Your website speed is important… and we mean REALLY important! It is a website quality that’s often overlooked. Did you know that your page speed plays a massive role in your annual business revenue? Yes… Really! It literally PAYS to have a fast website! Think of your website speed as a first impression. If you have a fast loading website then you’ve made a great first impression!
The average time someone spends waiting for a site to load is three seconds. Any website that takes longer than three seconds to load will lose many customers and tons of potential revenue. Even the most well known businesses out there will lose money if they have a slow loading website. Research shows that a website delay of 100 milliseconds results in a loss of thousands of dollars of income.
The human brain has a very short attention span and extremely high expectations of website speed (which can be a very challenging combination). People expect a response from an online action within one second. A one-second delay in website speed can result in 11% fewer page views, a 16% decrease in customer satisfaction, and a 7% loss in conversions. As mentioned before, this can cost thousands of dollars (or more) to businesses! The faster you can make your website, the more likely your visitors will stick around.
There are hundreds of reasons why a website might be slow. The best thing that you can do is to recognize why your website is slow and take the necessary steps to fix it.
Your slow website might be the product of poor server performance, the location of the server, the amount of traffic on your site, large images in a complex file format, excess coding and unoptimized JavaScript, text graphics, too many file requests or plugins, unnecessary redirects, and an outdated content management system. There are many more reasons why your website could be loading slowly. Take some time to evaluate your site and determine what might be the issue.
You must pinpoint your website speed issues and fix them as soon as possible. Your Google ranking depends on it! Google has started ranking websites based on the speed of its mobile and desktop websites! That means the speed of your website determines where your website ranks on a page in a Google search. The faster-loading websites will rank higher in Google search results. Google will also reduce the number of visitors on your site if your server is slower than three seconds. This is another important reason why you want your website to be quick! If it’s not fast, then it will be more difficult for customers to find your site. Obviously, the higher your website ranks on Google, the greater the opportunities for generating more traffic.
A majority of web traffic today comes from mobile devices, which means your page speed needs to be on point! People consider a fast website to be reliable and professional. I mean… don’t you? A slow website makes people feel like the page is untrustworthy, insecure, and unsafe. You obviously don’t want your website giving off that impression. Studies show that once a customer experiences a slow-moving website, nearly 80% of people never return to the site. A slow website absolutely kills conversions!
A good rule of thumb is to review your website often. Regardless of the problems you’re experiencing on your site, you always need to be looking for ways to improve it. A website scan will make sure that nothing is holding you back from making money or having a successful website. To make things easy on you, we’ve created a free website audit that will scan your website for responsiveness, on-page SEO, page speed, and credible links!
Here’s the Tea! Nearly nine out of every ten businesses use email marketing to distribute their content. That’s A LOT of businesses! Assuming that your business is also using email marketing techniques; Is it working for you? Based on a 2019 study, only 11% of businesses use text message marketing. Despite the consumer demand for texting offers, not many businesses are taking advantage of the opportunity to build a new audience. THAT’S CRAZY! If you’re not already using text message marketing… You should start.
As a business owner, you want to effectively promote your business without boring consumers! Because we know that nine out of ten businesses use email marketing, we can concur that consumers regularly receive too many promotional emails! The chances of your business emails standing out from the other business emails piling up in their inbox are slim! Maybe, just maybe, email marketing has worked for you…But you can’t disregard the numbers! Consumers want text message marketing!
We can confidently say that there’s a simple solution to that problem and it’s called TextMagic! TextMagic is the answer to your desperate plea for easier and more effective communication with your customers! Yeah… We heard you from over here in Missouri…
Let’s take a look at the facts. Nearly 75% of people prefer to receive offers via text! If consumers want to receive offers through text, then why aren’t businesses providing that?
TextMagic is a business text messaging service for sending notifications, alerts, reminders, and SMS marketing campaigns. TextMagic is a necessary element to enhance business communication with your customers and grow your company! If a majority of people would rather receive an offer through a text message, then you need to be using a trusted service that allows you to easily send and receive messages (Cough… TextMagic). You must be where your customers are!
