Presenting Your "Storefront"
For all the decided advantages of the Internet over the physical storefront, there are some real challenges the Internet poses. What I'm going to discuss here is the "credibility" factor; the trust that is needed to complete a sale or even garner a lead.

Think about what happens when someone walks into a physical store or office. They see the surroundings, which you've kept clean and decorated nicely. They can greet the staff who are warm and kind. If you're smart, they'll even get a cup of coffee or something to eat.

Now the Internet scenario: Your results come up in a search engine, they click on it, and on average will spend anywhere from 6 to 30 seconds on the site, unless something catches their attention.

Let me say that again: 6 to 30 seconds! Yikes! All this hard work to get a site up, and people spend 6 seconds at my site? Sure. Everyone is "click happy"

Furthermore, they look around your site, see a broken link (akin to your bathroom not working), see outdated pictures and misaligned text, or just see a website that reminds them of 1997. You might be completely up to speed on your industry, your products or services, but if your website's presentation isn't, you're in trouble. And don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about fancy graphics or flash here, I'm speaking of basic "neatness", consistent navigation, compelling information, etc.

So what are you to do about it? I'm going to give you two steps to follow. Why only two? Because you can take action on these right now.

1. Make your website "presentable" Let me ask you some  questions.

   • If you hadn't vacuumed the carpet at your office or store, or painted your walls in three years, how would business do?

   • Do you think it would suffer as clients came in and were taken aback by the grime?

   • Then why have you done nothing to "clean" your website? Whether it was badly built in the first place, or is just outdated (a great site from 2 years ago, just isn't usually a great site today) you should make sure you are up to speed with your competition.

   The easiest way to find out if you need a "makeover" is to simply visit your competition's sites. Once you find a great one, that will be all the motivation you need to upgrade!

2. I mentioned above that people spend anywhere from 6 to 30 seconds at a site unless something catches their attention. Take a look at your home page, and ask yourself:

   • What is catching people's attention?

   • What compelling case am I making for my services or products?

   • What information am I offering?

   If the first words on your site say, "Our company was founded" then forget it, 6 seconds is the MOST you'll get!

So your place is a mess, go clean it!

MARKETING:

EGG marketing...

Advertising...

Dotcom Failure...

Internet Marketing...

The other side to advertising...

Precise and exact marketing...

Presenting your storefront...

Research...

Speaking to your customers...

Viral marketing for small business...

Internet Branding...

For a Free No Obligation Consultation on your best web design ever... Click here...

Contact Information:

Telephone:
(585) 586-9661
(585) 3887290  
ask for Scott Gallmeyer

Fax:  
(585) 586-1407

Mailing Address:
Scott Gallmeyer
ESG Associates Corp.   18 Bramblewood Lane   Penfield, NY  14526

Email:
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careers@esgn.com
scott@esgn.com

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