Where are you online?
What’s your domain name and what are your keywords? If you don’t choose keywords relevant to your product or service, then your people (your customers and prospects) can’t find you.
It’s all about the keywords. When people search for your subject, the way they discover you is by the words that are in your domain name, article titles, article descriptions and the body of your content.
Your website should have a theme that connects to your product or service, and your keywords should relate to that theme. You can use Google Keyword Search to find out how many people search for the phrases that you come up with. This way you can choose relevant words and phrases that people are actually looking for. It’s not enough to rank on the front page of Google; you have to rank for the language that your people are using.
What does working with you feel like?
Don’t just tell your potential clients; show them through testimonials and case studies so that they can hear what other people say about you.
Show them through your website design and in-store or website experience. If you say you believe in simplicity but your design is overcrowded and your first point of contact is scattered and confused, it tells your prospects something. Are you sending out the message that you want them to hear?
Who are you and who cares?
Identify your target market and then do the research—by asking questions and listening to the answers—to understand them. Once you know who your audience is, then you can tell them who you are in a language that matters to them.
The better you know your audience, the easier it is to write a relevant and personable bio or product page. And if you choose to hire a copywriter, then you’re in a better position to edit what your writing team crafts for you. Remember, you have to actively participate in the message creation surrounding your business.
How do they get started with you?
If your prospects want what you have, make it easy for them to say “yes,” pay and get started. Don’t just drop your new client after you get the money. Make the next steps as clear and simple as possible. After all, you want a long-term relationship, not just a one-time purchase, so take care of your client.
For example, if they order from you, then ship the item as quickly as possible. And if you cannot (because it’s custom-made after each order is placed), then include automatic communication that lets them know that you have not forgotten about them.
You can share the creation journey with them. Is it still in the design phase? Is it being hand drawn or carved? Is it being prepared to ship? Is it en route? Let them know, because good communication makes every situation a little better.
When do they start?
You have to give your prospect a reason to care right now; otherwise they’ll put it off indefinitely. Is there a special bonus for purchasing right now? Is there a benefit that you can highlight that they can not and will not live, without once they know about it?
Business is about communication. Connect, and stay connected.
Questions Photo via Shutterstock
You defiantly have to show your customers the What, but more importantly, you have to show them the Why. Why they should do business with you, Why you are in business in the first place, and Why you do things the way you do. It’s always about the Why
When Jamillah says that “It’s all about the keywords,” she’s totally right.
And I would add that it’s important not to assume you know what keywords people use to search for your type of business. The only way to know for sure is to do the keyword research.
Just to give you a concrete example – my husband and I own a martial arts school in Brooklyn, NY.
We could easily assume that we should optimize our site only for the phrase “martial arts for kids,” since that’s the way we would describe our classes.
But if you go to Google’s Keyword Tool, you’ll find that there are only 590 monthly local searches for that phrase.
Meanwhile, if you look up the phrase “karate for kids,” there are 1,600 monthly local searches – more than double the number!
So which phrase do you think we’re optimizing for? 🙂
Bill McDermott
I’ve found education based content is the best way for prospects to get a feel for you and your business.
When we searched (in the old days) a phone book, we picked up the book for the geo we wanted, and then turned to the category of interest….simple.
In the modern version, the first word of the domain stands in for the geo, while the balance of the name can describe the category…thus we have “uticalocksmith”..not rocket surgery, but the smart utica locksmith
might want to own the .com version! Tailwinds never hurt, and neither do keywords. Cheers!