Are you liking what you’re hearing? The TextMagic features allow you to create chats with your customers, combine messaging tools with a user-friendly control panel, send and receive text messages through your email, send personalized bulk text messaging using mail merge text, receive replies and view conversations as SMS chat, integrate SMS API with your business and text directly from your app, quickly import contacts and share them with your team, and integrate TextMagic into practically any business software. You can also use Zapier Integration to get access to thousands of business apps that you can connect and integrate.
Getting started with TextMagic is simple. All you need to do is create a free account!
You can start by creating your Free Trial by clicking Free Trial in the top right-hand corner of the screen.
You’ll see this popup asking you to enter your name, work email, password, and country.
Next, enter your information in the boxes provided below and click “Create my FREE Business Account”.
You’ll see this popup asking you to check your email and verify it to process the activation of your account.
Once you verify your account, TextMagic will have you choose what type of number you would prefer. As you can see, you have the choice between a local number, a toll-free number and text-enabling an existing landline. I chose to use a local number, but you can choose whatever works best for your company!
I selected the local number and it gave me the option to choose my country, the area code, and also go through the available numbers. TextMagic will also give you the option to choose Call Forwarding, which would forward a call from your virtual number to your actual phone number. It is a phenomenal tool to use if you want your virtual phone number to connect with your real number. Click Next.
This popup gives you more information on each feature and what you can do with it. Here, you can watch tutorials and ask questions. You can also choose to skip this page!
At the top of the page, you will see your account balance, the Buy Credit option, and the name of the account that you are logged in with. If you end up liking the features, you have the option to purchase more credit for SMS messaging! The great thing about this is that your unused SMS credit will never expire! SMS credit is also backed by the “money-back guaranteed” which means TextMagic will refund all of your unused credit on the first request. On the left-hand panel, Under Compose, you’ll see chats, contacts, scheduled, and so on. While you’re on the Compose page, you can send texts! Enter the recipients of your message in the To field. You can type or paste mobile numbers. You can also use existing contacts and create a list with any amount of recipients! In the From field, you can choose the number that you want your messenger to originate from. Use the default settings to get the highest delivery rate. The default settings can be found in the settings section. You can either schedule a message to be sent out at a later time, preview the message, or send it immediately.
On your screen, you’ll see three menus: the main menu on the left-hand side, the quick menu (which you will see by hovering your mouse over the plus sign icon), and your account menu (which you can see by hovering your mouse over your name). Under the Chats tab, you will see the contents of the message that you just sent from your Compose page. Unfortunately, there is no way to undo a message that you just sent. Another cool thing about TextMagic is that you can receive notifications on your desktop and your phone!
The Contacts section allows you to create a new contact or list of contacts, send an SMS, import, block, delete, and share. You can do so much with your contacts on this page! If you don’t have contacts yet, you can add contacts by importing or copy and pasting phone numbers onto the page. The import process only takes a few moments! You can also send personalized messages to your contacts. You can organize those contacts into lists and share them with your team members in just two clicks. Under the service tab, you can manage your team of sub-accounts, view the history of messages, review invoices or detailed costs statements, check audit logs and reports, adjust your notification settings, and set up autoresponders and rules.
Another cool thing you can do with TextMagic is to create templates for your messages. If you frequently send similar text messages, then you can save time by making templates. To create a template, all you will need to do is click on the template button on the left-hand panel and press New Template. You will want to use a template when you create a new text message! The templates contain a tag, a picture, and personalized messages. It also shows you the length of the text, the characters, the parts, and the cost of the message (which depends on the number of parts, recipients, and length).
Take some time to explore the TextMagic features! The entire panel on the left side of the screen is there for you to easily navigate the website, send messages, create templates, receive replies, and view conversations and so much more.
TextMagic also uses a very simple pay-as-you-go pricing model where the credit amount is deducted from your account only after you have used the service. TextMagic offers SMS bundles from $10 to $10,000 US dollars. If you’re not sure how much credit you need, you can click on the pricing calculator. It will help you decide which is the most suitable package for you! You will also need to choose a payment method. You’ll want to use your credit card, Paypal, or a regular bank transfer. If your account balance becomes too low and no credit is purchased, it will usually cause a service interruption, which is not great for any business. You can avoid this by enabling an auto-recharge and have TextMagic charge your card. TextMagic also gives you a good overview of the data that is being stored on its servers. You can download all your messages or contacts, as well as delete data from the TextMagic servers at any time.
