much more information to complete the sale, and this doesn’t worry customers so much as they expect you will need more details.

When you walk into a retail shop and sales staff immediate come over to you and ask if they can help you before you have a good look around. Do you get that awkward, uncomfortable feeling that they’re desperate to sell you something, and you just want to leave the store?

Well asking too many details in a basic enquiry gives your potential customers a similar feeling. Keep forms short and sweet.