More than ever, your presence online matters more than anything else if you want to grow a successful business. The internet is now your showroom it is the best way to promote your business in the virtual marketplace of the New World.
Your customer is doing their research online and she is able to compare you in an instant with competitors you didn’t even know you had that are located halfway across the world. Are you the one that’s going to catch the eye of the Netizens and give them all that they ever dreamed of?
Here are 10 steps you can take right now to maximize your impact on the Web:
10. Create remarkable designs. There is still no substitute for creating great work that deserves everyone’s attention. It has to be creative and new and interesting. The same old boring stuff we’ve been seeing for the last 50 years will get you absolutely nowhere. Besides, wouldn’t you prefer to get paid premium for exclusive designs rather than competing for crumbs on commodity products?
9. Build an amazing website. It only takes a few milliseconds for a user to decide whether to stay or leave your website. It is imperative to make a very good first impression. Make it good for the viewer; your first page is all about what’s in it for them, not about how good you are. (hint, nudge and wink)
8. A photo is worth a thousand words. And a video is worth a thousand photos. Start taking photos and video of your work. You’ll only get better at it when time goes on and investing in some good equipment is totally worth it and not that expensive. You can get a decent camera and starter studio lighting for under a grand.
7. Publish wide and often. On top of the photos and videos, you must have a blog on your website where you talk about what you’re doing. This is like having your very own news department and it is the main channel through which your customers will learn the news about your company. Once you have content, it’s easy to disseminate it on multiple channels such as Youtube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Quora, Tumblr, Reddit, SlideShare and traditional media such as trade magazines, radio, newspaper, etc…
6. Sell Online. E-commerce is growing at an exponential pace and it is estimated that it will generate 440 billion dollars in sales by 2017. Yet, there are still many industries that think their products will never sell online. If you are you one of them think again; it’s possible to sell custom products online. Together we’ll show them how it’s done?
5. Ask for feedback. And post customer reviews. Leveraging social proof is still the most effective marketing tool at your disposal today. 70% of people online say that they read ratings and reviews before making a purchasing decision. This is true in real life as well as in the virtual world.
4. Make sure your website is secure.There are many ways to use encryption to protect your virtual property and make your visitors feel secure about dealing with you. Use strong SSL authentication and a secure cart and payment system. If you don’t make your customers feel safe, do you really expect them to fork over their credit card number?
3. Promote yourself on social media.We’ve all heard about Facebook and Twitter but other social media channels can be very effective at promoting your wood business. Check out https://houzz.com and https://pinterest.com and https://custommade.com as well as https://madeitmyself.com and https://etsy.com for new ideas to commercialize your goods.
2. Learn, learn and learn. You can find out what your customers want, what your competitors’ customers don’t like, how to do something new, how to bring a strategy from another sector into your market. There is no limit to what you can find out today; don’t wait for someone to show you how it’s done, go out there and learn it on your own. And if you have something worth teaching… we’re waiting to see your video.
1. Build your community one member at a time. Getting to the point where you have a critical mass of users or becoming a viral success starts with welcoming one true fan into your community at a time. And once you have them, treat them like gold.
It used to cost millions of dollars to build a world class website with a product customizer and company’s like Dell and Ford have been taking advantage of the technology to rake in the profits for decades. You can now do the same now for tens of thousands instead of millions.
The secret formula for having any degree of success on the web is to just get started and keep at it. At Configrr, we’re here to help you make it happen.