As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, only 11% of businesses are using text message marketing. Consumers actually prefer text messages over emails! What better way to kick off that process than to integrate TextMagic into your business?
If email marketing is working for you…that’s great! But, ask yourself, “Could I be doing better?”
We all know that having a website for your business is absolutely essential! Or… at least we hope we’ve mentioned it enough! Most people do not realize that just “having a website” will not get the job done. What makes up your website, or it’s composition, is the most important part of your website. It’s easy to assume that the aesthetics of the site would steal the show. Unfortunately, pretty colors and exotic buttons do nothing more than distract your customers from why they are on your site. You want your audience to know right away that they are on the “right” page. Your website should SHOUT why people need your product and why they should buy it from you.
Your website should always answer the question “why”. If you are only focused on how your website looks, you need to reevaluate your business goals! An effective website should easily tell customers why they need the product, why they should choose that business to purchase from, and why they should get in touch with the business staff.
If your website is not gaining traffic or producing sales, it might be because you are making one of these five mistakes.
Your Website Is Missing a Message
Studies show that 55% of visitors will leave your site if there is no clear message.
The message of your website is summarized by your brand value proposition (BVP). Your BVP tells the site visitor what you can do for them.
The design of your website should be focused on the purpose of your business or brand. It needs to send one, clear and direct message. Your website also needs to effectively convey that one message. You should want to give off a good impression when someone lands on your website’s homepage! Your brand value proposition should stand out. The website visitor must receive value from what you’re offering for your site to be effective. They must see your message as valuable and take action on that.
Your website needs to present only one single message. If you clutter your website with too many different slogans, phrases, and pictures, then the true goal of your site will be lost.
There are nearly 5 BILLION people on the internet every day searching for information or answers. Someone is bound to come across your site. When they do, you do not want to steer them away by your message inconsistency or lack thereof.
2. Your website is lacking a clear CTA
CTA means Call-to-Action. The Call-to-Action is essentially the “what” of your business. You first have to make the decision of what you want your website visitor to do. What action do you want them to take on your site? The most common CTA is a button that expresses an action. The purpose of that button is for the customer to click it and potentially sign up to receive something of value. It is one thing to have a CTA button and it is another to have an effective CTA button. The effectiveness of your Call-to-Action depends on the location, design, and verbiage of the CTA. Your CTA button must be easy to find, access, and understand.
Some common CTA buttons are:
Sign up Here
Get Started
Add to Cart
Chat With Us Now
Get Your Free Newsletter
Learn more
Your website would see a tremendous benefit from having multiple Call-to-Action buttons.
We recommend that you make all your Call-to-Action buttons the same color, style, and have similar reinforcing verbiage throughout your website. If your CTA buttons are sporting different styles and colors, your message could be confusing the customers on your site.
CTAs must complement each other, not compete against each other! Your Call-to-Action buttons should match your website’s BVP. You might also want to include a chat support button to help answer customer questions.
3. Your website is not mobile-friendly
This might be something you haven’t thought about. Your website NEEDS to be mobile responsive. A mobile responsive website is one that is compatible with mobile and tablet devices. Your website needs to be able to adapt to various screen sizes (or screens other than a computer monitor). If it’s not mobile-friendly, then you are depriving your business of potential growth.
A user should not have to zoom in and out and all around to read the content on their smartphone. We’ve all been on a page like that! It makes you want to leave immediately! If your own website looked like that, you can imagine that a user wouldn’t be staying on your page for too long.
What’s interesting is that 65% of online traffic comes from mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. If your website isn’t designed to be mobile responsive, then you are losing a lot of traffic! In April 2015, Google ranked mobile responsiveness as a factor in its search algorithm. That means, if your website does not accommodate all screen sizes then your website may not be ranked.
A study by Google shows that 61% of visitors will leave a website that is not mobile-friendly and over 40% of visitors will instead do business with your website’s competitor. Your website bounce rate will increase if your visitors are leaving immediately and that will leave you with fewer sales.
4. You’re Adding Junk to Your Customer’s Spam Folder
Email marketing is one of the most effective marketing strategies out there. But, just emailing something to the customers in your email list every day isn’t going to do the trick. You have to provide something of value to them.
People spend an average of 2 and a half hours a day sifting through ads, promotions, and work emails. You do NOT want to be that “one business” that constantly bombards their inbox with completely useless information.
A majority of people have enough emails to look through as it is. They don’t want to give out their email to companies that may abuse their inbox. Although, most people would be willing to give out their email in exchange for something of value. For example, you could encourage a user to enter their email in exchange for a set of coupons to spend at your business.
Your website visitors are always thinking, “What’s in it for me?”.
What you DON’T want to do is create a lame CTA and expect your visitors to click on it and enter their email. For example, your Call-to-Action says “Sign up for an E-Book”.
Your Call-to-Action should entice people to sign up! Instead of your previous bland CTA, say “ Sign up and get my FREE EBook!”
Most of the time, whenever someone comes across the word “free”, they will stop and read more about the offer. The word “free” doesn’t necessarily add value to your offer, but if a customer sees it as valuable, then they will most likely sign up. The trick is to create something of high value that your visitors will not be able to refuse.
Place yourself in the position of the consumer. What would entice you to click on that Call-to-Action button and surrender your email address?
5. Your website is more about you than it is about your products
Microsoft conducted a study that shows websites have only six seconds to grab the attention and interest of a consumer. If you have a clear and concise message on your home page, your visitors are more likely to stay and look around.
Let’s cut to the chase. People are more interested in how you can help them and why they should choose you. People are very simple. If you cannot help them, they will find somebody who can (which most of the time tends to be your competitor).
Stop writing about yourself. Write for the visitors on your page. Start gearing your content toward those who will actually be purchasing your product. Visitors are not going to your site because you created it. They’re going to your site because you offer a product or service that they are interested in.
It would benefit you to add your work experience, educational background, and achievements to your website! Some website visitors actually want to know more about the people who make up your company, which is why they will go to your About page to learn more information. Do not go overboard, though. You need to add the information about yourself to your About page and leave the rest of the information to the home page!
Your business needs a website. There’s no doubt about that. But, just having a website is not enough. Your site needs to be focused on the brand you are trying to portray and the services you are going to provide. It has to achieve your goals! You cannot achieve those goals without following these five steps on your site. If you are not already doing these five things, then don’t worry! We recommend focusing your attention on one “mistake” at a time. Take a few days to fix up your CTA buttons and move onto the next step when you are finished. In the end, you’ll feel much better about a well-produced website than a website that’s rushed and inconsistent.
(WARNING: If you’re not a reader, click here to instantly view the four secrets to creating an unmatched online curb appeal! If you’re new to this, we encourage you to keep reading.)
Be honest with yourself for a minute.
Have you ever wondered why your competitor’s website is more successful than yours?
Well… There’s a reason for that. They are doing something that you are not.
That’s a loaded question considering that means you have to look at your website and its downfalls. Most people struggle with gaining traffic, attracting reviews, or securing sales. If you can relate to those struggles, you may have already tried to justify why you don’t have consistent traffic to your website. You might feel as though you have tried everything possible and your competitor is still beating you. Does this sound familiar? In this scenario, you should be thinking, “What are they doing that I am not doing?” because the answer is simple.
People cannot visit your website if they cannot find it on the internet. By that I mean, your business needs to “pop up” when they search for you. For example, let’s say that you own a coffee business named Coffee Craze. If a consumer searches “Best coffee places near me” and Coffee Craze does not show up, then how do you expect your customers to find you? That might seem like a wild accusation, but it is equal to buying a house and expecting everybody to know where it is, without you mentioning it. You might even be thinking, “Well, wait. Why didn’t my business show up?”. Don’t worry, I’ll get to that later.
What if I told you that the reason you are not gaining traction to your website is that your online presence is virtually nonexistent. You might be thinking, “That is so untrue! I post to social media every day!” or “I have a website… doesn’t that count?”
The answer is no. You are not doing enough. If there is one thing you can do for yourself, it is to recognize that your company’s Curb Appeal is the most important part of your business and you are neglecting it.
No, I am not talking about the visual aesthetic of the building that your business resides in. Let me explain.
Nowadays, only utilizing a web hosting provider is not enough. You need an online presence and marketing plan that will ultimately “revamp” your company’s curb appeal. I can already tell that you are wondering, “Okay, why is this important?”.
You might recognize the term Curb Appeal as the initial appeal of a property to prospective buyers. For example, you visit a coffee shop and the first things you notice are the lights strung above the outdoor tables, the plants in the window, and the trendy aesthetic of the building. It is fair to say that the first thing that caught your eye was the external appeal of the building! It would be difficult not to be mesmerized by an appeal that piques your interest. Although a company’sexterior appeal is important, that is not what we are talking about. Your company’s Curb Appeal has nothing to do with the external attractiveness of your business property. Instead, it focuses on the attractiveness of your business’s online presence.
Your online presence ultimately determines how successful your business will be.
Let’s keep the vision going. Imagine that a consumer searches “Coffee shops near me” on their internet browser. Behind the scenes, Google is compiling several options and lists them at the top of the page for them. The first thing the consumer sees is your competitor topping the page with numerous five-star reviews. Meanwhile, your coffee shop is nowhere to be found. After looking through the reviews and ratings, the consumer is sold and searches directions to your competitor’s coffee shop. You just lost a sale because your business did not show up in the search results. Wait a second… How did that even happen? Cases like these are exactly why your online presence makes or breaks your business.
We have heard it all before: You cannot have success without failure. Letting your competitor steal your customers is a temporary failure for your company. You cannot let your competitor “out-business” you. Success takes time and patience. But, it’s not very often that the keys to success are literally handed to you.
If you have not yet picked up on it, you need much more than just a website to be successful as a business. As I said before, it is just like having a house and expecting everyone to know where it is without you telling them. If you gain anything from this article, let it be the value of having an active online presence. An online presence will allow you to stay relevant, consistent, and easily accessible.
To be honest, we (meaning us here at Hostirian) want to see you succeed. That is why we are sharing with you Four Secrets to an Attractive Website. These four secrets are your road map to perfecting your company’s Curb Appeal. Follow these four steps and watch your business grow like you have never seen before.
1. List your Business Information Online
Although this may not seem important, it totally is! Your online listings are websites that hold all of your business information, such as your business name, phone number, address, email, and operation hours. Some Online Directories that you might have seen before are 411, CitySpace, Yahoo, Bing, Foursquare, and Alexa. Trust me, there are many more! The key to success is to get into as many online listings as possible and to make sure all of that information is accurate. Only being listed on websites such as City Space or Yahoo is not enough. Your business information needs to be accurate. That piece is so important. The reason for this is so that search engines can trust you.
Let me say it again: The point of online listings is not to attract customers. It is to earn a search engine’s trust. Are you wondering, “Why is it important that a search engine trusts you? Why does that matter?”. It matters because that is how businesses end up at the top of the search results page, or better yet, the Google 3 pack! Below is an example of how your business, Coffee Craze, is displayed on five different online directories. Pay close attention to each listing.
411: Coffee Craze 123-456-7890, 123 Main Street
CitySpace: coffee Craze 1234567890, 123 Main Street
Yahoo: Coffee craze 123-456-7890, 123 maine street
Bing: Coffee Craze Inc. 1234567890, 123 Main St.
Alexa: Coffee craze inc. 123-456-7890, 123 main st.
Do you notice the difference?
As you can see, the examples above are all inconsistent. There is not one listing that matches the other. This is a problem. If this is what your online listings look like, you might as well kiss the top of the search results page GOODBYE! Search engines, such as Google, will not have any reason to trust you. You cannot expect Google to trust you if you can’t even get your business information to match online. The perfect combination is utilizing the hundreds of online listing websites available and inputting your information correctly on all of them. Choose one consistent way to list your business information and stick with it.
If you list your information similar to how it looks above, then you will never see your business show up at the top of the search results page. In addition to utilizing the online listings, you also need to make sure that your results are up to date. If you change the information on one listing and not the other, then you have created an inaccurate message. If all of your listings send the same message, then it is easier for search engines to confirm that you are who you say you are! Earlier I mentioned that you should want your business in the Google 3 Pack! It is also known as Google Maps, Google Local Pack, and the Snack Pack! Below is an example of what the Google 3 Pack looks like!
Nearly all searches on Google have local intent. This means that the first three businesses that pop up in Google search results are local businesses. Most people do not scroll past the first three results. In that case, your goal is to get into that Google 3 Pack! A question most asked in this industry is, Where is the best place to hide a dead body?
Can you guess?
The best place is on the second page of the search results because nobody looks there! You do not want your website to show up on the second page of results. The takeaway is to make sure your business information is listed on numerous online directories, make sure your information is correct across the board, and that your information is up-to-date.
2. Be Active on Social Media
There are so many benefits to having a social media account for your business! I could go on for hours about why your business needs a social media account. If you already have some type of social media account, then you need to be more active on it and create a consistent posting schedule.One of the most important things to remember about your business is to make sure that you are where your customers are. Read that again. If your customers are on social media, then you need to be on social media. But let’s be real, it is absolutely ridiculous to think that your customers are not on social media. More than 4 out of 5 Americans have a social media account, which might include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, or YouTube. The easier that you make it for your customers to see you, the more your business will be noticed.
By sporting your company on social media, you are increasing your brand awareness. People are not on social media to connect with brands that they already know. People are always looking for other businesses to connect with, at least that’s what 60% of Instagram users say! Your social media pages are also establishing your brand as a credible leader. You want your company to be known as the “go-to source of information” on topics that explore your business niche.
If you still do not think that your social media is important, then hear me out! It is proven that social media will increase your website traffic, help generate leads, and boost sales as long as you have your website link on your social media pages. Social media also gives businesses the opportunity to partner with influencers, which would expand beyond their “normal” audience. Utilizing those social media posts and ads are a simple way to drive traffic to your site.
What’s interesting to us is that nearly 71% of small business owners manage their own digital marketing. That is a large percentage of small business owners. Are you a part of that statistic? Oftentimes small business owners have so much on their plate that it can be easy to lose sight of their social media and neglect the one thing that really matters. Do you think you are holding yourself back from having a successful business? Social media is so important to maintain because your business can not move forward without it. You need to constantly be inviting more people to explore it. You’ll notice that once you have a solid and active presence on social media, you will start to attract more people to your website.
If you are too tied up in your business to worry about online listings or keeping up with all your social media platforms, then don’t worry! All exceptional web hosting providers offer a marketing and online presence package that will cover online directories, social media, and much more! Basically, they do all of the difficult stuff for you. If you are a business owner with little time on your hands, it is definitely worth looking in to.
3. Leave a POSITIVE First Impression: Have a Website
Whether you recognize it or not, we are always forming first impressions of the people around us. First impressions are so important because they make or break potential friendships, relationships, clients, customers, interviews and so much more. Think of your website as your chance at forming that first impression with the world. Did you know that 75% of consumers admit to judging companies without a website? Consumers are literally forming their first impression of a company based on whether or not they have a website! If you do not have a website, you are neglecting the opportunity to grow and expand. If we were to stick with this “first impressions” metaphor, you would be leaving a sour taste in the mouth of the consumer. Unless you are completely okay with your business not growing, you need a website.
Have you noticed thus far how each step ties back into having a website? That’s because your website is your home base! It is your most important marketing asset. Without one, it would be difficult to grow your business. In today’s modern world, people turn to Google to research the product they want before they purchase. In fact, 93% of business purchase decisions start with a Google search. If you already have a website, make sure your website is attractive enough so that somebody wants to stop and look at it. Those online directories that we talked about earlier will help your website appear at the top of the search results page.
A website builds trust and credibility with web users, it boosts sales, allows you to tell your story, creates your brand, and improves your chances of being discovered by new customers.
Although having a website is extremely important, it does not mean that it will automatically bring paying customers to your door. It just improves your chances of drawing in new customers and gives you a platform to push your brand. Without a website, you cannot have an effective call-to-action. (Which, by the way, is SUPER important when getting people to buy your product).
Want to know something interesting? There are over 40,000 online searches every second. When you consider that number, it is hard to believe that your website won’t be found online! Let’s look at some other statistics. Nearly 30% of consumers will not consider a business without a website. That means, if you did not have a website, 30% of people would not even consider buying from you! Did you also know that Americans spend an average of 23.6 hours a week online? Wait a second… The average American is spending almost an entire day online every week? Ask yourself: How in the world would consumers NOT find your website if you gave them the tools to find it? Consumers expect companies to have an online presence. Fulfill that expectation and grow your business while you’re at it.
4. Ask for Reviews
If there’s one thing we know, it’s that online reviews are hard to get. What’s even more difficult to get? …Good reviews. The ironic thing is that reviews are essential for your online business. So… if reviews are hard to get, then how does a business go about getting them?
Studies show that 70 to 80% of people research a company online before making a purchase. Studies also show that nearly 9 out of 10 consumers think that online reviews are important. This means that people will first look at reviews when researching a product online. Reviews, whether good or poor, have a way of spreading quickly to consumers. Reviews are important because you need them to get ratings.
There are countless other reasons why reviews are important. First of all, reviews are GREAT for social proof. People are more likely to purchase a product if it has been publicly decided that buying that product was a good idea. Social proof has proven to impact sales. In fact, most people read about 7 to 10 reviews before they make a purchase. Reviews make your business more visible, they help build trust, expand the conversation to other social media outlets, aid in consumer decision making, and give you an easy way to start a conversation with a customer about their experience.
You might be thinking, “What if I already have a website and I’m struggling to get online reviews?” Do not worry. As mentioned at the beginning of this step, getting reviews can be hard. But, don’t be afraid to ask your customers for reviews! Physically asking someone to write a review can go a long way. The truth is, most people are happy to leave a review if you ask them to. Unless a customer had a beyond “normal” experience (meaning an incredible or terrible experience) at a business, they do not think to write one. Do you think about leaving a review for every business you have ever been to? I would venture to say no, but you may think differently. All it takes is a little push and you will have online reviews coming in no time.
If you don’t feel comfortable asking your customers directly, then encourage them at the bottom of their receipt or through an email. You can also gain reviews by spreading positive things about your business through word of mouth. As we all know, word of mouth travels just as quickly.
Encouraging consumers to review your business will help expand your company’s reach! Another way to keep those reviews coming is to always respond to them. It does not matter if the customer tore your business apart by detailing their terrible experience or if they wrote a glowing review; it is so important that you respond. If someone left you a good review and you ignored it, that is the equivalent of ignoring someone attempting to give you a high five! That would not be cool, AT ALL!
Here is what you need to know: A 1-star increase results in approximately 9% annual revenue increase. Another interesting fact is that two-thirds of all purchases are made based on what people have read online. So…basically your sales will increase with more positive reviews. Remember, reviews are also FREE Marketing. Cherish your reviews and make your customers feel valued by always responding! They took the time to write it, so don’t leave them hanging!
Sit back and think about your business and the four secrets that I have just shared with you. Do you think your company’s Curb Appeal is as good as it could be? Are you currently implementing any one of these areas into your business’s online presence?
If you are not actively using these steps to better your online presence, do you now realize why it is important that you need to? Think about what you have done for your website in the past and why it has not been working for you.
You’ll notice that this whole process is interconnected. When you have an outstanding online presence, your business will be positively impacted in so many different ways. Your online presence is the most important element of a successful business. Reconsider those four secrets that I shared with you. If you can accurately list your business information, be active on social media, leave a positive first impression with your website, and ask for reviews, then you are headed in a great direction.
By investing in your company’s Curb Appeal, you are setting yourself up to grow and expand in ways that you may have never imagined! You are not only doing yourself a favor, but you are also doing your customers a favor. Success takes patience. Your business will not grow and expand overnight. By following these four steps, you are setting yourself up to improve your business and accepting the change that comes with it. Be willing to work hard for that success. It will come sooner than you think.
